I Should Have Read That Book

Originally created by Beth @Books Nest, I Should Have Read That Book is easy to play and a perfect way to while away a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Rules:

Link to the creator’s blog (booksnest.co.uk) in your post
Answer the questions below
Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post
ENJOY THE TAG!

The Questions:

• A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read:
• The Parisian | Isabella Hammad
• A dear friend has been telling me to read this book for about a year now.
• It sounds exactly like something I would love.
• The only problem is, it's a brick of a book (576 pages).
• One day, Libby, one day!

• A masterful debut novel by Plimpton Prize winner Isabella Hammad, The Parisian illuminates a pivotal period of Palestinian history through the journey and romances of one young man, from his studies in France during World War I to his return to Palestine at the dawn of its battle for independence.Midhat Kamal is the son of a wealthy textile merchant from Nablus, a town in Ottoman Palestine. A dreamer, a romantic, an aesthete, in 1914 he leaves to study medicine in France, and falls in love. 

• When Midhat returns to Nablus to find it under British rule, and the entire region erupting with nationalist fervor, he must find a way to cope with his conflicting loyalties and the expectations of his community. The story of Midhat’s life develops alongside the idea of a nation, as he and those close to him confront what it means to strive for independence in a world that seems on the verge of falling apart. 

• Against a landscape of political change that continues to define the Middle East, The Parisian explores questions of power and identity, enduring love, and the uncanny ability of the past to disrupt the present. Lush and immersive, and devastating in its power, The Parisian is an elegant, richly-imagined debut from a dazzling new voice in fiction. 




• A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up:
• The Devil's Pool | George Sand
• I read my first Sand (Mauprat) twelve years ago with a great deal of delight and pleasure.
• It hasn't been easy to find print copies of her other work, but this one has been with me for over a decade now, and still remains unread.



• A book in a series you’ve started, but haven’t gotten round to finishing yet:
• The Grand Days trilogy | Frank Moorhouse
• Grand Days and Dark Palace were two of the books I regretted parting with during the big book cull of 2007.
• I first read them in my late twenties and adored them and Edith and everything about her.
• I reread GD in 2006 and found that somehow Edith and I had gone our separate ways.
• But then in 2011, Moorhouse finally published the final book in the trilogy and I knew straight away that I wasn't done with Edith after all.
• All three books are now waiting for me to reread (the first two), so I can finish the final book.



• A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read:
• The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov
• I even have two copies of this book! 
• Although it's my 2017 Vintage Russian cover with deckled edges that will stay with me.



• A popular book that it seems everyone but you has read:
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman
• Also fits the first question.
• Libby has been trying to get me to read this one for over a year.
• Please don't tell her, that I just can't.
• I've tried to read it a few times, but I cannot get past the first page.
• I'm bored by the writing and Eleanor straight up.
• I have no desire to go any further.
• And I'm completely fine about that!



• A book that inspired a film/TV adaptation that you really love, but you just haven’t read it yet:
• Game of Thrones | G R R Martin
• I may never read these behemoths.
• Mr Books has. And now, he's waiting, waiting, waiting for Martin to finish writing the final books.
• He assures me that there is way more back story in the books, but I am not going to commit to reading this series until Martin has actually finished writing them ALL!



• A book you see all over Instagram but haven’t picked up yet:
• American Dirt | Jeanine Cummins
• Nothing like (bad) publicity to boost sales and curiosity.
• A brief run down of the controversy can be found here.
• I was never going to read this book, too violent for my tastes, but it's fascinating to watch the book world eat one of it's own.



• I first spotted this Book Tag at Theresa Smith Writes.
• If you'd like to join in too, consider yourself tagged.

The Translated Literature Tag

Created by Diana @Writings on Papyrus (a now defunct blog), this book tag is fabulous for anyone who loves to read books in translation.

All the wonderful links on Diana's blog have now, sadly, been lost. But hopefully we can start a new chain of favourite translated books for us to get excited about. Feel free to leave a link in the comments if you'd like to join in.

I. A translated novel you would recommend to everyone:

• The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree | Shokoofeh Azar. Not only does this book have one of the most colourful, enticing book covers ever, it contains a story that draws you into it's dreamy, magical world of war, love and the search for peace.

• Bonus Recommendation: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Patrick Suskind. A slightly shocking, even subversive romp through Napoleonic Paris with a man who has a heightened sense of smell. This book will leave you bemused and confused, in a good way.

II. A recently read 'old' translated novel you enjoyed:

• Les Miserables | Victor Hugo. A successful year-long slow read was the ideal way to tackle this chunkster. With 365 chapters, it's made for this kind of readalong - I highly recommend this approach. You'll learn everything you ever needed to know about Waterloo, the sewers of Paris, and the barricades. And love. In all it's guises.

III. A translated novel you could not get into:

• Don Quixote | Cervantes. Sorry to all the fans of this epic Spanish novel, but I got tired, so very, very tired of the joke that never ended, the cruel humour that seemed so pointless and the story line that never went anywhere and kept repeating. It wore me out completely. The only enjoyment came from researching certain sections and reading along with others (I'm looking at you Silvia & Nick in particular) who were devoted fans. For them, I kept on trying, as long as I could.

IV. Your most anticipated translated novel release:

• The Memory Police | Yōko Ogawa

• The Memory Police is a 1994 novel by Yōko Ogawa. 
• Published in English by Pantheon Books and Harvill Secker August 2019
• Translated by Stephen Snyder. 
• It is a science fiction novel set in a future of mass surveillance reminiscent of 1984, and written in a strange and dreamlike style influenced by Kafka.

On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses—until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

When a young woman who is struggling to maintain her career as a novelist discovers that her editor is in danger from the Memory Police, she concocts a plan to hide him beneath her floorboards. As fear and loss close in around them, they cling to her writing as the last way of preserving the past.

V. A foreign-language author you would love to read more of:

• Banana Yoshimoto | Kitchen & Moonlight Shadow were enchanting short pieces that have me very curious about what else she can do.

VI. A translated novel which you consider to be better than the film:

• My choice works the other way round - a film of a translated book which was far superior to the book goes to Out of Africa | Karen Blixen.

VII. A translated 'philosophical' fiction book you recommend:

• The Travelling Cat Chronicles | Hiro Arikawa

VIII. A translated fiction book that has been on your TBR for far too long:

• The Master and Margarita | Mikhail Bulgakov. I can't even remember where or when I picked this book up now. But it's Russian, there's a cat and the title contains my favourite cocktail. I really should have embraced this years ago.

IX. A popular translated fiction book you have not yet read, but want to very soon:

• Norwegian Wood | Murakami. I'm overdue for another Murakami experience & I've decided this one should be next.

X. A translated fiction book (or author) you have heard a lot about and would like to find more about or read:

• Patrick Modiano
• Svetlana Alexievich

Any thoughts on which one's I should prioritise?

It's So Classic Book Tag

I currently have 3 chapters left in The Count of Monte Cristo Readalong I've been participating in since May and my very own 7-month long Moby-Dick Readalong is just one month young, so when I spotted this meme popping up on various friendly blogs this week, I knew it would be one that I would join in sooner rather than later.

What is one classic that hasn’t been made into a movie yet, but really needs to?
Zola's complete Rougon-Macquart series!

What an incredible feat of cinematography, casting and costuming it would be. With 20 books that could easily be given 3-4 hrs each, this series could run across several seasons. The special effects, historical accuracy and location shoots could see it rival Game of Thrones for drama, conflict and nasty families.

What draws you to classics?
I love historical fiction, so even though many of the books we now consider classics were written contemporaneously by their authors, they read as historical fiction to those of us who come after. 

I love learning about times gone by. How people lived and the times they lived through. I like to be reminded that though our clothes, technology and pop culture icons might change, certain universal ideals and behaviours do not. 

History does repeat itself, all the time. We simply refuse to learn the lessons of bygone times.

What is an underrated classic?
Most Australian classics fit this category. They're barely known and appreciated in Australia, let alone anywhere else. 

The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson is a case in point - how is this extraordinary classic not a part of every Australian school reading list (except for the vast size of it perhaps, but when has stupendous size ever put off a serious reader of classics?)

What is one classic that you didn’t expect to love, but ended up loving anyway?
Moby-Dick. Although I have yet to finish it, so it may be too early to call!

John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids was also a surprise hit when I first read it in my twenties. It turned me onto the whole wide, wonderful world of early sci-fi.

What is your most favourite and least favourite classic?
Favourites are easy -  Persuasion, Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility.

Least favourites - Madame Bovary, Dubliners and Vile Bodies.

Who are your favourite characters from a classic?
Atticus Finch (good guy), Anne Eliot (shy girl gets her man), Bilbo Baggins (braver than he thought he could ever be), and Dorothea Brooke (stays true to herself & finds happiness in love eventually).

What’s a popular classic that you felt wasn’t actually that great?
Wuthering Heights (too much teenage angst for me), Don Quixote (repetitive and quite cruel) and anything written by Hemingway (pompous ass).

Who is your favourite classic author?
I have two - Jane Austen and Emile Zola.

In your opinion, what makes a classic a classic?

Time is the key factor for me. A contemporary story may attract a lot of attention and buzz during the time that the author is still alive, and for that first generation of readers who loved the book, but it then has to travel across time to speak to new generations of readers for it to be a true classic. I'm happy to call books written in the past 25-50 years modern day classics - these books have the potential to speak to multiple generations across time, but have yet to prove themselves. 

Books that have universal, timeless themes is the other factor. It's not always possible to know these at the time. They only reveal themselves with the passing of the years.

Moby-Dick was a flop during Melville's lifetime. It wasn't 'discovered' and recognised as a classic  until the 1920's, when he became considered a writer ahead of his times.

Many Australian women writers from the 19th and 20th century also fit this bill. Ignored and marginalised by the patriarchal literary scene of their time, their work has only been rediscovered in more recent times thanks to the wonderful work of Text Classics.

My bonus question: What movie about a classic book was better than the book?

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen has been one of my major classic book disappointments. It was disjointed and emotionless. However the movie was heart-breakingly beautiful and memorable.

If you'd like to join in, consider yourself tagged.

Visit Rebellious Writers for all the details and pop by to see what Hamlette, Joseph, Silvia and Ruth also have to say about these important bookish matters!

Gothic Book Tag

The Classics Club Gothic Book Tag coincides with the clubs #CCdare challenge for October to read a classic book that scares you, thrills you or challenges you somehow. I've been reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for the very first time, in tandem with a bio by Charlotte Gordon about Shelley and her mother Mary Wollstonecraft, Romantic Outlaws.

The Gothic Book Tag is a fun way to face your bookish fears although it feels odd to be contemplating Halloween-style posts about dark nights, harvests and the dead (walking or not) as we in the Southern Hemisphere embrace new life, spring blossoms and longer days. Not that you would know it right now. After the driest winter in a long time, we have now had nearly three weeks of non-stop rain. Daylight savings started a week ago, not that you would know it, as we wake up to yet another grey, damp day that eventually peters out into more rain and gloomy evenings.

Anzac Bridge, Sydney (I was a passenger, not driving!)

Perhaps this is the perfect time, after all, for me to tackle this gothic tag!

It would be very easy to fill this book tag with Stephen King books and characters, but I'm not sure he qualifies for all my rules about what is a classic and I want to challenge myself to look deeper and further back for some of my personal scare factors.

1. Which classic book has scared you the most?

Lord of the Rings - so many creepy creatures, frightening moments and heart-in-the-mouth scenes. By the end of the three books, I'm exhausted!

2. Scariest moment in a book?

The possibility of the rats eating Winston's face in 1984 - my worst fear as well as Winston's.

3. Classic villain that you love to hate?

Randall Flagg, the Walking Dude in Stephen King's The Stand (and other books).
Charming and enticing to start with, but evil personified once you get to know him.
A complete bad ass, with no rules, no compunction and no empathy.

4. Creepiest setting in a book?

More frightening than creepy, but the futuristic world of The Handmaid's Tale freaks me out.

5. Best scary cover ever?

This is a kids book? Really!
Deliciously creepy from start to finish.
But that cover!

6. Book you’re too scared to read?

Ulysses - very thick, very difficult, scared I won't understand it.

7. Spookiest creature in a book?

Gollum, or maybe the Sandworms in Dune or perhaps John Wyndham's Chocky?

8. Classic book that haunts you to this day?

The fate of Tess of the D'Urbervilles angers me and upsets me to this day.

9. Favourite cliffhanger or unexpected twist?

Atonement by Ian McEwan

10. Classic book you really, really disliked?

Lord of the Flies

11. Character death that disturbed/upset you the most?

Beth's death in Little Women and Matthew's in Anne of Green Gables are up there.

But the one that really upsets every single time is Judy's death in Seven Little Australians.

12. List your top 5 Gothic/scary/horror classic reads.

Jane Eyre

My Cousin Rachel
The Day of the Triffids
The Bloody Chamber
Picnic at Hanging Rock

13. Share your scariest/creepiest quote, poem or meme.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

This is not meant to be a disturbing poem, I believe, but ever since the episode of Roswell where Alex dies and leaves behind a cryptic message that references the final lines in this poem, I have imbued it was a sinister meaning. It gives me goosebump shivers every single time.

#CCgothicbooktag

#JustSaying

There are times in life when everything feels like it's getting away from you. 

I'm in the middle of one of those times right now. 

(At least, I hope it's the middle and not just the start of something bigger!)

My head space is full of routine stuff, life stuff, work stuff, planning stuff, organising stuff and I'm finding it hard to find time for creative stuff, reflection and personal growth.

Every time I think about my blog, I experience stress. 

Reviews are piling up - I'm simply not in the right space to write them. 

But I want to write something. 

I need to write.

Could my inner creative side be in revolt? 

No more reviews; it's time to write something else? 

Except a huge part of me wants (CRAVES) this place that helps me keep track of my reading life. 

I like having this 8 year old record of my book journey. 

I'm reading much more mindfully than I ever have before and I'm loving it. 

But I'm making more time for reading, than I am for reviewing. 

What I need is to find a way to make this easier for myself.

I need to let go some of the stuff cluttering up my head space.

And I want to write something, anything; even if it's just another list!

Books Read But Not (Yet) Reviewed

Narrow Road to the Interior by Matsuo Basho

My Purple Scented Novel by Ian McEwan

The Annotated Persuasion by Jane Austen & David M, Shapard

Just Flesh and Blood by Jane Caro

Books I'm Halfway Through

The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham (by next book club book)

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo x3  (readalong)

Last Stories by William Trevor

The Best Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant

Love and Freindship and Other Youthful Writings by Jane Austen

The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne

Books I've Just Started

The Compete Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch (readalong)

Stalled

Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John  Matteson

Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor

12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson (perhaps I should uninstall this one!)

Basho The Complete Haiku

Mirror Sydney by Vanessa Berry

Bookish Things I'm Looking Forward To

Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P XIII)

Seasonally speaking, this particular event always feels a little wrong to me. 

In Sydney, spring is desperately trying to make itself known.
The days are lengthening, I'm being woken by bird song every morning and the bulbs & blossoms are suddenly popping open.
There's a sense of waking up, emerging, and a sense of all things fresh and new.

Reading gloomy, dark, spooky stories feels like a good wintry thing to do; not a good sunny days, bursting with the joy of new life thing.

I'm sure we will have another bout of cold weather before true spring arrives; another grey, gloomy weekend when reading a gothic thriller will be just what the doctor ordered AND if that happens, then I will gladly, willing tackle Peril the Third and read one book for this 2 month challenge. 

#Victober

I discovered this on Goodreads and thought it might be a nice way to read another book from my CC List #2. The Victorian era goes from 1837-1901. I have 3 possibilities. 

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)     (this could also help me with R.I.P. XIII)

Little Doritt by Charles Dickens (1855 - 57)

Basil by Wilkie Collins (1852)

The 1944 Club

I've never been organised enough to join in this challenge before, but I have 2 books on my TBR pile first published in 1944.

The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell

The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves

FrankenFest

A chance to read Frankenstein in October (another R.I.P. XIII possibility)?

A copy has just made it's way onto my TBR pile, so maybe....

Tags

I was recently tagged on Twitter to name 3 books that made me stay up reading long into the night (thanks Kate).

Last night I read until 1:30am because I finally got to the exciting part in The Secrets She Keeps.

Last week it was The Annotated Persuasion.

But then I would have to think long and hard to remember a third....

On Instagram Fanda challenged me with this list:

Favourite Fantasy:
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy

Favourite Sci-fi:
anything by John Wyndham

Favourite Contemporary:
Liane Moriarty

Favourite Romance:
The Ladies of Missalonghi

Favourite book from 10 years ago:
is this favourite book that I READ in 2008 or favourite book first PUBLISHED in 2008?
2008 is pre-blogging days and I simply cannot remember everything I read back then.
I remember rereading Jane Eyre for my book club and I started Max Gallo's Napoleon series.
I also read Geraldine Brooks People of the Book (I went to a local book event and got a signed copy).
Published in 2008 but read and loved later, were The Hunger Games and Olive Kitteridge.

Favourite book from the last 100 days:
Too hard to pick just one, so here's five favourites.
Taboo
Lenny's Book of Everything
Northbridge Rectory
Sugar Money
Pachinko

The thought of hunting down these books to take a pic of them was too much to bear!

Feel free to consider yourself tagged.

Phew!
That's not in my brain any more.

Maybe there will be some space for creativity, reflection and personal growth today?

#justsaying

I Spy Book Challenge

As many of you already know, I have a TBR problem. Throughout the year, I have been looking for various ways to highlight my plight and focus on these books in the hope of reducing these staggering numbers. Every meme, every book tag that makes me go through my piles searching for books that fit the criteria is another reminder of 1. just how how many unread books I have and 2. a reminder of exactly which books I have gathering dust around the house.

I first spotted this tag at Joseph’s The Once Lost Wanderer, then Fanda @Classic Lit picked it up. It seemed like something I'd enjoy playing along with too.

The I Spy Book Challenge is pretty simple. Find a book on your TBR pile that contains either imagery or words that portray each subject. A separate book for all 20 please.


All my books are about the word.

1. Food

2. Transportation

3. Weapon

I had to stretch the friendship on this one a little.

I don't read a lot of crime so the best weapon I could find was an ancient curse!

4. Animal

5. Number

6. Something you read

7. Body of water

8. Product of fire

9. Royalty

10. Architecture

11. Item of clothing

12. Family member

13. Time of Day

14. Music

15. Paranormal Being

16. Occupation

17. Season

18. Colour

19. Celestial Body

20. Something that grows

One day I promise to read you all!

Have you read any of these books?
Which one should a read next?
If you've made it all the way to the end of this post, consider yourself tagged. Proceed at your leisure.

Book Tag

There's a lovely Book Tag going around blogger land at the moment (see O @On Bookes and Jean @Howling Frog Books).

It's a rainy, grey winter's day in Sydney today. The family has just settled down to an afternoon of disaster movies and just between you and me, I'm in a bit of a mood!

Blame it on the dreary weather, June blues or hormones but everything looks a bit blah right now. Reading - blah; blogging - blah, blah; being motivated to do anything at all - blah, blah, blah!

I'm hoping a Book Tag will take my mind off the blah, however thanks to my mood I'm not going to do the whole 19 questions (why 19? What happened to an even 20?) that are on the current tag. Ten is all I've got in me right now.

1. What book has been on your shelf the longest?

I still have my childhood Dr Seuss books - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and Ten Apples Up on Top. 

I taught myself to read with these books.

2. What is your current read, last read and the book you plan to read next?

I have several current reads - Beyond the Rock, The Two Towers, First Love just to name a few.

My last read (which I finished on Thursday) was Time Without Clocks by Joan Lindsay.

My next book will depend on my mood...the way I'm feeling now, it will probably be a comfort read.

3. What book do you tell yourself you'll read, but probably wont?

Ulysses by James Joyce.

4. What book are you saving for retirement?

Ulysses by James Joyce!

5. Which book character would you switch places with?

Right now, today, I wish I was Piglet strolling through the Hundred Acre Woods with my pal Pooh.

6. What book reminds you a specific place/time/person?

I have so many of these, so I will narrow it down to three.

Forever Amber will always remind me of my first time in the UK. 

I was nannying and travelling and I loved reading chunksters. 

Kathleen Winsor's Restoration pot-boiler was the perfect read as I wandered around the historic cobblestone streets of London.

Midnight's Children by Salmon Rushdie reminds me of Western Australia.

In 1999 I had a driving tour around the southwestern areas of the state.

Midnight's Children kept me company the whole way.

On my second trip to the UK, I picked up a second hand copy of Daphne Du Maurier's Mary Anne in a B&B.

It was my first Du Maurier (but not my last). 

It was a messy mix of fiction and biography, but it was also very, very English.

7. Which book has been with you most places?

Herodotus' The Histories has been with the most places by virtue of the fact that it was with me for my backpacking trip around Europe in 1991 - England, France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

8. What book outside your comfort zone did you end up loving?

Lord of the Rings and Stephen King's It.

Horror and fantasy were not my usual fare, until a young Mr Books convinced me to try both 30 years ago.

9. Which book have you reread the most?

That's easy - Pride and Prejudice - since 2012 though, I've only had one more reread.

10. Three bookish confessions?

I underline and highlight sections of my books.

I read several books at once.

I often choose (or not choose) books by their covers.

There you go - I feel better already.

I just needed to watch the end of the world whilst blogging!

If you'd like to join in, here are the questions for an easy copy & paste.

1. What book has been on your shelf the longest?
2. What is your current read, last read and the book you plan to read next?
3. What book do you tell yourself you'll read, but probably wont?
4. What book are you saving for retirement?
5. Which book character would you switch places with?
6. What book reminds you a specific place/time/person?
7. Which book has been with you most places?
8. What book outside your comfort zone did you end up loving?
9. Which book have you reread the most?
10. Three bookish confessions?

Feel free to leave your book tag post in a hyperlink below by using the code <a href="URL">word</a>