Paula’s end of week recap
This is the second of my weekly posts in which I summarize books read, reviewed and currently on my TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming features, see what’s on the night-stand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings.
If there is something you would particularly like to see on Winding Up the Week or if you have any suggestions, questions or comments for Book Jotter, please drop me a line. I would be delighted to hear from you.
READ AND REVIEWED >
I read and reviewed Her Body and Other Parties, the debut short story collection from US author, Carmen Maria Machado, which was winner of the $30,000 Bard Fiction Prize for 2018. She’s an exhilarating writer, already being compared to Angela Carter, and I suspect we’ll be hearing a great deal more of her in the future. I awarded her book 4 stars on Goodreads. > Read my thoughts >
Look out for my review of The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara – one of the most anticipated debuts of 2018.
Next up is the novel, The Word For Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews, the story of 19-year-old Erin who leaves England to take a voyage into the Alaskan wilderness. It will be published by Serpent’s Tail on 1st February.
On my bedside table is The Assassin’s Cloak: An Anthology of the World’s Greatest Diarists (edited by Irene Taylor), a dip-in doorstop that waits patiently to catch me between less weighty volumes. I rather enjoy reading a few entries each night, the only drawback being the sheer heavy weight of the damned thing, which makes falling asleep with it propped up in front of my bespectacled face something of a hazard.
CHATTERBOOKS >
#ReadingMuriel2018
If you are an admirer of the late great Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist, Muriel Spark, make your way immediately over to Ali Hope’s superb book blog. HEAVENALI, where she is hosting a “year-long reading event” for the author’s centenary.
If you would like to take part, Ali invites you to join, “for the whole thing or just as and when you can.” All she asks is that you, “use the hashtag #ReadingMuriel2018 on twitter” and check out her Sparkian reading schedule. With regards to the number of books you should read, she says: “The absolute minimum throughout the year [must be] six books. Of course, you might want to read far more than that.”
As someone who has always enjoyed reading Spark’s novels, I would loved to have taken part in this twelve-month literary jolly, but sadly I have quite a considerable number of happenings marked on my 2018 planner, plus there’s the backlog of ARCs and TBRs to get through while I’m still in my prime!
Fab Features
Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on the web last week. I generally make a point of tweeting my favourite finds, but in case you missed anything, here are one or two interesting snippets:
- The Paris Review: What Does Your Husband Think of Your Novel? – On The Daily, Jamie Quatro examined the gendered assumption that female writers live the erotic lives of their characters.
- Penguin Features: Dystopian Classics That Make Timely Reading – “In this fake news, post-truth era, books like Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale have been guiding lights.”
- Literary Hub: Can Speculative Short Fiction Really Work On TV? – “On Black Mirror, Electric Dreams, and Her Body and Other Parties.”
- Goodreads Blog: 12 Most Beloved A.A. Milne Quotes To Take You Back To The Hundred Acre Wood – Goodreads celebrates A.A. Milne’s first volume of Winnie-the-Pooh stories being published 89 years ago.
En passant, if Winnie-the-Pooh is your jar of honey then you may like to read my recent review of The Extraordinary Life of A A Milne by Nadia Cohen.
BLOGGISH MAKEOVER >
Since we last wound up the week, I have titivated Book Jotter and upgraded to a Premium Plan on WordPress, which means we now have a unique address (URL). Please update your records to show that we reside at https://bookjotter.com.
I hope you approve of the new design and colour scheme. Let me know what you think.
FINALLY >
If you would like to use my Winding Up the Week meme, and/or make use the photo at the top of this page, all I ask is that you give me credit with a link back to Book Jotter.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I wish you a week bountiful in books and rich in reading.
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NB In this feature, ‘winding up’ refers to the act of concluding something and should not be confused with the popular British ‘wind-up’: an age-old pastime of ‘winding-up’ friends and family by teasing or playing pranks on them. If you would like to know more about this expression, there’s an excellent description on Urban Dictionary.
Hosted by Paula @ Book Jotter.
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Categories: Winding Up the Week
Now that you’ve upgraded to Premium on WordPress, are you finding other features that make the switch worth it? I’ve toyed with the idea since starting my blog (five years ago!).
It’s early days yet, Kate, but I’m in for the duration with this book blogging caper, so I thought it worth my while having a unique URL and a greater choice of templates (sadly, I’m not the artistic type). I’ll let you know when I’ve been working with it for a few weeks. 🙃
The Word for Woman is Wilderness has a very intriguing title and cover! What are your thoughts about it?
It certainly does sound intriguing. I’m just about to start reading it, so I’ll post my thoughts as soon as poss.
I love the articles you have featured this week. I am gonna dive into them right away. Also I love the professional look of your blog. And congrats on your upgrade.
Thank you so much, Gayathri. I hope you find the links interesting. I’m really pleased with the upgrade so far. 😃