The President of the Chamber remained standing until the faint stir caused by his entry subsided. Then he took his seat, saying rather nonchalantly, in a quiet voice:'The sitting is open.' As always, I am facsinated by translation choices. Above are the opening lines from Brian Nelson's recent 2018 translation of Son Excellence Eugène Rougon, … Continue reading Son Excellence Eugène Rougon | Émile Zola #Zoladdiction
It's time to spin again with The Classics Club. Details on how to play are here. On Sunday the 20th March (tomorrow), a random number will be drawn. Match the number to the book on your list, then read said book before the 30th April. I have a few reading plans throughout April (see here) … Continue reading Classics Club Spin #29
The other day I saw a wedding ... but no, I had better tell you about the Christmas tree. To continue my Literary Christmas reading challenge, I have left behind Mary Gaunt and Australian shores to head off to pre-revolutionary Russia. A Christmas Tree and a Wedding is a short story by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It … Continue reading White Nights and other stories | Fyodor Dostoevsky #RUSshortstories
It's time to spin again with The Classics Club. Details on how to play are here. On Sunday the 17th October, a random number will be drawn. Match the number to the book on your list, then read said book before the 12th December. November is AusReading Month, for spin #28 I am therefore going … Continue reading Classics Club Spin #28
No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine. I was thrilled when Adam announced that he was planning to reinstate his Austen in August reading event. I have reread all my Austen's multiple times, of course, but I have more than one edition … Continue reading The Annotated Northanger Abbey | Jane Austen & David M. Shapard #CCspin
It's not yet eight. Stefan Valeriu can tell by the sunlight, which has crept only as far as the edge of his chaise lounge. He can sense it climbing the wooden legs, feel it caressing his fingers, his hands, his naked arm, as warm as a shawl... Such a sensuous, delicious, lazy way to open … Continue reading Women | Mihail Sebastian #ROUfiction
When I met M. Hartz, he was a naturalist and dealer who ran his business affairs in a quiet way, selling minerals, insects or plants to collectors. Thankfully I read and thoroughly enjoyed Mauprat a decade or so ago. If I had started my George Sand journey with Laura: A Journey into the Crystal, it … Continue reading Laura | George Sand #FRAfiction
And reports from Bairnsdale, in the Gippsland district, indicate that Mr Nils Desperandum, of Sarsfield, will have the largest crop of apples, this year, for miles around. - INTERSTATE WEEKLY.On a hot Australian morning I read the above advertisement out to June as we sat in the low-roofed kitchen of our old home in Dandenong. … Continue reading The Pea-Pickers | Eve Langley Part 2 #AWWfiction
Long before the birth of Brona's Books, nearly 12 years ago, and long before my preschool teaching days, I read nothing but children's books. Lots of them. As often as I could, as many times as I could. Rereading favourites was the only way to feed my voracious habit. The school library could not keep … Continue reading Before Brona’s Books #1001ChildrensBooks
La Teuse came in and popped her broom and her feather duster against the alter. Confession one: this story ended up being a chore to read. After six engaging, enthralling Zola's I have hit my first dud with the seventh. Confession two: for the past week I have been trying to read three books that … Continue reading The Sin of Abbé Mouret | Émile Zola #FRAclassic
Last year, my friend at the Writer's Centre NSW, now called Writing NSW, was planning on hosting an Honouring event for Katharine Susannah Prichard. It's an annual event, of which I have managed to attend about half so far. I had just popped my name on the expressions of interest list early last year, when … Continue reading The Wild Oats Of Han | Katharine Susannah Prichard #AWWfiction
My first illness was that one most common to the children of the poor...a bad education and, like the bite of a goanna, it was incurable and ran for years. Ethel Jane (Eve) Langley was born in Forbes on the 1st September 1904. After her father, Arthur died in 1915, her mother, Myra moved her … Continue reading The Pea-Pickers | Eve Langley #AWW
It will be nigh on impossible to write anything new or insightful about Tolstoy's War and Peace that has not be said before, so this will be a collection of loose impressions and thoughts that occurred to me throughout 2020 as I read a chapter-a-day (or more accurately seven chapters a week) with Nick. The … Continue reading War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy #RUSclassic
Feeling very grateful, right now, that Tarissa @In the Bookcase is hosting A Literary Christmas this year. It made me search my shelves for something Christmassy that I hadn't read yet. It led me straight into the delightful and utterly charming arms of Beatrix Potter. I confess that I did not read any of the Peter Rabbit … Continue reading The Tailor of Gloucester | Beatrix Potter #ALiteraryChristmas
It would be very easy to read this lovely novella about a woman called Elizabeth and her love of gardens, as an autobiography in disguise. At least, it was very easy for me to be led down this particular garden path for quite some time. At every turn, Elizabeth and Her German Garden felt biographical. … Continue reading Elizabeth and Her German Garden | Elizabeth von Armin #GBRfiction
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