Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s a roundup of your comments and photos from last week, including a novel on 90s culture, a study of mid-life crises, and books that help us practice acceptance and kindness.
Grace Barclay is reading The Once & Future King by TH White, and left this moving comment:
Why the story about King Arthur? As a survivor of all that life has thrown at me over the course of my 53½ years, I have finally decided to read one of the stories that has motivated me since the late 1960’s. Might for Right; not Might is Right. I live in South Africa, growing up in Apartheid. Was abused by a close family member. Have come to understand that life is never easy and we as human beings just cannot give up and let all the negatives take over. I practice in my daily life acceptance of other human beings, whatever their colour or religion or lack thereof. I do not give up, even in the face of overwhelming negativity from other people. I retreat strategically and then come back again, each and every day. This is what I am learning from The Once and Future King.
Luisa Ene “went hiking this weekend, and took this book with me. Alberto Manguel is magic” – here, she offered pictorial proof:
booksnourish_caroleann praised Stoner, by John Williams:
This is a beautifully written study of a man’s life, and a contrast between a hopeful inner life but an outer life that never realizes his full potential nor dreams. William Stoner finds himself in mid-life admitting to himself: “He was forty-two years old, and he could see nothing before him he wished to enjoy and little behind him that he cared to remember.” A tragic thought. He does have times of happiness, and it is interesting that the author thinks William Stoner had a good life. He did his job, in a field he enjoyed, knew passion, experienced friendship. But, to me, this is a very sad book, and yet a rich reading experience. contributed by
fingerlakeswanderer loved the “disturbing – but utterly fantastic – Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman:
The book is about two teenaged girls in 1991 who live in a working class area of Pennsylvania. They are both alienated from a culture that expects girls to behave in certain ways, and the book charts how their longing for independence and unique identities goes awry. Kurt Cobain, of Nirvana, plays a huge role in it, as he is the music “crush” of one of the girls.
Interesting links about books and reading
- What It’s Like To Write About Your Best Friend’s Death: “The first thing I ever wrote about my best friend was her eulogy. It had to be beautiful, obviously. I wasn’t just the best friend, I was the writer — beautiful was bare minimum.” Robin Wasserman for Buzzfeed.
- The Courage of Being Queer: “The LGBT community will turn grief into resolve after the Orlando massacre,” by Alexander Chee for The New Republic.
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‘The Girls’ Author Recalls Driving Past Manson’s ‘House’ as a Child: the author of book-of-the-moment The Girls writes for the New York Times.
- Sally Rooney and Joanna Walsh in Conversation: on transgressive writing and the ‘flow-state’. In Granta.
- Famous Novels Retitled like Episodes of Friends: because we need silliness. In the New Yorker’s Daily Shouts.
If you would like to share a photo of the book you are reading, or film your own book review, please do. Click the blue button on this page to share your video or image. I’ll include some of your posts in next week’s blog.
If you’re on Instagram and a book lover, chances are you’re already sharing beautiful pictures of books you are reading, “shelfies” or all kinds of still lifes with books as protagonists. Now, you can share your reads with us on the mobile photography platform – simply tag your pictures there with #GuardianBooks, and we’ll include a selection here. Happy reading!
