Book 56, 2023: am Homeless if this is not my Home by Lorrie Moore. I love Lorrie Moore’s work; her short stories especially. But this novella about a man driving across America with the ghost/corpse of his ex-lover just didn’t resonate with me at all. I liked some lines, and the final chapter was good but nope, not for me. And that’s fine. Has anyone else read it, and liked it? @bookstadon#novels#Reading#literature
Book 55, 2023: A Waiter in Paris by Edward Chisholm. I get why this has been so popular. An open look at the grim underbelly of being a waiter in the French capital. Full of filth, booze, violence, and despair. But it's well written, and cracks along.
Book 54, 2023; As the Eagle Flies by Nolwenn Le Blevennec. Described as a cross between Annie Ernaux and Woody Allen this first-person novella tells the story of a woman having an affair. Written in a wry and dry style, it’s full of frustrations and furies. And it’s very French. Published by the always-reliable Pereine Press, which specialises in translated fiction. @bookstadon#fiction#books
Book 53, 2023: Do it for Your Mum. The story of Cumbrian/Brighton rock band British Sea Power. I read this when it came out in 2011 or something, and loved it, and rereading it was enthralled all over again. It’s a love song to doing things your own way, taking in Nick Cave, Violet Szabo, various birds of prey, and Ronnie Corbett along the way. A magnificent biography. @bookstodon
Book 52, 2023: Our Lady of the Highway by Hal Hartley. I loved this novel. Renegade anarchist nuns hole up in a Brooklyn convent! Lola joins them to try to curb her violent mystical powers. They make hallucinogenic beer! The cops try to close them down!There's a pitbull named Desmond!
Book 51, 2023: River by Esther Kinsky. An exploration of London’s rimy River Lea, and the neighbourhood’s characters, combined with stories from time spent near the Rhine, Oder, and other rivers. @bookstadon#books#reading#novels
New arrival. Only recently found out one of my favourite film directors, Hal Hartley, has written a novel. Can’t wait to read it. #books#reading#films#movies@bookstadon
Book 48, 2023: Shame by Annie Ernaux. This memoir covers the year when she was 12, and opens with the line: "My father tried to kill my mother one Sunday in June, in the early afternoon."
It looks at the realisation that she has grown up relatively poor, in a difficult household, and the shame that comes with that. As usual, she opens up everything to scrutiny, her entire life on the pages.
Book 47, 2023: Sleepless – Marie Darrieussecq. I loved these sketches and stories about insomnia culled from artists and literature through the ages, as the writer contends with her own inability to sleep. Another killer book from the always-reliable Fitzcarraldo Editions.
Which idiot thought it was a good idea to read Marie Darrieussecq’s Sleepless, a book about insomnia, the night before he had to get up at 0630 to go on a long train journey? 🙄 #train#reading@bookstodon
Book 45, 2023: The Young Man by Annie Ernaux. This is an EXTREMELY short memoir, with a font the size of a Dr Seuss book, about the relationship she had, when she was in her early fifties, with a male student 30 years her junior. It is as unsparing as usual, and is interesting on the reversal of gender roles, such as the looks the couple get from strangers, which they wouldn't were the sexes reversed.
Book #44, 2023: 1923 by Ned Boulting. The cycling commentator and writer buys an old newsreel at auction, and begins a quest to discover the story of a Belgian cyclist who appears in the film. The year 1923 echoes through the story, which branches out to include war, family, and Sarah Bernhardt. Recommended. #cycling#biogrsohy#reading#books@bookstadon
@arratoon@bookstadon but... The problem isn't buying more books, it's not having enough time to devour them all, right? (Spoken like one who just bought 2 more books today and a pile of amazing books still waiting to be read... And counting... Sigh)
Book 43, 2023: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I loved this story of a woman telling her three daughters about her past, her relationship with a famous actor, and the things she keeps to herself. It’s magnificent. #books@bookstodon#reading#Fiction
Book 42, 2023: August Blue by Deborah Levy. Really liked this. A concert pianist freezes during a Rachmaninov performance. She then travels round the world giving private lessons, all the while encountering a possible doppelgänger, and reflecting on the maestro who brought her up. A hazy, bewitching novel. #books#fiction#music#Bookstodon@bookstodon