Tag: ebook
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April Reads
I haven’t been a very good reader this month. My New Year’s Resolution was to read less in 2024 — and instead spend more time out with friends, hiking, and staying active. I think I’m doing alright so far, but seeing my short little book list is making me self-conscious. I started the month with…
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Ernesto by Umberto Saba
From the publisher: Ernesto is a classic of gay literature, a tender and complex tale of sexual awakening by one of Italy’s most admired poets. Ernesto is a sixteen-year-old boy from an educated family who lives with his mother in Trieste. His mother is eager for him to get ahead and has asked a local…
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Sci Fi in Spring
Three speculative books in the new season. Hoping to fix my reading habits just a bit. Maybe go back and finish some books I didn’t complete last month? Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may…
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The Details by Ia Genberg
YES. This was so very enjoyable. I was regularly reminded of The Red Book of Farewells by Pirkko Saiso. Somehow this book managed to have sparse, yet heavily emotional writing, with a strong sense of nostalgia and empathy. For example, the narrator describes her fever: “Like my current fever, that malaria infection installed sense of…
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Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
I’m so glad I gave her another chance after The Driver’s Seat, which was almost too chilly to bear. This one is just hilarious. I kept cackling. The presumptuous main character who sees herself as a surveyor but is inextricably connected, part of the very disaster she judges… Snarky and literary and just good.
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Loneliness good and bad
I haven’t been reading the most recently, but I feel like I’m on familiar ground: literary fiction, international fiction, and wild magic. The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark This was a very strange start to Muriel Spark. I’m not sure why I did it—except that it was her only book available on Libby. A short,…
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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
No one like her. I’m so struck by her way of using words: A dispassionate white sun shone at the summit of the sky. I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife. My edition includes the story surrounding publication, along with a…
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In Progress: Empty Theatre and Yara
One via ereader, the other via paperback. I’ve done very little except read the last couple days. It has been great fun, but also a bit frustrating — I’m making up for the exhaustion of the last few months at work, and I keep feeling like I should have more energy to do more day-to-day.…
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Historical Women I’ve DNFed
The Passion of New Eve: Angela Carter’s writing style is so overblown and hilarious, but ultimately this book was so dated it was hard to read. Fascinated though I may be by old feminist sci fi. I would love to read Gretchen Felker-Martin’s take on this one though. The Paying Guests: I’ve never read Sarah…