![the [blank] garden](https://theblankgarden.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/cropped-lucas-cranach-the-younger-6.png)
Hello, dear readers, We are approaching the end of the year at full speed, Christmas is at our door, and I will be spending the next days…… Read more “The clean crack of our promises breaking”
Month: December 2018
The view and the woods opening to a light that’s itself untrodden
Dear Ali, Winter (2017) is a novel full of the ambivalence embodied in this season: the dying of light that is also a promise of new light.…… Read more “The view and the woods opening to a light that’s itself untrodden”
Standing at this border where land and water meet
Dear Han Kang, The White Book, tr. Deborah Smith (2017. Original: 흰, 2016) is a meditation on colour. We start with a list of white things –…… Read more “Standing at this border where land and water meet”
Han Kang
Han Kang (November 27, 1970) is a South Korean writer. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University, and teaches creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.…… Read more “Han Kang”
Book journal & Reading Spreadsheet | Update 2019
Hi, folks! A few months back, I gave you a peek at my book journal. This is just a quick video to update you on the spreads I will…… Read more “Book journal & Reading Spreadsheet | Update 2019”
I reach for it and reach for it, and it isn’t there
Dear Richard, The Easter Parade (1976) is inhabited by characters who are trapped in self-delusion and false appearances, constantly parading the lives they think they should be living.…… Read more “I reach for it and reach for it, and it isn’t there”
Richard Yates
Richard Yates (February 3, 1926 – November 7, 1992) was an American writer. He attended Avon Old Farms School in Avon, Connecticut, and later joined the Army, serving in France and Germany…… Read more “Richard Yates”
My past life would be but a dream,
Dear Ottessa, My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) seems to be a novel suffering from split personality: on the one hand, it is a book about…… Read more “My past life would be but a dream,”
A year in first lines | 2018
Hi, folks, This is an idea that started with The Indextrious Reader, and I first saw it on Beyond Eden Rock: “Take the first line of each month’s post over…… Read more “A year in first lines | 2018”
We ourselves became the ghosts
Dear Sarah, Ghost Wall (2018) feels like one of those dreams where a character is trapped in a room whose walls keep getting narrower and narrower. We…… Read more “We ourselves became the ghosts”
Sarah Moss
Sarah Moss (1975) is an English writer. She has a BA, Master of Studies and D.Phil in English Literature from the University of Oxford. Sarah was a lecturer…… Read more “Sarah Moss”
Back to the Classics & Victorian Reading Challenge | 2019
Hi, folks! It’s less than twenty days until the end of 2018 and I am making my reading plans for next year. As I need to catch…… Read more “Back to the Classics & Victorian Reading Challenge | 2019”
One’s prime is elusive
Dear Muriel, In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), there is something in the eponymous protagonist that repels us, but there is also something that strongly…… Read more “One’s prime is elusive”
Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark (Muriel Sarah Spark, née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006) was a Scottish writer. Spark attended the James Gillespie’s School for Girls. Unable to afford to be sent to university,…… Read more “Muriel Spark”
Perhaps freedom has no meaning
Dear Iris, The Unicorn (1963) is a tale of imprisonment in a shared fantasy, where the cages, rotating on a blank axle, are full of longing. When…… Read more “Perhaps freedom has no meaning”
My Year in Nonfiction 2018 | Essay collections & Memoirs
Hi, folks, Continuing with the discussion started a couple of posts back, about nonfiction trends in my reading this year, I’ve also noticed that I read a good amount of…… Read more “My Year in Nonfiction 2018 | Essay collections & Memoirs”
I am the sun and moon and forever hungry
Three poems by Audre Lorde, from the book The Black Unicorn (1978): * Solstice We forgot to water the plantain shoots when our houses were full of…… Read more “I am the sun and moon and forever hungry”
Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (Audrey Geraldine Lorde; February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992) was an American writer and activist. She studied at the National University of Mexico for a year, and…… Read more “Audre Lorde”
