Monday 18 May 2015

It's Monday!

Another week has gone by in a blur of family, work and life stuff. With a little reading and blogging time squeezed into the sides.

I'm loving my (re)readalong of Gone With the Wind with Corinne. The first discussion post was a lively, loving chat about Scarlett, slavery and Mitchell's intentions.

However Wharton Review month has been hijacked by the arrival of a new book.

I had planned on rereading The Age of Innocence, but this turned up instead....
Shedding the constraints that existed for women in turn-of-the-century America, Edith Wharton set out in the newly invented "motor-car" to explore the cities and countryside of France.
Originally published in 1908, A Motor-Flight Through France is considered by many to be the very best of Wharton’s outstanding travel writings. 
While Wharton’s novels are darkly funny and deliciously catty, and her short stories are populated by adulterers, murderers, and artists, A Motor-Flight Through France captures all of the riches and charm of France during the Belle Époque in gorgeous, romantic prose. Like many Americans, Wharton was utterly beguiled by France at the dawn of the twentieth century, and in this volume her brilliant sketches of "l’Hexagone" provide an enchanting and indelible portrait of the land during this era.
But Wharton’s travelogue is as much about the thrill of travel as it is about place. With the automobile in its infancy, Wharton was experiencing the countryside as few people ever had, liberated from the ugliness of train yards and the constraints of passage by rail. “The motor-car has restored the romance of travel,” she wrote, and readers of this wonderful book will be grateful to experience it through her eyes
Only two chapters in, but so far it is an utter delight.

Last week I attended a work function at Allen and Unwin. I came home with a lovely bag of goodies, including the ARC's photographed below.

I'm very excited about the new Kundera due out next month and I can't wait to dip into Charlotte Wood's October new release.

Mr Books has already snaffled Patrick DeWitt's Under Major Domo Minor and is loving it.

This week is the beginning of the Sydney Writer's Festival. I've booked into four events so far and I'm starting to get excited.

But for now it's time for my Monday Shout-out!

This is my weekly chance to share with you some of my favourite reviews:

For one of the most succinct reviews ever, check out Books are my Favourite and Best's review of The Paris Wife.

Nancy @ipsofactodotme has made me want to reread What I Talk About When I Talk About Running with this review.

Melinda @West Metro Mommy has also inspired me to try Roxanne Gay's Bad Feminist here.

This post is part of Sheila's It's Monday and Mailbox Monday.

11 comments:

  1. A good week for you, I'll have to look for more information about Charlottes new book.

    Have a great week,
    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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  2. All new to me but they look great!

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  3. Your new books look wonderful - I hope you enjoy them!

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  4. You're reading some interesting stuff this month Brona. How lovely to get a stack of new books- always a joy.

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  5. ENJOY your new books, and have a wonderful reading week.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Mailbox Monday

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  6. Anonymous19/5/15

    Have a great reading week.

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  7. Dearest Brona :) I'm so excited you're loving our Gone with the Wind Group read, & so very happy you're participating in the discussions. Can you do me a small favor though? You keep mentioning plot points from well beyond the schedule at the comment box at my place, & I'm not sure how to handle it. We have A LOT of new readers who are going to find the read less fun if they keep stumbling upon spoilers. If you're going to mention aspects of the novel beyond our place in the schedule, would you please clearly mark your comment SPOILER. We have a lot of rereaders, too, who'd love to read remarks on plot points beyond the schedule, so I definitely don't want to deter you, but I'd hate for conversation that covers plot beyond the schedule to ruin the fun for new readers. Please? :)

    I had Harry Potter ruined for me by remarks on plot that were never marked Spoiler and I'd hate for that to happen to people new to Gone with the Wind. All the very, very best! Brona! I love your enthusiasm!! & agree with your comment on Ashley today!! xx :)

    Love, Corinne. :)

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    Replies
    1. Sorry Corinne I wasn't even aware I was going it. I've only read up to chapter 12, but there must be memories from the movie plot creeping in unconsciously!
      Maybe I'll have to start all my comments with the spoiler alert just in case :-)

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    2. Oh, how funny! I thought you had read the whole novel already! LOL. Your comments sound so informed! I had guessed you were rereading! :D

      No worries at all, Brona! Thanks so much for understanding!! x

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  8. Interesting week! It's been years and years since I read Gone With The Wind, but it still remains a favorite.

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