Month in Review: April 2023

~ Lory

Literature

This was my month for Reading the Theatre, and what a month it was! Read my round-up here. I’d like to also highlight posts by other bloggers who joined in the fun:

If I’ve missed your post, please do let me know!

Other books I read and/or posted about this month:

Watching a video of Carol Burnett in Once Upon a Mattress was a highlight of Reading the Theatre

Language

I’ve been reading short stories with my German language tutors. I’m pretty psyched that I can comprehend regular literature now — it takes a long time and lots of translating vocabulary, but eventually the meaning shines through. The last story I read was “Das Atelierfest” by Wolfgang Hildesheimer, a surreal image of an artist exiled from his own space by an eternally ongoing party. Written in 1951, it may be a comment on the frantic consumerism and materialism of the postwar period. The author was himself a visual artist with a lot to say about the treatment of artists in society.

I look forward to more adventures in German-language literature. Any favorites to recommend?

Kulthandlung by Wolfgang Hildesheimer

Life

My big news this month was that I have a book under consideration at an independent publisher. I hope to have more details to share very soon.

Also exciting was a brief trip to some art and architecture sites in France and Switzerland. I posted some highlights in Share Four Somethings, and I also plan to do a more extensive post in the near future.

Has life taken you anywhere beautiful or exciting lately?

In Colmar, France

Linked at The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, the Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, and the Monthly Wrap-up Round-up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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25 thoughts on “Month in Review: April 2023”

  1. I’m so impressed by all you’ve read and done and also having a book under consideration. Well done!
    I did visit somewhere interesting recently, Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, but having had company for a few weeks my reading has been seriously neglected. Your reading theatre focus is excellent, very interesting.

    1. I did get a lot of reading done this month, some of them books I’ve been working on for a while (so not all begun and finished this month!) I do enjoy Reading the Theatre, I always make a lot of fun discoveries. Thanks for stopping by.

  2. Well, you’ve been extremely busy this month – congratulations on everything and keeping my fingers crossed for the book under consideration!

    1. Just short stories so far … but yes, the same ones read by German lit students. I’m very happy about that. Thanks for stopping by!

    2. Herzlichen Glückwunsch for making headway in German, Lory! I’ve often felt I missed out not having the opportunity to tackle German when I was young, but there we are. Coincidentally we’ve just watched a poignant SF romcom (!) Ich bin dein Mensch with Dan Stevens and Maren Eggert and I was pleasantly surprised at how much was readily comprehensible (with support from subtitles, obviously!).

      And thanks for rerunning Reading the Theatre, which gave me the perfect excuse to try The Tragedy of Arthur after many years of prevarication; I’m still impressed though with how much you got through!

      1. My pleasure, truly. Once the month gets going I just keep finding more and more connections, and that’s so much fun.

  5. What an amazing, theatrical month of reading, Lory! 🎭 You’ve also reminded me I need to read The Neverending Story and I have no excuse as a copy is waiting on my shelf for me! 😅

  7. I’m very impressed, Lory, that you are making such progress in German. It is a major accomplishment to be able to read in another language.

    I’m also happy for you about your book under consideration at an independent publisher. You have been working hard on important things.

    I hope to join you before the year is out and read at least one or two good spiritual memoirs. I think you posted a list of titles that might be good choices. I will see if I can find that.

    1. Immersion really does make the biggest difference — i.e. being forced to use the language in order to live, work, etc., rather than studying it in an academic way. I should immerse myself even more in my off times and I’d make more progress, but I tend to want to relax then with English. 🙂

      So glad you’ll join in reading some spiritual memoirs. I’ve kept up with reading one per month so far and they’ve been amazing! I especially recommend the two by Joy Harjo, which I think you’d love.

  8. Congratulations and good luck on the book under consideration for publication! I hope you find a good home for it 😃

    1. Thanks – I had not heard of that one and I will check it out. Neverwhere was quite a trip!

  10. What a wonderful month you had Lory. Your theatre project sounds really interesting, especially since you don’t have to confine yourself to reading play texts. Bio/autobiographies or stage craft would also count wouldn’t they.

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