Finished reading: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng ๐Ÿ“ša lovely novel set in Malaysia. Interesting characters, including Somerset Maugham.

Currently reading: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett ๐Ÿ“š

Currently reading: The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker ๐Ÿ“šA strange novel, a Trojan War story told from the POV of Briseis, Trojan royalty made a slave to Achilles. I’m haphazardly making my way through the Odyssey in the Emily Wilson translation, so this novel was useful for background.

Still reading: Clarissa by Samuel Richardson ๐Ÿ“šI’ve been reading this novel for about a year and I’m only half-way through its 1800 pages.

Finished reading: All Systems Red by Martha Wells ๐Ÿ“šSo fun! I see why people love these Murderbot diaries.

Finished reading: Fatherland by Burkhard Bilger ๐Ÿ“šDefinitely a good read. An American researches his Nazi grandfather. He notes how small decisions become big decisions. And that treating people with humanity is always the right thing to do, of course.

Finished reading: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry ๐Ÿ“šworth reading. Interesting meditations on relationships, religion, science, faith. Set in England as science was being invented. Interesting characters.

Currently reading: Fatherland by Burkhard Bilger ๐Ÿ“š

Currently reading: The Odyssey by Homer (translated by Emily Wilson) ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson ๐Ÿ“šNotched another one from the “Robert Macfarlane Recommended Reading” list. Written in the 1920s, a beautiful but also brutal naturalist work about the short life of an otter in the English countryside.

Currently reading: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry ๐Ÿ“š

Currently reading: White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton ๐Ÿ“šquite good. A Shakespearean ending that takes your breath away but also makes sense as a commentary on our late-capitalism world.

Currently reading: The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf ๐Ÿ“š

Currently reading: Tarka the Otter by Henry Williamson ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: The Years by Annie Ernaux ๐Ÿ“šThis took me a while to get through but in the end, I agree that it’s a masterpiece. It manages to be the story of the past 60 years for a white, educated woman and yet general, too. She captures so much in so few words. Translated from the French.

Finished reading: Loot by Tania James ๐Ÿ“šAn excellent novel, set in India and France, touches on history, colonialism, growing up bi-racial, and more heavy topics while also being an enjoyable read. Highly recommended.

Currently reading: Poor and of Lo Make, the Diary of Abner Sanger (late 1700s) by ๐Ÿ“š

Currently reading: Loot by Tania James ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: All Souls Lost by Dan Moren ๐Ÿ“ša fun hard-boiled detective story with ghosts and ghouls.

Currently reading Resist by Lee Schneider @leeS ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: Homegoing: A novel by Yaa Gyasi ๐Ÿ“šDefinitely worth reading. It contains scenes of abuse and violence but only in service to the story and the history. Half-sisters in the 1700s, one stays in Africa, one is enslaved and taken to America. It’s the story of all the generations to now.

Currently reading: All Souls Lost by Dan Moren ๐Ÿ“š

Finished reading: Victory City by Salman Rushdie ๐Ÿ“šWorth reading. A good tale about how the historian gets to tell the history. Plenty to think about.