Plans
I haven't done a Sunday Salon post in a while, but there I was thinking about what I might read in August for WIT (Women in Translation) Month hosted by Meytal at Biblibio. (You do know about #WITMonth, don't you?) So I heaped up a pile o' books and what better excuse is there for a post than that?.... 😉
That's:
Marguerite Yourcenar/Memoirs of Hadrian
Assia Djebar/Fantasia
Dorthe Nors/Mirror, Shoulder, Signal
Ingeborg Bachman/Malina
Anne Hébert/Am I disturbing you?
Vicki Blum/Grand Hotel
And somewhere I have an unread Amélie Nothombe, which I couldn't find for the picture, but was sort of saving for WIT month. I'm unlikely to read them all, alas. Any experience with them? Which sound best to you?
Earlier This Week
In the Internet-free zone,
I knocked off two thick modernist tomes from my Classics Club list: Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano, and Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil. Post on the Broch coming soon.
They were both on my #20BooksOfSummer list, but while I'm on track to read 20 books over the summer, what I've read is increasingly diverging from that prospective list. Whoops!
Where I Am
Well, I'm finding it plenty warm here, but I certainly don't want to complain, especially given what's happening elsewhere. And there are certainly charms to Toronto in the summer. With friends we took a road trip to the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada:
And it allows backyard locavore dining:
The beans and the swiss chard (in the quiche) come from our garden.
How are things with you?
I’ve heard of Mirror, Shoulder, Signal because it was nominated for the Booker International Prize a cople of years ago. And Memoirs of Hadrian is one of those “should reads” on everyone’s list, right? It is universally acclaimed it seems. BUT the one that jumps out is Grand Hotel. I’ve not read it but I saw the movie ages ago that was based on it. Lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteI did mostly yard work this Sunday with very little reading in between and am now exhausted! :D But my green bin is full and that makes me happy.
A full green bin is a happy moment!
DeleteI suspect Memoirs of Hadrian will still be a 'should read' because it's the biggest one in the pile, but someday soon!
No, I've never heard of Women in Translation Month, but I'm very happy that I have now. It's a great event for the Classics Club, I think; I'll add it to the Events page.
ReplyDeleteI became curious...do I have any women in translation books on my Classics Club list? Sadly, no. I made a point of including many authors who are women, but all of them write in English. Next list, I think. Maybe I can find something around here that fits the event.
Getting outdoors is wonderful, even when it is hot. Oddly, we've enjoyed several days last week that started off in the 60s. Unbelievable, almost, for us on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Have a great week.
The 60s! Not the way I remember Houston in the summer.
DeleteI don't have any WIT books on my classics club list either--and I only learned about the reading month after I made the list--but it's given me a fun new group of books to think about. Not, of course, that I need to be thinking more about getting more books...
Thanks for putting the event on the list!
I read Fantasia a few years ago; I like Assia Djebar. Here's my post: https://howlingfrog.blogspot.com/2014/09/fantasia.html
ReplyDeleteI learned my lesson last year, when I didn't think to plan for WIT in my 20 Books list, and picked a bunch of tough things I'd been putting off...which resulted in a list very heavy in translated books by men. :/
Learning from experience, eh? Maybe I'll have to try that...
DeleteThanks for the tip on your Djebar review. I'll check it out.