August Reading

 I find grief really fascinating because it's so weird and so individual. So I read about it, listen about it, write about it - and almost all my published stories are on it.

This book is not the best on it, but I found it really interesting, especially my reaction to the story about the dog. I found that shocking and my emotional reaction was unexpectedly severe (compared to the loss of her husband). Some good practical things to consider in the fall out of loss too.

Worth reading if you are far enough into your grief, or if you are interested in that literary circle.

As an aside, this is one of my favourite songs of loss.

I came across this when trying to remember what the fairy story comic books were called (review here for Far Out Fairy Tales). It intrigued me after I got over my initial recoil at what I thought was an offensive slur. Anyway, it's a very interesting book of a family whose father came out in the 1980s. I learnt a bit about Canadian history (and that Margaret Atwood has been fighting the good fight since forever). She divides it into how it was for her as a kid, how it was for him, how it was for her mother and then how it is for them all now. It's an interesting insight into a complex life in a conservative society,

My bookclub is reading Goodbye to Berlin which is in part what the musical Cabaret is based on. The chapter on Sally Bowles is very familiar, including much talk of Prairie Oysters. The characters are strange and quirky and overall oblivious to the rising menace that the reader sees, beyond the talk of inflation and growing poverty. I really enjoyed it and it's worth a read. My favourite of this month, and I'll read the other book in the collection, Mr Norris Changes Train when I get the chance.

I read this so I could listen to the Stunners Bookclub podcast on it. I'd not read any Chopin and it's quite short. As a novel, it wasn't really for me, but I can see it was a very important book, and the fact that it's still relevant today means it must have been incredibly scandalous at the time - having  a wife and mother have her own desires and *gasp* being a sexual being. It raises a lot of interesting ideas, especially as it is almost all the women in the story encouraging her to stick in the role and duties of wife and mother that are drowning her. So while I wouldn't say it was a book I loved, I do think it's a book you should read, in that classic sense. (Even writing this, I think I like it more than when I was reading it).

This is a little book of poetry that plays with the themes and poetry of Shelley, Coleridge and other Romantic poets. It's a sci-fi influenced look at poetry, and thus makes it great for teachers wanting to make fun comparisons with the classic works. Ozymandias is one of my favourite poems (obviously appealing to the existentialist in me) and I couldn't help smiling when I read Forbidden City in this book. It's funny how some images or words are burnt into our memories, instantly recognisable even when the words and context are different.

I get a smile every time I walk past these little books lying all over the house at the moment. The fav booking part begins (as the money comes in).


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