Category Archives: books

February in books

By Posted in annotated reading lists (2024), books 1 Comment

■ The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1589)
■ The Taming of the Shrew (1590)
■ Titus Andronicus (1593)
■ Henry VI, Part 1 (1591)
As I mentioned last month, Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare After All is my guide to the 2024 edition of “Shakespeare in a Year.”

■ Women We Buried, Women We Burned (Rachel Louise Snyder; 2023. Non-fiction.)
Review here.

■ The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; 1927. Fiction.)
These are regularly referred to as the weakest of the stories, but I was well entertained by them.

■ O Pioneers! (Willa Cather; 1913. Fiction.)
This was the second in my quest to read (in some cases, reread) one of Cather’s twelve novels each month in chronological order.

■ Essays of E.B. White (E.B. White; 1977. Non-fiction.)
Earlier this month, I resurfaced from a multi-month deep dive into White’s work. We concluded with the essays in the last third of this collection, which, apart from “Once More to the Lake” and “Will Strunk,” were much less compelling (dare I say, “weaker”?) than the other selections.

■ The Elements of Style (William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White; 2000. Non-fiction.)
Of course, I reread this classic after finishing White’s essays.

■ Wrong Place, Wrong Time (Gillian McAllister; 2022. Fiction.) RFS
Predictable but entertaining.

■ The Puppets of Spelhorst (Kate DiCamillo; 2023. Fiction.)
Although I am not as big a fan of DiCamillo as the dear friend who gave me this book, I appreciated it, especially the lovely illustrations.

■ The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann; 1924. Fiction.)
■ Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain: A Reader’s Guide (Rodney Symington; 2011. Non-fiction.)
The final meeting on this is next week. Among other things, my heavily annotated copy bears witness to my attempts to converse with this difficult novel of ideas.

Often I am able to chat with one or both of my daughters while I am out walking. They always inquire how I’m doing, and when the temps soar above seventy or, conversely, when the sidewalks have iced over, I routinely reply, “Today I like having walked much better than walking.” About The Magic Mountain, I will share that I like having read it much better than reading it.

January in books

By Posted in annotated reading lists (2024), bardolatry, books 2 Comments

For the first and only time, the forever home apparently qualifies as a “trend.”

■ All the Sinners Bleed (S.A. Crosby; 2023. Fiction.)
Read from the shelves. This was one of the few on President Obama’s 2023 list that I hadn’t already acquired or considered when the list was published. The reviews were so favorable that I was surprised by how thin I found it.

■ The Pallbearers Club (Paul Tremblay; 2022. Fiction.)
Read from the shelves. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that the success and originality of 2015’s A Head Full of Ghosts was singular.

■ The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov; 1967. Fiction.)
Read from shelves with Night School Bar. The Burgin and Tiernan translation is unmatched.

■ The Michigan Murders (Edward Keyes; 1976. Non-fiction.)
Read from the shelves. This is a true-crime classic.

■ God Is an Octopus: Love, Loss, and a Calling to Nature (Ben Goldsmith; 2023. Non-fiction.)
Read from the shelves. Again, I experienced a disconnect between the favorable reviews and my… indifference. Following the death of his teenaged daughter, Goldsmith explored numerous spiritual belief systems as he grieved and recommitted to environmental issues (e.g., rewilding). In every way, this is a book that seems written for me, but finishing it felt like an obligation.

■ An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (Ed Yong; 2022. Non-fiction.)
Read from the shelves with the Sci Fri Book Club.

■ Neon Paradise (G. —; 2024 (unpublished). Drama.)
A dear friend asked me to be an early reader. The material is original and compelling, and I am excited to see where this project goes.

■ Alexander’s Bridge (Willa Cather; 1912/1922. Fiction.)
(Re)read from the shelves. Cather penned twelve novels. I’ve decided to read (in some cases, reread) one each month in chronological order.

■ The Latinist (Mark Prins; 2022. Fiction.)
Read from the shelves. Who knew how riveting a book about a classics scholar finishing her doctoral studies could be?

■ The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood; 2005. Fiction.)
(Re)read from the shelves in anticipation of seeing this.

■ Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood Bridge (Maureen Ryan; 2023. Fiction.)
Read from the shelves. What a terrific book! Related link.

■ Richard III (William Shakespeare; 1594. Drama.)
(Re)read from shelves. For the 2024 edition of “Shakespeare in a Year,” Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare After All is my guide, but I began with Richard III in anticipation of this.