Hi, folks! As promised, I explain here how I use my reading spreadsheet. Sorry in advance for the poor audio quality and for the lenghty video – I did not antecipate that I would have so much to talk about! NOTES: Timestamps Main table: 1:36 Purchases: 7:30 Stats: 9:45 Charts: 18:52 Projects: 25:07 Reference Tables: 33:22 Inspiration Sarah…
Obscure titles on my TBR | 2018
Hi, folks! I’ve been in the mood for a TAG lately. This one was created by Shawn, and it consists in selecting the ten most obscure books on your TBR, by sorting your corresponding shelf on Goodreads according to number of ratings and popularity. It was a funny exercise: I don’t even remember adding to my…
Howling out of beauty
My awkward attempt at translating the lyrics: “Beautiful Oh well, see, the lambs are still slurping from their freshly shaven mothers And see how the young swans swim down in the soft ditch And how the balmy wind blows the clouds into recently aired skies Can a thing be more beautiful than its beauty? Can…
Maarten van Roozendaal
Maarten van Roozendaal (3 mei 1962 – 1 juli 2013), was a Dutch singer-songwriter. Van Roozendaal was born into a family of six in the small town of Heiloo, and got involved with music from early childhood on. After a troubled puberty, and a rebellious adolescence among the anarchist scene in Amsterdam, he finally started…
There was always a wind blowing
Dear Monica, Do you know this feeling of slowly being enveloped by coldness? Like at the end of a sunny day: with the faint memory of the sun on our skin, we are caught unawares by the first wind. That’s more or less how your novel The Winds of Heaven (1955) feels like: as an…
The wind was a green ghost
“Feel Me “Feel me to do right,” our father said on his deathbed. We did not quite know—in fact, not at all—what he meant. His last whisper was spent as through a slot in a wall. He left us a key, but how did it fit? “Feel me to do right.” Did it mean that,…
May Swenson
May Swenson (Anna Thilda May “May” Swenson, 28 May 1913 – 4 December 1989) was an American writer. Born in the United States to Swedish immigrant parents, she grew up in a Mormon household, and English was her second language. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Utah State University. From 1959 to 1966, she worked as manuscript reviewer at New Directions Press. She taught poetry…
Migrating from one waiting room to another
“Human rights Having faith is lazy and coward. Lazy for assuming a story to be true without wanting to test it. Coward because one discards the doubt that is inherent to curiosity”, says Richard Dawkins, in an interview with Martijn van Calmthout in last Saturday’s Volkskrant. Laziness and cowardice should be basic human rights. True…
Arnon Grunberg
Arnon Grunberg (February 22, 1971) is a Dutch writer. He was born in Amsterdam to Jewish parents who emigrated from Germany after the war. When he was 17 years old, Arnon dropped out of high school, and, after a failed acting career, he made his writing debut at 24 years old with “Blue Mondays”. He…
Flesh is a function of enchantment
Dear Angela, While reading your novel The Passion of New Eve (1977), I could not stop thinking to myself: this must be how it feels to go through a reverse out-of-body experience. My mind is there with you, catching the references, the twisted sense of humour, the symbolic spins, the sharp satire, and all that;…
Angela Carter
Angela Olive Carter-Pearce (née Stalker, 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992) was an English writer. She studied English literature at the University of Bristol, worked as journalist, and was writer in residence at the University of Sheffield, Brown University, the University of Adelaide, and the University of East Anglia. She died of lung cancer in 1992. Awards 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for…
My book journal | 2018
Hi, folks! I asked you over at Instagram if you would be interested in having a peek at my book journal. I’ve been trying my hand at keeping a TBR journal since April, and it’s been fun. Since most of you seemed to be curious, here is a brief flip-through: Notes: Inspiration: Sarah @ Bookmarked: https://youtu.be/INd8IMsvao8…
