GuiltyFeat
Where to begin with Jhumpa Lahiri? - Maladies to Whereabouts
updated
Hope you're all doing well and looking forward to Victober. I may get a head start tomorrow.
Scheduling this post to launch on shabbat in case anyone looks at the timing and wonders. Figure I would try to pull attention away from my last post as quickly as possible. Cheers to all.
This is the original tweet which alerted me to this story - https://x.com/JoniKletter/status/1837099214666354732
This is the first bit of news reporting I found - wamc.org/news/2024-09-20/albany-book-festival-panel-scrapped-amid-apparent-disagreement-over-israel
This is the response from PEN America - pen.org/press-release/pen-america-tragic-and-outrageous-that-albany-book-festival-cancels-panel-over-jewish-moderator
Further coverage - timesunion.com/news/article/albany-book-festival-panel-authors-drop-citing-19784087.php
Later statement from New York State Writers Institute - timesunion.com/news/article/writers-institute-issues-apology-handling-19795434.php
Elisa Albert's latest column in Tablet - tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/invitation-anti-zionists-elisa-albert
"... come join me at my Shabbes table, so we can break bread together, and talk. It’s the only way."
If you are uncomfortable with people who oppose feminism defining what it means to be a feminist for women, if you cringe at homophobic illiberals 'splaining LGBTQ+ rights to queer people, please feel free to ask an actual Zionist what Zionism is, instead of taking your definition from anti-Zionists.
I have zero desire to persuade anyone to think any particular way. I have no interest in convincing anyone of anything. I am simply making myself available as a self-identifying Zionist to answer questions that represent no one but myself. This way you can say, "I spoke to an actual Zionist and they said...," for whatever that is worth. Shabbat shalom.
guiltyfeat@gmail.com
This is a video about books I have found to be in conversation with each other, either because the author / publisher has explicitly made the connection or because I, the reader, has.
I think my reading life is filled with such treasures and I want the same for everyone else. Read what you love and love what you read, but always leave yourself open to the universe sharing its rhymes whether they come in books, people or experiences.
I’ve left out all the graphic novels this time as I’m not sure how many of you care about the marriage breakdown of Reed Richards and Sue Storm during the Civil War.
I hope you’re all keeping well.
This is my fifth book by Everett and I think I have discovered one of his flaws, but it's not big enough for me to stop reading him. Highly recommended.
I hope more people will review this novel after it is published as I'm interested to hear what others make of it. I think it was written to a formula that someone told the author would work. I'm not sure they were right.
Not a terrible read, by any estimation, just formulaic and self-consciously bonkers.
I'll be reading everyone else's recaps, but now that you've found mine, you don't have to.
My review of Enlightenment by Sarah Perry - youtu.be/t8fyJqhyNXQ
Happy Booker season everyone!
This is me going through the 53 individual top 10s that were sent in by authors, academics and other bookish people to call out books that did NOT make it to either the original top 100 list OR the Readers' list that was compile subsequently.
If you want to skip this interminable video and go straight to the article, you can find it here - nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/authors-top-books-21st-century.html?unlocked_article_code=1._E0.WldF.majYzImOII0k&smid=url-share
This was a fantastic excuse for me to get a bunch of books down from my shelves and show them to you. Hope you like it.
It is a tremendous pairing of art and execution as her literary themes are reflected in the choices she has made about how they will be presented to the reader.
I think the book includes 100 pages of padding which is a lot when the whole thing is only 200 pages long. It's a classic example of a publisher wanting an author to expand a long-form magazine article so that it has a chance of generating revenue through readership. Nevertheless there is much to admire here and it's a sad story that is worth telling.
I'd love to hear what you make of it.
The NY Times recently published a list of the best 100 books of the 21st century so far without any further qualifying criteria. They asked hundreds of professionally bookish peeps to weigh in with their top 10s and collated the results for your consumption here - nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html
Then they opened it up to the public who chimed in with their own lists creating a different top 100 here - nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/reader-best-books-21st-century.html
The NY Times recently published a list of the best 100 books of the 21st century so far without any further qualifying criteria. They asked hundreds of professionally bookish peeps to weigh in with their top 10s and collated the results for your consumption here - nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html
Then they opened it up to the public who chimed in with their own lists creating a different top 100 here - nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/reader-best-books-21st-century.html
In this video I compare the two lists and give my thoughts on the first half of each. I will upload the second of these videos tomorrow.
Here is a list of places we visited and places we stayed:
nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/shropshire-staffordshire/shugborough-estate
theupperhouse.com
worldofwedgwood.com/content/wedgwood-factory-tour
ironbridgebookshop.wordpress.com
hawkstonehall.co.uk
hawkstoneparkfollies.co.uk
bishopscastle.co.uk
mellingtonhall.co.uk
swansnesthotel.co.uk
Is this a sign of aging? Everything seems to be these days. I went to the cinema last night and I could barely make out the dialogue amid all the explosions and punching. I don't think the dialog was ever meant to be the movie's strong point (they cut most of the best banter in the trailer from the released version), but it would still be nice to hear it without feeling like I'm at the bottom of a well. Ho hum.
Hope you're keeping well.
Questions arising from this video:
1. Do people still give 13 year old boys books as gifts? I hope so.
2. Do any of you still have a physical atlas in your home that you refer to when someone goes traveling?
3. Can you believe how much hair I used to have?
It's possible I was having a less than good day.
How did I manage to read eight of his books without ever really trying?
#accidentalauthors
It's a little all over the place. On the plus side, you get to see a bunch of books.
Hope you're all keeping well.
The three main candidates are:
An Autobiography
The Way we Live Now
He Knew He Was Right
but I am also willing to listen to any further suggestions about how to continue reading Trollope over the next few years.
Thanks for your help!
For the entire LWW backlog see here:
Four Literary White Whales - youtu.be/JCTKbFKo4zA
Reviewing 1984 by George Orwell - youtu.be/coDcv2Ds49s
Reviewing Bleak House by Charles Dickens - youtu.be/5AHSxHaAcww
I completely forgot to talk about the main thing about Vanity Fair which I meant to bring up and that is the connection between this wonderful novel and Tolstoy's War & Peace. I couldn't help but think that some of the action scenes played out in fairly similar ways. Turns out Tolstoy was a big fan of Vanity Fair. I love that about these two chunkers.
Anyway, about the whole Penguin Clothbound Classic thing. Having read one which I got for free, I can't imagine ever paying full price to read one of these editions again. They don't stand up to the normal wear and tear of a single reading and they're way overpriced for something you can pick up anywhere for a quarter of the cost or even less.
What do you think?
Fortunately that coincided with me starting to travel to the US for business and I gladly picked up where I had left off, reading each new book as I found it, often remaindered.
Her recurring characters have brought me much joy and glimpses of hard-earned wisdom. I am sad that I will have no new books of hers to track down and savour.
NY Times obit - nytimes.com/2024/02/11/books/ellen-gilchrist-dead.html
WashPo obit - washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/02/02/ellen-gilchrist-dead
I have two goals:
1. To force you to sing compatible author names to the tune of "Eleanor Rigby"
2. To share your opinions on authors you have read whose real, actual names are perfectly lovely.
Within the category of reading as part of something bigger, I have created these things I call "reading projects" where the definition is loose and can probably only be applied to my habits... but I am sharing it here with you, regardless.
I would love to hear about the kinds of reading frameworks you have built for yourself. Do you take on reading projects? What are the rules? Do you have multiple projects going at once? Should I have turned this into a tag?
21st century Los Angeles is ripe for satire and the novel wisely dips in and out without leaning too heavily on the obvious. The last third is less convincing than the earlier pages, but I'd rather read something interesting and brief than longer and more worthy.
The Tournament of Books continues to surface new(-to-me) authors telling unusual stories and I will be following this one closely. I already have my favourite.
Check out the 2024 shortlist here - tournamentofbooks.com/the-2024-shortlist
This was NOT the book I was pitched, but I was all the happier for that, and I may not have read it if the pitch had been different. Highly recommended.
I'd love to hear from you if you read this book and have some thoughts to share.
This was selling everywhere for half price and I thought it would be a quick read. It was. It's not terribly well constructed and the decision not to credit a ghostwriter may have been the decision of the actual ghostwriter. Nevertheless there is a sad story about a successful woman being denied agency of her own life just because she wanted to make the same silly choices as the rest of us are allowed to.
I can't recommend it exactly, but having spent too much time reading about her life, I felt like I owed it to her to read her own words on the same subject.
I think Britney and I are done with each other now.
@saintdonoghue's 100 nonfiction recommendations - youtube.com/watch?v=GwkoRBvx2tY
I know the sound is terrible. but if you put the volume up, it's all gold!
I won't be talking about the war on this channel. I'll always try to answer anyone's questions if you message me elsewhere.
Wishing you all health, happiness and peace.
The Fraud is funny, literary, political, clear-sighted, and a joy to read. I think this is an author at the height of her powers and we're lucky to be getting a significant new novel from her.
Thanks to the originators of this tag:
Kelly @booksimnotreading - youtu.be/KA6oUTXQHrw
Jason @OldBluesChapterandVerse - youtu.be/RjARSqXUWCA
Nicole @adayofsmallthings - youtu.be/QzOq_KU_DM8
There are prompts, but I've essentially used this as a way of showing off my old theatre programs.
1. What was your first experience reading Shakespeare and what was it like?
2. Has the reading of a Shakespeare play ever brought you to tears? What scene was it and where were you when it happened?
3. Are there any people that have played a significant role in your Shakespeare journey?
4. Do you have a favorite book or film about Shakespeare?
5. Which character in Shakespeare most resembles you and in what ways?
6. Which play would you most like to see performed in a theatre and why?
7. What actor, throughout history, would you most like to have seen play Hamlet while in his prime?
8. Deliver your favorite speech or soliloquy from a Shakespeare play.
9. Do any of Shakespeare's plays intimidate you? If yes, what play and why?
10. What tips would you give to intimidated readers coming to Shakespeare for the first time?
11. Which is your favorite Shakespeare play and why?
12. Tag other Booktubers.
He also loves me enough NOT to open anything despite the packaging taking up more space in his luggage because he knows that unboxing is part of the fun for me.
I am very blessed in many aspects of my life. Being friends with an international airline pilot is just one more.
In the midst of all this, Whitehead's latest book is both a continuation of his last novel and a deeper, more political glimpse into the expansion and corruption in Harlem in the 60s and 70s. Well worth your time.
Let me know your experience with Julian Barnes. I think I've probably read all the Barnes I'm ever going to.
Two suggested videos from Brian @BookishTexan:
Brian's take on Julian Barnes as an accidental author - youtu.be/iucgt1CiZKM
Brian's video about the friendship between Julian Barnes and Martin Amis - youtu.be/SSvLc1qddS4
Lots more reading still to be done this year. Enjoy.
Some of these are parts of series that I am working on and some are just books that I want to read. My TBR is not getting smaller. I have no one to blame by myself.
This is not because I hate the Booker Prize. Quite the contrary, I have been following the nominated books and winners for over 40 years. I even made a video about the best nominated books that I've read - youtu.be/8VLihpOEsjE
2023's Booker longlist has just been announced and loads of really smart people have made some great videos featuring their reactions to the nominated books. Here are some of the best.
Kieran @KDbooks - youtu.be/T5Kn7dE-PZk
Eric @EricKarlAnderson - youtu.be/qbX7CzRcutk
Greg @SupposedlyFun - youtu.be/-IfW6Bl6qyg
Shelly @Shellyish - youtu.be/gR7DzXB2AYI
Charlotte @charlottemolloy - youtu.be/4ZsIxij_nSo
Ben @benreadsgood - youtu.be/Vg9UqRHgfB0
Scott @GunpowderFictionPlot - youtu.be/xNE9wWmH9N8
Simon @SavidgeReads - youtu.be/6gkySPMc6Po
Read the list, don't read the list. You do you. Have fun!
I absolutely loved the new Salman Rushdie novel. I know he's one of those authors that some people won't even consider reading, but his latest is very accessible and a joyous ode to storytelling AND the storyteller. I hope you're having as much fun with your reading as I am with mine.
My first update after I read 1984 is here - youtu.be/coDcv2Ds49s
20-some years after my first attempt I came back to Bleak House by Charles Dickens and read it from beginning to end. It was a hard slog for me with some undoubted highlights. The comedy is grand although it sometimes operates as nothing more than filler.
Side characters that are not solely played for laughs can often be surprisingly rounded and affecting. Mr Snagsby, Mr George the former soldier, Jo the crossing sweeper, Charley the little girl who becomes Esther's maid, and even Sir Leicester Dedlock are all sketched with warmth and empathy and considerable skill. They are each allowed to have a story with a middle and an end with the only question being whether Dickens is too generous with the time he allots them.
I will go on and read more Dickens, but I will continue to be wary of these enormous works in a way that I am not about Trollope's heavyweight reads.
Hope you're all keeping well.
Thanks also to the inimitable Scott from @GunpowderFictionPlot for tagifying Charlotte's idea and challenging all of use wo have dipped in and out of following the Booker over the years to put together our own lists. Scott's version is here - youtu.be/dJ0__vWyCek
Can any of you help?
Cheers.
Some terrific books here that I am excited to get to, but I have so many other that I am also excited to get to. It's getting close to intervention time.
Sharing this haul publicly in an attempt to keep me honest. I've bought these books and I need to do less talking and more reading.
Wherever you are, I hope you're well and enjoying your acquiring and your reading of books. Cheers!