Monday, March 18, 2024

UMBERTO ECO: WHY YOUR UNREAD BOOKS DEFINE YOU... DO YOU AGREE?

 


I came across this short video on YouTube over the weekend.

I watched this video with some interest.

Do you think your unread books define you?

Sunday, March 17, 2024

The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates

 


I had read a review of one of Darcy Coates's other novels on Lark Writes...on books and life's blog. I was intrigued, so I decided to read one of Darcy Coates's novel myself.

I ended up listen to the unabridged audio version of The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates and narrated by Piper Goodeve. Listening time for The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates is 8 hours, 24 minutes and is well narrated by Piper Goodeve.

If you enjoy horror stories which feature a haunted house filled with paranormal activities, then The Haunting of Blackwood House may be just the novel for you. I was drawn to The Haunting of Blackwood House because of the haunted house/paranormal activity themes in this novel! 

I think Darcy Coates does a nice job building suspense and writing about the haunted house itself and the paranormal activities. What I did not enjoy were the two main characters, Mara & Neil. Mara's repeated refrains became annoying. Plus, I felt both Mara and Neil were two dimensional and needed an additional pop to make them more engaging. The minor characters were acceptable. This novel was a mixed bag for me.

Below is the plot summary for The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates from Amazon's website:
From bestselling horror author and queen of gothic mysteries Darcy Coates comes a chilling story about the shadows of dead things―and how they haunt the living. How long could you survive?

As the daughter of spiritualists, Mara's childhood was filled with séances and scam mediums. Now she's ready to start over with her fiancé, Neil, far away from the superstitions she's learned to loathe...but her past isn't willing to let her go so easily.

And neither is Blackwood House.

When Mara and Neil purchased the derelict property, they were warned that ever since the murder of its original owner, things have changed. Strange shadows stalk the halls. Doors creak open by themselves. Voices whisper in the night. And watchful eyes follow her every move. But Mara's convinced she can't possibly be in danger. She doesn't believe in ghost stories, and she didn't buy a haunted house―it's just not possible.

Because ghosts aren't real... are they?
I'm giving The Haunting of Blackwood House by Darcy Coates a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Saturday, March 16, 2024

A Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux

 


I'd never even heard of French writer, Annie Ernaux, before... That is until she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2022. I decided to give one of Ernaux's books a try to see what her writing was like.

I ended up listening to the unabridged audio version of A Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux and narrated by Tavia Gilbert. This is an early work by the author, which was published in 1995. It's a short read at approximately 145 pages. A Frozen Woman is categorized as both a memoir and as historical literary fiction on Amazon's website... So, I can only assume this book is a work of creative nonfiction?

I enjoyed A Frozen Woman and the writing style of the author. A Frozen Woman is definitely a feminist read, which presents a cultural history/snapshot of women in society. Topics touched upon included how women are viewed in society, societal norms/expectations of women, trying to have a different sort of lifestyle as a woman than the one society expects from you, and trying to have it all/juggle it all. 

I think Ernaux presents the material well. In my opinion, A Frozen Woman is a great book to read during Women's History Month. Tavia Gilbert narrated A Frozen Woman very well.

Below is the publisher's summary for A Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux from Amazon's website:

A Frozen Woman charts Ernaux's teenage awakening, and then the parallel progression of her desire to be desirable and her ambition to fulfill herself in her chosen profession - with the inevitable conflict between the two.

And then she is 30 years old, a teacher married to an executive, mother of two infant sons. She looks after their nice apartment, raises her children. And yet, like millions of other women, she has felt her enthusiasm and curiosity, her strength and her happiness, slowly ebb under the weight of her daily routine. The very condition that everyone around her seems to consider normal and admirable for a woman is killing her.

While each of Ernaux's books contain an autobiographical element, A Frozen Woman, one of Ernaux's early works, concentrates the spotlight piercingly on Annie herself. Mixing affection, rage and bitterness, A Frozen Woman shows us Ernaux's developing art when she still relied on traditional narrative, before the shortened form emerged that has since become her trademark.
I am giving A Frozen Woman by Annie Ernaux a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

360 Flip Books from Japan! (Video)

 


Wow, these books look amazing!

I wonder how many other styles this book comes in?

I think these books would make the perfect coffee table book.

What do you think of them?

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

 


I've been meaning to read something by Liane Moriarty for a number of years now. I finally listened to the unabridged audio version of The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty and narrated by Caroline Lee earlier this year. 

Listening time for The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty is 13 hours, 45 minutes.

I am glad I listened to The Husband's Secret as it's well narrated by Caroline Lee. I liked the storyline and plot details/twists for this novel as well.

The Husband's Secret is told through the viewpoint of three different women: Cecilia, Rachel, and Tess. It's Cecilia's husband that has a deep, dark secret he's hidden from everyone for decades... His secret finally comes to light in an unopened letter Cecilia discovers while he's away on travel. Cecilia debates whether or not to open and read the letter. But eventually Cecilia decides toopen the letter and wow, what a bombshell of a confession she learns from her husband through his letter. The information sets off a chain reaction like no other.

Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia or each other, but the lives of all three women collide in an unimaginable way because of Cecilia's husband's secret.

I enjoyed the writing for The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty and look forward to reading another novel written by the author.

Below is the publisher's plot summary for The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty I discovered on Chirp's website:

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret - something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive… Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all - she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia - or each other - but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

I am giving The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty a rating of 4 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

West Virginia House Passed a Bill Allowing Prosecution of Librarians!!!

I came across another disturbing news article recently published in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel titled, West Virginia House passes bill allowing prosecution of librarians by Steven Allen Adams. In the article, Steven Allen Adams wrote the following:

CHARLESTON — The West Virginia House of Delegates debated the merits of removing protections for public librarians and school librarians from criminal prosecution in the off chance a minor encounters books and content some consider to be obscene.

The House passed House Bill 4654 – removing bona fide schools, public libraries, and museums from the list of exemptions from criminal liability relating to distribution and display to a minor of obscene matter – in a 85-12 vote Friday, sending the bill to the state Senate.

HB 4654 would lift criminal liability exemptions from schools in the presentation of local or state-approved curriculum, and public libraries and museums displaying obscene matter to a minor when the child is not accompanied by a parent/guardian.

State Code defines obscene matter as anything an average person believes depicts or describes sexually explicit conduct, nudity, sex or certain bodily functions; or anything a reasonable person would find lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. According to State Code 61-8A-2, any adult who knowingly and intentionally displays obscene matter to a minor could be charged with a felony, fined up to $25,000 and face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Seriously, what the ever living F**K? Librarians are going be persecuted for doing their jobs?

I find it difficult to believe that librarians would not know their audience or how to do their jobs correctly... AND that the state of West Virginia needed to pass a bill to spell out what librarians cannot do. 

Do the people of West Virginia think librarians are going to put up a display of pornographic magazines for children to see? Get real!! Trust the professionals and let librarians do their jobs without fear of prosecution.

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Beaufort, SC, Bans Five Books From School Shelves!

 


I admit that I don't understand the reasoning behind the majority of school/library book banning that parents (or the community at large) want to impose. 

I am against book banning. Students, or the rest of population for that matter, should be able to access to and be able to read all sorts of material any time they want.

I understand that not everyone agrees with my opinion and that's okay. Parents have the right to decide how to raise their own children and what their children have access to (ie books, etc.). I strongly advocate for parental rights. However, I DO NOT AGREE with the idea that a single parent or a small, select group of parents decide what is best for all children to read. 

If a parent doesn't want their children to read certain books from their school or public library, then they ave a right to limit what their child has access to from the school or public library. BUT don't ruin it for someone else's child by having the book banned because you don't agree that the book should be available to all children. That's what I mostly have issue with.

Monday, March 4, 2024

Book Talk with Drew Gilpin Faust - Necessary Trouble

 


Last month, on February 27th to be exact, I attended my second virtual author event of 2024! The following is a description of the event from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute's website:

Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Harvard Alumni Association welcome Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard University president emerita; Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor; and founding dean of the Radcliffe Institute, to discuss her book, Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023).

Faust’s reading will be followed by a conversation with Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School; and professor of history, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

I'm so glad I attended this virtual. It was amazing! After Drew Gilpin Faust gave a short reading of her memoir, she and Tomiko Brown-Nagin spoke in conversation about Faust's book. After hearing them in conversation, I'm now excited to read this book!

The summary for Drew Gilpin Faust's book
Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury, is as follows from the Amazon website:

A memoir of coming of age in a conservative Southern family in postwar America.

To grow up in the 1950s was to enter a world of polarized national alliances, nuclear threat, and destabilized social hierarchies. Two world wars and the depression that connected them had unleashed a torrent of expectations and dissatisfactions―not only in global affairs but in American society and Americans’ lives.

A privileged white girl in conservative, segregated Virginia was expected to adopt a willful blindness to the inequities of race and the constraints of gender. For Drew Gilpin, the acceptance of both female subordination and racial hierarchy proved intolerable and galvanizing. Urged to become “well adjusted” and to fill the role of a poised young lady that her upbringing imposed, she found resistance was necessary for her survival. During the 1960s, through her love of learning and her active engagement in the civil rights, student, and antiwar movements, Drew forged a path of her own―one that would eventually lead her to become a historian of the very conflicts that were instrumental in shaping the world she grew up in.

Culminating in the upheavals of 1968, Necessary Trouble captures a time of rapid change and fierce reaction in one young woman’s life, tracing the transformations and aftershocks that we continue to grapple with today.

I loved hearing Drew Gilpin Faust speak candidly about her early life and how her early life shaped who she became.