I haven't been in a posting mood for about four days now. Lots going on, none of it really bad, but just not feeling like posting, even though I know I need to get a few reviews written in the next 24 hours (I hope to have the Faulkner Friday post live by Friday night my time, although I might have to play with the submission time a bit), but I've been stuck contemplating a few matters.
In order to try to ease this block, I've been reading and, in one case, watching a few things. Not counting the e-books I've been reading while I exercise on a stationary bike, these are what I have been reading, watching, and buying these past four days:
Shortly I plan on writing a piece on Jean Ray for Weird Fiction Review's 101 Weird Writers feature. In order to prepare for it, I have re-read his only novel, Malpertuis, and watched the Director's Cut edition of the 1972-73 movie of the same name. Maybe later I'll have something to say about both, but for now, I'm using these excellent works more as supplementary materials for the column I'm trying to finish writing this weekend.
I've been dipping into Jenny Boully's excellent 2011 take on Wendy and Peter Pan (and a whole lot more on matters of imagination and gender roles) for the past couple of weeks. I first read an excerpt from this book, whose title is taken from Barrie's classic, when I was doing selections for BAF 4 and I was entranced then. The full work so far justifies that initial response. Fuminori Nakamura's The Thief is a review copy that I hope to finish shortly, as it seems to be a literary/crime novel set in Tokyo. It's coming out in the next few weeks in translation and is promising so far.
I'm beginning to read more Spanish-language contemporary fiction and when I saw these two Rosa Montero books at McKay's on Wednesday, I thought perhaps these will do for new readings over the next couple of weeks.
Antonio Machado is one of my favorite early 20th century Spanish poets. Curious to see how his poetry for children reads. Don't know much about Yasmina Reza's play, but the title grabbed my attention.
Speaking of intriguing titles, these two novels by Muriel Barbery and Robert Olen Butler caught my attention when book buying Wednesday as well. Perhaps I'll get around to them in the near future as well, although lately I haven't been able to finish that many books due to dipping in and out of a dozen or more in a cycle lasting the past couple of weeks.
Shortly I plan on writing a piece on Jean Ray for Weird Fiction Review's 101 Weird Writers feature. In order to prepare for it, I have re-read his only novel, Malpertuis, and watched the Director's Cut edition of the 1972-73 movie of the same name. Maybe later I'll have something to say about both, but for now, I'm using these excellent works more as supplementary materials for the column I'm trying to finish writing this weekend.
I've been dipping into Jenny Boully's excellent 2011 take on Wendy and Peter Pan (and a whole lot more on matters of imagination and gender roles) for the past couple of weeks. I first read an excerpt from this book, whose title is taken from Barrie's classic, when I was doing selections for BAF 4 and I was entranced then. The full work so far justifies that initial response. Fuminori Nakamura's The Thief is a review copy that I hope to finish shortly, as it seems to be a literary/crime novel set in Tokyo. It's coming out in the next few weeks in translation and is promising so far.
I'm beginning to read more Spanish-language contemporary fiction and when I saw these two Rosa Montero books at McKay's on Wednesday, I thought perhaps these will do for new readings over the next couple of weeks.
Antonio Machado is one of my favorite early 20th century Spanish poets. Curious to see how his poetry for children reads. Don't know much about Yasmina Reza's play, but the title grabbed my attention.
Speaking of intriguing titles, these two novels by Muriel Barbery and Robert Olen Butler caught my attention when book buying Wednesday as well. Perhaps I'll get around to them in the near future as well, although lately I haven't been able to finish that many books due to dipping in and out of a dozen or more in a cycle lasting the past couple of weeks.
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3 comments:
You remind me that I have a copy of The Elegance of the Hedgehog that I need to get through soon.
It's a catchy title, no? :D
The Thief is an interesting book - saw it a while ago on Net Galley and asked for it a few days ago and the first few pages are quite gripping but also show the novel wants to be more than a mystery/thriller.
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