December 2020

Activities - only one out of the house trip: 12/1 lab for blood work & on the way home stopped by Mazzicota's for pastry treat.

No real duds on the reading but Piranesi really stands out as the best of the fiction. Of the nonfiction, I was surprised at how much I liked the one on E. E. Cummings.

Fiction:

Piranesi by Clarke, Susanna
Pew by Lacey, Catherine
Miss Benson's Beetle by Joyce, Rachel
Down the Rabbit Hole by Villalobos, Juan Pablo
Butter Honey Pig Bread by Ekwuyasi, Francesca
Tyll by Kehlmann, Daniel
All the Truth That's in Me by Berry, Julie
The Secret of Lost Things by Hay, Sheridan
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
The Hour of the Star by Lispector, Clarice
The Wonder Garden by Acampora, Lauren

Poetry:
Every Day We Get More Illegal by Herrera, Juan Felipe
    
Nonfiction: 

The Beauty of Living: E. E. Cummings in the Great War by Rosenblitt, J. Alison

The Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence by Klara, Robert 

The Path to Power by Caro, Robert A.
Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention by Wilson, Ben
Women in the Kitchen: Twelve Essential Cookbook Writers Who Defined the Way We Eat, from 1661 to Today by Willan, Anne 

Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis by Jackson, Jeffrey H.
The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design by Mars, Roman

 

Online:

Two with great illustrations from Gutenberg:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas tales of Flanders Author: André de Ridder; Illustrator: M. C. O. Morris; Illustrator: Jean de Bosschere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Paris pair; Their day's doings by Beatrice Bradshaw Brown 

 

 

 

 

 

Some local history:

Dams of Middletown, Connecticut: Past and Present

The day the Crystal Lake dam breached by Joraen Fenster

  This was before I lived in the affected area.

Some bookish things:

A Conversation with Patrick Modiano

  A brief interview focusing on the novel Invisable Ink (Yale; 2020) 

Mining the Dalkey Archive 

This is a new project of Chad W. Post whose states this purpose: "As a friend, former employee, and current editorial curator, I’m going to use this newsletter to explore Dalkey Archive Press: its history as a nonprofit press, its role in upending ideas about literature and the marketplace, and its ongoing impact on literary culture. Interviews, excerpts, investigations, anecdotes, analysis—this newsletter will go in a number of different directions, with each “episode” organized around a specific idea or set of books."

November 2020

Activities:

 

Not much outside the house.

11/5 doctor 

11/16 lab; gassed car

11/24 pickup at libraries (2); jc farms for pie!

Books:

 Some good novels and lots of non-fiction this month.

Fiction:
Lovely War by Berry, Julie
Jean-Luc persécuté by Ramuz, Charles-Ferdinand; translated from the French by Baes, Olivia
How to Stop Time by Haig, Matt
Autopsy of a Father by Kramer, Pascale; translated from the French by Bononno, Robert
The Midnight Library by Haig, Matt
Forty Rooms by Grushin, Olga 

Poetry:

The Golden Goblet: Selected Poems of Goethe by Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von; translated from the German by Ozsváth, Zsuzsanna and Turner, Frederick  

Nonfiction: 
The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War by Nasaw, David
For the Love of Music: The Art of Listening by Mauceri, John
The Simpsons: A Cultural History by Fink, Moritz
A Promised Land by Obama, Barack 

Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl by Slaght, Jonathan C.
Music to Eat Cake By: Essays on Birds, Words and Everything in Between by Parikian, Lev

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Harris, Kamala

Online:

Sabine Meyer

 While reading For the Love of Music and Music to Eat Cake By I wondered why I was reading about music but not listening to music?  So I put the books aside and went searching for music, specifically Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. As a result I've spent a least an hour a day on YouTube listening to Sabine Meyer play. Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms,....

Sublime Swimming: 14 examples of custom pools by María Francisca González

  I sure do miss my swims ... sigh...

Wagenhallen Stuttgart Cultural Center ArchDaily article

Wagenhallen official site

 a part of Stuttgart I've never seen (because it was something else when I lived in Germany)

October 2020

 Another exciting (ha) month of quarantine....but some really good reading

Activities:

10/1 Library curbside drop off/pick up; JC farms for produce.

10/3 Furnace guy

10/5 Doctor 

10/6 Furnace guy

10/9 Library curbside drop off/pick up; JC farms for produce; Durham Market for cold cuts; mailed ballot

10/15/ local foliage drive; short walk at Miller's Pond 

10/23 Library curbside drop off/pickup; JC farms

10/27 Drive to Old Saybrook

10/29 JC Farms Closed!; Lyman Orchads

Reading:

Fiction:

 A Million Aunties by McKenzie, Alecia

   A novel told from several points of view making it read like very closely linked short stories

 How to Pronounce Knife by Thammavongsa, Souvankham 

   short stories

 That Time of Year by NDiaye, Marie; translated from the French by Stump, Jordan

 The End of the Day by Clegg, Bill
 Here We Are by Swift, Graham

 Verena in the Midst by Lucas, E.V. (on Project Gutenberg) 

 The Gathering by Enright, Anne

 The Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o; translated from the Gĩkũyũ by the author 

 The Silence by DeLillo, Don

Poetry:

 Home: New Arabic Poems by Hawwash, Samer Abu and others; various translators

Nonfiction:
 This Tilting World by Fellous, Colette; translated from the French by Lewis, Sophie
 James Monroe: A Life by McGrath, Tim

 Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots by Jerkins, Morgan

 Having and Being Had by Biss, Eula

Online:

Marmalade: A Very British Obsession by Olivia Potts

September 2020

Still staying home...

Activities outside the house:

9/2 Library curbside; JC Farms; Lyman Orchards; Lino's Deli

9/11 Lib returns; JC Farms; Lyman Orchards

9/18 JC Farms

9/22 library curbside; Gardener finally came and cleaned up tree debris from Isaias

9/24 bank (atm); gas (full serve); car maintenance  

Books Read (ratings don't seem to reflect much so I won't put them in. These are listed in reverse of order read. All were good but the Clapsaddle was my least favorite. Best is a tossup between Makumbi and NDiaye):

A Girl Is a Body of Water by Makumbi, Jennifer Nansubuga
Even As We Breathe by Clapsaddle, Annette Saunooke
The Cheffe: A Cook's Novel by NDiaye, Marie; translated from the French by Stump, Jordan
Bluebeard's First Wife by Ha Seong-nan; translated from the Korean by Hong, Janet
Time After Time by Grunwald, Lisa
Summer (Seasonal, #4) by Smith, Ali
Beethoven: Variations on a Life by Bonds, Mark Evan

 

Online:

Portuguese Landscapes: 12 Projects Exploring the Relationship Between Natural and Built 

 OK, this just makes me want to go back to Portugal and go for a walk.

 

A 16th-Century Portuguese Plan of a Moroccan Palace by Jonathan Bloom

 and this makes me want to read Bloom's book Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800. (Yale UP, 2020)

100 Essential Books by Iranian Writers: An Introduction & Nonfiction, by Niloufar Talebi

 Introduction to a five part series which includes "Poetry, Hybrid Works, Anthologies"; "Graphic Novels, Culinary Books, & Children’s Literature"; "Classics in Translation", and "Fiction."

I've read a few of these, mostly in the fiction category. A good resource from Asian American Writers' Workshop.

August 2020

Lousy weather, great reading. 

8/4 - Tropical Storm Isaias - 12 hour power outage; several limbs from maple tree down in driveway fortunately not to large for us to drag aside.
8/5 - Internet/phone out - about 36 hours
8/7 - PO to mail primary ballot
8/13 - library curbside pickup; JC Farm; Lyman Orchards

Fiction:

Echo on the Bay by Masatsugu Ono: translated from the Japanese by Angus Turvill

At Least We Can Apologize by Ki-ho Lee; translated from the Korean by Christopher Joseph Dykas

Garden by the Sea by Mercè Rodoreda; translated from the Catalan by Martha Tennent and Maruxa Relaño

The House with a Sunken Courtyard by Won-Il Kim; translated from the Korean by Ji-Moon Suh )

Stingray by Kim Joo-Young; translated from the Korean by Inrae You Vinciguerra and Louis Vinciguerra

Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yū; translated from the Japanese by Morgan Giles
  
Girls Lost by Jessica Schiefauer; translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel

Lake Like a Mirror by Ho Sok Fong; translated from the Chinese by Natascha Bruce

A Hundred Million Years and a Day by Jean-Baptiste Andrea: translated from the French by Sam Taylor (review copy, LibraryThing giveaway)

Book of the Little Axe by Lauren Francis-Sharma (review copy, Goodreads giveaway) 

Fiction/Poetry:

The Love Story of the Century by Märta Tikkanen; translated from the Swedish Stina Katchadourian

A Grave is Given Supper by Mike Soto 

Nonfiction:

Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui

Cape Town: A Place Between by Henry Trotter 

Online:
The Easiest Eight Thousand Words Ever Put Together: the story behind the story of David Dodge's To Catch A Thief. by J. Kingston Pierce

Why is Malaysia’s Chinese Population Leaving in Droves? by Wing Wong 
 found this because I needed some background for one of the stories in Lake like a Mirror

July 2020

Not a good month for getting out the house because it was too hot to spend much time and energy outside and we are still not ready for indoor places. Weather was so humid that we really enjoyed the few meals we were able to eat on the outside porch.  But I found some excellent reading!

Breaks from quarantine:

7/15 produce shopping at JC Farms; Mozzicata (ice cream); Veterans Park (to eat ice cream)

7/21 to firehouse to vote (drive-up)

7/23 Shopping at Rogers Orchards
6/30 Pick up library hold (curbside)

Other diversions:

The WNBA is back! So I spent the end of July watching lots of  basketball games (six in one weekend). They are living and playing in a bubble with no on site fans but they play as hard and well as ever.
(I've watched so little television in the past five months that I forgot how to work the remote.)

Reading - Fiction (the notes are not intended as reviews, they are just to help me remember the books!):

 
The House of Deep Water  by Jeni McFarland - 4+ stars
Interview with the author at Debutiful. 

The Vanishing Half  by Brit Bennett - 4 stars
 Twins. One is black, the other passes as white.

All Adults Here by Emma Straub - 4 stars

The Restoration of Otto Laird by Nigel Packer - 4 stars
 Aging Austrian/British architect reflects on his life & work

My Part of Her by Javad Djavahery; translated from the French by Emma Ramadan - 5 stars
 Iranian Revolution

The Bear by Andrew Krivak - 4 stars
 Last person on Earth fantasy

62: A Model Kit by Julio Cortázar; translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa - 5 stars
 The "City"

Queenie Malone's Paradise Hotel by Ruth Horgon - 4 stars

Elizabeth's Field by Barbara Lockhart, Barbara - 4 stars

Cuyahoga by Pete Beatty - 4 stars

Reading - Nonfiction:

Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State by Walter W. Woodward
 Interesting history bits. Mostly stuff I didn't know about my adopted state.
Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865  by Sarah Raymond Herndon
 Gutenberg find.  Things that side tracked me:
  "The Icarian Community" (Diary entry of May 12) The Icarians established communities in  Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and California. The one Sarah writes about was in Corning, Iowa.
   Icarians - Wikipedia

Reading - Online:

A 13th-Century Persian poet’s lessons for today
 by Joobin Bekhrad

Who Did What in Every Agatha Christie Murder Novel
 Colorful graphs by Dorothy Gambrell plotting the plots.

Bostock and Originalism
 by Mark Tushnet, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, discusses Bostock v. Clayton County. 

Forgotten Best Sellers a Project of Lapham's Quarterly.
 I haven't yet read the selection that goes with this essay, but it seems like an interesting project.

June 2020

 Books in the Time of Quarantine

Durham, Connecticut, June 2020

Even though the state is slowly reopening I continue, because of my age, to self quarantine. It's been warm and humid so I haven't been getting much exercise. Outings have been limited in June. Two for library curbside pickup which I combined with a trip to a farm market. Another was also a produce run combined with a stop at a fish market. Then, on the most comfortable day weather wise, we had a picnic!

Reading:

Lots of good books this month...

On Lighthouses by Barrera, Jazmina; translated from the Spanish by MacSweeney, Christina - 3 stars
I enjoyed these essays but this didn't give me much that was new to me.

Gathering of Waters by McFadden, Bernice L. - 4 stars
I liked this a lot but not as much as her The Book of Harlan which I read in 2016. I think when interlibrary loan opens up I'll be reading more of her work. I also enjoy following her tweets. 

b, Book, and Me by Kim Sagwa; translated from the Korean by Sunhee Jeong  - 4+ stars
A kind of  "almost coming of age story." It's worth a re-read.

Big Machine by LaValle, Victor - 5 stars
The Craft Is All the Same: A Conversation with Victor LaValle; Ayize Jama-Everett interviews Victor LaValle. Another author to add to my list of writers to read.

Conjure Women by Atakora, Afia - 5 stars
A Conversation with Afia Atakora, Author of Conjure Women

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions (Auntie Poldi #1) by Giordano, Mario; translated from the German  by Brownjohn, John - 4 stars
Fun, but not sure about following the series...

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Washburn, Kawai Strong - 5 stars
How Kawai Strong Washburn Opened Up the Legends of Hawaii for Mainlanders author interview with Anderson Tepper (Vanity Fair)

The Man in the Red Coat by Barnes, Julian - 4 stars
Dr Samuel Jean Pozzi was the man in the portrait but this gossipy book is about so much more...

Berkeley Noir edited by Thompson, Jerry -  4 stars
One of the better anthologies in the Akashic Noir series.

Seven Samurai Swept Away in a River by Jung, Young-moon: translated from the Korean by Jung Yewon  - 4 stars
Korean writer Texas culture.

Online: 

Rayuela by Hugo Passarello Luna
"This is a series of portraits, taken in Paris, of friends and readers of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Depicting Writing
This was a double treat: a fine, nicely illustrated essay AND my discovery of The Crews Project! Thanks to The Literary Saloon (29 June 2020 blog) for leading me there.

Whonamedit? - A dictionary of medical eponyms
I found this when I was looking for more information about Dr. Pozzi. (See The Man in the Red Coat in my reading list above.)

New World Writing
I'm finding lots to like at this lit magazine.

Transformations
A new online site featuring narrative essays.

Breaching the Levee of Rage
A moving piece on taking a knee at a peaceful George Floyd protest/vigil. By David Abrams.

Joie de Vivre in Joyce's Garden
Another private garden tour by Jana Milbocker. This one, in Natick Massachusetts, is especially colorful.

Providence Pedestrian Bridge
A place I want to visit when I'm ready to expand my circle of comfort...

Collecting Guide: Wayne Thiebaud
Thiebaud turns 100 in November! That calls for cake and ice cream!

Cake Rows (1962)

 

Three Cones (1964)

May 2020 Reads

Still in "Stay Safe at Home" mode. Read nine books four of which I found engrossing, three were pleasant enough to distract me from the news, and two fall into the "boring but I sort of finished them" category (there was much skimming involved).

Other than the five walks listed below, I left the house only for a curbside pickup of a produce box.

Reading
Fiction:

5 stars
The Dreamed Part (Trilogía las partes #2) by Fresán, Rodrigo; translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden (Read along with Season 11 of the Two Month Review)
Spiritual Choreographies by Labbé, Carlos; translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden
 The author is also a musician and composer. He has created a playlist for this novel on Spotify

4 stars
Night School: A Reader for Grownups by Bán, Zsófia; afterword by Péter Nádas; translated from the Hungarian by Jim Tucker

3+ stars 
The Better Liar by Jones, Tanen

3 stars
Redhead by the Side of the Road by Tyler, Anne
 Anne Tyler: “I am a seat-of-the-pants reader”  author is interviewed by  Leo Robson
The Sun Down Motel by St. James, Simone

2 (generous) stars
Simon the Fiddler by Jiles, Paulette
New Waves by Nguyen, Kevin

Nonfiction:
4+ stars
Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st-Century Memoir by Albright, Madeleine K.

Online stuff:

A fun Basketball Shot on Twitter

A lovely Massachusetts garden Boulderwoods: A Celebration of Rhododendrons

Readings from all 15 finalists for the 2020 Best Translated Book Awards! BTBA 2020 Readings
  (This was originally done on Zoom and was my first time using the Zoom App.)


Socially Distanced Out-of-the-House Exercise:
5/2 walked 2.7  miles (neighborhood)
5/5 walked 1.5 miles (Crystal Lake)
5/11 walked 1.2 miles (River Highlands)
5/13 walked 1 mile (Haddam Meadows)
5/19 walked 1 mile (Long Hill Estate) 

April 2020 Reads

Another month of voluntary quarantine. I left the house only 6 times during April, three times for produce (almost all other food is delivered),  once for curbside pick up of a few groceries, once for a short drive, and once for a short walk I must do that more often).

I spent a lot of time online AND I finally managed to concentrate on some reading. I read some good things from my library's Overdrive Collection. I tried to make a dent in my Owned-but-unread pile but I think I added more than I read. I didn't read as much in translation as I usually do.

Here's April's list: 

5 Stars:
Deacon King Kong by McBride, James
 This was so much fun! A real escape from the current news. (Library Overdrive)
Sonnets to Orpheus by Rilke, Rainer Maria; Christiane Marks (Translator)
 I  glad this is my own book because I'll keep going back to it. One never really finishes reading a book of poetry.

4 Stars:
The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai 
 (Library Overdrive)
Plainsong (Plainsong, #1) by Haruf, Kent
 my copy
Homesick for Another World by Moshfegh, Ottessa
 (Library hard copy)
In Five Years by Serle, Rebecca
 (Library Overdrive)
The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Pulley, Natasha
 (Library hard copy)
Mama Hissa's Mice by Alsanousi, Saud; Sawad Hussain (Translator)
 my copy

3 Stars:
Greenwood by Christie, Michael
 (Library Overdrive)
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Kwok, Jean    
 (Library Overdrive)

2+ Stars:
Coastliners by Harris, Joanne
 my copy  

Online:
A lot of my online time was spent looking at art, watching YouTube nonsense, playing games, and just wandering about.  Here are a few of the more noteworthy things I found.

Some selections from the Plague Diary of Gonçalo M. Tavares; Translated by Daniel Hahn
Plague Diary: March covers March 24-30
Plague Diary: April covers April 7, 13, 20, 28
Plague Diary: A Week covers March 27, April 1, April 3

A musical diary by clarinetist Ben Goldberg Plague Diary
 Really good listening!

Keukenhof without visitors. Photographs by Albert Dros

Bill Reynolds site is fun to explore. I found his site when I was researching the song "South Coast." His article on the song, titled  The Lion Still Rules The Barranca, is just one of many interesting pieces on Western Americana topics.

March 2020 Reading & Other Things

I've been reading a lot but not finishing much.

Practicing Social Distancing (which I started before the governor started closing things) should give me more time to read but, as also reported by many others, I'm having my attention span problems. I am rotating through two books of poetry, some books of short stories, and several novels. I seem to be better with finishing biographies and nonfiction than fiction. No duds in what I finished but it's hard to rate anything. In reviewing the list, with the exception of Elderhood, I see lots of escapism.

Self imposed distancing log (thank goodness I'm not totally alone, my daughter lives with me):
Tuesday March 3: last Mahjong game
Friday March 6: last water exercise class (gov closed gyms on March 16)
Sat March 7: last time in a store
Thursday March 12: last library trip (library closed March 15; closed curbside pickup & book drop on March 21)
March 26: A walk in the woods & a trip to Aldi (I stayed in the car while my daughter shopped)
March 29: Short drive around the neighborhood to make sure the car would start.
Other than these activities I've walked around the yard, done a very small bit of weeding (ugh!) and taken some pictures of spring flowers.

What I finished reading:
Night Boat to Tangier by Barry, Kevin

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Glenconner, Anne
My Penguin Year: Life Among the Emperors by McCrae, Lindsay
A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis by  Frenkel, Françoise
If These Walls Could Talk: Boston Red Sox by Remy, Jerry

Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life by Aronson, Louise

Online: I've been online a lot. Besides the news, I've looked at a lot of pictorial stuff  for example:

A Solitary Stroll: Paris Under the Lens of Erieta Attali 

From the inside out — 10 scenes from the artist’s window

Other stuff:
Although I'm not in the market for real estate I've spent a lot of time on Zillow and Realtor.com. Ditto with fine art at Christies and Sothebys. And then lots of games at Pogo.com and Sporcle.com.

February 2020 Reading

I'm feeling lazy on Leap Day so I'm not sorting these much. The books are grouped somewhat in the order of my reading satisfaction with the three duds at the bottom. (I'm not mentioning the two I returned to the library unread.)

The Neighborhood by Tavares, Gonçalo M.  This sent me Googling to refresh my memory of the authors I already knew and learning (see below) a lot about one who was new to me.

Jerusalem by Tavares, Gonçalo M.This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers by Sharlet, Jeff
Death in Her Hands by Moshfegh, Ottessa  I went to the library and checked out two more books by her
American Fictionary by Ugrešić, Dubravka
A Registry of My Passage upon the Earth: Stories by Mason, Daniel


Run Me to Earth by Yoon, Paul

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Kiernan, Denise
Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey by Dery, Mark
Condé Nast: The Man and His Empire -- A Biography by Ronald, Susan



A Long Petal of the Sea by Allende, Isabel
Blue Flowers by Saavedra, Carola

Naked Earth by Chang, Eileen (books like this are what made me drop my NYRB subscription)

House of Trelawney by Rothschild, Hannah
Creatures by Van Meter, Crissy
Physical Intelligence: How the Brain Guides the Body Through the Physical World by Grafton, Scott.  Disappointing. too much of the author's personal experience--too much "I...."


Online reading (including Gutenberg finds):

Five Poems by Henri Michaux, translated from the French by George Dillon
    Response in Unhappiness
    A Girl of Budapest
    On the Road to Death
    But You, When Will You Come?
    Destiny

Ma Vie
   In the original French with a  translation into English by Valerie Smith and James Bushnik

Un homme paisible
   In the original French with a translation into English by Pier Morton

More of Pier Morton's translations of Michaux: Les Nuits de Michaux’s Nights
  This includes several pieces, plus commentary by Morton, several photographs, an audio recording of the poem Le Grand Combat (in French, there is an English text provided), some short videos (one, in German, is a tour of an exhibition of Michaux's art*), a biography, and other material.
 *Henri Michaux (7. September – 24. November 2013) Kunst Museum Winterthur | Beim Stadthaus

The Tate has a couple of Michaux artworks online plus a delightful portrait of Michaux by Jean Dubuffet: Monsieur Plume with Creases in his Trousers (Portrait of Henri Michaux) (1947)

MoMA has twenty Michaux works online.

In August 2001 The Guardian published Journeys into the abyss

  "Can hallucinogenic drugs lead to profound spiritual experiences? In an article published for the first time in the UK, the Nobel prizewinner Octavio Paz reflects on experiments with mescaline undertaken in the 1950s by the French poet and artist Henri Michau." 

  "This is an edited extract from Octavio Paz's 1967 introduction to the Miserable Miracle by Henri Michaux [translated by Helen R Lane] published in a new edition this month by New York Review Books" 

One thing leads to another. a search for "Michaux" on Gutenberg brought something totally unrelated (except a shared surname).

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/58294/58294-h/58294-h.htm


The Cruise of the Catalpa  by John J. Breslin

Trees You Want to Know by Peattie, Donald Culross

The Most Audacious Australian Prison Break of 1876 by Gilbert King

Generations of Handwritten Mexican Cookbooks Are Now Online, by Nils Bernstein led us to take a closer look at the source material: UTSA Libraries: Mexican Cookbooks

Cold Remedies Before the Modern Era: The Posset by Lauren Gilbert

January 2020 Reading

I kept going back and forth on the star ratings for the seven novels.... They all seem to fall in the three,  three and a half, to four star range. I enjoyed them while I read them, but they didn't stay with me. Listed loosely in the order of what I liked best to what I liked least.

Fiction:

The Man Who Couldn't Die: The Tale of an Authentic Human Being by Slavnikova, Olga; translated from the Russian by Schwartz, Marian; Introduction by Leiderman, Mark
Little Gods by Jin, Meng
Honey, I Killed The Cats by Masłowska, Dorota
The Playground by Shemilt, Jane
Broken Man on a Halifax Pier by Choyce, Lesley  
All the Winters After by Halverson, Seré Prince
The Stationery Shop by Kamali, Marjan

Poetry:
Decals: Complete Early Poems by Girondo, Oliverio; translated from the Spanish by Galvin, Rachael and Feinsod, Harris.
 This is the only January read that I gave five stars.


Nonfiction: 
Not a bad bunch, but all were flawed in one way or another...
How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built by Brand, Stewart
  best of the nonfiction bunch
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Larson, Erik  
  too much stuff about President Wilson's private life

Underland by Macfarlane, Robert
  too many expeditions, too much "I"

Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society by Christie, Judy
  to much about the authors, really not a book length story here.
   

December 2019 Reading

A mixed bag for December. Sometimes it takes me a while to come down from a really great book like Dicks Newburyport (which I read in November). So perhaps some of these ratings are a little too harsh (especially the Ali Smith Seasonals). Unless otherwise noted, these were all from the public library.

Fiction:
The Innocents by Crummey, Michael  5 of 5 stars    
Iza's Ballad by Szabó, Magda; translated from the Hungarian by Szirtes, George 5 stars
 My copy, a nice gift from my daughter
Invented Lives by Goldsmith, Andrea 4 stars   
 Advance review copy from LibraryThing giveaway
The Revisioners by Sexton, Margaret Wilkerson  4  stars
The Z Murders by Farjeon, J. Jefferson  2+ stars
 Advance review copy from Poisened Pen Press Not as good as others I've read in the British Library Crime Classic series.
The German House by Hess, Annette; translated from the German by Lauffer, Elisabeth 3 stars

Autumn (Seasonal, #1) by  Smith, Ali 4  stars
Winter (Seasonal, #2) by Smith, Ali  3+ stars    
Spring (Seasonal #3),  by Smith Ali 3+  stars

Short Story Collections:
Joytime Killbox by Wood, Brian W. 5  stars
 my personal copy purchasd from publisher
Flowers of Mold by Seong-nan, Ha; translated from the Korean by Hong, Janet 5 stars
 my copy, purchased from publisher
Public Library and Other Stories by Smith, Ali 2 stars
Sudden Traveler: Stories by Hall, Sarah 1 star
  advance review copy from LibraryThing. 

Nonfiction: 
The Kindness of Strangers by Viertel, Salka 4+ stars
 Informative without being too gossipy -- amazing considering she knew everybody.
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Levitin, Daniel J.  3+ stars
  Lots of neuroscience here and a very educational read. Interesting to read about the various approaches in research. As for the music: this neither increased nor decreased my appreciation of music. Nor did it fundamentally change the way I listen to and think about music. For me this was a brain appreciation exercise.
Salt & Straw Ice Cream Cookbook by Malek, Tyler 4 stars
 If I ever decide to make ice cream again, this is the book for me.
Wild about Weeds: Garden Design with Rebel Plants by Wallington, Jack 3 +  stars
 Nice reading, pretty pictures. However, it seems to me that when you purposely design weeds into a garden plan you're going to work as hard maintaining them as you would work trying to get rid of them. But I'm not a gardener--I just have a "lawn" of mown weeds and "flower beds" of whatever comes up--if I like it, it stays; if not, zap!


For children:
The Land of Lost Toys by Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing;  Little, Brown, and Company, 1900. on Project Gutenberg

Partially read (on Project Gutenberg): Our National Parks by John Muir
I read only one chapter, but I enjoyed it so I may read more.
CHAPTER VI
Among the Animals of the Yosemite

A Cinnamon Bear.