An end of week recap

This is a weekly post 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.

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE TBR >>

I shared my thoughts on Marion Eames’ A Private Language? A Dip into Welsh Literature in my latest Dewithon feature. It makes an ideal primer for English-speakers wishing to discover the works of Welsh writers. >> Read my comments >>

I read and reviewed Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn, a novella set in Communist-era Romania. It is part of the new Fairlight Moderns series and is due to be published on 11th July. >> See my thoughts >>

Look out for my review of The Brontë Family: Passionate Literary Geniuses by Karen Kenyon, which is due to be published by Endeavour Media on 1st July.

Next up is 24 Stories: of Hope for Survivors of the Grenfell Tower Fire, an anthology of short stories written on themes of community and hope by a mix of the UK’s best known writers and previously unpublished authors, whose pieces were chosen by Kathy Burke from over 250 entries.

Coming soon is The Beekeeper of Sinjar by the acclaimed poet and journalist Dunya Mikhail, which tells the harrowing stories of women from across Iraq who have managed to escape the clutches of ISIS.

CHATTERBOOKS >>

* Three Things… *

Reading. Looking. Thinking. This week it’s all about Moomins, a metal peacock and infuriating politicians. >> Three Things… #2 >>

* Dewithon Related Matters *

Karen at BookerTalk has been closely following, “a government-backed initiative to celebrate the English-language literary heritage of Wales.” The project began in 2006 and has now reached the point of publishing fifty titles with Parthian Books, many of which were previously forgotten or out of print. In her recent post, Library of Wales celebrates the country’s authors, she examines the current selection and lists all books to have appeared in the series thus far.

* Children’s Books Readathon 2018 *

The always frantically busy novelist and literary blogger, James J. Cudney is planning his next reading jolly over at This Is My Truth Now. The Children’s Books Readathon will involve reading between eight and 12 books during the month of August (July too, if it helps), when those taking part will share their reviews with fellow group members. If you are a lover of children’s lit, keep an eye out for further details appearing early in July.

* Lit Crit Blogflash *

I’m going to share with you six of my favourite literary posts from around the blogosphere. There are so many talented writers posting high-quality book features and reviews, it was difficult to limit the list to only these few – all of them published over the last week or two:

On The Subject of The Folio Society – Erik Shinker much admires the “carefully crafted editions of the world’s finest literature” published by The Folio Society. He describes its books as, “crafted by masters, illustrated by virtuosos” in a recent post at The Past Due Review.

Friday Fun: International Book Covers – Marina Sofia at FindingTimeToWrite presents a small but striking selection of illustrations used on the jackets of numerous editions of Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1967 novel, The Master and Margarita.

Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood – Regina at MEReadALOT is a lover of historical fiction, especially when it focuses on women’s history. Here she reviews a novel about one woman’s fight for justice and equality.

Corpus Erat: The Metamorphosis of Marcus in Brigid Brophy’s Flesh – Melissa Beck, a high school teacher of Latin, Ancient Greek and History shares her thoughts on Brigid Brophy’s novel, Flesh at The Book Binder’s Daughter.

On Crackedness: Clare Fisher’s How the Light Gets In – Freelance arts journalist and literary researcher, Xenobe Purvis believes Fisher’s new short story collection has “cracks” but is “largely absorbing and occasionally very affecting.” Read her review at Splice.

Music & Silence by Rose Tremain – Kate W’s advice is to “tear through” Rose Tremain’s 1999 historical novel and “delight over every lavish (and lascivious) detail”. Find out why at booksaremyfavouriteandbest.

* Irresistible Items *

Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I generally make a point of tweeting my favourite finds, but in case you missed anything, here are a handful of interesting snippets:

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The New Yorker: At Thomas Mann’s House, the German President Defends Democracy – The president of Germany inaugurated Thomas Mann’s house as a residence for visiting German thinkers.

Literary Hub: The Man Booker Prize: By the Numbers – Emily Temple wants to know how many short story collections have made the Booker shortlist and which author has won it most often?

Bookish: Books to Read for World Refugee Awareness Month – June has been World Refugee Awareness Month. Elizabeth Rowe picked a selection of titles by and about refugees.

Metro: Bookstore gets huge support after tweeting that it only made £12.34 in a day – A tweet from the Imagined Things book store in Harrogate about its worst sales day ever prompted a fantastic response.

The New York Times: A Critic Sells Books Down by the Seashore – Book critic Dwight Garner writes about his stint selling books at a shop in Wigtown, Scotland.

The Paris Review: Girl, Interrupted, Twenty-Five Years Later – A quarter century ago readers weren’t quite ready to recognize the book’s detached perspective. Are we now?

The Guardian: Drawn from life: why have novelists stopped making things up? – “Authors are using their own life stories in their fiction. Does the boom in autofiction spell the end of the novel?” asks Alex Clark.

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FINALLY >>

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 in general, please drop me a line. I would be delighted to hear from you.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I wish you a week bountiful in books and rich in reading.

NB In this feature, ‘winding up’ refers to the act of concluding something and should not be confused with the British expression: ‘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.

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: Book Reviews, Brigid Brophy, Children's Books Readathon, Clare Fisher, Clarissa Harwood, Dewithon, Dunya Mikhail, Mikhail Bulgakov, Reading Wales, Rose Tremain, The Folio Society, The Man Booker Prize, Thomas Mann, Wales Readathon, Wigtown