Somehow it’s apparently July? 2022 is rushing past as quickly as 2021 was SLOW. Reading continues apace, and I have sailed past my 100th book of the year – helped, as with last year, but the volume of audiobooks I’m getting through.
I shan’t be helping your reading piles, as here are some weekend miscellany suggestions that might increase the tbr…
1. ) The blog post – I’m going to cheat and give you two, as two particularly stand out this week. Jacqui’s list of boarding house novels is kryptonite to readers like me, and the comments section has lots of great suggestions too. And then Girl With Her Head in a Book wrote a really brilliantly insightful review of David Sedaris’s new collection, Happy-Go-Lucky. One of the best book reviews I’ve read in a while, so had to share.
2.) The link – a lot of readers love the artist Eric Ravilious, and even more so when his paintings appeared on Furrowed Middlebrow books. Enjoy this interesting new article about his life.
3.) The book – I was watching a book vlogger the other day and she mentioned Indelicacy by Amina Cain. She sold it as a spin on A Room of One’s Own, so naturally I was intrigued. Here’s the description, which does sound winning. Has anybody read the book? (And what a shame that design is ruined by the puff quote in the middle.)
In an undefined era and place, a cleaning woman at a museum of art aspires to do more than simply dust the paintings around her. She dreams of having the security and time to use her mind, and the liberty to be a writer.
She escapes her lot by marrying a rich man, but having gained a husband, a house, high society and a maid, she finds that her new life of privilege is no less constrained. Not only has she taken up different forms of time-consuming labour social and erotic but she is now, however passively, forcing other women to clean up after her. Perhaps a more drastic solution is necessary?
Reminiscent of a lost Victorian classic in miniature, Indelicacy is at once a ghost story without a ghost, a fable without a moral and an exploration of the barriers faced by women in both life and literature.
Thanks so much for linking to my boarding-house novels post, Simon. I feel honoured to have featured twice in your Weekend Miscellanies in the space of a few weeks. So very kind of you. The more recommendations of hotel/boarding-house novels the better IMO, so I’m grateful for any readers and suggestions you send my way!
Thanks too for the piece about Eric Ravilious. I’m hoping to see the new film about his life fairly soon, either in the cinema or on Curzon Home Cinema as it’s due to land there in a couple of weeks.
I loved Jacqui’s post on boarding house novels, too! I’m coming up to 100 so pleased with progress, esp as I’m hacking through the print TBR at a good pace.