I’ve been cleaning up my desk today (yay, I can finally see the surface) and this means I’ve unearth some books and an article I’ve been meaning to talk about for a while.
First, if you haven’t checked out the latest issue of Bookforum, you must. There is a wonderful interview with translator superstar Edith Grossman. She talks about how she got into translations, her book-filled home and about the towering stack of TBR books. I love that. You can see the whole article here. Hope you enjoy it.
Now moving on to the books I’ve been meaning to tell you about. These are books I read around the Christmas holidays and what with the holiday and stuff the books just sat there but these are books I really enjoyed and wanted to share with you.
The first is The Stylist by Cai Emmons. I received this ARC and my first thought was that this was going to be some fluffy, chicklit type book but I was quite surprised to find a novel with some very complex characters and situations. This is a good drama about father/daughter relationships and also about friendship.
The other book I wanted to give mention to was Diana Athill’s novel, Don’t Look at Me Like That. A novel set in 1950s England about a young woman who doesn’t follow conventions. “Everyone thinks you are gentle, Meg, but my God, you’re hard.” Yep, Meg has that bit of an edge to her that will make her a very interesting character to read about. My only problem with the book was that I wasn’t quite satisfied with the end, I wanted a bit more resolution.
Finally, I wanted to recommend Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton. This is a great sneak-peek at the life of a writer. “Each day, and the living of it, has to be a conscious creation in which discipline and order are relieved with some play and pure foolishness.” I jotted down a lot of little bits of wisdom from this book so if you are looking for a bit of inspiration or to see how one writer got hers, take a look at this book.
I have finished a few other books lately so hopefully I can get to those reviews soon.
What a neat article! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I loved Journal of a Solitude! It’s one of those books that really an impact on me. I have numerous quotes from it written in my notebook. The best garden I ever planted was that spring, after reading it. I called it my May Sarton garden… Isn’t it interesting the ways a book can become part of your life?
I’m a big May Sarton fan and love her journals as much as her fiction. I’m always glad to see another reader pick her up!
Interesting article. Thanks for the link.
Did May work full time as an author? Did she have kids and a husband?
Eva – Glad you liked it 🙂
Robin – Oh, I love that! This was one of those books that I even had to share quotes from with some of my friends. And, I can see it becoming one of those books that I could pick up and open to a random page and still find it enjoyable.
Ted – I am definitely looking forward to reading more of May’s work. I had heard about her from some of my craft groups when people talked about creativity and inspiration. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally get around to her book!
Tanabata – Wasn’t it great? It’s nice to see translators getting noticed.
Isabel – I believe she was a full time author.. No husband or kids though.
I’ve had the current edition of Bookforum waiting for my attention for weeks. I saw Grossman was in it but just haven’t had the chance to get to it yet. I look forward to getting around to wallowing in all the Bookforum goodness 🙂
I’ve been dragging around my Bookforum, too. I tend to always take my book with me on break, though. You mentioned the Athill book before–I need to write down the title as it sounds good.
OK, I’m seeing comments about Sarton EVERYWHERE lately. Must be the universe trying to tell me something.
Hello, I just found your blog recently and I,am really enjoying it. I love to read your reviews.Everything here is interesting and fun! Thank you for sharing! Sherry
Thanks for the link to the Edith Grossman article, that was great! Also, I read Diana Athill’s memoir Instead of a Letter, which was also slightly unsatisfying, but I’d be interested in reading her novel. Thanks for mentioning it!
Ooh, and I’m also reading Sarton–I’m in the middle of Kinds of Love, and I’m really enjoying it. I’d like to read her journal–how cool!
That’s a great article – thanks for the link! I have read quite a few oh her translations, it’s nice to learn a little more about her.
Stefanie – I’m so bad about letting the Bookforums pile up. I’m surprised I got to this one kind of soon after I got it! ha,ha…Have you checked out Artforum? I’m intrigued… I need to look for it one of these days.
Danielle – You know, I think the reason it takes me so long to read Bookforum is because the articles are not skimpy things. They are in-depth and take much longer than some glossy magazine article. Oh and I think you’d like the Athill book so hope you put that on your radar 🙂
Andi – Don’t you love those messages from the universe 🙂
Sherry – Thank you for stopping by and glad you are enjoying the bookish talk. I can never get enough 🙂
Gentle Reader – I’m going to have to add Athill’s memoir to my list. I heard that this book was sort of a fictionalized auto-biography. Not sure about that but it was very interesting. And, Sarton wrote quite a lot right? I can’t wait to discover more by her!
Alisia – I want to see her house – I wish the article had had more pictures! And, I’m so curious about the new Garcia Marquez book she is working on. I wonder when that comes out.
I just finally got my first taste of May Sarton in A Hawaiian Reader, Vol. 1 (which I’ve been hacking away at for about 2 1/2 months and finally finished). It was a wonderful little piece of writing. I’ll look for her Journal of a Solitude, thanks! I was wondering what kind of Sarton joy to seek out, next. 🙂
What great articles, Iliana! Thanks for sharing with us. 🙂
These all sound wonderful to me. I read the Sarton book years ago, but it definitely merits re-reading.
Have you ever read Anne Morow Lindbergh’s diaries? They’re in four volumes, and provide a fascinating look at life as a writer, mother, and wife during the 30’s-50’s.
Nancy,aka Bookfool – Ooh, it looks like a lot of us have been reading Sarton lately – this is great. I like that you can set aside her book, think about it and go back when you are in the mood for more and it’s so easy to fall back into her writing.
Melody – Glad you enjoyed it!
Ravenous Reader – I actually saved all my little notes and left them in the book. It’ll be fun to go back to it years from now and see what I liked. I haven’t read Lindbergh’s diaries… I must look for these – I’m intrigued!
‘Journal of a Solitude’ was the first Sarton book that I read and I picked it up because it was just the book I needed in my life at that time, when I was going through a very similar situation. Sarton taught me that needing times of solitude was not the ‘crime’ that some people made me feel it was and I still go back to this book (and much of her other work) at times when the pressure of the world starts to get to me.
I have had Journal of Solitude on my book list for some time….so I am glad that you recommended it and it sounds like she is someone to definitely read! I need to find some time to read that article in Bookforum.
Ann Darnton – That is wonderful. I love it when the right book comes at the right time. It makes the reading all the more pleasurable and poignant.
Christine – I have a feeling this will be a perfect read after your move. Oh and there’s this one section where she visits Dallas and it just cracked me up. This was in the 70s I believe but it’s still the same! You’ll know what I mean when you read the book 🙂
After reading a couple books of her, I have become a fan of Sarton. I’ve ordered a couple from Powell online and am on the look out for copies at the library sale.
Don’t Look At Me Like That is on my paging list at the library. It might arrive sooner than I anticipate. I’ve got a lot of books lined up for the next two months so it’s gonna be busy reading time.
I can never see the surface of my desk! I’ve got that little pull-out tray for the computer keyboard and that’s my working space.
Matt – Next time I go to Half Price books I am going to look for more of her books. I can imagine I might be able to find some good copies. Oh so you’ve got a messy desk too huh? I can still see my desktop today so that’s a good thing 🙂