#Classic Nicholas Nickelby

 

Introduction:

1. Nicholas Nickleby is set in the mid-1820s, 15 years earlier than its publication.
2. Dickens antedated many of his stories.
3. But here the date is historically significant.
4. Yorkshire at the period of the novel’s action was a kind of British Siberia.
5. From the 18th century, abusive parents had been dumping their unwanted offspring at cheap boarding schools there.
6. It was all about to change, just at the period Dickens was writing Nicholas Nickleby.
7. The age of the stagecoach was over, the age of the railway coach began.
8. Nicholas Nickleby is, historically, on the cusp of this revolution.
9. Yorkshire, thanks to steam, would soon be a few hours, not days away.
10. It was no longer remote.

 

Strong points:

1. Dense narrative
2. Vivid characters
3. Colorful and inventive writing style
4. Multi-layered plots that keep readers interested from beginning to end.
5. Writing appeals of our sense of hearing when read aloud! Dickens repeats “hard letters”
6. …like “P” with characters Pyke and Puck…ch 19.
7. PS: READ THE BOOK…the movie (2002) left so much out that is great reading in the book!

 

 

Conclusion:

1. I’ve read quite a few novels by Dickens and can probably predict the budding romances
2. and who is going to bestowed an unexpected inheritance.
3. But this book had some real surprises in chapters 60-65!
4. There is no reason this book should not be named in the TOP-TEN Dickens novels.
5. It deserves more attention.
6. Name: Newman Noggs (nog = alcoholic drink) for an alcoholic office clerk.
7. Name: DoTheBoys School…boys boarding school where they are mistreated.
8. Name: Wackford Squeers ( wack = very bad) sadistic and abusive headmaster.
9. Name: Mr. Veriospht (very soft)
10. Name: Mr Snobb (snob)

 

1. Sometimes the sheer size of a Dickens novel makes me not want to start the book.
2. This time I used an audible version – listened to 3 chapters a day ( usually with  breakfast and my coffee)
3. ….and had the experience as Dickens intended  “reading a serial novel”.
4. The first serialised novel was  Pickwick.  
5. Charles Dickens wrote this novel at the age 24 and it was the first serial novel!
6. It consisted of sequences of loose adventures.
7. I strongly recommend reading this book also as AUDIO book!  
8. I used it during my daily walks a few years ago and 
9. laughed so much! Yes the book is a “chunkster” but worth investing in an audio version.
10. Funniest characters in Nicholas Nickelby:  
11. That has to be Mr. and Mrs. Crummles and their band of thespians! 
12. I hope to watch the film version this afternoon with Mr. Crummels played by Nathan Lane and
13. …Mrs. Crummels played by Barry Humphries of “Dame Edna Everage” fame.

 

Notes:

04.09.2023 – 3rd novel by Dickens…65 chapters. Reading 3 chapters a day + taking notes.

Jim Broadbent as Wackford Squeers in Nicholas Nickelby film 2002.

 

Newman Noggs….knows more than we can imagine! – 

1. “He looked down, and there stood
2. Newman Noggs, who pushed up into his hand a dirty letter.
3. ‘What’s this?’ inquired Nicholas.
4. ‘Hush!’ rejoined Noggs, pointing to Mr Ralph Nickleby, who was
5. saying a few earnest words to Squeers, a short distance off: ‘Take
6. it. Read it. Nobody knows. That’s all.”
7. Noggs played by Tom Courtenay

 

September 4, 2023 – page 66

8.08% “3rd novel by Dickens…65 chapters. Reading 3 chapters a day + taking notes. Dickens give his characters odd names! Newman Noggs (nog = alcoholic drink) for an alcoholic office clerk. Also the name of the boys boarding school where they are mistreated: “DoTheBoys” School.

Wackford Squeers ( wack = very bad) sadistic and abusive headmaster”

September 5, 2023 – page 116

14.2% “Ch 6-7-8: Skipped ch 6 ..it was an embedded ‘story’ told by a travelling gentleman…nothing to do with the narrative. ch 7: Nicholas finally read the secret letter that Newman Noggs gave him. ch 8 Nicholas is a witness to the beatings an cruelty shown to the boys by Mr. Squeetrs. N is shocked.”

September 6, 2023 – page 158

19.34% “Ch 9-10-11 – Mr Squeers force feeds boy at his boarding school an ‘appetite depressant’…saves money on food. Fanny Sqeers (daughter) falls in love with Nicholas but is bluntly rebuffed. Kate Nickelby (sister) finds work in a dress shop owned by Mrs. Mantalini and her husband Alfred...dressed in Turkish trousers, a pink silk neckerchief and bright green slippers!”

September 7, 2023 – page 202

24.72% “Ch 12-13-15  New characters: Mr Crowl, Henriette Petowker, Mr Lilyvick and Mr Snewkes!”

September 8, 2023 – page 252

30.84% “Ch 15 – Nichols escapes Dotheboys School and arrives with Smike at Mr. Nogg’s apartment. Ch 16 Nichols finds a job as a French teacher at the home in Mr/Mrs Kenwigs. Ch 17 Narrative swerves off to tell more about Kate Nickelby, job as dressmaker Mrs/Mr Mantalini. They are an excellent example of comic relief!”

September 9, 2023 – page 301

36.84% “Ch 18 – Kate is now the object of Mrs. Knag’s hate! 

Ch 19 – Poor Kate is now made a pawn in her uncle’s business affairs!

Ch 20 – Nicholas returns and confronts his evil uncle…turning point in the book.”

September 10, 2023 – page 351

42.96% “Ch 21 – Kate changes jobs…becomes a ladie’s companion.

Ch 22 – Nicholas/Simike set off to Portsmouth to find employment.

Ch 23 – Funny chapter…b/c NN/Smike met Mr. Crummles and his travelling theatre company. A motley crew but willing to help NN/S with some work.”

September 11, 2023 – page 399

48.84% “Ch 24 – Nicholas begins his training as an actor with Mr. Crummles.

Ch 25 – Long chapters describing the unexpected marriage of the actress Miss Petowker with the old wealthy gentleman Mr. Lillyvick!

Ch 26 – Sir Mulberry Hawk fancies Miss Kate Nickelby and does his best to make her formal acquaintance.”

September 12, 2023 – page 446

54.59% “Ch 27 – Kate is being harrassed by Sir Mulberry Hawk

Ch 28 – Uncle Ralph will not criticise his “business” partner Mulberry and refuses to help his niece. Ralph: “We all have our trials….and this one is one of yours.” Kindly Newman Noggs comforts Kate and promises to help her.

CH 29 Noggs sends a letter to Nicholas Nickelby…your sister needs your help!”

September 13, 2023 – page 485

59.36% “Ch 30 – Nicholas leaves Mr Crummles group of thespians….his last performance to the chagrin on many ladies in the company!

Ch 31 – Noggs and Miss La Creevey and ready to welcome Nicholas back to London but must be careful that NN does not lash out when he hears of his sister’s predicament. 

Ch 32 – NN hears in hotel coffee room 4 men talking about his sister ….NN is livid!”

September 14, 2023 – page 532

65.12%  Ch 33 “These chapters reveal a turning point in Nicholas’s life!

Ch – 33 Nicholas rescues his sister and sends letter to uncle: “You are no family of ours, you wretch!”

Ch 34 Ralph Nickeby (uncle) continues to lend money and earn money. He tears up NN’s letter and is very angry.

Ch 35 Good news! The jolly and rich Cheeryble Brothers (Ned and Charles) hire NN in accounting house + give Kate and Mrs. N a cottage to live in.”

September 15, 2023 – page 580

70.99% “Ch 36 – Mr/Mrs Kenwigs hear that Uncle Lillyvick has married actress Miss Petowker. Mrs. K faints….b/c she knows there will no inheritance for her daughter!

Ch 37 – Bros. Cheeryble celebrate their old clerks’ birthday . Mrs Nickelby has received proposal of marriage from neighbour!

Ch 38 – Mr Squeers kidnaps Smike from a London street…beats him and locks him up in his lodging until returning to DoTheBoys School.”

September 16, 2023 – page 624

76.38% “Ch 39 Smile escapes the “grip of Squeers”…with the help on an old friend!

Ch 40 Nicholas fall in love….wit the help of Noggs tries to meet her.

Mystery: who is SHE?

Ch 41 Mrs. Nickelby is approached by the besotted neighbour with worlds of love….but people tell Mrs N the man is crazy! She does not believe this b/c “…there is too much method to his madness! 

Mystery: who is HE?”

 

#AusReadingMonth23 Currowan

 

• Author: Bronwyn Adcock
• Title: Currowan  (271 pg)  2021
• Genre: Non-fiction
• Australian TBR List
• #AusReadingMonth23 @ This Reading Life(Brona’s Books)
• Starting early…b/c I have a  SO MANY books to read!
• Intro: This is the story of a fire.

 

Conclusion:

1. This is my second book about an environmental fire in Australia.
2. Currowan was written in the wake of the devastating bushfires over the summer of 2019-2020, is a moving insider’s account.
3. Eastern Australia is one of the most fire-prone regions of the world
4. and its predominant eucalyptus forests have evolved to thrive on the phenomenon of bushfire.

1. I learned a great deal about bushfires…how they should and should NOT be fought!
2. Bushfires explode and  spread fast.
3. A bushfire rages at an average speed of 22.53kph (14mph).
4. That’s two times faster than a forest fire, which is usually at 10.78kph (6.7mph).
5. It’s much faster than most people can run — which is why it’s so dangerous.
6. Ms Adcock uses this to inbue her report with anxiety people feel…they never feel safe.

 

1. Currowan tells the story of unprecedented environmental disaster.
2. It captures the human cost via the stories of people who suffered through it.
3. It contains important information about climate change and
4. our unpreparedness for the consequences b/c of
5. climate denialism promoted by fossil fuel lobbyists around the world.
6. Australian bushfires are getting worse and it’s being driven by climate change.
7. Not only has the number of megafires in Australia spiked since 2000
8. but a greater expanse of land is being burnt.

 

Personal:

1. As I said this is my second book about an environmental fire in Australia.
2. I would recommend reading :
3. Hazelwood: Written in the wake of 2014 coal mine fire by Tom Doig.
4. Mr Doig  gathered information from 2014-2019 with in-depth interviews and
5. …follow-up fact checking.
6. He exposes the sickness/health issues of people Morwell Australia.
7. His book was a “page-turner”.
8. Ms Adcock as has Mr Doig  done a masterful job giving us 
9. a report about these catastrophes.
10. PS: Currowan was the winner of the Walkley Book Award 2022
11. …and is worth your reading time!

 

#AusReadingMonth23 Sign-up Post

 

1. The Timeless Land – Eleanor Dark 
2. The Commandant – Jessica Anderson 
3. Danger Music – Eddie Ayres 
4. The Kindness of Birds – M. Bobis
5. Lake Malibu – Su-May Tan
6. Lies, Damned Lies – C. Coleman
7. If You’re Happy – F. Robertson
8. This I Know To Be True – A. Bovell (play)
9. The Secret River – A. Bovell (play)
10. The Element of Need – J. Badley
11. Blue Fin – C. Thiele
12. The Turning – T. Winton
13. When the Rain Stops Falling – A. Bovell (play)
14. Under the Cold Bright Lights – G. Disher
15. Unreliable Memoirs – C. James
16. Hell West and Crooked  – T. Cole
17. Bodies of Men – N. Featherstone
18. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – S. Karunatilaka
19. West Block – S. Dowse
20. Salt Creek  – Lucy Treloar
21. See What I Have Done – S. Schmidt
22. The Timeless Land – E. Dark
23. Honor – J. Murray-Smith (play)
24. Remembered Presences – A. Croggon
25. Coal Creek – A. Miller
26. Accidental Feminists – J. Caro
27. Buckley’s Chance – G. Linnell
28. The Stranger Artist – Q. Sprague
29. The Hilton Bombing – I. Salusinszky
30. Noho Wisdom Tree 5 – N. Earls
31. Comfort Food – E. van Neerven
32. Another Love Another Life – G. Hetherington
33. Murmurations – C. Lefevre
34. A Life Underwater – C. Veron
35. Waiting For Elijah – K. Wild
36. Offshore – M. Gleeson
37. My Name Is Revenge – A. K. Blunt
38. Revolutinary Spring – Christopher Clark
39. Fishing for Lightning – S. Holland-Batt
40. See What I Have Done – S. Schmidt
41. Killing for Country – David Marr

 

READ:

1. The Man on the Headland – Kylie Tennant 
2. Ghosts of the Orphanage – Christine Kenneally
   
3. The Dead Still Cry Out: Story of a Combat Cameraman – Helen Lewis 
4. The Burnished Sun – M. Riwoe
5. The Winter Road – K. Holden
6. Where the Water Ends – Z. Holman
7. Witness – L. Milligan
8. Flesh Made New – J. Risk/C. Power
9. Toxic – R. Flanagan
10. Kultitja – L. Wells
11. Island Home – T. Winton
12. The Biggest Estate of Earth – B. Gammage
13. Bearing Witness – Peter  Rees
14. Silent Invasion – C. Hamilton
15. The Palestine Laboratory – Antony Loewenstein
16. Bedlam at Botany Bay – J. Dunk
17. Flawed Hero: Truth Lies and War Crimes – Chris Masters
18. Currowan – B. Adcock
19. The Multiple Effects of Rainshadow (1996)
    
20. Bulldozed – Niki Savva
    
21. Crossing the Line  – Nick McKenzie
    
22. The Passion of Private White – Don Watson 
23. Australia’s China Odyssey  – James Curran

#September Reading List

 

 

Reading two  books for #Hispanic Heritage Month*     (15 Sept – 15 Oct)

• The House of the Spirits (1982)  Isabel Allende * – REVIEW
•  In Evil Hour (1968) – Gabriel García Marquez  * – REVIEW
• Nicholas Nickleby (1839)  – Charles Dickens    (814/952)   READING. #Classics Book List
• Mike Nichols: A Life (2022)  – Mark Harris – REVIEW  
• My Own Words: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (memoir)  – REVIEW
• Holly – Stephen King –  REVIEW   #RIPVIII
• The Scheme – Sheldon Whitehouse – REVIEW
• Septology part I-III – Jon Fosse – REVIEW

 

#September Reading List 2023

Reading three books for #Hispanic Heritage Month*     (15 Sept – 15 Oct)

1. 1. The House of the Spirits (1982)  Isabel Allende *
   2. The Green House (1965) – Mario Vargas Llosa *
   3.  In Evil Hour (1968) – Gabriel García Marquez  *
   4. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1839)  – Charles Dickens  (817 pg!) #Classics Book List
   5. Mike Nichols: A Life (2022)  – Mark Harris – READING   pg 453/594   (#NonFicNov 2023)
   6. My Own Words: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (memoir)  – (2018)  (#NonFicNov 2023)
   7. Holly – Stephen King –  #RIPVIII  01 Sept – 31 Oct
   8. The Shining – Stephen King –  #RIPVIII  01 Sept – 31 Oct

 

June – July – August  2023:  

Vacation!

1. Time to enjoy the wonderful weather in The Netherlands
2. ..and all the sport op TV:  
3. Wimbledon
4. Women’s World Cup 2023 Australia & New Zealand
5. Formula 1 racing with world champion Dutch Max Verstappen (UK GP, Hungarian GP, Belgian GP )
6. Tour de France
7. World Campionship Athletics in Budapest Hungary (Dutch athletes Femke Bol and Sifan Hassan)
8. US Open Tennis Championship
9. See you in September!

 

May 2023:

1. 20 Books of Summer Reading List
2. Books for my TBR 2023
3. New Bookcase
4. Demon Copperhead – B. Kingslover – REVIEW
5. Les mains du miracle – J. Kessel, 1960  – REVIEW
6. Georges Perec – Claude Burgelin (2023) – REVIEW
7. Berlin Requiem – Xavier-Marie Bonnot (2023) – REVIEW
8. La carte postale – A. Berest (2021) – REVIEW
9. Le baiser au lépreux – François Maurice (1922) – REVIEW
10. The Night Watchman – L. Erdrich – REVIEW
11.  L’étranger – Albert Camus (1942) – REVIEW
12. Les Thibault – R.M. du Gard (1922) – REVIEW

  April 2023:

1. April Reading List
2. Do Not Disturb  – M. Wrong, 2021 (Rwanda) (NF)  – READ  – no review…just too busy at the moment!
3. Les mains du miracle – Joseph Kessel, 1960 (non-fiction) –– READ…review soon!
4. READING STOP …time for Home Improvement!
5. Kitchen 03 April
6. Kitchen 04 April
7. Kitchen 06 April
8. Kitchen 08 April
9. Kitchen 11 April
10. Kitchen 16 April
11. Kitchen 19 April
12. Kitchen 22 April Fini!
13. Eat Your Heart Out, Julia!
14. Spring Cleaning

  SHORT STORY:   Stories from The New Yorker 2023  

1. The Other Party – M. Klam   – excellent
2. Notions of the Sacred – A. Savas  – excellent
3. Hammer Attack – Han Ong  – good
4. Wednesday’s Child – Yiyun Li – too depressing
5. Different People – C. Sestanocivh – no conflict…just dishwater grey!
6. The Middle Voice – H. Kang  – main character has no voice…story has no plot.
7. Sad Dead – Mariana Enriquez – TOP!!  Who is this writer?…from Buenos Aires (1973)
8. The Last Grownup – Allegra Goodman – divorced couple moving on….nothing special.
9. – 23( total stories = 23/52 weeks …up-to-date until 01 June)
10. The End of the World is a Cul de Sac – L. Kennedy, 2021  REVIEW (15 stories) 

  March 2023:

1. On Becoming an American Writer – J. McPherson – REVIEW
2. French Reading Challenge:
3. Enfant de Salaud – Sorj Chalandon, 2021 (novel) – REVIEW
4. L’Armée du silence – G. Pollack, 2022  (NF) – REVIEW
5. #Readingirelandmonth23 Challenge    
6. Short History of Irish Literature – F. O’ Connor, 1968  Intro  – REVIEW                                
7. The End of the World is a Cul de Sac – L. Kennedy, 2021  Short Story – REVIEW
8. My Fourth Time, We Drowned – Sally Hayden, 2022  Non- Fiction  – REVIEW             

  February 2023:  

1. Updike – A. Begley (NF) – REVIEW
2. Darkness at Noon – A. Koestler (Modern Library) – REVIEW
3. Hong Kong Et Macao – J. Kessel   (NF) (French) (Hong Kong) – REVIEW
4. My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge Deadliest Migration Route – Sally Hayden (NF) – READING
5. Journal d’un curé de campagne – Georges Bernanos – REVIEW

 

1. Black History Month (#BHM)…reading as many as I can!
2. De Doorsons – Roline Redmond (Dutch book)  – REVIEW
3. Love Songs W.E. Du Bois – Honorée  F. Jeffers – REVIEW
4. The Age of Phillis – H. F. Jeffers (poet’s life through poems) – REVIEW
5. Punch Me Up to the Gods (memoir) – Brian Broome – REVIEW
6. Halfway Home –  R.J. Miller (NF)  – REVIEW – LA Times Prize 2022 finalist
7. A Knock At Midnight – Brittany K. Barnett (NF)  – REVIEW

  January 2023:

1. Beartown – F. Backman (#NordicFINDS23 Sweden) novel – REVIEW
2. Resin – A. Riel (#NordicFINDS23 Denmark) novel – REVIEW
3. Why We Sleep  NF – M. Walker (BookBingo science) – REVIEW
4. Une mort très douce – S. de Beauvoir novella (French) – REVIEW
5. Le Vice Consul – M. Duras.  novella (French) – REVIEW
6. The Man Who Played With Fire – J. Stocklassa – REVIEW
7. Moderato Cantabile – M. Duras novella (French) – REVIEW
8. A Line in the World: A Year on the North Sea Coast – Dorthe Nors – Denmark  (NF) – REVIEW
9. The Rabbit Factor – Antti Tuomainen – Finland  (Dark crime, comedy)  – REVIEW
10. Scandinavian Movies – #NordicFINDS23
11. Les caves du Vatican – (Wikipedia)  André Gide –  REVIEW.   Nobel Prize 
12. La panthère des neiges – S. Tesson  NF (French)  #WorldFromMyArmchair – REVIEW
13. #BAFTA Awards Movies
14.  

December 2022:

1. Journal 1942-1945 – Hélène Beer  (NF) – REVIEW
2. The Long Game – Rush Doshi (NF)  – REVIEW
3. The Bostonians – Henry James (Novel )– REVIEW
4. Rome  (900 pages!) – E. Zola (Novel ) – REVIEW
5. Lady Justice – D. Lithwick (NF)  – REVIEW

 

November 2022:

1. NonFicNov WEEK 1  non-fiction list for 2022
2. NonFicNov WEEK 2  Book pairings – documentary/NF
3. NonFivNov WEEK 4  “Jaw-dropping”  nonfiction
4. The New Yorker: RIP  George Booth (1928-2022)  iconic cartoonist
5. The Time Machine – (novella) H.G. Wells   – REVIEW
6. Binti – N. Okorafor (novella) – REVIEW
7. De Profundis – (novella) Oscar Wilde – REVIEW
8. #AusReadingMonth2022 Reading List
9. USA Mid-Term Elections 2022 – resullts 
10. Philip Larkin Collected Poems – P. Larkin – REVIEW
11. Dark as Last Night (Tony Birch) (VIC)  – REVIEW
12. The Red Zone – Peter Hartcher – New South Wales (NSW) – REVIEW
13. Lowitja  – (change of plans…) – selecting author from (VIC) –  REVIEW
14. The Carbon Club – Marian Wilkinson – Queensland (QLD)  – REVIEW
15. The Lucky Laundry – Nathan Lynch – Western Australia (WA) – REVIEW
16. Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong  Louisa Lim – FREE SPACE –REVIEW
17. Soil – M. Evans – (TAS) A love letter to Mother Earth. – REVIEW
18. Telling Tennant’s Story: – D. Ashenden  (NT) – REVIEW
19. Friends & Rivals – Brenda Niall – REVIEW  (VIC)
20. #AusReadingMonth2022 WRAP-UP

 

1. Ruined – Lynn Nottage  – 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama   – REVIEW:
2. The Death of Vivek Oji (248 pg) – Akwaeke Emezi 2020 (novel) – REVIEW
3. Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia – REVIEW
4. Le mage de Kremlin – G. da Empoli – REVIEW
5. Say No to Death – Dymphna Cusack (Australia) – REVIEW
6. Max Verstappen World Champion Formula 1 !!
7. Annie Ernaux Nobel Prize for Literature 2022 (France) “Les années”
8. Romantisme Noire in Paris (tentoonstelling)– au Musée Jacquemart-André
9. Prix Goncourt 2022 – long list nominated books
10. Sa préféerée – Sarah Jollien-Fardel (novella) 200 pg – REVIEW
11. Le chien à ma table – C. Hunzinger – REVIEW
12. I Love Poetry – Michael Farrell (Australia) 42 poems – REVIEW
13. Ruined – Lynn Nottage (play) – REVIEW
14. De Machine – Stijn Bronzwaer (Dutch NF) – REVIEW
15. #AusReadingMonth2022   Reading List
16. Cathy Park Hong  – Minor Feelings (essays) – READ (3 stars) – no review

  September 2022:

1. Wrap-Up BooksOfSummer22 (LIST of  books read  June-July)_August)
2. Walkley Prize Longlist 2021  P. Hartcher – REVIEW
3. Ring Shout –   RIPXVII   P. Djèlí Clark (novella) – REVIEW
4. The Colour of Magic –  RIPXVII Terry Pratchett (fantasy)  – REVIEW
5. Wrong Man Down –   RIPXVII J. Masinton (CF) – REVIEW
6. RIPXVII Reading Challenge – book list
7. September 8 2022 – London Bridge Is Down   (RIP Queen Elizabeth 1926-2022)
8. The Man Who Could Move Clouds – I. Rojas-Contreras (memoir) – REVIEW
9. Unaccompanied – J. Zamora (poems) – REVIEW
10. Holly and the Nobodies –  RIPXVII   Ben Pienaar (novel) – REVIEW
11. Sa préféerée – Sarah Jollien-Fardel (novella) 200 pg – REVIEW

  August 2022: 

1. Until Justice Be Done (2021) (NF) – K. Masur (NF) – REVIEW
2. Stages of Struggle: Modern Playwrights – J. DiGaetani (NF) – REVIEW
3. Unfollow Me – J. Busby  (NF) – REVIEW
4. Why We Did It– Tim Miller (2022) NF – REVIEW
5. Everything Flows – Vasily Grossman – REVIEW
6. Gordo – J. Cortez (12 stories) – REVIEW
7. Lungs – Duncan MacMillian (2011) play – REVIEW
8. August books by the pool! – Mini Reviews

  July 2022:

1. La Cousin Bette – H. Balzac – REVIEW
2. Profession du père – Sorj Chalandon (France) – REVIEW
3. Invisible Storm – Jason Kander (memoir)  (NF) (NF)- REVIEW
4. Portrait of an Unknown Woman – Daniel Silva – REVIEW
5. Le Dieu de Dostoïevski – Marguerite Souchon (France) (NF)- REVIEW
6. Thank You For Your Servitude  (2022)- M. Leibovich (NF) – REVIEW
7. Devil in the Blue Dress – W. Mosley (CF) – REVIEW

  Juni 2022:

1. #20BooksOfSummer22 Reading List
2. Flyboy in the Buttermilk – Greg Tate (NF) – REVIEW
3. Mildred Pierce – James M. Cain – REVIEW
4. Stony the Road (NF) – H.L. Gates jr. (USA) – REVIEW
5. All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep – A. Henry  (NF) – REVIEW
6. Beachmasters – Thea Ashley (Australia) – REVIEW
7. Hooked: Art and Attachment – Rita Felski (NF)  (USA) – REVIEW
8. The Periodic Table – Primo Levi (Italy) – REVIEW
9. Living By the Word – Alice Walker (NF)  (USA) – REVIEW
10. When Harlem Was In Vogue – D. Lewis (NF) (USA) – REVIEW
11. The Crown Ain’t Worth Much – (50 poems) Hanif Abdurraqib – REVIEW
12. Le Dernier Jour d’un Condamné  – Victor Hugo – REVIEW

  May 2022:

1. May READING LIST
2. Cézanne: Puissant et solitaire– M. Hoog – REVIEW
3. Le maniérisme –  P.  Falguières  – REVIEW
4. Freezing Order  (2022)- B. Browder – REVIEW
5. Rescue – Joseph Conrad – REVIEW
6. Bring the War Home – K. Belew – REVIEW
7. Silver – Chris Hammer – REVIEW
8. Writing Deep Scenes – M. Alderson – REVIEW
9. Caravaggio – José Frèches – REVIEW

  April 2022:

1. April READING LIST
2. Tunnel 29 – H. Merman – REVIEW
3. Tiger Girl – Pascale Petit – REVIEW 
4. Les délassiés – T. Porcher – REVIEW
5. Le fagot de ma mémoire – S. Diagne – REVIEW
6. The Road to Unfreedom – T. Snyder – REVIEW
7. The Age of the Strongman – G. Rachman – REVIEW
8. La guerre des idées – E. Bastié – REVIEW
9. The Browning Version – T. Rattigan – REVIEW
10. The King of Warsaw – T. Szczepan – REVIEW
11. Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission – Y. Katz – REVIEW

  March 2022:

1. #ReadingIrelandMonth22  March  READING LIST
2. #ReadingIrelandMonth22  5 FAVORITE IRISH ACTORS

 

 

 

 

1. #DutchDictionary
2. Burns Family Crest + Irish Sweaters
3. Abelard and Heloise  – H. Waddell (historical fiction)
4. The Shining City – C. McPherson (play)
5. Theatre & Ireland – L. Pilkingkton
6. Still Life – Ciaran Carson (poetry)
7. Patrick Kavanagh: A Biiography – Antoinette Quinn
8. The Best of Frank O’Connor – F. O’Connor (essays)
9. The Canterville Ghost – O. Wilde (novella)
10. On Blueberry Hill – S. Barry (play)
11. The Humours of Bandon – M. McAuliffe
12. Portia Coughlan – Marina Carr (play)

  February 2022:

1. #MountTBR 2022 UPDATE and February READING LIST
2. A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson (travelogue)
3. John Adams – David McCullough  (biography)
4. King Charles III – Mike Bartlett (play)
5. All That She Carried – T. Miles (NF)
6. Red Velvet – L. Chakrabarti (play)
7. Big White Fog – T. Ward (play)
8. Redeployment – P. Klay (12 short stories)
9. Macbeth – W. Shakespeare (play)
10. Last Night – James Salter (10 short stories)
11. No Man’s Land – H.Pinter (play)
12. No Name in the Street – James Baldwin
13. Dancing Lessons – Olive Senior (novel)
14. Unbound – Tarana Burke (memoir)
15. Sweat – Lynn Nottage (play)

  January 2022:

1. #MountTBR 2022 January  Reading LIST
2. #Challenges The New Yorker 2022 short stories
3. The Housekeeper and the Professor – Y. Ogawa (novella)
4. Thomas Becket – J. Guy (NF)
5. The Confessions of Nat Turner – W. Styron (novel)
6. Out of Africa – I. Dinesin (memoir)
7. A Cultural History of Causality – S. Kern (NF)
8. The Silence of the Sea – Y. Sigurdardottir (CF)
9. The Hummingbird – K. Hiekkapelto (CF)
10. The Hunting Dogs – J.L. Horst (CF)
11. Kolymsky Heights – L. Davidson (CF)
12. Gaudy Night – D. Sayers (CF)
13. Collected Stories – Isaac Bashevis Singer
14. Captians Courageous – R. Kipling (novella)
15. The Dawn of the Belle Epoque – M. McAuliffe (NF)
16. The Art of Racing in the Rain – G. Stein (novel)
17. The Collected Short Plays –  Thornton Wilder, Volume I (plays)
18. Separate Tables – R. Rattigan
19. The Crossroads of Should and Must – E. Luna
20. A Manual for Cleaning Women – Lucia Berlin (short stories)

 

December 2021:

1. Passing – Nella Larsen (126 pg) 1929  (novella) REVIEW
2. Bodies of Men – Nigel Featherstone (267 pg). REVIEW
3. Disgraced – Ayad Akthar (play)  REVIEW
4. Roseanna – Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö  REVIEW (CF)
5. In the New World – Lawrence Wright (307 pg) 1987  REVIEW (NF)
6. Things I Have Withheld – Kei Miller (199 pg) 2021  REVIEW (NF)
7. Plot and Structure – J.S. Bell (240 pg )   2004 REVIEW (NF)
8. The Figure of the Detective – C. Brownson   (216 pg) 2014  REVIEW (NF)
9. #Dutchman Max Verstappen wins Formula 1 World Championship…celebration!

  November 2021:

1. Bloods – Wallace Terry (320 pg) 1984 (NF)  REVIEW
2. #NonficNov  reading list for November 2021
3. #NonficNov Wk 1 –  My year of non-fiction (48 books)
4. I’m Ready Now – Nigel Featherstone (156 pg) 2012 (novella)  REVIEW
5. Vertigo – Amanda Lohrey (144 pg) 2019 (novella)  REVIEW
6. #NonficNov Wk 2 – Pairings
7. Pushout  – M.W. Morris ((303 pg) 2018 (NF)  REVIEW
8. The Little Devil in America -398 pg) H. Abdurraqib (300 pg) (essays) 2021 REVIEW
9. The Year of Living Dangerously – C. Koch (224 pg) 1978  REVIEW
10. Basics to Brillance – Donna Hay (398 pg)  (cookbook) 2017 REVIEW
11. Black and British: A Forgotten History – David Olusago (639 pg) 2016 (NF)  REVIEW
12. Coda – Thea Astley (188 pg) 1994 (novella)  REVIEW
13. Tea and Sympathetic Magic – Tansy Roberts (73 pg) 2021 (novella)  REVIEW
14. How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith (336 pg) 2021 (NF)  REVIEW
15. #NonficNov Wk 3 – Be/Ask/Become the Expert
16. Crusade – Amos Oz (92 pg) 1971 (novella)  REVIEW
17. The Newspaper of Claremont Street – E. Jolley (128 pg)  1981  (novella) – REVIEW
18. Empire of Pain – P. R. Keefe (NF)  ….excellent!!  – REVIEW
19. #NonficNov Wk 4 – “Jaw-dropping”  books
20. Hell of a Book – Jason Mott (320 pg) 2021 (novel)  Winner National Book Award 2021 REVIEW
21. Australian Food – Bill Grannger  2020  REVIEW
22. The 1619 Project: The New American Origin Story – Nikole Hannah-Jones (590 pg) REVIEW

  October 2021:

1. Everything Happens for a Riesling – G. de Morgan  REVIEW
2. After Lives – A. Gurnah (Nobel Prize Literature 2021)  REVIEW
3. XMAS 2021
4. Read-A-Thon 23 Oct 2021
5. #BackToTheClassics  Challenge – Completed

  September 2021: Taking a short reading break…..for 4 weeks.   August 2021:

1. Mémoires d’ Hadrien – M. Yourcenar  REVIEW
2. Rien où poser sa tête – F. Frenkel  REVIEW
3. Voyage au centre de la terre – J. Verne  REVIEW
4. Gouverneurs de la rosée – J. Roumain  REVIEW
5. Les enfants sont les rois – D. de Vigan  REVIEW

July 2021:

1. La maison du chat qui pelote – H. Balzac (1830)  REVIEW
2. La cagnotte – E. Labiche (1864)  REVIEW
3. Pour une nuit d’amour – E. Zola (1880)  REVIEW
4. Le Bourgeois gentilhomme – Molière (1670)  REVIEW
5. J’Accuse – Émile Zola   REVIEW
6. Âme brisée – A. Mizubayashi  REVIEW
7. Charlotte – D. Foenkinos  REVIEW
8. 4 French Films – REVIEW
9. Le Dossier 113 – E. Gaboriau  REVIEW
10. Une amie de la famille – J. Laclavetine  REVIEW
11. La promesse de l’aube – Romain Gary  REVIEW
12. Sign-up “Summer reading in other languages”
13. Salammbô – G. Flaubert  REVIEW
14. Henri Matisse: Rooms with a view – S. Blum  REVIEW
15. #Paris In July   FINI!

June 2021:

1. John – Annie Baker (play)   REVIEW
2. Entangled Life – M. Sheldrake REVIEW (NF)
3. A Killing Spring – G. Bowen REVIEW (CF)
4. The Sense of an Ending – J. Barnes REVIEW
5. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead – Agatha Christie REVIEW (1952) (CF)
6. The Birdwatcher (2016) – W. Shaw  (CF) – REVIEW
7. Fer-de-Lance (1934) – Rex Stout (CF) REVIEW
8. Zero Fail (2021) – Carol Leonnig REVIEW
9. Catch and Kill (2019) – Ronan Farrow REVIEW
10. Darktown (2016) – T. Mullen (CF) REVIEW
11. The Prophets – R. Jones Jr. (2021) REVIEW
12. Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme – Molière  REVIEW 
13. Secrets Never Told – Dermot Bolger  REVIEW

May 2021:

1. The Long Fall – Walter Mosely REVIEW
2. The Door – Magda Szabo REVIEW
3. Station Eleven – E. St. John Mandel REVIEW
4. Palace Walk – N. Mahfouz REVIEW
5. The Committed – Viet Thanh Nguyen REVIEW
6. Mediocre – Ijeoma Oluo REVIEW
7. Gulag Archipelago vol 1 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn REVIEW
8. Nobody Knows My Name – James Baldwin (essays) REVIEW
9. Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison REVIEW
10. Talking To My Country – Stan Grant REVIEW
11. Wayward Lives – Saidiya Hartman (criticism) REVIEW
12. Rembrandt and the Female Nude – E. Sluijter REVIEW
13. Classical Art: From Greece to Rome – M. Beard REVIEW
14. Has China Won? – K. Muhbubani  REVIEW
15. Henri Matisse: Rooms with a View – S. Neilsen Blum REVIEW
16. Growth of the Soil – Knut Hamsun (1917) – REVIEW
17. Stories from the Warm Zone – Jessica Anderson (1987) – REVIEW
18. Classical Art – M. Beard REVIEW
19. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love – R. Carver (1981) REVIEW
20. Bloodlands – T. Snyder –  REVIEW
21. The Blue Clerk – Dionne Brand (2018) REVIEW
22. Fire Front – edited by Alison Whittaker (2020) REVIEW
23. The Betrayal – W. R. Corson (1968) REVIEW
24. A Baker’s Dozen – Dorothy Hewett (2001) REVIEW
25. The Lost Arabs – Omar Sakr  REVIEW
26. The New Ships – Kate Duignan  REVIEW
27. The Wall – John Hersey (1950) – …too long, skimmed, AWFUL
28. Ghostspeaking – Peter Boyle (2016) REVIEW
29. The Collected Stories (30) of Jean Stafford – J. Stafford  1970 Pulitzer Prize  REVIEW
30. Reaching Tin River – Thea Astley  REVIEW

———————————————————————————————————————————— April 2021:

1. The Guilded Auction Block – Shane McCrae (22 poems)  REVIEW  #PoetryMonth 2021
2. Revolusi – David van Reybrouck  REVIEW  Longlist Brusse  Prize 2021
3. Urk – M. Declercq  REVIEW  Longlist Brusse Prize 2021
4. Surge – Jay Bernard –  REVIEW #PoetryMonth 2021
5. Een Klein Land Met Verre Uithoeken – Floor Milikowski  REVIEW
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel – Z. N. Hurston (1937) REVIEW
7. Ghost Wars – Steve Coll (2004)  REVIEW
8. Song of the Crocodile – Nardi Simpson  REVIEW
9. Hiroshima – J. Hersey  REVIEW

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March 2021

1. Poem:  “Still”  – Felicia Olusanya (aka FeliSpeaks)  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
2. The Origins of Totalitarianism – Hannah Arendt  REVIEW
3. The Awkward Black Man – Walter Mosley  REVIEW
4. Pure, White and Deadly – J. Yudkin   REVIEW
5. Anseo – Úna-Mingh Kavanaugh  REVIEW  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
6. Why the Moon Travels – Oein DeBhairduin  REVIEW   #ReadingIrelandMonth21
7. Ulster American – David Ireland  REVIEW  #ReadingIrelandMonth21
8. A Promised Land – Barack Obama  REVIEW
9. Irish Short Stories – J. McGahern, W. Trevor, C. Keegan   REVIEW #ReadingIrelandMonth21
10. The Jakarta Method – Vincent Bevins  REVIEW
11. It’s Almost Spring!
12. Still Cold!
13. Spring?…it doesn’t feel like it!
14. The Ways of White Folks – Langston Hughes (14 short stories)  REVIEW
15. The Grand Chessboard – Zbigniew Brzezinski  REVIEW
16. The House of Dies Drear – V. Hamilton REVIEW

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February 2021

1. Society 4.0 – B. de Wit – Review
2. How Fascism Works – Jason Stanley – REVIEW
3. Kill Switch – Adam Jentleson – REVIEW

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January 2021

1. Girl, Woman, Other –  Bernardine Evaristo  – REVIEW
2. Heads of Colored People – Nafissa Thompson-Spires  (12 short stories)  REVIEW
3. A Black Women’s  History of the United States – Daina Ramey Berry  REVIEW
4. AI  Superpowers – Kai-Fu Lee – Excellent!  5 star

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December 2020:

1. The Anarchy – W. Dalrymple
2. The Topeka School – B. Lerner  finalist 2020 Pulitzer Prize Fiction
3. A Treasury of African-American Christmas Stories – ed. J. Collier-Thompson
4. After the Count – Stephanie Convery finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
5. Say Nothing – P. R. Keefe winner 2019 National Book  Critic’s Circle Award NF
6. Iola Leroy – F. Walker
7. Merry Christmas 2020
8. Reading Challenges 2021
9. Body Count – Paddy Manning finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
10. How to Do Nothing – J. Odell
11. How to Make A Slave – J. Walker finalist 2020 National Book Award NF
12. The Yield – T.J. Winch – winner 4 major Australian literary prizes
13. The Dead Are Arising – Les Payne  winner 2020 National Book Award NF
14. Don’t Touch My Hair – Emma Dabiri    #ReadingIrelandMonth21
15. Dying of Whiteness – J. Metzl
16. The Tradition – Jericho Brown  winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
17. There There – Tommy Orange (debut novel)

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November 2020

1. #AusReadingMonth2020  SIGN-UP post
2. #AusReadingMonth2020  WRAP-UP  post
3. Hazelwood – T. Doig – finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
4. Nganajungu Yagu – C. P. Green – winner 2020 Victorian Premier’s Award – (poetry)
5. Fall On Me – Nigel Featherston – #AusReadingMonth2020  #NovNov
6. We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know – Sophie McNeill – finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
7. Fallen – Lucie Morris-Marr – winner 2020 Australian Walkley Award
8. Argosy – Bella Li – #AusReadingMonth2020 – (poetry)
9. Pearly Gates – Owen Marshall – #AusReadingMonth2020
10. Comrade Ambassador – S. FitzGerald #AusReadingMonth2020 – #NonficNov 2020
11. City On Fire: The Fight For Hong Kong – A. Dapiran finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
12. Dolores – L.A. Curtis  #AusReadingMonth2020  #NovNov
13. The Altar Boys – S. Smith finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
14. Icefall – S. Gunn #AusReadingMonth2020  #NovNov
15. Penny Wong – M. Simons  finalist 2020 Australian Walkley Award
16. #NonFicNov   WEEK 3  Be/Ask/Become the Expert  (list)
17. #NonFicNov   WEEK 1 My favorite non- ficton books 2020 (list)
18. #NonFicNov    list of ALL  my non-fiction books 2020
19. #NonFicNov  WEEK 4  New to my TBR (list)
20. Walking with Ghosts – Gabriel Byrne (memoir) #NonficNov 2020
21. Things I Thought ToTell You Since I Saw You Last – P. Layland
22. winner 2019 Kenneth Slessor Prize (poetry)
23. Simpson Returns: A Novella – W. Macauley – #AusReadingMonth2020  #NovNov
24. Empirical – Lisa Gorton (poetry) – #AusReadingMonth2020 – (poetry)
25. Waiting For the Past – Les Murray – winner 2015 QLD Literary Award (poetry)
26. An Item From the Late News – T. Astley  #AusReadingMonth2020

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October 2020:

1. The Influence of George Soros – Emily Tamkin – Review
2. We Live for the We – D. McClain – Review

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September 2020:  I promise to read more books….as life is returning to a new normal.

1. White Too Long – Robert P. Jones
2. Donald Trump v. The United States – M. Schmidt
3. Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump  – P. Strzok
4. The Fire This Time – editor Jesmyn Ward
5. Rage – Bob Woodward
6. Just Us – C. Rankine
7. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption – Bryan Stevenson
8. Heavy – Kiese Laymon
9. Caste – I. Wilkerson

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August 2020:

1. #CCSPIN nr 24  reading list
2. Summer Lockdown….not over yet (journal)
3. Summer Lockdown….second wave? (journal)
4. Summer Lockdown…August? (journal)
5.  Les années – Annie Ernaux – Review
6. Deacon King Kong – James McBride – Review ( #ccspin nr 24)

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Journals:  April, May, June, July, August:

1. Corona Lockdown Reading List
2. #Corona  Break  21.03.2020 (journal)
3. #Corona Update: 26.03.2020 (journal)
4. #Corona Update: 13.04.2020 (journal)
5. #Corona Update: 29.04.2020 (journal)
6. #Corona Update: 16.05.2020 (journal)
7. Summer Soltice 2020
8. Summer Walk in Covid Lockdown 2020 (journal)
9. Summer Lockdown….life goes on 2020 (journal)
10. ummer Lockdown….not over yet (journal)
11. Summer Lockdown….second wave? (journal)
12. Summer Lockdown…August? (journal)

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July 2020:

1. Summer Walk in Covid Lockdown 2020 (journal)
2. Summer Lockdown….life goes on 2020 (journal)
3. The Room Where It Happened – John Bolton – Review
4. Too Much and Never Enough – Mary Trump – Review
5. Bend in the River – V.S. Naipaul – Review

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June 2020:

1. Reading List: Books You Should Read About Black Lives
2. Reading List: #20BooksOfSummer20
3. Tears We Cannot Stop – M. Dyson – Review
4. The Accidental President – A.J. Baime – Review
5. Democracy In Black – E. S. Glaude jr. – Review
6. Jean Barois – R.M. de Gard – Review
7. D’un cheval l’autre – Bartabas (Clément Marty) – Review
8. How To Be An Antirascist – I.X. Kendi – Review
9. The New Jim Crow – Michelle Alexander – Review
10. Bolívar – Marie Arana  Review
11. Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates – Review
12. Summer Soltice 2020

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May 2020:

1. L’Été – Albert Camus – Review
2. The Moviegoer – Percy Walker – Review
3. Tu seras un homme, mon fils – P. Assouline (2020) – Review
4. D’un cheval l’autre – Bartabas (2020) – Review
5. Thérèse Raquin – Emile. Zola – Review
6. Brown is The New White – Steve Phillips – Review
7. My Vanishing Country – B. Sellers (2020) – Review
8. How To Live – Helen Rickerby (poetry)

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April 2020:   

1. Corona Lockdown Reading List
2. #Corona  Break  21.03.2020 (journal)
3. #Corona Update: 26.03.2020 (journal)
4. #Corona Update: 13.04.2020 (journal)
5. #Corona Update: 29.04.2020 (journal)
6. #Corona Update: 16.05.2020 (journal)
7. The China Model – Daniel Bell – Review
8. Essayism – Brian Dillon – Review
9. Critics, Monsters and Fanatics – C. Ozick – Review
10. Thomas Aquinas – Denys Turner – Review
11. Saul Steinberg: A Portrait – D. Bair – Review
12. Shosha – I.B. Singer (fiction) – Review
13. The Orphan Master’s Son – A. Johnson (fiction) – Review
14. Front Row at the Trump Show – J. Karl – Review

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March 2020:   #ReadingIrelandMonth20*

1. The Lottery – S. Jackson  #Classic  short story
2. A Doll’s  House – H. Ibsen  #Classic play
3. The Martian Chronicles – R. Bradbury
4. Passage to India – E. Forster – #Classic
5. Julius Caesar – Shakespeare  #Classic
6. Woman of No Importance – Oscar Wilde  #Classic play*
7. The Christmas Tree – Jennifer Johnston*
8. The Wake – T. Murphy   play*
9. Station Island – Seamus Heaney (67 poems)*
10. Lady Gregory and the National Theatre – E. Remport*

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February 2020:

1. Unmaking of the Presidency – S. Hennessey, B. Wittes
2. Oslo – J.T. Rodgers  winner Tony Award Best Play 2017
3. Runaway – Alice Munro (8 short stories)  winner Nobel Prize 2013 #Classic
4. A Very Stable Genius – C. Leonnig, P. Rucker
5. A Warning – Anonymous
6. The Things They Carried – T. O’Brien
7. Indivisible – L. Greenberg
8. The Quiet American – G. Greene   #Classic
9. The Crucible – A. Miller  #Classic play
10. Animal Farm – George Orwell   #Classic
11. The Real Thing – Tom Stoppard winner Tony Award Best Play 1984
12. Hard Times – C. Dickens  #Classic

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January 2020

1. The Churchill Factor – Boris Johnson
2. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died – J.W. Douglass, Pete Larkin 
3. Mary’s Mosaic:  The CIA Conspiracy to Murder JFK and Mary Pinchot Meyer- P. Janney
4. Hit List – R. Belzer and D. Wayne
5. Nolan on Bradbury – W.F. Nolan
6. Master of the Senate – R. Caro  
7. The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir – Samantha Power
8. The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 – J. Shapiro
9. Nixon At The Movies – Mike Feeney  
10. From Russia with Blood – Heidi Blake
11. The Spaces of Irish Drama – H. Lojek
12. The Secret Team – L. Fletcher Prouty
13. The Irish Writer and the World – Declan Kiberd  (2005)
14.  Wild Sea: a history of the southern ocean – Joy McCann #AWW2020
15. Moth Snowstorm Nature and Joy – M. McCarthy
16. The High Places – Fiona McFarlane (13 short stories) #AWW2020
17. Icefall – Stephanie Gunn  Aurealis Award 2018 Best SF Novella   #AWW2020
18. Marriages – ( 6 short stories) – Amy Witting  #AWW2020
19. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand  #Classic
20. Transparency – (play) – Suzie Miller
21. Surrender – Joanna Pocock (memoir)  #WorldFrromMyArmchair (American North West)
22. Sightlines – K. Jamie
23. Flèche – Mary Jean Chan (50 poems) #Winner Costa Award Poetry 2019

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December 2019   (…less reading this month)

1. Nine Lives: Postwar Women Writers  – S. Sheriden
2. Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing – Ashleigh Wilson
3. War and Peace – L. Tolstoy (audio book )….after eye surgery)
4. Blowout – Rachel Maddow
5. Drylands – Thea Astley
6. Catching Teller Crow – A. and E. Kwaymullina
7. True Stories – Helen Garner

November 2019:

1.  The American Dream: American Realism 1945-2001
2.  A Kindness Cup –Thea Astley –
3. The Endsister – Penni Russon – READ
4. Sea People – C. Thompson – READ – NSW 2019 History Award
5. Boys Will Be Boys – Clementine Ford –
6. Dr Space Junk vs Universe  – A. Gorman 
7. The Phoenix Years – M.  O’Dea –
8. An Unconventional Wife – M. Hoban –
9. Adani: Following Its Dirty Footsteps – L. Simpson
10. It’s Raining in Mango – Thea Astley –
11. Troll Hunting – Ginger Gorman –
12. The Thinking Woman – J. van Loon –
13. Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin – Dr. Fiona Hill

October 2019:

1. Tide of Stone – Kaaron Warren – READ
2. Imp of the Perverse – E.A. Poe – READ
3. Short Blogging Break….in hospital!
4. Update: Amen…
5. Update: Be back soon…
6. Update: Drinks Are On Me!

September 2019 –   RIP XIV Reading List

1. All-Day Fat Burning Diet – Y. Elkaim – READ (…excellent, and I lost weight!)
2. Everywhere I Look (essays) – Helen Garner – READ #AWW2019
3. The Afterlife of Edgar Allan Poe (essays) – S. Peeples   READ #RIPXIV #NonFicNov (early)

Summer Reading   August:

1. Driving Into The Sun – M. Polain – READ
2. The Shepherd’s Hut – T. Winton – READ – Bah!
3. Tin Man – S. Winman – READ
4. The Hate U Give – A. Thomas – READ
5. Brother – David Chariandy  – READ
6. Crocodile Tears – M. O’ Sullivan – READ (Irish Detective Leo Woods #1)
7. Aquarium – David Vann – READ
8. Insistance – A. Darcy – READ (Irish poet, 18 poems)
9. The Barracks – J. McGahern – READ
10. Are Friends Electric? – Helen Heath – READ (New Zealand poet, 57 poems)
11. Red Ribbons – L. Phillips – READ (CF)
12. Exit West – M. Hamid – READ
13. The Twelve – S.Neville – READ  (Irish Noir)
14. Harbour Lights – D. Mahon (25 poems by Irish poet) – READ
15. The Radio (32 poems) – Irish poet L. Flynn (shortlist 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize) – READ
16. The Boys of Bluehill – E. Ní Chuilleanáin – READ (40 poems, Irish poet)
17. Now We Can Talk Openly about Men – Martina Evans – READ
18. Show Them a Good Time – Nicole Flattery  (8 short stories) – READ
19. My Name is Revenge – A. K. Blunt – READ
20. Milkman – Anna Burns – READ
21. Cane – Jean Toomer – READ
22. Lemons in the Chicken Wire – READ (50 poems)
23. Fast Talking PI – Selina Tusitala Marsh – READ (32 poems)
24. Parang – Omar Musa – READ (27 poems)
25. The Empty Family –  C. Tóibin (9 short stories) – READ
26. Fancies and Goodnights – J. Collier  (32 short stories) – READ
27. America’s War for the Greater Middle East – A. Bacevich – READ
28. My Name is Leon – Kit de Waal – READ
29. A Time of Gifts – Patrick Leigh Fermor – READ
30. The Billion Dollar Spy – D. Hoffman – READ

July:

1. The First Casualty – Peter Greste – READ
2. Max Havelaar – Multatuli – READ
3. 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write – S. Ruhl – READ
4. These Truths – Jill Lepore – READ
5. The Weir – Conor McPherson – READ
6. Et Soudain, La Liberté – E. Pisier, C. Laurent – Prix Marguerite Duras 2017 – READ
7. Fouché – E. de Waresquiel – READ
8. Le jour d’avant – S. Chalandon – READ
9. Retour à Killybegs – S. Chalandon – READ
10. Je suis fou de toi – D. Bona – READ
11. French cooking for #ParinInJuly….
12. Mousse aux éclats de chocolat (2019)
13. Le Grand Meaulnes – Alain-Fournier – READ
14. Wrap-up #Paris in July
15. Wake in Fright – K. Cook – READ
16. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – G. Honeyman – READ ( Stunning!)

June 2019

1. Glengarry Glen Ross – D. Mamet – READ 
2. The Glass Menagerie – Tennessee Williams – READ
3. Waiting for Godot – S. Beckett – READ
4. Twenty-First Century American Playwrights – C. Bigsby – READ
5. The Mueller Report – READ
6. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom – D. Blight – READ
7. Stamped From the Beginning – I.X. Kendi – READ
8. The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke – J.C. Stewart READ
9. The Arsonist – C. Hooper – READ
10. Himself – Jess Kidd – READ
11. James Tiptree, jr. The Double Life Alice Sheldon – J. Phillips – READ
12. Ghosts of the Tsunami – R. L. Parry – NF – READ
13. Indecent (play) – Paula Vogel – READ
14. The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne – READ
15. The Coddling of the American Mind – G. Lukianoff. J. Haidt – READ
16. Astonished Dice – G. Cochrane (short stories) – READ
17. We Can Make a Life – C. Henry – READ
18. Seeing Yellow (poetry) – E. Bourke – READ shortlist Irish Times Poetry Award 2019
19. Negroni  #Cocktail…relaxing during Negroni week (24-30 June)
20. From a Low and Quiet Sea – Donal Ryan- READ

May 2019

1. The Radio Room – Cilla McQueen (34 poems) – READ
2. The Almighty Sometimes – Kendall Feaver (play) – READ WINNER   NSWLiteraryAward2019
3. Tilt – Kate Lilley – READ (38 poems)  Winner Victorian Premier’s Award 2019
4. Olio – Tyehimba Jess – READ – Pulitzer Prize 2017 for poetry (pg 231)
5. Beyond Words: A Year with Kenneth Cook – J. Kent – READ   (memoir)
6. The Lebs – M.M. Ahmad – READ WINNER   NSWLiteraryAwards2019
7. This  Mortal Boy – F. Kidman – READ –  WINNER Ockham Prize for Fiction 2019
8. Black is the New White – N. Lui – READ – WINNER NSW Lit Prize for Playwriting 2018
9. Ritual – Maxine Beneba Clarke (poem) – READ
10. No Friend but the Mountains – B. Boochani – READ WINNER  NSWLiteraryAwards2019
11.  
12. No Friend but the Mountains – B. Boochani – READ WINNER
13. ….Australia National Biography Award 2019
14.  
15. Not Just Black and White – L and T Williams, mother and daughter – READ
16. Wade in the Water – Tracy K. Smith, US Poet Laureate – READ (32 poems)
17. The Thurber Carnival – James Thurber – READ (essays)
18. On Poetry – Glyn Maxwell – READ (NF)
19. Blakwork – Alison Whittaker (94 poems) – READ “Cotton On” (pg 15)
20. August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle (13 essays) – editor S. Shannon – READ
21. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  – E. Ablee – READ  (play)
22. Title poem: “Blakwork” Alison Whittaker – READ  (pg 3)
23. Noises Off – M. Frayn – READ  (play)
24. Fences – A. Wilson – READ  (play)
25. Streetcar Named Desire – T. Williams – READ

April 2019

1. The Bridge – E. Gandolfo – READ #StellaPrize Shortlist 2019
2. Too Much Lip – M. Lucashenko – READ #StellaPrize Shortlist 2019
3. Axiomatic – M. Tumarkin – READ #StellaPrize Shortlist 2019 (essays)
4. Little Gods – J. Ackland – not available in Netherlands! #StellaPrize Shortlist 2019
5. The Erratics – Laveau-Harvie – not available in Netherlands!  WINNER #StellaPrize 2019
6. Pink Mountain on Locust Island – J.M. Lau – READ #StellaPrize Shortlist 2019
7. Monte Carlo – P. Terrin – READ #LonglistDublintLiteraryPrize2019
8. Aunts Up the Cross – R. Dalton – READ #AWW2019
9. Le Lambeau – P. Lançon – READ  #PrixFémina2018, #PrixRenaudot2918 (special prize)
10. Reservoir 13 – J. McGregor -READ #ShortlistDublintLiteraryPrize2019
11. Home Fire – K. Shamsie – READ #ShortlistDublintLiteraryPrize2019
12. Can You Tolerate This? – A. Young – READ  #AWW2019 (essays)
13. Small Acts of Disappearance: Essays on Hunger – F. Wright – #AWW2019 (essays)
14. The Everlasting Sunday – R. Lukins – READ #ShortlistNSWLiteraryAward2019
15. Boy Swallows Universe – T. Dalton – READ WINNER   NSWLiteraryAwards2019
16. Deep Time Dreaming – B. Griffiths – READ WINNER   NSWLiteraryAwards2019
17. Border Districts – G. Murnane – READ #ShortlistNSWLiteraryAward2019
18. Scrublands – C. Hammer – READ #ShortlistNSWLiteraryAward2019
19. The Cage – L. Jones – READ #ShortlistOckhamNewZealandBookAwards2019
20. The Facts – T. Lloyd – READ (poetry) #ShortlistOckhamNewZealandBookAwards2019
21. The New Testament – Jericho Brown (41 poems) – READ #NationalPoetryMonth2019
22. Water & Power – G. Fanning (30 poems) – READ #NationalPoetryMonth2019
23. #Dublin Literary Award 2019 Shortlist – read-athon
24. #NSW Premier’s Award 2019 Shortlist – read-a-thon
25. #Ockham New Zealand Award 2019 Shortlist – read-a-thon
26. #Kerry Group Irish Novel of 2019 Shortlist – read-a-thon
27. #Stella Prize 2019 Shortlist – read-a-thon

March 2019

1. Shirley – C. Bronte – READ  #ClassicMasterList*  (#DNF…here is why!) (BAH!)
2. The Goat’s Song – D. Healy – READ  #ReadingIrelandMonth19
3. A Poet’s Dublin – Eavan Boland – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19  (35 poems)
4. Saints and Sinners – E. O’Brien – READ  #ReadingIrelandMonth19 (short stories)
5. Two Moons – Jennifer Johnston (Dublin, 1930) – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
6. The Wrong Country: Essays on Modern Irish Writing – G. Dawe – READ
7. Come On Home – Phillip McMahon (play) – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
8. A Slanting of the Sun – Donal Ryan – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19 (20 stories)
9. Memoir – John McGahern – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
10. Happy St. Patrick’s Day !
11. Lally the Scut – Abbie Spallen (play) – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
12. When  All Is Said – Anne Griffin – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
13. Travelling In A Strange Land – D. Park – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
14. A Ladder To The Sky – John Boyne – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
15. The Cruelty Men – Emer Martin – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
16. Normal People – Sally Rooney – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
17. The Hoarder – Jess Kidd – READ #ReadingIrelandMonth19
18. The Art of Time Travel – T. Griffiths – READ (NF)

February 2019

1. The Twelve Caesars – Suetonius – READ  #ClassicMasterList
2. The Heart of Darkness – J. Conrad – READ  #ClassicMasterList
3. Hamlet – W. Shakespeare – READ  #ClassicMasterList
4. Beowulf – Unknown – READ  #ClassicMasterList  (Translation: Seamus Heaney)
5. The Great Gatsby – F.S. Fitzgerald – READ  #ClassicMasterList
6. The Tale of Two Cities – C. Dickens – READ  #ClassicMasterList
7. The Merchants of Truth – J. Abramson – DNF  read first 50 pages….. short review
8. The Mill of the Floss – G. Eliot – READ  #ClassicMasterList 
9. Chimerica – Lucy Kirkwood – READ (play)
10. The British Short Story – A. Maunder – READ (NF)
11. Thick – Tressie McMillian Cottom – READ (NF)
12. The Cambridge Introduction to The American Short Story – M. Scofield READ (NF)
13. The Screwfly Solution – James Tiptree jr. (aka Alice Sheldon) – READ (SF novelette)
14. Short Stories:  3 by James Tiptree jr – READ  (…not her best worik, unfortunately)
15. Edgar Allan Poe: 28 tales – E. A. Poe – READ #ClassicMasterList
16. The Count of Monte Cristo – A. Dumas – READ #ClassicMasterList*
17. The Complete Essays  – M. de  Montaigne – READ #ClassicMasterList*  (BAH!)
18. Snuff – T. Pratchett – READ  (Watch City #8;  Discworld #39/41)
19. Valentine’s Day February 14

January 2019

1. George Eliot: Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writing – READ  (NF)
2. The Spell by Katie Ford – READ  02.01.2019
3. Writers on Writers: Patrick White – Christos Tsiolkas – READ    (NF)
4. The Age of Eisenhower – W. Hitchcock – READ  (NF)
5. The New Yorker – dd  07.01.2019 – READ
6. Trace: who killed Maria James? – R. Brown – READ  #AWW2019  (NF)
7. Poemcrazy – S. Wooldridge – READ (NF)
8. Blood Lyrics – K. Ford ( collection of 40 poems)  READ
9. Boy Overboard – P. Cornelius – READ  #AWW2019
10. Midsummer Night’s Dream – W. Shakespeare – READ  #ClassicMasterList
11. Moby Dick – H. Melville – READ  #ClassicMasterList
12. Othello – W. Shakespeare – READ  #ClassicMasterList
13. A Woman’s Experiences in the Great War – L. Mack – READ #AWW2019
14. Rebecca – D. du Maurier – READ  #ClassicMasterList
15. Richard II – W. Shakespeare – READ  #ClassicMasterList
16. The Awakening – K. Chopin – READ  #ClassicMasterList
17. The Symposium – Plato – READ    #ClassicMasterList
18. The Complete Stories  – F. O’ Connor – READ #ClassicMasterList  31/31

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December 2018       Reading stats 2018 63 fiction 73 non-fiction 18 plays 13 posts about poems/poet 105 short stories 105 essays READ:

1. The History of the Church – Eusebius – READ  #ClassicMasterList
2. Satires – Horace – READ #ClassicMasterList
3. Moby-Dick as Philosophy – M. Anderson – READ
4. Axiomatic – M. Tumarkin – READ  Winner of the Melbourne Prize Best Writing Award 2018
5. Alice in Space – G. Beer (literary criticism)  – READ
6. Downstairs No Upstairs – Brian Friel (short story) New Yorker 24.08.1963 – funny! – READ
7. Go, Went, Gone – J. Erpenbeck – READ
8. Literary Brian Friel Companion – M. Snodgrass – READ    #ReadIreland
9. Essay: From Monaghan to the Grand Canal ( Dublin) – S. Heaney  – READ #ReadIreland
10. The Pull of the Moon – Julie Paul – READ  (12 short stories)  #CanBookChallenge
11. The Hummingbird – K. Hiekkapelto – READ  #TBR since 2015!
12. Speaking Up – G. Triggs #AWW2018 – DNF…not my kind or writer
13. In Extremis: War Correspondent Marie Colvin – L. Hilsum – READ  #TBRnovember2018
14. Philadelphia , Here I Come! – Brian Friel (play)- READ  #ReadIreland
15. Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia – editor Anita Heiss (NF) – READ  #AWW2018
16. Indonesia etc – E. Pisani – READ #WorldFromMyArmchair
17. The Tall Man – Chloe Hooper – READ #AWW2018  2009 Queensland Premier’s Literary Prize
18. The Christmas Carol – C. Dickens – READ  #ClassicMasterList
19. Sisters In Law (S. Day ‘O Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg) – L. Hirshman – READ
20. Infinity  – Hannah Moscovitch (play) – READ #CanBookChallenge
21. American Poetry Review – editor E. Scanlon – READ
22. Saints and Sinners – Edna O’Brien (short stories) – READ  only  4 /10  good  #ReadIreland
23. The New Yorker    24-31 December 2018 – READ
24. The Evening of the Holiday – S. Hazzard – READ
25. The Rich Brew – S. Pinsker – (NF)  READ
26. American Poetry Review – editor E. Scanlon – READING  pg 27/44 Vol 47 Nov/Dec no. 6

November 2018 PRIX  LITTERAIRE FRANCAIS LONGLIST  2018

1. The Aeneid – Vrigil – READ  #ClassicMasterList
2. Mythos – Stephen Fry (audio book) – READ
3. A Raisin in the Sun – L. Hansberry (play) – READ  Best Play 1959 NY Drama Critic’s Circle
4. David Copperfield – C. Dickens – READ #ClassicMasterList (audio and paperback)
5. Poets Corner – editor J. Lithgow – READ (audio book)
6. Great Expectations – C. Dickens – READ  #ClassicMasterList
7. Pulitzer – J. McGrath Morris ( biography) – READ
8. Rosmersholm – Henk Ibsen (play) – READ   #ClassicMasterList
9. The Lusiads – L. Vaz de Camões – READ (epic poem)  #ClassicMasterList
10. Electra – Sophocles – READ #ClassicMasterList
11. The Knights Tale – Chaucer – READ #ClassicMasterList
12. Mrs. Dalloway – V. Woolf – READ #ClassicMasterList
13. Evicted: Poverty and Profit – M. Desmond – READ  #NonFicNov
14. Kilonova (poem) – A. Sometimes – READ  #AWW2018
15. To Our Miscarried One, Age Fifty Now (poem) – S. Olds –  READ #PulitzerPrize 2013
16. The Best Australian Science Writing 2018 – editor J. Pickrell – READ  #NonFicNov
17. Death of a Salesman – A. Miller – READ- Pulitzer Prize Drama 1949 – #ClassicMasterList

October 2018

1. Our Mutual Friend – C. Dickens – READ   #ClassicMasterList
2. Je reste ici  – M. Balzano (longlist Prix Fémina 2018) – READ
3. Mãn – K. Thuy – READ  #CanBookChallenge
4. An Ordinary Day (NF) – Leigh Sales – READ  #AWW2018
5. Christ Stopped at Eboli – Carlo Levi – READ  #ClassicMasterList
6. The Keys of My Prison – F. Wees – READ  #CanBookChallenge
7. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – Ann Brontë – READ  #ClassicMasterList
8. Zolitude – Paige Cooper (14 short stories) – READ #CanBookChallenge
9. An Ocean of Minutes – T. Lim – READ #CanBookChallenge
10. French Exit – P. deWitt – READ #CanBookChallenge
11. March Violets – P. Kerr (CF) – READ
12. Looking for Lorraine – I. Perry – READ
13. Nobel Streven  – F. van Oostrom – READ  #LibrisPrijs2018  shortlist Best Dutch History Book
14. Thorbecke Wil Het – R. Aerts – READ – winner Prinsjesboekenprijs  (best political book)
15. De Sigarenfabriek van Isay Rottenberg – H/S Rottenberg – READ 
16. ….#LibrisPrijs2018  shortlist Best Dutch History Book
17. Adieu Montaigne – J. Delacomptée – READ  ( 50%…gave up, read why!)
18. Frankenstein – M. Shelley – READ   #RIPXIII   and #CCdare

September 2018    RIPXIII reading list

1. The Raven – E.A. Poe – READ  #RIPXIII
2. Dark Entries – R. Aickman (6 short stories) – READ #RIPXIII
3. A Vindication of the Rights of Women – M. Wollstonecraft – READ
4. Our Man in Charleston – C. Dickey (NF) – READ  #20BooksOfAutumn
5. The Pillow Book – Sei Shonagon –  READ
6. The Life of Johnson – J. Boswell – READ  #ClassicMasterList
7. Hawthorne – Henry James – READ  #RIPXII
8. A  Kim Jong-IL Production – Fischer, P. – READ  #20BooksOfAutumn
9. The Bed-Making Competition – A. Jackson – READ #AWW2018
10. Atomic Thunder – E. Tynan (Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2017 History) – READ #AWW2018
11. The Enigmatic Mr. Deakin – J. Brett – READ #AWW2018  Nat Biography Award 2018
12. Patrick Kavanagh – Irish poet poem  – READ
13. Audition – S. Sayarfiezadeh – READ (short story) #DealMeIn2018
14. The River in the Sky – Clive  James ( epic poem…reading it line for line) – READ
15. Just Enough Liebling – J. Liebling (NF) – READ
16. Washington Black – Esi  Edugyan – READ #CanBookChallenge (shortlist Man Booker)
17. Don’t Call Us Dead – D. Smith – READ (collection of poems)
18. Nooit Meer Slapen – W.F. Hermans- READ  Dutch – in translation Beyond Sleep
19. James Wright: A Life in Poetry (NF) – J. Blunk – READ
20. Pensées – B. Pascal – READ

August 2018

1. Pride and Prejudice – J. Austen – Re-READ
2. Letters From a Stoic – Seneca – READ
3. The Angel of the Odd – E.A. Poe – READ  (short story)
4. The Birthday of the Infanta – O. Wilde – READ (short story)
5. The Masnavi Book vol 1 –  Rūmī (poet of Sufism Islamic mysticism) – READ
6. Myths from Mesopotamia – (Anonymous)  trans. S. Dalley – READ
7. Nation – T. Pratchett – READ
8. Means of Ascent – R. Caro – READ (non-fiction)
9. The Charterhouse of Parma – Stendhal – READ  (french edition)
10. Chateaubriand – Jean-Claude Berchet – READ  (french edition)
11. Trois femmes puissantes – M. NDiaye – READ (french edition) Prix Goncourt 2009
12. Le Roman de la Rose – De Lorris, G. et De Meun, J. – READ (french edition)
13. The Revolutionary Road – L. Pryce – READ (Iran)
14. Une Vie – G. de Maupassant – READ  (french edition)
15. Maupassant – F. Martinez – READ  (french edition) (biography)
16. Darkness Visible – W. Styron – READ (essay/memoir)
17. Between Riverside and Crazy – S. Guirgis – (Pulitzer Prize 2015 play ) – READ
18. The Outrun – A. Liptrot – READ
19. L’Éspoir – A. Malraux – READ/ DNF …here’s why!

July 2018

1. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – W. Shirer – READ ….chunkster!
2. Berthe Morisot  –  D. Bona – READ  (french editon)
3. Women In Love – D.H. Lawrence – READ – …intense book!
4. The Dispossessed – U. Le Guin – READ
5. The Sun Also Rises – E. Hemingway – READ
6. View From the Cheap Seats – N. Gaiman – READ (essays)
7. The Deerslayer – James Fenimore Cooper – RE–READ – classic  Fini
8. Like a House on Fire – C. Kennedy – READ (15 short stories)
9. Victor Hugo: Romancier de l’abîme – editor J. Hiddleston – READ (11 essays)

June 2018

1. Brit(ish) – A. Hirsch – READ
2. Jenna’s Truth – N.L. King – READ
3. A Spy Named Orphan – R. Philipps – READ
4. The End of Seeing – C. Collins – READ
5. Australian A. Kissane ‘Flannel Flowers’ – READ (poem)
6. Essays: The Australian Face (editor C. Menzies-Pike) – READ (17 essays)
7. Pipeline – D. Morisseau – READ (play)
8. Americanah – C.N. Adichie – READ
9. Saga Land – R. Fidler, K. Gislason – READ
10. How to Get There – M. Mackellar – READ
11. Very Expensive Poison – L. Harding – READ
12. Deep South – P. Theroux – READ
13. Islander: Journey Around Our Archipelago – P. Barkham – READ
14. Why Horror Seduces – M. Clasen – READ
15. Rice – Michele Lee – READ (play)
16. From the Edge: Australia’s Lost Histories – M. McKenna (NF) – READ
17. The Redemption of Galen Pike – C. Davies (short stories) – READ
18. Flowers For Algernon – D. Keyes – READ
19. The Serious Game – H. Söderberg – READ
20. Judge and His Hangman – F. Dürrenmatt – READ
21. Hunting the Wild Pineapple – T. Astley – READ (8 short stories)
22. Down These Green Streets – D. Burke – READ

May 2018

1. Her Father’s Daughter – A. Pung – READ
2. Who’s Afraid? – M. Lewis – READ
3. Cardinal – L. Milligan – READ (non-fiction)
4. The Drover’s Wife – L. Purcell – READ (play)
5. Broken – M.A. Butler – READ (play)
6. Psynode – M.J. Ward – READ (YA)
7. Do Not Go Gentle – P. Cornelius – READ (play)
8. The Golden Bowl – H. James – READ (classic)
9. Closing Down – S. Abbott – READ (SF)
10. Too Easy – J.M. Green – READ (CF)
11. This Mortal Coil – E. Suvada – READ (YA)
12. Aletheia – J.S. Breukelaar – READ (Horror)
13. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute:Stories – G. Paley – READ
14. Wounds – F. Keane – READ  winner Best Irish Non-fiction 2017
15. Kitchen Sink Realisms – D. Chansky – READ
16. Memories of Youghal – W. Trevor – READ (short story)

April 2018 

1. The Museum of Modern Love – H. Rose – READ – Stella Prize 2017
2. Extinctions – J. Wilson – READ – Miles Franklin Award 2017
3. Thea Astley’s Writing: Magnetic North – Kerryn Goldsworthy – READ
4. Feeling the Heat – J. Chandler – READ  – Chandler Best Freelanc Journalist 2017
5. The Acolyte  – T. Astley – READ – Miles Franklin Award 1972
6. From the Wreck – J. Rawson – READ – Aurealis Award 2018 Best SF novel
7. Girl Reporter – T. Roberts – READ – Aurealis Award 2018 Best SF novella
8. The Green Road – A. Enright – READ
9. Feel Free – Z. Smith (31 essays) – READ
10. The Fifth Season – N.K. Jemisin – READ – Hugo Award 2016
11. Autumn – A. Smith – READ
12. Dying in the First Person – N. Sulway – READ
13. The Third Policeman – F. O’ Brian – READ
14. The Trauma Cleaner – S. Krasnostein – READ – Victorian Premier’s Award 2018
15. Locking Up Our Own   –  J. Forman jr.  – READ Pulitzer Prize 2018
16. Joan: The Remarkable Life of Joan Leigh Fermor –  S. Fenwick – READ
17. Fahrenheit 451 – R. Bradbury – READ
18. The Butchering Art – L. Fitzharris – READ
19. 1984 – G. Orwell – READ
20. Winesburg, Ohio – S. Anderson – READ
21. The Hate Race – M. B. Clarke – READ
22. Dark Lies the Island – K. Barry (13 short stories) – READ
23. Rubik – E. Tan (15 short stories) – READ
24. Ironweed – W. Kennedy – READ
25. Soon – L. Murphy – READ

March 2018:

1. Seamus Heaney – H. Vendler – READ
2. Simon Leys: Navigator Between Worlds – P. Paquet – READ
3. Without America  – Quarterly Essay, vol. 68;  White, H. 16.11.2017 – READ
4. Short story: Deer Season – K. Barry – READ  (The New Yorker)
5. Short story: You Know How It Is – A. Spargo-Ryan – READ
6. Short story: The Island and the Calves – Dermot Healy – READ
7. Midwinter  Break – B. MacLaverty – READ
8. The Weir – C. McPherson – READ
9. Mapping Irish Theatre – C. Morash and S. Richards – READ
10. A Long Long Way – S. Barry – READ
11. Tracker – A. Wright – READ  abandoned…read why!
12. Poem: Inniskeen Road: July Evening – P. Kavanagh – READ
13. Quicksilver – N. Rothwell – READ    (6 essays)
14. Flame Tip – K. Thompson – READ (short fictions, Tasmania)
15. The Divine Comedy – Dante – READ 
16. The Nightingale – K. Hannah – READ  abandoned…read why!
17. Best Words, Best Order: Essays of Poetry – S.  Dobyns – READ
18. Play: Two Pints – Roddy Doyle – READ
19. Play: Alice Trilogy – T. Murphy – READ
20. Essay:  Aussie Albert – Julian Bull – READ
21. Essay: Dancing Lessons for Writers – Z. Smith – READ
22. A Writing Life: Helen Garner and Her Work – B. Brennan – READ
23. Blood in the Water – H. Thompson – READ

February 2018:

1. Tartuffe – Molière – READ
2. Girls and Boys – D. Kelly – READ
3. The Path to Power – R. Caro – READ
4. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze – P.  Hessler – READ
5. Couleurs de l’incendie – P. Lemaître – READ
6. La Prophétie de Langley – P. Pouchairet – READ
7. Psychanalyse de Victor Hugo – C. Baudouin – READ
8. Art Chrétien / Art Sacré – Isabelle Saint-Martin) – READ (difficult…score 1/5)
9. Victor Hugo: 1802-1851 – J.M. Hovasse – READ – FINI !! (1159 pg) = 4 books!
10. Border – K.  Kassabova – READ

January  2018:              

1. Là-bas, août est un mois d’automne – B. Pellegrino – READ
2. Wild Kingdom – S. Moss – READ
3. St. Joan – G.B. Shaw (play) – READ
4. Feather Your Nest – A. O’Brien (short story) – READ
5. In With A Chance – K. Murray (short story) – READ
6. Bottle Party – J. Collier (short story) – READ
7. The New Yorker  dd 01.01.2018 – READ
8. Enemy Within – Quarterly Essay, vol. 63;  Watson, Don,  16.09.2016 – READ
9. The Hidden Life of Trees –  P. Wohlleben – READ
10. The Left Hand of Darkness – U. Le Guin – READ
11. The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border – G. Carr – READ
12. Towards Mellbreak – M. Bragg – READ
13. The Glass Canoe – D. Ireland – READ

December 2017:

1. The Best Australian Essays 2016 – (editor)  G. Williamson
2. On Elizabeth Bishop – C. Tóibin
3. Female Bodies on the American Stage – J. Scott-Mobley
4. The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
5. The Mysterious Affair at Styles – A. Christie
6. Their Brilliant Careers – R. O’Neill
7. Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell  – L. Milligan  2017 Walkley Award
8. Power Without Glory – F. Hardy   
9. Why Poetry? – M. Zapruder    
10. The Supreme Court  – R. Mac Cormaic
11. Essay: The Poetry of  Systems by A. Levy
12. Poem: Emotional Astronomer by B. Lovell           
13. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall – G. King
14. The New Yorker Magazine – 18-25 December
15. XMAS  Readings week 50
16. XMAS  Readings week 51
17. XMAS  Readings week 52
18. 31 December 2017
19. Goodbye….2017

November 2017:

1. L’ orde du jour – E. Vuillard ( winner Prix Goncourt 2017)
2. L’Art de perdre – A. Zeniter – READ
3. My Place – S. Morgan
4. Cloudstreet – T. Winton                                      
5. True History of the Kelly Gang – P. Carey
6. The Old Wives Tale – A. Bennett
7. Cast of Characters – T. Vinciguerra
8. Silk Road – E. Ormsby –
9. The Grief Hole – K. Warren                             
10. Lord of the Flies – W. Golding
11. L’ami – G. Xingjian
12. The Hands – S. Orr
13. The Life and Work of C.J. Dennis – P. Butterss
14. A Boat Load of Home Folk – T. Astley                           
15. A Town Like Alice – N. Shute
16. Love and Summer – W. Trevor
17. L’Art de perdre – A. Zeniter (winner Prix Goncourt des lycéens 2017)
18. Essay:  Why She Broke – H. Garner
19. Position Doubtful – K. Mahood
20. Into the Heart of Tasmania – R. Taylor
21. Portable Curiosities – J. Koh          

October 2017:

1. Salt Water – C. McLennan – READ                      
2. A Force So Swift: Mao, Truman and Birth of Modern China – K. Peraino   –  READ
3. Whose Body? (1923)  D. Sayers – READ
4. The Anatomy of Fascism – R. Paxton – READ
5. A Handful of Dust – Evelyn Waugh – READ
6. Jan Maelwael Dutch medieval painter (1370-1415) – P. Roelofs – READ
7. Essays Collection by E.B.White     READ
8. Tsubaki – A. Shimazaki  –  READ (French)
9. The Celery Stalks at Midnight – J. Howe – READ
10. Portable Curiosities – J. Koh – READ
11. The Dry – J. Harper – READ
12. Famine – T. Murphy (play) – READ

September 2017:

1. Seul dans Berlin  –  H. Fallada – READ (French)
2. La Serpe – P. Jaenada – READ (French)
3. The Persians – Aeschylus – READ
4. Plutarch’s Lives Vol 1 – Plutarch – READ
5. Oepidus Rex – Sophocles – READ
6. The Union Buries Its Dead – H. Lawson – Short Story – READ
7. Common Sense – T. Paine – READ
8. The Slow Natives  – T. Astley (Australian writer) – READ
9. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life  – Ruth Franklin  (biography) – READ
10. The General vs. The President – H.W. Brands – READ
11. Spaceman – M. Massimino – READ
12. Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This? – M. Meade (biography) – READ
13. Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change – E. Pao – READ
14. East  West Street – P. Sands – READ
15. The Sheltering Sky – P. Bowles – READ

August 2017:     Hug Your Dog Start Reading!

1. Ghettoside by J. Levoy – READ
2. Scoop – E. Waugh – READ
3. Loving – H. Green – READ
4. I, Claudius – R. Graves – READ
5. The African Queen – C. S. Forester – READ
6. Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon – L. Tye – READ
7. The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien – READ
8. Sons and Lovers – D.H. Lawrence – READ
9. Une femme à Berlin – M. Hillers (anonymous) – READ (French)
10. The Way of All  Flesh – S. Butler  – READ
11. Lincoln in the Bardo – G. Saunders – READ
12. Une Vie – S. Veil – READ  (French)
13. Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien  – READ
14. Retour à Killybegs – Sorj Chalandon – READ  (French)
15. Seven Plays ‘True West’ – Sam Shepard – READ
16. Principles of Angels – Jaine Fenn – READ….stopped after 25%….bah!
17. Shatterday and Other Stories – H. Ellison  11/11  – READ
18. Short Story – W. Trevor  The Piano Teacher’s Pupil – READ
19. The New Yorker Magazine – 24 July 2017

July 2017:     #6Degrees of Separation Meme

1.  An American Tragedy – T. Dreiser  – READ
2. Dear Ijeawele – C.N. Adichie – READ
3.  The Martian – A. Weir – READ
4.  Open and Shut – D. Rosenfelt – READ
5.  First Degree – D. Rosenfelt – READ
6.  Doomsday Book – C. Willis – READ
7.  The Bloody Mary Book – E. Brown  – READ
8.  Kennedy and King – S. Levingston – READ
9. Coming Up Trumps:  Memoir – J. Trumpington  – READ
10. The New Yorker Magazine  26 June 2017
11. The New Yorker Magazine   03 July 2017
12. The New Yorker Magazine – July 10 – 17 2017
13. French composer Darius Milhaud…who?
14. Les Chouans – Balzac – READ
15. Rue des Boutiques Obscures  – P. Modiano
16. Vaster Than Empires and More Slow – U. Le Guin  – READ
17. The Alligators – J. Updike – READ
18. You’ll Never Know, Dear, How Much I Love You – READ – J. Updike

Juni 2017:     New Reading Strategy   ‘Slow Down….’

1. Medea – Euripides – READ
2. Brideshead Revisited– E. Waugh  – READ
3. Pale Fire – V. Nabokov – READ
4. As I Lay Dying – W. Faulkner – READ
5. The Sympathizer –  V.T. Nguyen  – READ
6. Dear Life – Alice Munro  – READ
7. Ragtime – E.L. Doctorow – READ
8. Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh – J. Lahr – READ
9. American Ulysses – R. White jr. – READ
10. Walking the Nile – L. Wood  – READ
11. The Death of the Heart – E. Bowen  – READ
12. The Running Hare – J. Lewis-Stempel – READ
13. Under the Net – I. Murdoch – READ

May 2017:    Book Tag

1. Breitner’s Amsterdam (G. Breitner, Dutch artist) – K. Keijer – READ (Dutch)
2. Mondriaan – H. Janssen – READ (Dutch)
3.  L’ Aventure des Cathédrales – G. Denizeau – READ (French)
4. Passagère du silence – F. Verdier – READ (French)
5. Go Tell It on the Mountain – James Baldwin – READ
6. The Republic – Plato – READ
7. Les Chouans – H. Balzac – READ (French)
8. Fellowship of the Ring – (Tolkien) – READ
9. Angle of Repose – W. Stegner – READ
10. Ça ira (1) Fin de Louis (play) – J. Pommerat – READ

April 2017    My reading was going nowhere….Mindy

1. Essays: Michael Sweerts: Another Dimension  S. Schama (art critic) – READ
2. Non- fiction: Medieval Christianity: A New History ( K. Madigan) – READ
3. La baronne meurt à cinq heures (2011) – READ   (French)
4. #CrimeFiction: The Dying Detective  L. Persson – READ
5. The Wednesday Club  – K. Westö – READ
6. French: Outside: Papiers d’un jour (M. Duras) – READ   (French)
7. Monet (G. Goeffroy) – READ   (French)
8. Immortelle randonnée (J.C. Rufin) – READ   (French)
9.  Les petits chevaux de Tarquinia (M. Duras) – READ   (French)
10. Les fous de Guernesey – F. Lenormand – READ   (French)
11. Eugène Boudin L’atelier de la lumière – A. Haudiquet – READ   (French)
12. Van Gogh, Maître de la couleur – G. Denizeau – READ  (French)
13. Monet – G. Denizeau – READ   (French)
14. Claude Monet, sa vie, son temps, son oeuvre – G. Geffory – REVIEW  (French)

March 2017:      Starting over….  new blog

1. The Fellowship of the Ring – READ  ch 1-6  – REVIEW
2. Eight Months on Ghazzah Street (H. Mantel) – REVIEW
3.  Bleak House (C. Dickens) – REVIEW
4.  Catherine the Great (R. Massie) – REVIEW
5. Dans la tête de Marine Le Pen (M. Eltchanihoff) – READ
6. Chez Soi (M. Chollet) – REVIEW
7. En Attendant Bojangles (O. Bourdeaut) – REVIEW
8. Ça Ira (1) Fin de Louis -play ( J. Pommerat) – REVIEW
9. Progaganda and Counter Terroism (E. Briant) – REVIEW
10. The Well Dressed Explorer  (Thea Astley) – REVIEW
11. Israel   (D. Gordis) – REVIEW
12. Life and Fate (V. Grossman) – REVIEW
13. Escape Hatch (V. Makanin) – REVIEW
14. Essays: (4)
15. What Neil Gaiman Teaches Us About Survival –  (M. Miller) – READ
16. Remembering the Dead – (R. Long) – READ
17. Remapping history, Reclaming memory A. Wilson play (J. H. Scott) – READ
18. Bleak House: Dead Mother’s Property (H. Schor) – READ

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Master Reading list for 2023-2024

 

Goal:   Read  the  all the novels/plays  by  some of my favorite  authors in chronological  order.

1. Charles Portis
2. Jon Fosse (Septology series)
3. Toni Morrison
4. Cormac McCarthy
5. Hoke Moseley
6. Margaret Atwood
7. Charles Dickens
8. Shakespeare
9. John Steinbeck
10. Kurt Vonnegut
11. Graham Greene
12. Gabriel Garcia Marquez
13. Mario Vargas Llosa
14. Isabel  Allende

 

Charles Portis  – Novels – 0/5

 Norwood (1966) – READ – bah…
 True Grit (1968)
 The Dog of the South (1979)
 Masters of Atlantis (1985)
 Gringos (1991)

   1. The Other Name (2019) 
   2. I is Another (2020)
   3. A New Name (2021)

 

Toni Morrison – Novels –   1/11

 The Bluest Eye (1969)
   Sula (1971)
   Song of Solomon (1977) – READ
   Tar Baby (1981)
   Beloved (1987)
   Jazz (1992)
   Paradise (1997)
   Love (2003)
   A Mercy (2008)
   Home (2012)
   God Help the Child (2015)

 Miami Blues (1984) 
  New Hope for the Dead (1985)
  Sideswipe (1987)
  The Way We Die Now (1988)

 

M. ATWOOD – Novels – 0/15

 

Charles Dickens – Novels – 10/23

Shakespeare

STEINBECK – Novels – 3/19

 

Vonnegut – Novels – 0/15

   Player Piano (1952) 
   The Sirens of Titan (1959)
   Cat’s Cradle (1960)
   Mother Night (1961)
   God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (1965)
   Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
   Breakfast of Champions (1973)
   Slapstick (1976)
   Deadeye Dick (1981)
   Jailbird (1983)
   Galapagos (1985)
   Bluebeard (1987)
   Between Time and Timbuktu (1990)
   Hocus Pocus (1990)
   Timequake (1997)

 

 

 

Graham Greene – Novels – 4/26

 

Gabriel Garcia Marquez – Novels –  2/10     Hispanic Heritage Month  15 Sept – 15 Oct

   One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) – READ
   In Evil Hour (1968)  – READ
   The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975)
   Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1982)
   Fragrance of Guava (1983)
   Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) – READ
   The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor (1986)
   The General in His Labyrinth (1990)
   News of a Kidnapping (1997)
   Memories of My Melancholy Whores (2005)

 

 

 

Mario Vargas Llosa –   Novels – 1/19     Hispanic Heritage Month  15 Sept – 15 Oct

 

   The Green House (1965) –  READING
   The Time of the Hero (1966)
   Conversation in the Cathedral (1975) – READ
   Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1978)
   Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1982)
   The War of the End of the World (1984)
   The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta (1986)
   Who Killed Palomino Molero? (1987)
   The Storyteller (1989)
   In Praise of the Stepmother (1990)
   Death in the Andes (1996)
   The Notebooks of Don Rigoberto (1998)
   The Feast of the Goat (2001) – READ
   The Way to Paradise (2003)
   The Bad Girl (2007)
   The Dream of the Celt (2012)
   The Discreet Hero (2015)
   The Neighborhood (2018)
   Harsh Times (2021)

 

 

 

Isabel  Allende – Novels – 0/15     Hispanic Heritage Month  15 Sept – 15 Oct

 

My blog is changing….

Sunrise in The Netherlands….during a morning bike ride!

 

1. Yes, my blog is changing.
2. I enjoyed many weeks this summer NOT reading and NOT blogging
3. just to give myself time to recharge my batteries.
4. What I will continue to do is write book reviews.
5. I’ve loved reviewing over the years and my book collection has not stopped growing or changing.
6. A huge reason I want to write less frequently….
7. is so that I have more time to actually read the books
8. … which in turn can help me to post more book reviews and less fluff.
9. The best books always make me think, reflecting on what I’ve learned,
10. rather than simply sharing whether I liked the book or not.
11. See you again with a review….as soon as the spirit moves me

 

1. I managed to read 12 books this summer ...before my reading break.
2. Cathy @746books (sign-up  here) 
3. Hashtag: #20BooksOfSummer23

 

Noble Prize:

1. 1952 – Le baiser au lépreux – François Maurice (1922) – REVIEW
2. 1957 – L’étranger – Albert Camus (1942) – REVIEW
3. 1937 – Les Thibault – R.M. du Gard (1922) – REVIEW

 

Pulitzer Prize:

1. 2023 – G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover –  Beverly Gage (biography) – REVIEW
2. 2021 – The Night Watchman – Karen Louise Erdrich – REVIEW
3. 2023 – Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver – REVIEW

 

Non-Fiction: (Audible books)

1. The Divider: Trump 2017-2021 – P. Bakker and S. Glaser – REVIEW

 

French:

1. Les mains du miracle – J. Kessel, 1960  – REVIEW
2. Georges Perec – Claude Burgelin (2023) – REVIEW
3. Berlin Requiem – Xavier-Marie Bonnot (2023) – REVIEW
4. La carte postale – A. Berest (2021) – REVIEW
   
5. Sentimental Education – G. Flaubert – REVIEW

#Nobel Prize Louise Glück

Collection: Faithful and Virtuous Night (2014)

Promise to read more of L. Glück…she is worth the reading time.

RIP  1943-2023

Poem:  PARABLE

1. Parable should reveal a clear moral or religious lesson.
2. The lesson is there…but if I read this poem quickly
3. …I probably would have missed  it!
4. The poem contains three long sentences.
5. It starts out very vaguely…
6. who  is “ourselves” and  who is “we”?
7. Provided there’s a good narrative, poems make a lot of sense.
8. …but starting out this way really dampens  my desire to read any further!

1. This is just the first poem in the collection so
2. I hope the USA poet laureate 2003-2004 will
3. surprise me later in the book.
4. The words do not linger in my mind.
5. I miss a feeling of tension and powerful images.
6. This is not my idea of a great writing:
7. “…like soldiers in a useless war”.
8. I dissected the poem by typing it out…line for line.
9. That’s the only way I can force my mind to concentrate on the poem.

1. Glück introduces us to  pilgrims (I think) with the following:
2. Question: Should we reject worldly goods?
3. Question: Should we insist on having a purpose?
4. = not be distracted by gain and loss
5. = let our bodies be free to move easily.

1. Glûck uses opposites:
2. Pilgrims – wanderers
3. Flexible – resigned
4. Souls – bodies
5. Gain – loss
6. Peaceful pilgrims – compared with warring soldiers
7. First stage of journey (dynamic)
8. alluding to living in mountainous area, facing the elements, rain, flooding, snow 
9. …contradiction follows closely with the words: 
10. “…we never moved”. (static )

Conclusion:

1. Without moving:…those who believed in having a purpose 
2. …this was the purpose. (huh?)
3. “We had aged without travelling forward or sideward.”

1. Those who believed in remaining free to encounter truth
2. …felt truth had been revealed. (huh?)

1. This was NOT one of the best poems I’ve ever read.
2. I expected much more from a Nobel Prize winner
3. …and especially the first poem in a collection should be
4. “the  hook” to entice me to continue reading.
5. I had to push myself through the poem
6. …and took me a few hours just to read, analyse and
7. gather my thoughts.

Last thoughts:

1. I could have read 100 pages in a book in the same timeline!
2. Feel I did not get enough “bang for my buck” with this poem.
3. Not much return on my investment and effort.
4. I will finish this collection in the course of the summer
5. …taking one “poem at a time”!