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Dear Frances, It’s a truth universally acknowledged – or, at least, in the relatively small world of your Evelina, or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance…… Read more “The most beautiful and most brittle of all human things”
Blog Posts
Singularity
“Love is really a recognition of truth, a recognition of another person’s integrity and truth in a way that is compatible with — that makes both of…… Read more “Singularity”
Questions of travel
‘Is it lack of imagination that makes us come to imagined places?’ Every time I visited Ouro Preto, I used to ask for Elizabeth Bishop’s home. ‘There…… Read more “Questions of travel”
20 Books of Summer | 2019
Hello, folks, It’s time for 20 Books of Summer! The event is hosted by Cathy over at the 746 Books blog. She has set herself a challenge…… Read more “20 Books of Summer | 2019”
Frances Burney
Frances Burney (also known as Fanny Burney; married name Madame d’Arblay; 13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840) was an English writer. While her sisters were sent…… Read more “Frances Burney”
Know Thy Shelf | 04
Hi, folks! This is post number four of a series of photos documenting my bookshelves. I thought it would be interesting to create a meme/tag for it,…… Read more “Know Thy Shelf | 04”
We were overcome with a kind of reverse vertigo,
Dear Annie, Reading The Years. tr. Alison L. Strayer (2017. Original: Les Années, 2008) feels very much like leafing through an old photo album, opening the contents of…… Read more “We were overcome with a kind of reverse vertigo,”
Annie Ernaux
Annie Ernaux (born Annie Duchesne; 1 September 1940) is a French author. She attended a Lycée and studied at the Universities of Rouen and Bordeaux. Ernaux became a certified teacher, then…… Read more “Annie Ernaux”
And she listened to the pounding of her heart
Dear Lydia, From the beginning, we already know that we are in for a train wreck with Sofia Petrovna (1994, translated by Aline Worth, emended by Eliza…… Read more “And she listened to the pounding of her heart”
Lydia Chukovskaya
Lydia Chukovskaya (Lydia Korneyevna Chukovskaya/ Ли́дия Корне́евна Чуко́вская, 24 March 1907 – February 8, 1996) was a Russian writer. Born in Helsingfors (now Helsinki), which was then…… Read more “Lydia Chukovskaya”
My name, here, is the name of my fracture
Dear Albertine, Astragal (1965) opens with a leap into the sky, from one kind of prison to another – but our protagonist doesn’t know it yet. The…… Read more “My name, here, is the name of my fracture”
Albertine Sarrazin
Albertine Sarrazin (17 September 1937 – 10 July 1967) was a French-Algerian author. She was abandoned shortly after her birth, in Algiers, and put in the care…… Read more “Albertine Sarrazin”
Six Degrees of Separation | April 2019
Hi, folks! 6 Degrees of Separation is a monthly meme originally created by Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman in 2014, and currently hosted by Kate. The meme…… Read more “Six Degrees of Separation | April 2019”
I shall have snow on my glassy fingers,
Dear Emily, Somewhere on the threshold of a novel and a prose poem, we have The Shutter of Snow (1930). When the book starts, we are told of…… Read more “I shall have snow on my glassy fingers,”
Know Thy Shelf | 03
Hi, folks! This is the third of a series of posts documenting my bookshelves. I thought it would be interesting to create a meme/tag for it, so…… Read more “Know Thy Shelf | 03”
The Classics Spin #20
Hello, folks! It’s time for another Classics Club Spin! By now, you know the drill: participants post a list of 20 books on their Classics Club list. On…… Read more “The Classics Spin #20”
Emily Holmes Coleman
Emily Coleman (1899–1974) was an American writer. Her mother passed away when Emily was a child, and she was sent to a boarding school. She then attended…… Read more “Emily Holmes Coleman”
Hers was a nature with a wide range
Dear Sarah, In The Beth Book (1897), we feel that we are reading two very different, at times irreconcilable, books: a powerful coming of age novel and a…… Read more “Hers was a nature with a wide range”
