No apologies for the lapse in posting.
This month ended on such an up note, but I'll go chronologically: First up was Look What You Made Me Do by John Lancaster. I've liked the other books of his that I've read, but I knew where this was going to end up mid-book. Not one of my favorites by him. Here's a quote that made me instantly think of the high school reunion committee, though. It was as if he'd met the girls I went to high school with!
"Despite being closer to sixty than fifty, the two of them still had the air of recovering mean girls, women who had been bitchy alpha females in their school days and weren't quite sure whether they were ashamed of their former selves, or slightly missed them."
After that a re-read of Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, since I read a new non-fiction book on the Black Death last month. I was so absorbed in this book the first time I read it that I didn't realize the Disneyland ride my daughter and husband were on had broken down until Cari ran up to me about an hour later. Oops! The re-read was enjoyable, but got me wondering if the internet has changed my reading, because I thought it could have used a good edit of about 75 pages. Still, Connie Willis is a goddess!
I've been having a Peter Lovesey/Peter Diamond summer (I love to find a new to me mystery series, preferably set in the UK, that I can binge read when it's hot out. And it's always hot out here in the summer.) In July I read #16-21, usually in just over a day. I love reading about Bath, and I think I only have one book left.
Breezed through Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer, which I guess I was supposed to. Tuscan chaos, great beach read if I ever went to the beach.
My niece wrote a book! My America Blooms, by Nazanin Agange Ford. A beautifully poetic story about moving from Iran to America. She got very lucky with a wonderful illustrator, too!
And despite being much older than most places Constantin is familiar with, this one feels more alive, or more recently alive. Who knows, he thinks, maybe medieval spirits aren't so easily flattened.
We all complain about having to queue for basic food, the cold in winter, of not being free to speak our minds, but what about culture, what about music and art? That all goes on elsewhere - people collaborate and are inspired by each other's works and build on previous efforts...In arts, in science. While we are stuck! Someone pressed the 'tread water' button on us. Isn't this yet another form of torture?
"And this happened for real?" "Yes, many years ago." "Was I born?" "No, silly, during the Second World War" Lia sees an imaginary ruler before her eyes, with five nicks at even intervals: Dinosaurs, Romans, Turks, World Wars, Lia." (Lia was a great character!)
Dipped into Femina by Janina Ramirez, reading the chapters that interested me. Loved the section about the Bayeux Tapestry! Quotes:
From the Reformation onwards, libraries were scoured for controversial texts. Various shorthand terms were used in catalogues to indicate which should be considered and potentially destroyed. Books were recored as containing 'witchcraft', 'heresy', and 'Catholic' subject matter; the destiny of many of these texts is unknown, with the lists the only record of their existence. The title of this book - Femina was the label scribbled alongside texts known to be written by a woman, so less worthy of preservation.
Artefacts need context to fulfill their intended role. (Which is probably why the medieval museum in Cologne was so fascinating, as its setting was ecclesiastical.)
On the Bayeux Tapestry (which is an embroidery, not a tapestry, and probably created by nuns in Canterbury) and its likely designer, a priest named Scolland.
Scolland was a well-travelled man and had visited Rome, where he would have seen the Column of Marcus Aurelius, built around AD 180 to commemorate the emoeror's victories at battle. There are many similiarities between the composition of the great victory friezes on the imperial Roman scuplture and the Bayeux Tapestry which suggests Scolland may have drawn on it for artistic inspiration, perhaps even sketching it while in Rome.
The very scarcity of female figures [in the tapestry] naturally makes the three that are included notable. Women are conspicuous by their rarity; the presence of non-presence.
Next up was Contrapposto by Dave Eggers. I like him so much as a person that I can overlook a lot in his books. This was full of interesting side characters, but man, Olympia was so hard to take! Still, lots of heartfelt if a bit didactic thoughts on living a life of art. I'm not mad I spent the time reading it, and find it funny that at our local library it will be shelved in the romance section, according to its spine label. :)
Back to a mystery: Murder at the Spirit Lounge by Jess Kidd. OK, not as good as the first in the series.
Finally, Few and Far Between by Jan Carson. I finished it on the 31st, which meant my favorite book of the month snuck in under the wire. The Lough Neagh archipelago really exists, but the story of some of the islands' residents is all Carson. I have added her other books to my shopping list for London. Quotes:
Robert-John could crawl out from under his father's displeasure and be whatever he wanted to be. Therein lay the problem. What exactly did Robert-John wish to be? He'd been a disappointment for so long, it was hard to picture himself in an alternative role.
None of these words are alien to RJ. He's only from down the road. His folk also speak like their mouths are full of bog and soda bread.
It's a lullaby Mutter used to sing...Marion hasn't heard it in years. The memory rises at the back of her throat, in that hallowed place where lament comes from. Also hope.
There are two ways of wearing another's need, Marion's just beginning to realize this. Need can be a heavy burden, or it can sit lightly on the shoulders, like a set of fine feathered wings.
August reading is already off to an excellent start!
