Since I stopped posting new content at my former blog, The Emerald City Book Review, I decided to stop paying for premium themes and hosting at the expiration of my current contract. That has now taken place, so ECBR in its former incarnation is no more. However, I wanted to keep at last some of … Continue reading Introducing the Emerald City Book Review Archive
I did not read a lot of books this month, but they were good ones! Otherwise, it's been a rather unsettling time, with me deciding to have surgery, bizarre summer hailstorms, and a flood that did a lot of damage in our town though it left our house untouched. Let's hope things are going to … Continue reading Month in Review: June 2021
It's July, and we've crossed into the true month of midsummer. If you've been participating in Summer in Other Languages, how have you been doing? I confess that my performance has not been at all impressive. I started L'étranger by Albert Camus, but I find it slow going; with its unsympathetic protagonist. Other distractions, such … Continue reading Summer in Other Languages: Readalong of Die Kleine Hexe
A couple of other places you can find posts by me this week: At Shiny New Books a review of a powerful new novel set in the brothels of ancient Pompeii, The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper. And my essay "Seeking the Honey of Life" was published in Kosmos Quarterly. I'm honored to be part … Continue reading Enchanted elsewhere
Over at A Gallimaufry, a Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week is happening from June 28 to July 4. I'm always up for investigating another blogger's enthusiasms, and I've been meaning to read something else by STW (I'd only read Lolly Willowes). So I checked out The Corner That Held Them from the library, and set … Continue reading “Lively and discursive as Chaucer’s pilgrims”: The Corner That Held Them
For English speakers, one of the main hazards in learning a language like French or German is the existence of informal and formal versions for the second person (you). This used to be part of English as well -- "thou" was informal, though now it sounds extra formal and archaic to our ears. However, this … Continue reading A formal feeling
Alternatives to Goodreads come up now and then, and I check them out because I'm not wild about the Amazon monopoly. I'm not sure how my using GR would profit Amazon since I almost never buy books from them, and my reviews don't attract lots of views and excitement. Still, I am always interested in … Continue reading Is there an alternative to Goodreads?
This month brought quite a bounty of reading delights. On spiritual topics, I finished Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating, which I've been reading in my ongoing study of Centering Prayer, as well as another book by Richard Rohr, and a memoir suggested by Rohr's emails, The Choice by Holocaust survivor Edith Eger. An … Continue reading Month in Review: May 2021
If you're participating in the Summer in Other Languages challenge, welcome! I'm looking forward to three months of reading and sharing about our adventures, as we read books originally written in languages other than our own. Click on the link for more information about the challenge. By the way, I know there are lots of … Continue reading Summer in Other Languages: The journey begins
Stella Gibbons, The Swiss Summer (1951), A Pink Front Door (1959), The Weather at Tregulla (1962), The Snow-Woman (1969) Sometimes all I ask from a book is to transport me to someplace different so I can meet and live with another set of people for a while. If the scenery of that place is attractive, … Continue reading Beyond cold comfort: Four by Stella Gibbons
