Patricia > Recent Status Updates

Soooo good. In addition to the Gaugin biography, dig into art history in Paris around the1880s. Did you know that Gaugin was living with van Gogh when he famously went mad and cut off his ear? (Are historically known facts considered spoilers?)

This will not take away from the raging suppressed emotions but .... I think I have predicted the plot. 😂

This is what I call a "sit at the desk" book. It's not a "comfy chair with a glass of wine" book.

The tracks to WWI were hard and smooth. Neither diplomacy nor sanity could stop the cataclysmic collision. Contemporary leaders must understand this history. Sadly, one notable exception does not read.

Time for some history!

Obama's Great Books podcast series starts in September 2026 . It focuses on six literary works that have deeply shaped the former president's worldview and society:

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

A Great Book with Barack Obama is a series of podcasts coming out in Sept 2026. These are some of the works that formed his worldview:
-The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
-Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
-All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
-Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
-All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
-Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
Can't wait!

I like this much better than her later book, Fraude, which I found pretentious. This book is too long, but it kills the immigrant experience from Pakistan to London around 1980s.

Trying to get ahead of the movie. Much less dense than I recalled. It flows wonderfully.

Is this is a dumbed down translation? Or has my reading improved?

One of Ferrante's many gifts to humanity is a realistic portrait of motherhood.

Done with b.s. Time for an Elena Ferrante fix.

I hope this gets better. These voices feel like cartoon versions of little black girls in the Jim Crow South. Maybe this is exaggerated audible narration .

Obviously I'm only at the very beginning but it's strangely reminiscent of Jesmyn Ward???

This academic biography of Marlowe is lively and clear. Familiarity with the entire history of English and Classical literature would help. Since it's a book club selection, I press on.

Trying the audible in advance of the Netflix series.
The voice of the 19-year-old woman is very authentic.

Roy is simultaneously bad ass and vulnerable.

I'm astonished at how raw this is.

At a party in Aspen, Solnit listened when a self-impressed man expounded on a new book. He was repeatedly informed that he was actually speaking to its author. He could not process that and continued his lecture. Her astute feminist response was this inscisive essay. It created the satirically accurate neologism "mansplaining" . This is a work of genius.

At a party in Aspen, Solnit listened when a self-impressed man expounded on a new book. He was repeatedly informed that he was actually speaking to its author. He could not process that and continued his lecture. Her astute feminist response was this inscisive essay. It created the satirically accurate neologism "mansplaining" . This is a work of genius.

Solnit identified the condescending behavior but did not invent the verb "mansplaining". At a party in Aspen, a self-impressed man expounded on a new book. He was told repeatedly that he was speaking to its author. Unable to process his lapse, he continued his lecture. The author's astute feminist response was the essay that created the neologism.

outstanding

The relentless persecution of others is recounted in this painful memoir.

This memoir spans three generations of a Chinese family from about 1930 to 1980. It describes life under political repression from the Japanese occupation through the reign of Mao.

I don't want to finish this book but it's rushing to a dramatic conclusion. Wonderful!

Shaping up to be my favorite of the Neapolitan series. Lenu and Lila are young women now and their lives are intense.

I love this charming book about college kid love lives.

I'm engrossed. Wondering how much is autobiographical?

OMG an amazingly sick classic. This is not science fiction. This time travel is PTSD. Published in 1969, I guess they hadn't named it yet.

I have to ditch the audible version. Is Sybil a smug, lock jawed, self-impressed moneyed old lady? I'm not getting this actors interpretation and want my own. Back to the text.