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French Lessons
French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Fork, and Corkscrew by Peter Mayle Published: 2001 Length: 240 pages I read a couple of Peter Mayle’s books prior to this one, and I really enjoyed them. A life in the south of France as a writer, drinking pastis and eating three-hour lunches, is a life I’d gladly live. He’s a British ex-pat who’s been living in France since the late 80’s, so he’s in the interesting position of being integrated into the culture enough to really understand the day-to-day life, while also having a different enough background that he can pick out what’s interesting to foreigners. He’s also an incredible descriptive writer, and…
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In the Ravine and Other Short Stories
In the Ravine and Other Short Stories by Anton Chekhov Published: 1983 – 1900 (In the Ravine was 1900) Translated by: Constance Garnett (from Russian) Narrated by: Kenneth Branagh Length: 3:35 This is a collection of Chekhov’s short stories, spanning from 1983 with The Trousseau to 1900 with the title story, In the Ravine. I hadn’t read anything by Chekhov before, and I’m usually not a huge short story fan, but a small collection narrated by Kenneth Branagh seemed like a great place to start. This collected the following stories: Oh! The Public The Chorus Girl The Trousseau A Story Without a Title Children Misery Fat and Thin The Beggar…
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Lolita
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Published: 1955 Narrated by: Jeremy Irons Length: 11:32 (336 pages) This is regularly touted as one of the most beautifully written books of the 20th century, so it’s always been on my to-read list, but it wasn’t until recently that I actually read the synopsis and knew what I was getting myself into. The novel follows a literature professor in his late 30’s, Humbert Humbert (an alias), as he becomes obsessed with, and pursues, 12-year-old Lolita. Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap,…
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A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32)
A Hat Full of Sky (Discworld, #32) by Terry Pratchett Published: 2004 Series: Discworld #32 Length: 352 pages When Terry Pratchett passed away, I dropped what I was reading and picked up one of his novels. I still have a lot to get through, but the last I read was The Wee Free Men, so I decided to carry on with the Tiffany Aching books. In this second novel, Tiffany leaves her hometown for the first time to apprentice under a woman named Miss Level, a witch that has two bodies that share one mind. Her apprenticeship isn’t what she imagined, however, as it seems to mainly entail taking care…
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2015 Annual Book Sale Haul
Today was the annual Times Colonist book sale, which I mentioned earlier. It’s a great event that goes to charity, so not only can you buy what you want without guilt, but you can even feel good about it. I’m always surprised at how large an event this is. The doors open at 9:00am and someone commented on their Facebook page that the first people started showing up around midnight. Another commented that at 5:30am there were already 50 people in line. That’s dedication! It confuses me a little why people would do this, as there are more books than they can actually display and the stock is constantly being…
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April in Review
Books Acquired: None. Books Read: In the Ravine and Other Short Stories by Anton Chekhov French Lessons by Peter Mayle What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund This month started off strong, but during the last couple of weeks I barely read ten pages a night, and I haven’t been listening to my audiobooks as much either. Those lulls in reading happen though, and I can start to feel a change in the last few days already. No books purchased this month either, but that will all change tomorrow when my favourite used book sale takes place. Previous years have proven quite fruitful, so I’m sure I’ll have…