An end of week recap

“Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.”
– Voltaire

This is a post in which I summarise 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 nightstand and keep readers abreast of various book-related happenings.

CHATTERBOOKS >>

If you are planning a reading event, challenge, competition, or anything else likely to be of interest to the book blogging community and its followers, please let me know. I will happily share your news here with the fabulous array of bibliowonks who read this weekly wind up.

* Almost Overlooked *

Better late than never! Or as Livy put it: potiusque sero quam nunquam. (1) This week, I urge you to hurry through the door marked ‘Littérature Française pour les Anglophones’ which leads to Book Around The Corner, where you can join Emma and her sister-in-law Séverine’s book challenge. Here you will find the Reading with Séverine, the 2024-2025 list, where the ladies have decided on a “pick-and-mix” of enticing titles, including “two classics, some short-stories, a few crime fiction novels, a dystopian novella and a non-fiction book” from “Italy, Russia, France, Montana, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Kansas.” Their “readalong” started in September but happily you can participate at any point should one of these works be “on your radar.” (2) In the dying days of September, Valerie O’Riordan’s critique of Sarah Perry’s latest work of literary fiction was posted by Bookmunch. Enlightenment is an historical novel about “Thomas Hart, [a] middle-aged novelist and columnist [and] sometime member of Bethesda Chapel,” who “spends a portion of his time in London, lest his fellow congregants discover” he is gay. Instructed “by his editor to write a column about the Hale-Bopp comet,” he develops an interest in astrophysics and is “drawn into a local mystery: to uncover the identity of a long-missing local woman”. To find out more about a book “full of awe at the immensity of the universe,” please read Valerie’s review: A compassionate paean to love and faith” – Enlightenment by Sarah Perry #bookerprizelonglist2024.

* Not the Flamingo Club… *

Did everyone have a groovy trip to the 1970 Club? Two people who most certainly did were hosts, Karen Langley at Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, who “had a marvellous week”, devoid of disappointments, and Simon Thomas from Stuck in a Book, who’s still wading through unread titles both loved and loathed. The question now is, what do our two cool book beans have in store for us next April? The rumour is they have selected the twelve-month period in which Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl was first published, the First Lady of Argentina Eva ‘Evita’ Perón passed away, the Roman Catholic Church banned the books of André Gide and Elizabeth II had the crown popped on her head. If I were now to start humming the tune to Johnny Standley’s It’s in the Book, I feel sure you will, as one, call out ‘1952!’ So, be a supermurgitroid not a square and join the hipsters browsing the latest titles by Patricia Highsmith, H. E. Bates, Doris Lessing, Jean-Paul Sartre, Dodie Smith, Vasily Grossman, E. C. R. Lorac, E. B. White, Ana Maria Matute, John Steinbeck, Barbara Pym, Ralph Ellison and, you guessed it, Agatha Christie. Lots of others, too. You can find a few 1952 Club suggestions at A lively week for the #1970Club – but where will we go next???.

* Lit Crit Blogflash *

I am going to share with you one of my favourite posts from around the blogosphere. There are so many talented writers posting high-quality book features and reviews, it was difficult to pick only this one – which was published in the last week or two:

‘Tasmania’ by Paolo Giordano (Review) – Tasmania, says Tony Malone of Tony’s Reading List, “is one for those who enjoy autofiction, as the ‘novel’ is narrated by a thinly disguised version of the author.” However, it isn’t, as you might expect, set in the named island state of Australia but in “Italy (with a few trips to Paris)” and is “a very European work, both in its approach and its content.” The “topic here is climate change,” and its protagonist, Paolo – who is “working through issues with his wife” – is “a man obsessed with disaster in a time where [one seems] to be around every corner”. The novel, says Tony, “can be seen as a book of mid-life crises” but it is also “a metaphor” for both a “place” and “a state of mind,” and “can be seen as a futile search for [Paolo’s] own private Tasmania.” The story has “a flow”, which TM enjoyed “immensely”, even though, at times, he wasn’t “quite sure where [it was] going”.

* Irresistible Items *

Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I generally make a point of tweeting/x-ing (not to mention tooting and bsky-ing) a few favourite finds (or adding them to my Facebook group page), but in case you missed anything, there follows a selection of interesting snippets: 

**************************** 

The Korea Herald: [Eye Interview] Charting remarkable year, Anton Hur’s journey in literature continues – Hwang Dong-hee speaks to Korean writer and translator Anton Hur – author of the new science fiction novel Toward Eternity – about “navigating his busiest year yet.” 

The Guardian: ‘Fascinating’: Tove Jansson’s Moomins notes to be published for first time – “Handwritten notes about characters’ traits and voices to be published in 80th-anniversary edition of The Moomins and the Great Flood”, reveals Dalya Alberge.

Hazlitt: Against Redemption – “Social media is filled with documentation of human suffering. So why read a tragic novel?” asks Carleigh Baker. 

Financial Times: The Place of Tides by James Rebanks — an elegiac tale of the ‘duck women’ of the far north – The Place of Tides sees the English sheep farmer and author “seek sanctuary and renewal on a remote Norwegian archipelago”.

Big Issue: When theatres emptied during the pandemic, I had to make my own – “The global pandemic inspired the playwright, illustrator and author’s new [historical fantasy] novel [Edith Holler] about a young woman trapped in a ramshackle English theatre.”

LARB: Manuscripts Don’t Burn – “Raymond De Luca reviews a long-awaited new film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita.”

Jezebel: In the Book World, Eco-Horror Is the New Slasher…Because Climate Change Is Here – “When it comes to horror sub-genres, folk horror asks, ‘What did they do?’ whereas eco-horror asks, ‘What have we done?’” says Jackie Jennings.

Liberties: On the Envelope – Ryan Ruby presides over the unlikely meeting of Emily Dickinson and Franz Kafka.

Words Without Borders: On the Outskirts of Utopia – “Jordanian poet and writer Lana al-Majali delivers a sweeping argument for the brilliance, and urgency, of poetry.”

Prospect: The books that change the world are the books we ignore – Peter Hoskin writes: “Literary editors, like me, want to highlight the best narrative non-fiction. But what about the self-help guides, cookbooks and management bibles that really shape people’s behaviours?”

Publishers Weekly: BookTok Sensation Emily Rath’s Epic Adventure – Known usually for writing “spicy romance novels”, Emily Rath’s usual readers may be “surprised to learn that her new novel, North is the Night, is a fantasy adventure inspired by Finnish mythology.”

The Guardian: Karl Ove Knausgård: ‘The book that changed me as a teenager? The History of Bestiality’ – “The Norwegian author on the magic of Ursula K LeGuin, returning to Virginia Woolf, and the insight of Jorge Luis Borges”.

The Japan Times: Akutagawa winner ‘Bari Sanko’ takes office politics to the mountains – “Though the plot takes time to get going,” says Thu-Huong Ha, “Sanzo K. Matsunaga’s novel takes a nuanced look at the implications of being an independent thinker in Japan’s corporate culture.”

ABC News: Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko wins $100,000 ARA Historical Novel Prize for her novel Edenglassie – Goorie author Melissa Lucashenko has won one of Australia’s richest literary prizes, the ARA Historical Novel Prize, for Edenglassie, which interweaves stories of Aboriginal peoples in the past and present.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Dysfunction of Criticism at the Present Time – Julianne Werlin revisits “a debate about the role of the critic, two decades on”, in What Is Cultural Criticism? by Francis Mulhern and Stefan Collini.

The Bay Area Reporter: Words: ‘Song Of Myself,’ Walt Whitman scholar Arnie Kantrowitz’s posthumous book published – The posthumous publication of Song of Myself, a previously unpublished novel by the late gay activist and Walt Whitman scholar, Arnie Kantrowitz has been released”, says Michele Karlsberg.

Georgia Review: The Essay as Realm – “Elisa Gabbert looks at the similarities between two personal fascinations: architecture and essays. A committed rereader, Gabbert examines how well-crafted buildings and essays have the power to make us feel as we explore them.”

BBC Middle East: Rare typed copy of The Little Prince to go on sale for $1.25m – “A rare typescript of children’s story The Little Prince, one of the most translated books ever published, is set to go on sale for $1.25m (£963,313)”, reports Hollie Cole.

Ursula K. Le Guin: The 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction – Anne de Marcken is the recipient of the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over.

Caught by the River: Pemberley Natural History Books – “Outside a museum, I have never seen a collection of books like it. Years and years ago, the NH section in the old Foyles was a little like this but those days are long gone. –  Paul Bursche unearths a nature-book-lover’s paradise in Buckinghamshire.”

Literary Hub: Simple Yet Profound: On the Timelessness of Aesop’s Fables – “Robin Waterfield explores some little-known aspects of these ancient bite-sized tales” in a new translation of Aesop’s Fables.

Hyperallergic: When Writing Criticism Feels Like Pouring Time Down the Sink – In her review of La Captive, Hannah Bonner writes: “Reflecting on her own reactions to Chantal Akerman’s namesake film, Christine Smallwood muses on the personal baggage we inevitably bring to the art we consume.”

iNews: Gliff by Ali Smith is a clever novel – but not a moving one – “The celebrated novelist’s new work [a dystopian story entitled Gliff] is a delight to read line by line, but there is something vital missing”, according to Holly Williams.

EU Reporter: Çıňğız Aytmatov, Kyrgyz pearl of world literature – “On 15 October, Kyrgyzstan’s ambassador to Brussels, Aidit Erkin, gave Turkish citizens in Brussels a tour of the former office of Aytmatov, poet and former Kyrgyz diplomat, writes Derya Soysal.”

BBC News: Dracula author’s lost story unearthed after 134 years – “An amateur historian has discovered a long-lost short story by Bram Stoker, published just seven years before his legendary gothic novel Dracula”, reports Maia Davies.

Salon: Steinbeck mined her research for “The Grapes of Wrath.” Then her own Dust Bowl novel was squashed – “Migrant camp worker Sanora Babb wrote what could have been the era’s definitive book. Instead she became a footnote”, says Iris Jamahl Dunkle, author of new biography Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb.

Variety: ‘Harry Potter’ Series Will Explore Books ‘More In-Depth’ Than Films, Says Warner Bros. TV Boss Channing Dungey – Warner Bros. TV Group’s chairman and CEO has said the upcoming Harry Potter TV series will delve more deeply into J.K. Rowling’s original stories.

Euronews: Full-scale replica of Anne Frank’s hidden annex to go on show in New York – “The immersive installation will form part of the upcoming ‘Anne Frank The Exhibition’ show at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan.”

Psyche: Your life is not a story: why narrative thinking holds you back – “Our stories help us make sense of a chaotic world, but they can be harmful and restrictive. There’s a liberating alternative” suggests Karen Simecek, author of Philosophy of Lyric Voice: The Cognitive Value of Page and Performance Poetry.

The Guardian: John Keats statue to be unveiled near his birthplace in London’s Moorgate – “Martin Jennings – whose previous public sculptures include John Betjeman, George Orwell and Philip Larkin – has based his bronze on a life cast of the poet, taken when he was 21”, says Ella Creamer.

NPR: Modest moments become revelatory in the wry and incisive ‘Shred Sisters’ – Memoirist and veteran of the publishing industry, Betsy Lerner, has released her debut novel, Shred Sisters, about two sisters – one of whom is dealing with mental illness. Maureen Corrigan calls the book “incisive and wry.”

Letters From Suzanne: Deborah Orr was unflinchingly true to herself. Who among us can say that? – Five years after the death of Deborah Orr – fearless journalist and author of the raw but humorous memoir, Motherwell – she is remembered by one of her “closest friends”, the writer and columnist Suzanne Moore.

Undark: Book Review: All History Is Environmental History – “In The Burning Earth, historian Sunil Amrith chronicles civilization’s fraught relationship with the natural world”, writes Ramin Skibba.

AGNI: Winter – Egyptian writer Wiam El-Tamami recalls lives lived in Palestine, Berlin and her homeland.

The Week: Are celebrities ruining children’s books? – According to Irenie Forshaw, “Keira Knightley’s first novel [is one of many to have] been met with frustration by writers”.

The Conversation: Hemingway, after the hurricane – In 1935, a hurricane devastated the Florida Keys, killing over 400 people, many of them World War I veterans. Ernest Hemingway joined the relief efforts – and became enraged at government inaction.

InReview: Powerful memoir wins top prize in 2024 SA Literary Awards – “Shannon Burns’ memoir about his dysfunctional and disadvantaged childhood growing up in Adelaide’s northern suburbs has won the $25,000 top prize in the 2024 South Australian Literary Awards”, says Suzie Keen.

The Asian Age: Book Review | The rebranding of Hyderabad – “It has become boringly commonplace to identify Hyderabad with biryani, Charminar and pearls”, says Sanjaya Baru in his review of Dinesh C. Sharma’s Beyond Biryani: The Making of a Globalised Hyderabad.

The Washington Post: John Grisham poached material for new book, media outlets say – “The New York Times and ProPublica are seeking changes to attribution in Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions”, reports Will Sommer.

Fine Books & Collections: Stories in Stitchery as a Reading List Becomes a Quilt – “Historian Emily Cockayne’s cover embroideries that she is making for a book quilt include Gillian Rose’s Love’s Work.”

****************************

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 or comment below. 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 is an excellent description on Urban Dictionary.

Categories: Winding Up the Week

Tags: #1952Club, 1952 Club, Aesop, Anton Hur, Betsy Lerner, Emily Rath, Paolo Giordano, Reading with Séverine, Robin Waterfield, Sarah Perry, Voltaire