My images of detail from the following works:
✤ “Blackbird Song” by Sylvette David (2000)
✤ “Spider Queen (Rèn Zarenyen)” by Préfète Duffaut (circa 1958)
✤ ”Still Life with Ace of Spades” by Henri Hayden (1918)
✤ “City Canyon” by Letterio Calapai (1950)
✤ ”Prelude — until time has dropped” by Idris Khan (2022)
At the Milwaukee Art Museum.
A few more.
It’s a gentle madness, this book “thing.”
And just like that, we’re back to our spring / summer schedule, including taking our long walk each morning before it gets too warm; fitting yard work in between work, rehearsals, and studies — oh, and weather; and planning our May / June / July music lesson schedule.
Books on my table.
Seen on a walk yesterday.
Yesterday I finished Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I will likely reread at least once over the six weeks of the course I’m taking through the Newberry Library. During our first meeting, so many participants expressed an interest in Percival Everett’s new novel, James, that we’ve agreed to add it to the syllabus. Today, though, I’m reading another new book, Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne.
■ Henry VI, Part 2
■ Henry VI, Part 3
■ Julius Caesar
■ The Comedy of Errors
Keeping up with my “Shakespeare a in Year” plans.
■ Poverty, By America (Matthew Desmond; 2023. Non-fiction.)
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (2016) was more penetrating, but this is an excellent primer.
■ Such a Fun Age (2019)
■ Come and Get It (2024)
Both of these novels by Kiley Reid are compulsively readable.
■ The Guest Cat (Takashi Hiraide; 2001/2014. Fiction)
What a quiet and poignant exploration of loss, grief, and marriage.
■ Girl in the Blue Coat (Monica Hesse; 2016. Fiction.)
Last month, a friend observed, “You have not said a word about the book, which perhaps is saying plenty.” It is.
■ The Song of the Lark (Willa Cather; 1915)
Fred? Why? This among other head-scratchers, including the the depiction of Thea’s professional development through the eyes of the men in her life rather than her experience. Still, my Cather project is delighting me.
■ My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante; 2012)
Speaking of delight, I am reading the Neapolitan novels with a friend. These are the sort of books that define why I love to read — to learn, to discover, yes, but sometimes simply to become absorbed, even a bit lost in another place, other lives.
■ A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams; 1951)
Read in anticipation of seeing this excellent production.
■ Beowulf: A New Translation (Maria Dahvana Headley; 2021)
I’m with this reviewer: Read it now.
Before and after seeing A Streetcar Named Desire at the Copley Theatre (highly recommended; review here), we ran a number of errands, the last of which was at a hobby / fabric store. Among the silk flowers, kitschy mugs, and seashell frames was the creature above. Three questions: Lamb or llama? Who bought the rest of them? Why?
Nerdishly 