There's the original text, written by the young author, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, and there's another, very different version, which was highly edited by her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
I've read both versions. They're remarkably different!
Katabasis by RF Kuang - which stood out amongst a sea of 3.5 star reads. I really enjoyed it but didn't love it quite as much as I expected it to. It won't make my top 10 for the year, but it was brilliantly crafted and just so smart. And the commentary on academic life made me laugh out loud as a mid-career academic.
Yes, Coree, I felt the same way. I just finished it last night. I was looking forward to it after reading Babel and thought it fell short in some areas.Not a bad read; just not a really good read. Being a retired professor, I also found the satire of academia both right-on target and humorous. The endless re visions of dissertations brought back nightmares for me!
"The Glassmaker" by Chevalier. I read "Girl with a Pearl Earing" years ago and enjoyed it. So when someone gave this to my wife I read it as well. I believe she does well in exploring the craft of the key person in her books. Her books always cost me extra money though. After reading a the first one I went to an exhibition featuring the Vermeer painting. This time I stopped by a glass vender at a fair and made a purchase.
I'm also reading Tolstoy's "Circle of Reading". But have decided to read it as suggested, one day at a time for 365 days.
All the Wild That Remains by David Gessner. Part personal memoir, part travelogue, and part biography of two literary greats, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner, Gessner's book provides an engaging reflection on literature, the West, and how they have influenced each other. Several other literary and adventure greats (including Wendell Berry and Doug Peacock) also make guest appearances as Gessner sought to find Abbey and Stegner. Published in 2015, most of the recent action occurred around 2012 (or before). Given all that has happened in the environmental movement, domestic terrorism, and protest, I think the book would benefit from a new release with a new forward or afterward because I couldn't help but wonder if he still holds some of the same opinions now. Still, it's a book I won't soon forget and a great book to read on the 50th anniversary of The Monkey Wrench Gang.
As September turned to October I began reading Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth, which I suspect will be my best October read (but it is still early). It is an interesting counterpoint to Gessner although that is certainly not Kingsnorth's purpose. More perhaps at the end of the month
Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall. It was such a wonderful look at the impact of grief on an entire family. I listened to audiobook and feel like that was a better choice than reading a physical copy because the local accents the narrator used really accentuated the sense of place within the story.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King, which has immediately become one of my all-time favorite horror books. It's probably second behind only Bram Stoker's Dracula! It's not my usual genre, but vampire stories are definitely my favorite type of horror. I'm on my third year in a row of following Dracula Daily.
A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home by Sue Halpern The author works with her dog Pransky
to hopefully get her trained as a certified therapy dog. She does succeed and they make weekly visits to the county nursing home. The book has seven sections based on the four cardinal and three theological virtues. Halpern’s observations and her love for Pransky were expressed so well. I liked it better than Old Friends by Tracy Kidder.
I found the first two of that series to be horrendously, intolerably, unbelievably boring. The third book was somewhat more engaging, but not by all that much. Having forced myself to read them, I will never, ever, read anything by Asimov again. I can't imagine why he was ever considered to be a significant writer.
Frankenstein, which is nothing like the movie version.
One of my all-time favorites.
Which version did you read?
There's the original text, written by the young author, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, and there's another, very different version, which was highly edited by her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
I've read both versions. They're remarkably different!
I listened to a version on Audible, and it doesn't say which version of the text it is.
Katabasis by RF Kuang - which stood out amongst a sea of 3.5 star reads. I really enjoyed it but didn't love it quite as much as I expected it to. It won't make my top 10 for the year, but it was brilliantly crafted and just so smart. And the commentary on academic life made me laugh out loud as a mid-career academic.
Nice, I’ve been waiting to see some reviews from real people before diving in to that one.
It was worth the read but not as amazing as I had expected.
My kid's favourite read was 1-5 of the Witches of Brooklyn graphic novels. He read them as fast as the library could deliver them.
Yes, Coree, I felt the same way. I just finished it last night. I was looking forward to it after reading Babel and thought it fell short in some areas.Not a bad read; just not a really good read. Being a retired professor, I also found the satire of academia both right-on target and humorous. The endless re visions of dissertations brought back nightmares for me!
The line about how academics expect their children to be geniuses... so uncomfortably close to home.
"Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" -- another shocking, hilarious book (and a mystery, at that) by the great Olga Tokarczuk.
"The Glassmaker" by Chevalier. I read "Girl with a Pearl Earing" years ago and enjoyed it. So when someone gave this to my wife I read it as well. I believe she does well in exploring the craft of the key person in her books. Her books always cost me extra money though. After reading a the first one I went to an exhibition featuring the Vermeer painting. This time I stopped by a glass vender at a fair and made a purchase.
I'm also reading Tolstoy's "Circle of Reading". But have decided to read it as suggested, one day at a time for 365 days.
All the Wild That Remains by David Gessner. Part personal memoir, part travelogue, and part biography of two literary greats, Edward Abbey and Wallace Stegner, Gessner's book provides an engaging reflection on literature, the West, and how they have influenced each other. Several other literary and adventure greats (including Wendell Berry and Doug Peacock) also make guest appearances as Gessner sought to find Abbey and Stegner. Published in 2015, most of the recent action occurred around 2012 (or before). Given all that has happened in the environmental movement, domestic terrorism, and protest, I think the book would benefit from a new release with a new forward or afterward because I couldn't help but wonder if he still holds some of the same opinions now. Still, it's a book I won't soon forget and a great book to read on the 50th anniversary of The Monkey Wrench Gang.
As September turned to October I began reading Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth, which I suspect will be my best October read (but it is still early). It is an interesting counterpoint to Gessner although that is certainly not Kingsnorth's purpose. More perhaps at the end of the month
That book is very high on my list!
Bartleby the Scrivener was great.
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood was great too. Very tame but still makes you uneasy
My seven year old has been really devouring The Great Brain series. Started using swindle in daily language
I enjoyed Bartleby too! Just read it for the first time a couple months ago.
And we’ll have to check out Great Brain - thanks for the rec!
Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall. It was such a wonderful look at the impact of grief on an entire family. I listened to audiobook and feel like that was a better choice than reading a physical copy because the local accents the narrator used really accentuated the sense of place within the story.
Never heard of it! I’ll look it up 😀
Bringing Down the House by Charlotte Runcie
Oh I adored this. As an Edinburgh resident, it was perfection. I wasn't sure if it would work quite as well for non-locals.
Havent heard of it - thanks for the rec!
Heart the Lover by Lily King followed very closely by Howards End by EM Forster.
Both of those authors are high on my list - I’ve never read anything by ‘em.
The Bonehunters, by Steven Erikson. A high water mark in the recent history of Epic Fantasy fiction.
Two books. AFTER EMILY and THESE FEVERED DAYS. Both on Emily Dickinson. Just wow! What a life and afterlife!
Awesome, I’ll have to check those out!
Fox by Joyce Carol Oates but that ain't saying much. I know endings are hard but who killed him? It's like she did eeny meeny miny mo.
I’ve never read Oates! She’s high on my list.
Salem's Lot by Stephen King, which has immediately become one of my all-time favorite horror books. It's probably second behind only Bram Stoker's Dracula! It's not my usual genre, but vampire stories are definitely my favorite type of horror. I'm on my third year in a row of following Dracula Daily.
Salem’s Lot is so good. And only gets better in my memory. There are two stories about it, as well, in the Night Shift collection.
A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home by Sue Halpern The author works with her dog Pransky
to hopefully get her trained as a certified therapy dog. She does succeed and they make weekly visits to the county nursing home. The book has seven sections based on the four cardinal and three theological virtues. Halpern’s observations and her love for Pransky were expressed so well. I liked it better than Old Friends by Tracy Kidder.
I loved Maria Dong's LIAR, DREAMER, THIEF and Yevgeny Zamyatin's WE.
WE has been on my list forever. Someday I’ll get to it!
Easily has to be the first two “Foundation” novels by Isaac Asimov, reading the 3rd now, simply amazing!
Love those books. Unlike anything else.
I found the first two of that series to be horrendously, intolerably, unbelievably boring. The third book was somewhat more engaging, but not by all that much. Having forced myself to read them, I will never, ever, read anything by Asimov again. I can't imagine why he was ever considered to be a significant writer.