April (fourth week) 2018 Reads

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Ten of Clubs; the story essay is The Unexpected Scent of Salad by Yasujiro Ozu; translated from the Japanese by Adam Kuplowsky

Yasujiro Ozu (1903–1963) was a film director and screenwriter. These are selections from his prose writing for periodicals. Marunouchi Staffage: A tour of Tokyo’s commercial strip (1933); The Unexpected Pleasures of Riding Trains (1937); and Here We Are, on Narayama: A few words about my mother (1958).

from my shelves...

Sphinx by Anne Garréta; translated from the French by Emma Ramadan
Stunning!

Banthology: Stories from Unwanted Nations by Sarah Cleave (Editor), Anoud (Contributor),
Wajdi Al-Ahdal (Contributor), Ubah Cristina Ali Farah (Contributor), Najwa Binshatwan Contributor), Rania Mamoun (Contributor), Fereshteh Molavi (Contributor), Zaher Omareen (Contributor) , Ruth Ahmedzai Kem (Translator), Basam Ghalayini (Translator), Perween Richards (Translator), Sawad Hussain (Translator), William M. Hutchins (Translator), Hope Campbell Gustafson (Translator)
An anthology of stories from writers from the countries whose people the Trump administration wants to exclude from immigration to the USA. Some of these stories are excellent, one or two are not so great, but all give a very human look at the plight of refugees. 

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson
I enjoyed this charming epistolary novel. She is in England dealing with a so-so marriage, he is in Denmark grieving the loss of his wife.
Free advance review copy 

Sleeping Mask: Fictions by Peter LaSalle
Very nice short stories. Definitely a keeper to reread.  Publisher sent me a free copy along with an advance review copy of another title (one I requested) through LibraryThing.

April (third week) 2018 Reads

Slow reading week...juggling several books...

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Five of Hearts; the story is Malaria by Michael Byers (in The Best American Short Stories, 2013)
So so story..

Gutenberg finds... 

Patroon Van Volkenberg : A Tale of Old Manhattan in the Year Sixteen Hundred & Ninety-nine. by Henry Thew Stephenson; Illustrated by C. M. Reylea

"I turned on my heel to look at the town in which I intended to lodge for the night. It was now late and fully dark, and one or two dim lights were all that I could see in Gravesoon by way of welcome. At that moment a feeling of loneliness took such 2strong hold of me that I cast my eyes once more upon the open sea for the meagre companionship of the pirate crew that was gliding away into the dark. But the ship was already so far from shore that the sounds that always accompany getting under way could no longer reach me, though I strained hard to hear them. In ten minutes even the vague outline of the vessel against the sky had completely blended with the darkness. Then I realized for the first time that I was all alone in a strange land. My only companions were the heavy sorrow in my heart and a strong hope that this sorrow would soon be turned to joy by virtue of the errand that was now bringing me to New York.'

Don't know if I'll finish this...am on Chapter three...

The Book of the Feet :  A History Of Boots And  Shoes, With Illustrations Of The Fashions Of The Egyptians, Hebrews, Persians, Greeks, And Romans, And The Prevailing Style Throughout Europe, During The Middle Ages, Down To The Present Period; Also, Hints To Last-Makers, And Remedies For Corns, Etc.
B y   J.   S p a r k e s   H a l l, Patent-Elastic-Boot Maker To Her Majesty The Queen, The Queen Dowager, And The Queen Of The Belgians. From The Second London Edition, With A History Of Boots And Shoes In The United States, Biographical Sketches Of Eminent Shoemakers, And Crispin Anecdotes (American Edition, 1847)

Didn't read the entire text, but loved the illustrations.

from my shelves...

Angelica's Smile (Commissario Montalbano #17) by Andrea Camilleri; translated from the Italian bt Stephen Sartarelli
It was OK, but I think I've now read one too many in the series (and I haven't read all 17). Put in the donation pile.

April (second week) 2018 Reads

Didn't read a lot this week--we finally had some decent weather and went for a couple of outings including delicious ice cream at the UCONN Dairy Bar.

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Six of Spades; the story is Afternoon of a Faun by Jung Young Moon (in A most ambiguous Sunday, and other stories); translated from the Korean by Krys Lee and the author.
A quiet dream-like story of three friends spending an afternoon on a lake shore. Nothing much happens as they retell personal stories they've all heard before. A boring afternoon but the writing is lovely and not boring in its creation of an atmosphere of ennui.


Gutenberg finds...


Making Tin Can Toys by Edward Thatcher, c. 1919
Not that I read the whole text--it's quite detailed and I'm not actually going to try to make these. But I loved the pictures and the whole idea. If I had the tools, maybe I'd give it a try.





Suffrage Songs and Verses by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Published in 1911
25 poems, here is a sample (I feel frustrated when I read this) :      
             
                     COMING

Because the time is ripe, the age is ready,
Because the world her woman’s help demands,
Out of the long subjection and seclusion
Come to our field of warfare and confusion
The mother’s heart and hands.

Long has she stood aside, endured and waited,
While man swung forward, toiling on alone;
Now, for the weary man, so long ill-mated,
Now, for the world for which she was created,
Comes woman to her own.

Not for herself! though sweet the air of freedom;
Not for herself, though dear the new-born power;
But for the child, who needs a nobler mother,
For the whole people, needing one another,
Comes woman to her hour.

from the library...

The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan
An interesting account, but it has much padding that hasn't anything to do with do with the Baltimore.

from my shelves...

Mourning by Eduardo Halfon; translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman and Daniel Hahn
Loved it! Halfon is always wonderful to read.

April (first week) 2018 Reads

This week the "Deal Me In" card is the Two of Diamonds; the story is Old Man Savarin (on Project Gutenberg in Old Man Savarin and Other Stories, by Edward William Thomson)
A fun story about fishing rights in Canada. Difficult to read because of the dialect.


online...
This Spanish Architect Wants to Revolutionize the Home—by Getting Rid of Kitchens by Samuel Medina"Few spaces of the home are as coveted as the kitchen. But Anna Puigjaner is showing the way out of these wasteful private cooking boxes toward more efficient “shared” alternatives."

from the library...


The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse by Hermann Hesse; Translated from the German by Jack D. Zipes; Illustrated by David Frampton (Illustrator) 








from my shelves...

The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov; translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel
I've been reading this as part of Season Four of the Two Month Review
A great read and I really enjoyed the podcasts and essays on the Three Percent blog.









Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones
An excellent collection of short stories of African Americans in Washington, D.C.