Linda reviews "Seltzer's Taylor" by TL Travis, Road to Rocktoberfest 2023:
"Rockers, sex, and love. All TL Travis’ rocker books are wonderful, and this is no exception. If you’ a’re not familiar with them, grab this one now. There’s no better time. 5 stars."
Fathers and Sons by Turgenev is an interesting character study of Bazarov, a self-proclaimed nihilist in the backdrop of the ideological differences between the “fathers” and “sons”. It also looks at the inevitability of the generational gap between sons (Bazarov and Arkady) and their respective fathers, and the futility of trying to reject emotions. (details linked)
#BookReview The Ukrainian/Russian writer Konstantin Paustovsky is described in the introduction this way:
“He was one of the few honest and uncompromised writers of the Soviet period. He managed not to join the Communist Party, to sign his name to any denunciation of another writer, or to sell out his talent to curry favour with Soviet officialdom.”
Earlier this year NYRB published this collection of the first three books of his memoirs in a new translation by Douglas Smith.
Nature and language may have been the two greatest loves of Paustovsky’s life; his descriptions of Kyiv in autumn, his love of being by the sea, and connection with poetry are marvelous.
Reading his eyewitness account of what Ukraine went through after WW1 during the civil war made me appreciate even more what the Ukrainian people have gone through during their traumatic history.
It’s impossible to describe all the riches of the stories and writing this volume contains, a stunning book and unforgettable reading experience, I wanted it to go on for another 800 pages.
THE ASSASSINATION OF PATRICE LUMUMBA, first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, explored in this timely, fascinating, intensely researched work with emphasis on US Cold War strategy and the role of the CIA. A MINUS
📚 Just finished reading Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons.
Picked this up for cheap scares on Halloween and it delivered so, so much more.
Paranormal threats, friendly ghosts, deep character relationships, emotional moments, and some cute feel-good parts in between. Not what I expected from a "horror", but in the best way possible.
📚 Just finished reading Ghost Tamer by Meredith R. Lyons.
Picked this up for cheap scares on Halloween and it delivered so, so much more.
Paranormal threats, friendly ghosts, deep character relationships, emotional moments, and some cute feel-good parts in between. Not what I expected from a "horror", but in the best way possible.
"Hill had me at “snow, a farmer and a mangy dog.” ... a heart warming, well-written story with filled with romance, love and true awakenings between two men – with both sad and feel-good moments and just the right banter and humor."
LOVE, HEARTBREAK, AND LOSS are the cornerstones of this elegantly constructed novel that captures the power of connection and the pain of isolation. Sex is a constant presence in the book, but evocations of food and friendship hit even harder. A MINUS
#BookReview A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
Read in Braille
Penguin
Pub. 1980, 104pp
This is a novella I’ve been meaning to read for years and it’s delightful.
Tom Birkin’s a Londoner who’s returned from war with shellshock and he takes a commission to restore a medieval church wall painting in a Yorkshire village. The warm summer days are glorious as he gets to work, with high hopes for the project:
“I willed it to be something good, really splendid, truly astonishing… something to wring a mention from The Times and a detailed account (with pictures) in the Illustrated London News.”
To his relief he’s quickly welcomed into the community:
“In the first few minutes of my first morning, I felt that this alien northern countryside - friendly, that I’d turned a corner and that this summer of 1920, was to smoulder on until the first leaves fell, was to be a propitious season of living”
For a book of just over 100 pages it’s full of fully realised characters; from his neighbour Moon (a fellow veteran who’s also on a contract from the vicarage) to the stationmaster’s daughter Kathy and the vicar’s wife Alice - they all visit him often, interested in him and his work. The vicar’s a miserly character and there’re some very uncomfortable conversations between him and Birkin.
And the description of landscape is evocative throughout:
“For me that will always be the summer day of summer days – a cloudless sky, ditches and roadside deep in grass, poppies, cuckoo pint, trees heavy with leaf, orchards bulging over hedge briars.”
This is a beautifully written story of someone looking back fondly on a restorative period in their youth, with the gradual unveiling of the painting mirroring his own feelings of rediscovering himself. The conversational tone, a hint of romance and poignant moments of reflection on religion and war make it easy to relate to this character from another time.
A long time overdue to read this from the godmother of modern Norwegian crime fiction - who certainly knows how to produce well written, atmospheric character driven crime fiction which tackles important questions along the way.
Today's indie author review!
Music & Dreams by JP Sayle:
"Another journey to Rocktoberfest, and my favorite by far. There were some great surprises in store for Rogan which will change his future in a way he could never have imagined. 5 Stars."
#BookReview Narrated by H., a portrait painter, José Saramago's first novel depicts an artist's struggle to capture the real person behind the face and the frustration of being unable to do so.
H. has no illusions about the kind of work he turns out. His portraits show his clients as they want to be portrayed, but when S., a businessman, commissions a portrait H. also paints a secret second portrait to show the real S., but is dissatisfied with that one too. He then turns to words to capture S. as he is.
He begins by writing about their interactions and quickly expands to writing about his own life, politics, and artistic philosophy. What's most fascinating about this book is watching a great writer in the process of unfurling his new writerly butterfly wings.
First published in 1977, Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was published in the US in 2012 translated by Giovanni Pontiero.