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Post by scrubb on Feb 1, 2023 0:19:08 GMT -5
Pip Williams, The Dictionary of Lost Words. A really well done story about where lexicography and feminism intersect.
I really enjoyed it.
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Post by HalcyonDaze on Feb 1, 2023 4:21:11 GMT -5
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Post by riverhorse on Feb 1, 2023 4:37:41 GMT -5
Well, I also managed to squeak in a third book in January!
After the intellectually highbrow works about Elizabeth Macarthur, I churned through a slightly above average chicklit book called "Summer on the Italian Lakes" by Lucy Coleman. Successful chick lit author Brianna who is of course not so successful in her own lovelife accepts an invitation to spend a summer teaching at a writer's retreat on Lake Garda, owned and run by historical fiction author Arran. The usual relationship back and forth ensues. Enjoyable read, especially as I will be going to the area in the Easter holidays so liked reading little snippets about the sights of Lake Garda and Verona.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 1, 2023 13:50:17 GMT -5
They will have to change the main character's personality to make a play of it, I think. She's not what you call a big talker, and a lot of her drama is internal. The change would be fine, IMO, because her meekness, apparent lack of convictions, and complete inability to stand up for herself made her less interesting and sympathetic than she could have been. (To me. Others may have liked her more than I did. But after she broke out a bit in her early 20s, and had some traumatic experiences, she retreated back into meekness. I found her kind of boring. ) ) |
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Post by sprite on Feb 12, 2023 9:18:28 GMT -5
After Sappho, Selby Wynn Schwartz
Another one of my Booker Nominee reads.
Reader, I did not read it.
I put in about 75 pages, and then skipped to the last two chapters. It's not a conventional novel. It tells snippets of stories of various European women who were either definitely or possibly lesbians, showing how their lives intersected personally and/or through their writing. I'm not sure if all of them were real. It starts in Italy in the mid 1800's, and ends around the time of Virginia Woolf.
It looks at the influence of the Greek poet Sappho. It is beautifully written, and the characters come alive in just a few phrases. But it is too fanciful for a non-fiction examination, whilst not having enough of a narrative arc to be a story.
So. Not my thing. But if you like beautiful language, this is definitely one to have a look at.
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