Read: A Moveable Feast (#56-2022)

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

This was an interesting collection of "fictional" reminiscences of Hemingway's life in Paris. His connections to other notable authors, poets and artists and his family life and excursions are features as well as his thoughts and direction on writing and life. 

It's an interesting book, and while not something I would normally have just picked up on my own, I don't feel that I wasted the time it took to read it. For one thing, I can now say that I've read Hemingway.  And for another, there were definitely some useful lessons and thoughts hidden in the prose. 

(#56-2022)

Read: Falling Up (#21-2022)

Falling Up (Special Edition) by Shel Silverstein

One of my favourite poets, Shel Silverstein has made me smile since the first time I read one of his books in childhood. He's quirky and funny.  Sometimes it's low-brow humour about picking your nose, and other times it's something that makes you really think about the state of the world. 

I'm always amazed at the levels that exist in his words.

(#21-2022)

Read: Everything I Need to Know About Family I Learned from a Little Golden Book (#15-2022)

Everything I Need to Know About Family I Learned from a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow

Cute compilation of thoughts and images from vintage Little Golden Books representing what everyone needs to know about family. Love the images because they bring back memories of reading the old Little Goldens when I was young. And yes, they were already vintage then. 

(#15-2022)

I Read: Sanditon

 Sanditon by Jane Austen

This is an unfinished work by Jane Austen. I started reading because PBS was showing a mini-series and I was interested to see what had inspired it. Now that I'm completed it, I'm intrigued and wish I could know where Austen was planning to go with it. 

It's a typical Jane Austen style novel, and I'm sure she was making social commentary on the women and their lives, or the way that life was conducted. But with only 12 chapters completed, it's hard to know exactly what that was. The characters are many in this work, and I did find myself very much more attached to some than others. Some didn't seem to have much point at all. 

The estimate is that what is available is about 1/5 of the completed novel as Austen would have written it. I'm not sure that another 4x this much would have enlightened me much further, but I would have loved the opportunity to know where she was taking this story. 

I haven't completely read much of Austen's work to this point. I used to get very tied up in the language and her use of the larger and more foreign words in older style English. But I have come to an appreciation of that language at this point, and will try to read at least one of Austen's work per year from here forward. 

#70-2020

I Read: Howard's End

Howard's End by E.M. Forster

I was prompted to finally read this because of the mini-series on PBS. I haven't watched it yet, even though it aired months ago, because I was trying to finish the book first. Maybe I'll watch it this weekend. 

As of now, my impressions of Howard's End. The clearest things about this are it's evaluation of the class system, and how or when people should be thinking for themselves. The main characters are women who in the designated time frame should really not be running their own lives. But they are and are managing to do a decent job of it. They get caught up in weird fascinations, and strange human situations due to their unique take on human nature. 

Money is an abstract concept to them sometimes, but in others, they are very clear that without money people are nothing. The entire story centers around a house that the main characters don't even own. We don't even find the house until partway through the story, and then it features only in fairly minor ways except to skim along in the background until nearly the end. We know details about it that the main characters do not, and it is fairly significant to some of the actions of some characters but the home at Howard's End is never really a very major part of the story until the very end. 

It's an interesting story, and I was intrigued to find out where it was going, but I found myself having to read passages over and over in order to fully grasp what the story was trying to tell me. Sometimes the logical was quite flawed, and in order to understand the actions, you needed to have a handle on the thought process that wasn't necessarily clear. 

I can't say I didn't enjoy the story though when all is said and done. It''s not something that I will ever endeavour to read again, I think but it wasn't wasted time. 

#64-2020

I Read: The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Reading Toni Morrison has been on my list of things to accomplish for quite a while. I'll admit that I picked this up because I was prompted by the various calls to diversify the voices of those we read. I didn't know why Morrison to read so I actually have three, including this one, which was the earliest of the three I picked up.

I was intrigued by the synopsis description of this one and had heard it touted as highly influential by a lot of those who spoke of it. I tend not to rely too heavily on other people's opinions because writing/reading is so subjective, but given the number of people saying it was a great novel, I decided to pick it up. 

I read: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Another classic that I don't think I'd ever read before. This is a super cute edition, which is why I picked it up. It's part of a very small series that I was introduced to by a friend of Puffin Chalk Classics.

I read: Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

FINALLY!  I've been trying to read this book for years.  And years.  It's been on my Goodreads Currently Reading list for at least three years, if not more.  I hear often around the internet what a wonderful book it is.  But honestly, I don't understand.  Everyone just seems very selfish and self-absorbed.  Which I guess isn't that far from being true to life.  People are pretty selfish, and more interested in their own life than anyone else's.