#NovNov22 De Profundis

NOVEMBER

by Oscar Wilde

Finish date: November 2022
Genre: novella (short non-fiction)
Rating: B
Review: De Profundis (ISBN: 9788494856174)

Good news: This novella has been sitting in the centre of my book Complete Works of Oscar Wilde for more than 20 years on the bookshelf. I was always more interested in Wilde’s plays (The Importance of Being Earnest) of novels (The Picture of Dorian Gray). But now…thanks to the yearly challenge #NovNov22  promoting the joy of reading novellas De Profundis is off my TBR.

Bad news: There was a section in which Wilde goes off on a subplot: “Christ is the precursor of the romantic movement in life”. For those interested in this…it was an enlightening look at art vs Christ. But I was looking purely for the human side of Wilde…how spending time in jail changed him.
Don’t give up on this novella/short nonfiction) Part 1: description of Wilde’s feeling entering jail (excellent) Part 2: Christ vs Art (…this felt out of place and I did skim some pages) Part 3: Wilde revealing how being in jail changed him (excellent)

Bad news: A short novella of non-fiction is not easy to find! John Hersey’s Hiroshima is one of the most well known…but Oscar Wilde is there too!

Personal: When Oscar Wilde concentrates on his feelings about sorrow, finding humanity even in jail, revealing the acts of kindness he was shown and how he has changed…that is when this book hit home for me. Breathtaking how Wilde can express what it is like in a prison cell.
“I wept every dat at the same hour…that is not such a tragic thing as possibly it sounds to you. To those who are in prison tears are a part of every day’s experience .”
After being locked up he says:
“…we all look at nature too much and live with her too little.”
De Profunids, 50.000 words, is well worth your reading time.

#NonFicNov Documentary – Nonfiction Book Pairing

Documentary – Nonfiction Book

1. I have decided to read/watch the book and documentary pairing suggestions that
2. …I found on on Rebekah’s  the blog She Seeks Nonfiction 
3. Rebekah has made some amazing pairings that we all should read/watch
4. …just to make sure we are informed what is happening in this world
5. …outside our respective bubbles

The 13th (IMDB: 8,2)

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander – READ (2020)

Movie: (2016) – An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation’s history of racial inequality. Director: Ava DuVernay Academy Awards: Nominated for Best Documentary 2017 – WATCHED (2022)

Impressive: Scenes from movie “Birth of a Nation” (1915) – I’d never seen this before…just awful to think this was acceptable open terrorism! Later this terrorism was moved into the Jim Crow laws. 

Impressive: seeing the news film segments in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (civil rights, MLK, Regan, Nixon’s war on drugs, LBJ, Angela Davis and several iconic news anchors – Cronkite, Reasoner, Brinkley, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw)

Conclusion: After watching this documentary I learned  how the USA approves legislation that is very beneficial to corporations and the prison industrial complexes. OMG…it was so hard to watch the injustice towards blacks and latinos in the prison system and the killings of young people (see Google)  Freddy Gray, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery  just to mention a few…in America. Don’t look away…read this book and watch  Ava DuVernay’s Oscar nominated documentary from 2017

Conclusion:

1. This book was on my bookshelf for a few years.
2. But the cover was so confronting…I kept putting off reading this book.
3. Then the tragedy on 25 May 2020 in Minneapolis….happened.
4. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man,
5. …was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis
6. …by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer.
7. We all saw the video images…still haunting.

1. As I listened to many experts discussing this crisis…
2. David Simon was interviewed.
3. A Former Baltimore Sun crime reporter, David Simon is is also
4. …the creator of both the Baltimore-based show, The Wire (2002).
5. Simon was asked:
6. What is the first thing US must do to start improving the systemic racism in USA.?
7. He was the ONLY person who mentioned: “Stop the war on drugs”.

1. That was the trigger to finally learn more about this strategy.
2. This is the emergence of a new caste system—a system of social excommunication
3. that has denied millions of African Americans basic human dignity.
4. “The New Jim Crow” is an eye-opener….#MustRead.

#AusReadingMonth2022 Reading List

• Yes… it is that time of year again!
• I have waited 12 months  for this literary event.
• Hosting a reading challenge takes time
• …to organise and spread reading enthusiasm.
• This year Brona has chosen for a ‘Read-a-Long’ of the Australian classic VOSS (P. White)
• I read this book a few years ago for  #AusReadingMonth2016
• …so I have to find something else to do.

1. I’ve joined every single #AusReadingMonth since 2013…never missed a year!
2. Brona has introduced me to a complete new AUSSIE library of books.
3. My first book was Nevil Shute’s “On the Beach”….an impressive classic of the 20th C
4. I have always loved ….using a BINGO card for this challenge.
5. So I have finally found a book for each square!
6. NT and ACT are so difficult to fill….but I found my books!

1. You can join me reading  01 November – 30 November 2022
2. …all things Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
3. #AUSReadingMonth2022
4. @bronasbooks “This Reading Life”  blogpost
5. It is almost winter here in the Netherlands but in my thoughts
6. I will put Foster’s beer on ice…
7. …fire up the barbie and connect with  Australia!

My Reading list:

1. Dark as Last Night (Tony Birch) (VIC)  – READ
2. The Red Zone – Peter Hartcher – New South Wales (NSW) – READ
3. Lowitja  – (change of plans…) – selecting author from (VIC)– READ
4. The Carbon Club – Marian Wilkinson – Queensland (QLD) 
5. The Lucky Laundry – Nathan Lynch – Western Australia (WA) 
6. Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong  Louisa Lim – FREE 
7. Soil – M. Evans – (TAS)
8. Telling Tennant’s Story: Strange Career of the Great Australian Silence – D. Ashenden  (NT)
9. ?? –(SA) (change of plans…) – selecting author from (NSW) ...no SA. ?? still searching…

#AusReadingMonth2022 Tony Birch

by Tony Birch

Genre: short stories
Rating: A+++++
Review: Dark as Last Night (ISBN: 9780702263170)

Good news: Reading does not stop when you lay down the book.
…it leaves a weight upon our waking thoughts. I think that is the best
compliment I can give Tony Birch for this stunning collection of short stories!

Good news: These 16 stories are compact, have a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. I finally have a short story collection with actual “short stories”! Sometimes I find authors like Isaac Bashevis Singer…who write a novella instead of a short story!

Personal: I’ve thought for a long time…but this must be one of the best short story collections I’ve read in a very long time. Yes William Trevor and John Updike have produced wonderful stories…but they also have many stories in their collections that just fizzle out.
Not Tony Birch! These stories had all great themes…family crisis/struggle (abusive father, estranged father) – discovery (bonds of brotherly love ) – transformation (librarian who the believes in her student) and of course humor (child who was not chosen to be in Nativity play at school).
This book won 2022 Queensland Literary Award for best short story collection….and Tony Birch deserves this prize…and then some!
#WorthYourReadingTime

#AusReadingMonth2022 Lowitja

NOVEMBER

by Stuart Rintoul (no photo)

Finish date: 07 November 2022
Genre: biography
Rating: A
Review: Lowitja (ISBN: 9781761065583)

Good news: This book is a complete “blind date” for me. I know nothing about Ms Lowitja O’Donoghue (1932)..let’s see where this leads. Lowitja is an Aboriginal woman of the ‘stolen generation’ who has risen from a domestic servant to become he greatest Aboriginal leader of the modern era.

Bad news: The book is arranged in the order of time: a chronological list of events. There will probably be sections with Australian politics blended into Lowitja’s narrative. Sometimes a few names resonate with me b/c of having read other Australian books …but don’t give up on this book. Lowitja’s story needs to be read…it is inspirational and we need to learn about her ground-breaking work.

Good news: A few names pop up and I say: I know him! Alfred Deakin (The Enigmatic Mr. Deakin) Bill Stanner (Telling Tennant’s Story). But I discovered Don Dunstan….PM of South Australia in the 1970s who tirelessly fought for reforms with respect to Indigenous Australians. Is there a biography about him?

Personal: Lowitja is arguably Australia’s most recognised Indigenous woman. 10 years ago I knew nothing about the Aboriginals. I’ve read a few books but this one lingers…the pain, suffering experienced by the “stolen generation” (Lowitja was taken from her mother when she was just 2 yrs old.) is horrific to read. Lowitja’s life is memorable b/c of her activism for Indigenous rights…but her she has lived years with a feeling of great loss.

#NovNov22 Classic novella The Time Machine

NOVEMBER

by H.G. Wells

Quick Scan:
The Time Machine is a science fiction novella (111 pg) published in 1895 and written as a story within a story (mise-en-abyme). The time traveller whirls off to the year A.D. 802,701 only to find that the state of the human race has changed considerably.

Finish date:  November 2022
Genre: Classic novella (111 pg) (#NovNov22)
Rating: C-
Review: The Time Machine (ISBN: 9780141439976)

Bad news: I expected a vivd description to the future where the Time Traveller had landed….all I’m reading is about flowers, little underworld people, the sunset and the ‘missing’ time machine! Those people are smart cookies..they hide the machine!

Bad news: Strange narrative…not at ALL what I was expecting. I feel just like the ’Time Traveller” …is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society, not one of enlightenment!

Bad news: Question: what is the purpose of the character Weena? She is mentioned 54 x …even more than the Morlocks (49 x). Weena keeps the time traveller company and tries to keep him safe and comfortable – in her own way. This mostly involves trying to prevent him from going underground and putting flowers in his pockets. I felt this was a weak character…probably inserted just to give the story a “human connection” to an Eloi.

Bad news: Narrative seems to deflate in ch 11 that is filled with scientific and philosophical musings about The Palace of Green Porcelain. The sense of suspense has disappeared!

Good news: A+ for imagination of H G wells…see ch 14…monstrous crab-like creature!
Good news: Very good  ch 14 (time traveller visits a dying earth)…. and ch 16 After the Story.  H.G. Wells still leave us open to speculation!

Personal: I had quite a wild ride in The Time Machine (1895).  I liked 25 % of the book…but all in all it was a disappointment. H G Wells is considered the father of SF. Time travelling …going back in time to erase a mistake or going forward to know the future. These are themes everyone has thought about…but be careful what you wish for!  This #Classic was a quick read but to be honest…I thought The War of the Worlds (287 pg) written in 1898 was 10x better than this book.

#RIP George Booth (1928-2022)

Who is the cartoonist George Booth?

1. Today  I  heard the terrible news that George Booth (1928-2022) has died.
2. You know the moment…how it feels
3. …an icon who has brought so much joy
4. into your life is no more.

1. I felt the same way when
2. the actor Alan Rickman…actress Diana Rigg,
3. writer Hilary Mantel and writer Terry Pratchett died

1. Finally after all these years of laughing at Booth’s cat’s and dogs
2. George Booth….will be missed.
3. He was a The New Yorker  magazine cartoonist.
4. Over time, his cartoons have become an iconic feature of the magazine.
5. In a doodler’s style, they feature everymen beset by
6. modern complexity, goofballs perplexing their
7. …spouses, cats, and very often a fat dog.

1. Here is one of my favourite cartoons  of his world…filled with
2. crazed dogs, a profusion of cats and hen-pecking wives!

“…The pussies like surprises.”

#NonFicNov 2022 Week 1

Week 1: (Oct 31-Nov 4) – Your Year in Nonfiction: Take a look back at your year of nonfiction and reflect on the following questions – What was your favorite nonfiction read of the year? Do you have a particular topic you’ve been attracted to more this year? What nonfiction book have you recommended the most? What are you hoping to get out of participating in Nonfiction November? (Katie @ Doing Dewey)

• TOP 5  non-fiction book 

1. How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith (336 pg). ….excellent!! 2021  REVIEW
2. Red Zone – P. Hartcher –  …very interesting  REVIEW
3. The Road to Unfreedom – T. Snyder  …very interesting  – REVIEW
4. The Little Devil in America –398 pg H. Abdurraqib ….excellent!! 2021 REVIEW
5. Empire of Pain – P. R. Keefe….excellent!!  – REVIEW

1. A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson (travelogue) – REVIEW
2. A Cultural History of Causality – S. Kern- REVIEW
   
3. The Dawn of the Belle Epoque – M. McAuliffe – REVIEW
   
4. The Crossroads of Should and Must – E. Luna – REVIEW
5. John Adams – David McCullough  biography – REVIEW
6. All That She Carried – T. Miles (NF) – REVIEW
7. Unbound – Tarana Burke (memoir) – REVIEW
8. Thomas Becket – J. Guy (NF) biography – REVIEW
9. Theatre & Ireland – L. Pilkingkton – REVIEW
10. Patrick Kavanagh – Antoinette Quinn biography – REVIEW
11. The Best of Frank O’Connor – F. O’Connor (essays) – REVIEW
12. Cézanne: Puissant et solitaire – M. Hoog – REVIEW
13. Le maniérisme –  P.  Falguières  – REVIEW
14. Bring the War Home – K. Belew – REVIEW
15. Writing Deep Scenes – M. Alderson – REVIEW
16. Caravaggio – José Frèches – REVIEW
17. Les délassiés – T. Porcher – REVIEW
18. Le fagot de ma mémoire – S. Diagne – REVIEW
19. The Road to Unfreedom – T. Snyder – REVIEW
20. The Age of the Strongman – G. Rachman – REVIEW
21. La guerre des idées – E. Bastié – REVIEW
22. Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission – Y. Katz – REVIEW
23. Flyboy in the Buttermilk – Greg Tate – REVIEW
24. Stony the Road (NF) – H.L. Gates jr. – REVIEW
25. All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep – A. Henry – REVIEW
26. Hooked: Art and Attachment – Rita Felski – REVIEW
27. When Harlem Was In Vogue – D. Lewis – REVIEW
28. Until Justice Be Done – K. Masur – REVIEW
29. Stages of Struggle: Modern Playwrights – J. DiGaetani – REVIEW
30. Unfollow Me – J. Busby – REVIEW
31. Why We Did It – Tim Miller – REVIEW
32. Invisible Storm – Jason Kander – REVIEW
33. Le Dieu de Dostoïevski – Marguerite Souchon – REVIEW
34. Thank You For Your Servitude – M. Leibovich – REVIEW
35. Red Zone – P. Hartcher – REVIEW
36. Out of Africa – I. Dinesin (memoir)
37. Tunnel 29 – H. Merman – REVIEW
38. Freezing Order  (2022)- B. Browder (memoir) – REVIEW
39. The Periodic Table – Primo Levi  (memoir) – REVIEW
40. The Man Who Could Move Clouds  (memoir) – Ingrid Rojas Contreras – REVIEW
41. Plot and Structure – J.S. Bell (240 pg )   2004 REVIEW
42. The Figure of the Detective – C. Brownson   (216 pg) 2014  REVIEW 
43. Bloods – Wallace Terry (320 pg) 1984 (NF)  REVIEW
44. Pushout  – M.W. Morris ((303 pg) 2018 (NF)  REVIEW
45. How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith (336 pg) 2021 (NF)  REVIEW
46. The Little Devil in America -398 pg) H. Abdurraqib (300 pg) (essays) 2021 REVIEW
47. Empire of Pain – P. R. Keefe (NF)  ….excellent!!  – REVIEW
48. The 1619 Project: The New American Origin Story – Nikole Hannah-Jones (590 pg) REVIEW

Divided in genres:

Literature:

1. Writing Deep Scenes – M. Alderson – REVIEW
2. Plot and Structure – J.S. Bell (240 pg )   2004 REVIEW
3. The Figure of the Detective – C. Brownson   (216 pg) 2014  REVIEW 
4. A Cultural History of Causality – S. Kern- REVIEW
5. When Harlem Was In Vogue – D. Lewis – REVIEW
6. Stages of Struggle: Modern Playwrights – J. DiGaetani – REVIEW
7. Theatre & Ireland – L. Pilkingkton – REVIEW
8. Hooked: Art and Attachment – Rita Felski – REVIEW
9. The Dawn of the Belle Epoque – M. McAuliffe – REVIEW

Memoir:

1. Out of Africa – I. Dinesin (memoir)
2. Tunnel 29 – H. Merman – REVIEW
3. Freezing Order  (2022)- B. Browder (memoir) – REVIEW
4. The Periodic Table – Primo Levi  (memoir) – REVIEW
5. The Man Who Could Move Clouds  (memoir) – Ingrid Rojas Contreras – REVIEW
6. Bloods – Wallace Terry (320 pg) 1984 (NF)  REVIEW
7. Invisible Storm – Jason Kander – REVIEW
8. The Crossroads of Should and Must – E. Luna – REVIEW
9. Unfollow Me – J. Busby – REVIEW
10. Unbound – Tarana Burke (memoir) – REVIEW
11. Why We Did It – Tim Miller – REVIEW
12. Thank You For Your Servitude – M. Leibovich – REVIEW
13. All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep – A. Henry – REVIEW
14. A Walk in the Woods – Bill Bryson  – REVIEW (travelogue)

Essays:

1. Flyboy in the Buttermilk – Greg Tate – REVIEW
2. The Best of Frank O’Connor – F. O’Connor (essays) – REVIEW
3. The Little Devil in America -398 pg) H. Abdurraqib (300 pg) (essays) 2021 REVIEW

Biography:

1. John Adams – David McCullough  biography – REVIEW
2. Thomas Becket – J. Guy (NF) biography – REVIEW
3. Cézanne: Puissant et solitaire – M. Hoog – REVIEW
4. Caravaggio – José Frèches – REVIEW
5. Patrick Kavanagh – Antoinette Quinn biography – REVIEW

History:

1. The 1619 Project: The New American Origin Story – Nikole Hannah-Jones (590 pg) REVIEW
2. Shadow Strike: Inside Israel’s Secret Mission – Y. Katz – REVIEW
3. How the Word Is Passed – Clint Smith (336 pg) 2021 (NF)  REVIEW
4. Empire of Pain – P. R. Keefe (NF)  ….excellent!!  – REVIEW
5. Pushout  – M.W. Morris (303 pg) 2018 (NF)  REVIEW
6. The Road to Unfreedom – T. Snyder – REVIEW
7. Red Zone – P. Hartcher – REVIEW
8. Until Justice Be Done – K. Masur – REVIEW
9. Stony the Road (NF) – H.L. Gates jr. – REVIEW
10. Bring the War Home – K. Belew – REVIEW
11. All That She Carried – T. Miles (NF) – REVIEW
12. The Age of the Strongman – G. Rachman – REVIEW

French:

1. Le Dieu de Dostoïevski – Marguerite Souchon – REVIEW
2. Le maniérisme –  P.  Falguières  – REVIEW
3. Les délassiés – T. Porcher – REVIEW
4. Le fagot de ma mémoire – S. Diagne – REVIEW
5. La guerre des idées – E. Bastié – REVIEW

#French Claudia Hunzinger

OCTOBER

by Claudie Hunzinger (no photo)

Finish date: 22 October 2022
Genre: novel (300 pg)
Rating: C-
Review: Un chien à ma table (ISBN: 9782246831631)

Good news: Short listed for not just one…but three prestigious French Literature prizes this year: des Prix Renaudot, Femina, et Medicis. After reading the book…I don’t think it will win, unfortunately.

Good news: Chapters describing SIMPLE daily actions of elderly people …with such care to movements and gestures: shrugs, nods, sagging shoulders, husband and wife walk together…like 2 monks in 1 pair of sandals.
…getting out of bed…legs danging about the floor
…wearing “mes grolles magiques” (magic “sturdy” shoes with rubber sole)
…putting on some make-up, it is all just a fantasy
…going up the stairs without missing one
…going down the elevators without losing balance
…crossing the street quickly to catch the green light

Bad news: The book is too long. 300 pages about connecting with nature, walking the dog, hugging her donkey, watching the larvae of certain beetles as they tunnel and feed under the bark in living wood. All this and don’t forget…she coats it with an “académique, et philosophique” sauce.
#Overwhelmed

Personal: Best part of the book came early! Chapter 7 almost moved me to tears……just 23 sentences but they sum up what many elderly people feel looking back on their lives. The book starts with a very good ‘hook’: a writer in her 80s observing the effects of ageing rather than regretting getting old. She emrbraces it! The dog is a touching element…but after 200 pages I was drifting off the narrative. Ms Hunziger is a woman of nature, poetry and interested in the changes in society. The scope of the book was beyond what I could manage in French. I was just settling in about her loving marriage with her husband…then we were discussing he favourite Alpine walking boots…her “grolles”. Nice for those who like this type of musings just not captivating enough for me and a 300 page book.