I’m back! It’s been almost a month since I last wrote anything on my blog, which I hate. I do think I have a good reason, though – and the usual “I was very busy” is only part of it. This means that, yes, I was busy, but I was busy with many, many bookish things. Want to know which things? Read on!
Busy thing one: So far, I’ve read seventeen books this year, which means I read approximately two books a week. If you look at the picture to the right closely, you may find that most of these books were either by Paul Auster or by Julian Barnes. That’s because…
… Busy thing two: Last week, I had to give two lectures. One of them was about Paul Auster, and the other was about Julian Barnes. I could simply have read their latest books and then analyse that one, but I decided both lectures would be about their everything they’ve ever written. While I didn’t manage to finish that goal, I did read most of their books. Apart from reading all these novels, however, I also had to do research on both authors, decide what I wanted to talk about, write down quotations, delete them again, create a powerpoint, and of course present them. So yes, I’ve been busy.
Busy thing three: Apart from talking about both authors, I also had to record a couple of book recommendation videos for this bookshop. Even though these videos are quite short, filming and editing takes quite a lot of time (filming especially; one day I might publish a blooper video, with hours and hours of misspoken words, forgotten lines and exclamations of Aargh! and Come on!). Also, I was informed that these videos really work, for the books I’m recommending are selling quite well. Yay!
Busy thing four: So, apart from reading a lot, giving lectures and recommending books, I also had to prepare this book club event. It’s called Books and Booze, and it’s just as great as it sounds. We read a book, I think of cocktails that fit the theme and we spend the next two hours talking excitedly about this book – and after about an hour the discussion keeps getting louder and louder, and more and more enthusiastic. It also meant I had to read that book, too.
Right, so that’s it. Four things I am very, very happy about, but which unfortunately meant I didn’t have the time to write about the books I’ve read. I will make it up to you by giving a – very! – short review about each book I’ve read. Here we go!
- Paul Auster, Sunset Park (great!)
- Julian Barnes, The Only Story (very moving and original)
- Julian Barnes, Elizabeth Finch (quite hard to get through because it included a long biography about a Roman emperor)
- Paul Auster, Leviathan (interesting, loved Auster’s analysis of American identity)
- Samantha Harvey, Orbital (beautiful Booker-prize winning novel)
- Julian Barnes, The Noise of Time (claustrophobic novel about Shostakovitch)
- Julian Barnes, Talking it Over (hilarious novel about how three people remember their friendship and marriages)
- Julian Barnes, Love, etc. (hilarious sequel to the previous one)
- Sacha Bronwasser, Luister (oh, right, I had to read this for another book event – I had to interview the author!)
- Paul Auster, Winter Journal (one of Auster’s memoirs, very interesting)
- Julian Barnes, Before She Met Me (I love dark humour)
- Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies (beautiful and heardbreaking)
- Julian Barnes, A History of the World in 101/2 Chapters (Fun novel, especially how bookworms decided to invade Noah’s Ark)
- Paul Auster, Baumgartner (the novel I had to do my lecture about, I’ve read it five times)
- Julian Barnes, Flaubert’s Parrot (clever and interesting novel/biography/literary analysis)
- Kathryn Barker, Waking Romeo (Books and Booze novel. Young-adult sci-fi time-travel star-crossed-lover. Urgh.)
- Ursula Parrott, Ex-Wife (wonderful and realistic classic about a woman who got divorced in 1920s New York)
Right. I can imagine you’ll have no idea what any of these novels are about. Try all of them and decide for yourself if you agree with these reviews!
Also, do you notice how only four of these novels were written by women? I humbly apologise. Especially since last Saturday was International Women’s Day, and I neglected to write anything about how we women are in no way inferior to men, and should never ever give up our fight to be treated as equals. I swear I will make it up to all womankind.
I also swear my next blog post will not take me four weeks to write. See you soon!
The Open Book 