RecentReads: Sunday 21 January 2024

Let’s chat about the books I’ve finished recently.
#amreading #bookreviews #booktube
Read:
Eowyn Ivey, To the Bright Edge of the World (2016): / to-the-bright-edge-of-...
#historicalfiction #buddyread
Jacqueline Harpman, I Who Have Never Known Men, transl. from the French (Belgium) by (1995): / i-who-have-never-known...
Nancy Fraser, Fortunes of Feminism (2013): / fortunes-of-feminism
#nonfiction #feminism
Up next (still):
Margo Jefferson, Constructing a Nervous System (2022): / constructing-a-nervous...
#nonfiction #memoir
And also:
P.D. James, Cover Her Face / Adam Dalgliesh #1 (1962): / cover-her-face
#mystery #buddyread
Jennifer Ackerman, What an Owl Knows (2023): / what-an-owl-knows
#nonfiction #nature #buddyread
People & channels mentioned:
Heidi ‪@myreadinglife8816‬
Kathleen ‪@KathleenAnnBooks‬
Terri ‪@MsTerriB‬
Lisa ‪@TheUnhingedWomanBookClub‬
Read along with me!
1. Six classics I want to read in 2024
Schedule:
January / February: Ida B. Wells, The Light of Truth (2014): / the-light-of-truth
#PoC
March/ April: Marguerite de Navarre, Heptameron, transl. from the French by Paul Chilton (1984 / 1558): / 505222.the_heptameron
May / June: Various, The Mirror of my Heart, transl. from the Persian by Dick Davis (2019): / the-mirror-of-my-heart
July / August: Emilia Pardo Bazán, The House of Ulloa, transl. from the Spanish by Paul O’Prey (1886): / the-house-of-ulloa
September / October: George Sand, Indiana, transl. from the French by Sylvia Raphael (2001 / 1832): / 104260.indiana
November / December: Mitchitsuna no Haha, The Gossamer Years, transl. from the Japanese by Edward Seidensticker (1989 / 974): / 186608.the_gossamer_years
2. Sandy’s 1001 Books Bookclub
Schedule:
January - No book
February - The Princess of Cleves by Madame Lafayette (192 pages)
March - The Well Of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (448 pages)
April - Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud (192 pages)
May - The Waves by Virginia Woolf (304 pages)
June - Love’s Work by Gillian Rose (170 pages)
July - The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner (383 pages)
September - The Last September by Elizabeth Bowen (320 pages)
October - The Real Charlotte by Edith Somerville and Martin Ross (415 pages)
November - Anagrams by Lorrie Moore (240 Pages)
December - Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair (86 pages)
Name of my CZcams channel:
I stole name ‘The Second Shelf’ from the title of Meg Wolitzer’s article in the New York Times: www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/boo...
Find me elsewhere:
website: www.brittaboehler.com (hasn’t been updated in a while, sorry…)
goodreads: / 5497508.britta_b_hler
Instagram: / brittaboehler
X, formerly twitter: / britta_boehler
I also wrote some books:
Fiction:
- De juiste houding (2021): www.uitgeverijcossee.nl/De%20...
available in Dutch
- The Decision (2015): hauspublishing.com/fiction/the...
or in the German original: Der Brief des Zauberers (2014): www.aufbau-verlag.de/index.php...
also available in Dutch, French, Italian, Greek, Danish, Hebrew and Turkish
Non-fiction (available only in Dutch):
- De goede advocaat (2017): www.uitgeverijcossee.nl/boek/D...
- Crisis in de rechtstaat (2004): www.singeluitgeverijen.nl/de-...
- De zwerftocht van een leider (2000): www.singeluitgeverijen.nl/de-...
Crime novels under the pen name Britta Bolt (together with writer Rodney Bolt)
The Posthumus Mysteries:
- Lonely Graves (2014)
- Lives Lost (2015)
- Deadly Secrets (June 2016)
www.hodder.co.uk/authors/deta...
and for German readers:
- Das Büro der einsamen Toten (2015)
- Das Haus der verlorenen Seelen (2016)
- Der Tote im fremden Mantel (February 2017)
www.hoffmann-und-campe.de/auto...

[@bethannebruninga-socolar]

I Who Have Never Known Men sounds like exactly my cup of tea.

Oh, that's wonderful, I hope you will like it!

[@alldbooks9165]

Really solid explanation of I Who Have Never Known Men. ❤️🤓

I think you might like it...

[@myreadinglife8816]

Excellent review of To The Bright Edge of the World!
Sometimes it’s just not the right time for a book.

I'm still thinking of Bright Edge! So happy I read it. And I hope there will be a time for the Jefferson-memoir...

[@eyesonindie]

Wonderful wrap-up! Thanks so much for sharing these! I also found Lisa's channel when she first posted her newbie tag and loved it. Best channel name ever.

Thank you so much, Sarah! And Lisa is great, and yes, that channel name! 😀

[@elfieausten3709]

Thank you for yet another lively, energetic video! Your mention of the Nancy Fraser book brings back a lot of memories for me from the good old eighties and nineties - Kristeva, Derrida, Lacan... Fraser goes on the list! I will also check out this other booktuber you mentioned.

Aww, thank you! ❤️ And yes, I had the same experience, going down memory lane... The Nancy Fraser is a bit dry at times, but I thought it was worth it. Let me know what you think of it once you've read it!

[@julieg_quebec-julesselivre8641]

Hi Britta! I’m glad you mentioned Lisa! I stumbled on her channel last weekend and I immediately subscribed. 👍🏻

Lisa is fabulous! So happy she joined booktube.

[@HannahsBooks]

I started Constructing a Nervous System this week on audio from my public library--and decided I really needed to read the text. I especially want to read the Willa Cather essay in there.

I haven't given up on the book, I really hope the right time for it will come soon...

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

just added I Who Have Never Known Men to my TBR

Wonderful! I hope you will like it as much as I did.

[@hartereads]

I found a copy of Fortunes of Feminism at a great price. Thanks for the recommendation, as well as the link to Lisa's channel!

Oh, how wonderful that you're interested in the book!! ❤️ It's a bit dry ate times, but I learned a lot.

[@eiketske]

I really liked both The Snow Child and To the bright edge of the world. Historical, Alaska, count me in 😊

I will probably read The Snow Child also, now that I enjoyed Bright Edge so much! ❤️

[@KayAmpersand]

Nice wrap up, Britta - very different books this week.

Thank you, Kay! And yes, quite a different reading experience this week.

[@louisep1962]

I think of you every time I see one of those damn stickers!
Thanks for tip on the other Booktuber, always looking for more Canadian Booktubers.

Haha, sticker-haters unite! 😀. And Lisa's channel is great, enjoy!

[@Lily_Haferkamp]

Dear Britta, thanks for sharing your bookish experience, I really enjoy watching your videos. I have read the Snow Girl a few years ago but missed that Eowyn Ivey had written another book. I just finished Cover her Face, same edition as yours.I am looking forward to your review! Thanks!

Thank you very much, Lily, happy to hear that you enjoy my videos! ❤️ I love this edition of Cover Her Face, and I will report back, soon.

[@heyitslori]

Hi Britta! I’m so glad you liked I Who Have Never Known Men. That’s a book I think about a lot and plan to reread soon.

Hi Lori! Yes, I'm sure the book will stay with me as well, and I also plan to reread it.

[@spexi513]

I read I Who Have Never Known Men earlier this month and I continue to think about it occasionally

Yes, it's still on my mind as well. I think I might re-read it at some point.

[@susprime7018]

Less Than Angels by Barbara Pym is the longest short book that I have ever read, not for me.

Ah, pity! Did you try other books by her?

[@susprime7018]

@ Yes, Excellent Women, Jane & Prudence and A Glass of Blessings were all fine for me, this one, not much comic relief other than students Mark and Digby.