flight paths discussion

Sun shivers in pale sky
The faintest shade of light blue
It's fine for February

Love the poem! What a wonderful way to start out the month. Thank you, Magdelanye.

I'm carrying over 2 books from last month:

Alias Grace (a bit slow moving) and A Deadly Education (interesting....a bit like a dangerous Hogwarts school).

Petra Alias Grace is one of the few of Atwood's books that I have held back from reading only in the sense that I have been reserving them for the right time, when I'm in the mood, with the time and patience needed for her longer novels. And those moods do strike. I also love her poetry and short stories.
This one in particular was also held back due to the extremely negative reaction of a friend of mine who divorced MA completely over something that transpired three-quarters of the way in, and got quite upset when I mentioned I was planning on reading it. I will, but at that point, I picked a different one.

Maybe it would be better for you Petra if you had the nice fat hardcover book to augment your reading kindle in bed?

Right now I am just settled in to a new cohort of books, all those ones I mentioned in my last post in January. It's very nice to have nothing pressing due this week but also the library has notified me since my visit only last Saturday, that I have 3 holds come in.

Magdelanye wrote: "This one in particular was also held back due to the extremely negative reaction of a friend of mine who divorced MA completely over something that transpired three-quarters of the way in, and got quite upset when I mentioned I was planning on reading it. I will, but at that point, I picked a different one.
..."

Oh dear! I'm at 71% now. I should be reaching this "something" soon.

I do not know the event but I think I may know which character may be involved.

the suspense is finally getting to me....
i feel an Atwood mood coming on!

Well, I'm at 91% now and a lot has happened but I don't know what upset your friend. If you read the book, Magdelanye, you'll have to ask her the incident and let me know. I'm curious about what I may have missed.

Perhaps you are finished by now Petra : SPOILER ALERT IF YOU ARE NOT and perhaps the incident or last straw for my friend has been revealed. Not to make too much of a mystery about it, but I am pretty sure the fact that my friend is a transgender woman has something to do with it. She was more than insulted, she was outraged. So I am curious about your reaction Petra.

I certainly wasn't expecting to pick up as my next fiction an old Canada Reads title that I wished I had paid more attention to when I read it at the time. It was for me one of those books that I did not love immediately but by the end it got to me. And so, confronted with the sequel I decided to grab The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline just to refresh myself. I thought a quick skim would do but no, I'm deep into it with a lot more appreciation.

I finished the book this morning and am not sure what upset your friend. I must be dense about something that happened in the book.
It's a slow moving story. However, Atwood did a good job at taking a few known details & facts, then making a full story out of them. The ending was a bit sweet, but also realistic in the context that the real life Grace disappeared from History after her release.

Magdelanye, rereading an old favourite is a wonderful way to pick up on more details than the first read. Enjoy the reread.

I finished listening to A Deadly Education. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a humorous and dangerous coming-of-age story set in a dark school of wizardry. The students are completely left to their own devices. Very much a "Lord of the Flies" vibe. There are no teachers and plenty of deadly creatures to avoid and overcome.

Humorous and dangerous is a seductive combination. Actually does sound fun. As for The Marrow Thieves, it had some big surprises. See the addendum to my review if you are curious.

I have just started The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin which was also not planned but another inter-library loan that was recalled for a hold. I wasn't going to make another trip to town in one week for just one book so I will return it Monday and naturally, hoping to read it in the meantime. So far I love it.
Was it one of you who recommended it?
So the sequel is again tucked into the queue, and hopefully I will be back on track on my list before the end of this month.

Must mention one more title and I know Ellie anyways loves Heather O but I finally got her early book of poems. Two Eyes Are You Sleeping They are pretty rough and I kind of hate the cover and I am glad she decided to write fiction but there is something evocative that she expresses in her intervals.

I expect that we are all immersed in our books rather than face the elements, and I hear that the east coast has been hit by heavy snowstorms and alarming winds. Travel advisory,Stay snug.

Except of course if you are like Robert Macfarlane who loves nothing better than to walkabout in the snow. I am loving his The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot and savouring a longish chapter each day. Each chapter is a crisp noun and yesterday I read the chapter Ice. It would be far to cold for for me and though I am thrilled to read about it I will not be following his footsteps.

what ho is up with folk?
I am trying to strike a balance between worrywort and catastrophizing to assuming the best instead of the worst. I myself have days off and sometimes not logging in is part of self care. But we are well into February now and wondering about Ellie and Ice, Megan and Natasha

I knew my incredible run of great books was slowing down when I got bogged down again in a tortuous read with all kinds of moral ambiguity and the vilest kind of behavior. It was hard enough to read about the war and the terrible effect it had. In
The Absolutist John Boyne presents us with an anti- hero with just enough redeeming qualities and a horrible backstory, a true victim of the war on sexuality and it's natural expression. Just when, quite near the end of the book I had relaxed enough to care there is an entirely implausible horrific event that cancelled out any sympathy forever. Was it necessary to make his point stronger? Why spend a whole novel getting me to care about this truly shitty person?

I am also feeling somewhat ambivalent aboutJennifer Pastiloff and maybe that's enough said. It could be that I can't help but comparing it to two recent books I read that could also be classified as spiritual memoir by youngish women doing similar things that I resonated with far more deeply. So, a bit of overshadowing gone here. They are all still listed under currently reading.

At least that list is stable at around 23

AND Ive just begun the Murakami on Music!

Petra, what have you found to replace Alias Grace as your mainstay? Hope you have been able to take advantage of the rare but delightful bursts of warm sun

Peace Love and Good Vibes

I'm a bit concerned about the quiet around here, too, Magdelanye. I hope everyone pops in very soon.

I read a very strange and unusual story this week: Vita Nostra. It's very different than anything I've read in awhile.
I didn't like all of it and had to puzzle over some of it but in the end I had to give the authors kudos for trying something so different.
Throughout, even in the parts I wasn't liking much, the story was compelling and intriguing.

Magdelanye, it sounds like you could use a wonderful, uplifting book right now. I hope Murakami's book fits that bill. He's a good writer.

I'm not sure what I'll be starting next. I'll have a dig through my bag of library books and see which one jumps out at me.

I'm currently listening to The Fifth Season on my jogs.

So haven't made much headway in my reading of the Murakami but I am familiarizing myself with Beethovens Piano Concerto #3 in C minor, a glorious piece, playing now.

As for the Fifth Season, Petra, I remember liking it so much but then being utterly put off by the 2nd volume in the series. Wait until you have fixed your own impressions before considering mine.

I don't think I mentioned Unexploded which was the other book about war, woven around a romance, almost like a memoir and with a devastating ending that did not convince. The main protagonist in the book is actually the city of Brighton and I did not end up hating the book but feeling somewhat disappointed.

Dont think I'm in any mood to take on Via Nostra

Vita Nostra is not a book I would recommend to anyone. It's just too different and bizarre and, possibly, with no feeling of satisfaction at the end.

I will look at your review of Fifth Season when I'm done with it, Magdelanye. I didn't know you had read it, too. Glad to hear that you liked it so much; sorry to hear about the second book.

Hi all,

Sorry for my lack of presence. I've hardly been on GR--I'm not sure why time seems to have gotten so away from me.

Love your poem Magdelanye!

Yesterday it was gorgeous out and I wore my spring jacket and today as I write this it is snowing! (it's very pretty though).

I am rereading Proust with another group but I'm falling behind the rest of the group and feel panicked. Why I hate reading with book clubs! Still, it's helped keep me on track.

A friend of mine and I are planning a trip to Paris for 5 days at the end of March--I'm extremely excited. Plus one of my fantasy "bucket list" items--which I doubted I would ever do--is jetting off to Paris for a weekend. This is even better.

Our purpose is to see a Proust exhibit that is only running through April 10th. The tickets are bought and the Air bnb booked and paid for so I guess it's actually going to happen! We're also going to see Massenet's Le Cendrillon (he's an opera buff and I'm willing) as well as multiple museums. I want to do a boat tour on the Seine which he says is the first thing he "usually" does (he travels a lot--he and his husband fly out to Santa Fe just to see an opera!).

Anyway, I'd like to read as much of the Proust as possible before then. I'm also reading Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to the Remembrance of Things Past to make sure I'm following along accurately. I'm almost finished Swann's Way (the Lydia Davis translation; I like her translations). I'm also looking through the Davis latest essay collection, Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles. I reading her section on translating Proust.

Wow Ellie! March/April in Paris and what an itinerary!
And the way time is flying, that will be soon. What a bonus to be going with someone who knows the city. May it all go smooothly!

I'm thinking of putting a notice on fb to inquire about my Proust boxed set. I've come to the conclusion that I must have lent it to someone because I have now at least looked into every box.

i am j

I am just about to begin a new Lionel Shriver

Ellie, that's spectacular! What a lovely trip to look forward to! I'm really happy for you. This is terrific.

Magdelanye, I hope you find your Proust set.
Enjoy Lionel Shriver's book.

I'm enjoying The Fifth Season. It reads like a Beginning, though. I have a feeling that when I get to the end, it will be set up for a continuation of the series.
I'm not opposed to that. A long story is enticing. But I'm not fond of it in a series as each separate book seems incomplete by itself.
But, that said, this is an interesting set-up.

Glad you are enjoying 5th season Petra. The Shriver was hilarious in that special way KS has with bleak. Its not in your face didactic like some of her stuff but considering the subject matter it was a fun read.

Reading Meg Fee Places I Stopped On The Way Home of course reminded me of Ellie Actually, despite the fact that each short chapter is named after a street in New York and it is an account of her decade plus living there, the chapters could have been named after the men she either does or doesn't fall in love with. Not that much New York.
But get this, she finally, after being dumped at the airport two years before, gets her March in Paris. Her itinerary was quite a bit less thrilling than Ellies promises to be.

So now I have begun the much more engaging Figuring by Maria Popova
Sorry no link but I dont trust myself to turn on the machine because I know there is still one more zoom session with the Social Justice summit and the pull is strong to be there. But I am geared now to rest and relax and get into my new array of reading.

Plugging through Royal Assassin and Monument to Murder chapter per day

Magdelanye wrote: "Glad you are enjoying 5th season Petra. The Shriver was hilarious in that special way KS has with bleak. Its not in your face didactic like some of her stuff but considering the subject matter it w..."

I guess I'll definitely have to read this one!

I subscribe to Popova's weekly Marginalia and like her a lot so I'm interesting in looking at Figuring. I'll be very interested to read your response Magdelanye when you're finished.

I just finished Swann's Way--the Davis translation. I loved it! I'm now starting the second volume, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower.

I'm also reading tons of accompanying material--not necessarily the entire book but those parts that pertain to Proust. These include: Lydia Davis, Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles, Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to the Remembrance of Things Past by Patrick Alexander; Walter Benjamin's Illuminations: Essays and Reflections, Proustian Uncertainties: On Reading and Rereading In Search of Lost Time as well as trying to get a sense of Proust's Paris through looking at Benjamin's The Arcades Project.

Arcades is much more difficult than I remembered--probably because I'm trying to read too many different books--but the pictures are helpful. And it's reminding me of an exhibit the kids and I went to about the book, with more pictures of the Paris of that time.

Anyway, life is interesting. I'm finishing up a writing workshop (prose) in which I wrote two pieces that had people howling with laughter, which felt good. Now I'm attempting to put together a collection of my poems to submit to a chapbook contest. I strongly doubt I can win but it's forcing me to look at my poems and revise, something that I find challenging.

Loving the Popova Ellie and very interested in her podcast which I will get to soon as I can
i am also enjoying an anthology of poetry collected by Naomi Shebab Nye and familiarizing myself with the magnificent Beethoven Piano Concerto#3 in c minor so as to appreciate the Murakami all the more.

Ellie what about the Meg Fee love letter to New York? just wondering what you know of it.

Petra I noticed in passing youve written a review of the 5th season which i will read now. Im curious to see your reaction.

Ice it seems you are on a killing streak. Stay warm!

Magdelanye wrote: "Loving the Popova Ellie and very interested in her podcast which I will get to soon as I can
i am also enjoying an anthology of poetry collected by Naomi Shebab Nye and familiarizing myself with th..."

I don't know anything about the Fee but I intend to find out.

I like Nye and I've read an anthology she put together by her.

Ellie, you may be interested in the graphic novel of Swann's way, In Search of Lost Time: Swann's Way: A Graphic Novel. I recall that the graphics and story were well done.

Magdelanye, thanks for the like on my review. I didn't have a lot to say that wouldn't give away the story. I avoid spoilers in reviews. I found the book really good. It revealed the world and society really well. It's very much the first of a series, though, and incomplete at the end. Not unsatisfying; just a first instalment of a larger story. I don't feel like I've finished yet, so the review is very short.
I am looking forward to reading the second book soon.
What an ending to this first book!

Ice, a chapter a day is nice. I'm about to start on Bleak House at this very same pace. It's for a group read and it's the "chapter a day" pace that allows me to keep up.

I'm currently reading a rather lackluster book, Queens of the Underworld: A Journey into the Lives of Female Crooks.

I'm about to go onto the library system to find a new audio book to listen to during my jogs. Audio books are much more popular now and many books are unavailable. It'll be a surprise to see what I can get my ears on. :D

Petra, thanks for reminding me about the graphic novel. I read it a few years ago but I'd like to read it again now having just read the novel.

Queens of the Underworld sounds like fun

Bleak House is my absolute favorite Dickens. I've read it several times. There's a tv version that is good except they change the weather which I think is a significant change; the fog is (to me) a major symbol and force in the novel.

How could such a promising title as Queens of the Underworld be lackluster ?

Petra I can hardly wait to see your reaction to the 2nd volume of 5th season

Keep us informed of your literary wins Ellie. id love to see those pieces that got people howling.

Yeah, I agree, Magdelanye. Yet, it is truly lackluster. I'm half way through and still not being pulled in. It's one Queen's life of crime after another and they all sound the same. The author can't find a way to make any of them exciting or interesting. Sad.

Oooh, the pressure is on. I do want to continue the series soon. IThe first book was left at a very interesting place in the story.