Happy 25 April everyone! Day of Freedom, of the Carnation Revolution, the end of a 50-year dictatorship and colonialism. I wish I was in Lisbon right now, walking down the Avenue, singing with the crowd.
Reading wise, for the last few days I’ve been totally emerged in Antonia Fraser’s The Six Wives of Henry VIII. I keep forgetting how much I enjoy well-written, chunky biographies of women in history (Juliet Barker’s The Brontës is another great one).
Recently finished listening to The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece by Jonathan Harr, also a non-fiction on another favorite topic: art history, restoring, forgery and detectiving. It was a quick listen and interesting enough, but more suited for a long magazine article.
Then immediately started listening to the last title in my Armchair Audies category – Little Big Man by Thomas Berger (apparently there’s a Dustin Hoffman film adaptation?). I wasn’t too excited because it’s 20 HOURS LONG and in a meh genre – western – but it’s also a satire and it’s turning out to be pretty funny. In a strange way it reminds me of Barbara Pym and Dorothy Whipple.
That’s it. What about you, reading anything interesting?
10 comments
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April 25, 2016 at 3:36 pm
Lisa
I have the Jonathan Harr book on the TBR stacks – a present from a friend. Do you think it was too stretched out in book form?
April 26, 2016 at 1:02 pm
Alex
It was a bit stretched out, but not too much. It’s more that it would benefit from a more journalistic approach, with quotes, images, faster pace, etc. Looking forward to your thoughts on it!
April 25, 2016 at 4:23 pm
Andre Reis
Say more like 50 yrs dictatorship;)
26-74
On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 2:41 PM, The Sleepless Reader wrote:
> Alex posted: “Happy 25 April everyone! Day of Freedom, of the Carnation > Revolution, the end of a 40-year dictatorship and colonialism. I wish I was > in Lisbon right now, walking down the Avenue, singing with the crowd. > Reading wise, for the last few days I’ve been tota” >
April 26, 2016 at 1:03 pm
Alex
Updated!
April 25, 2016 at 9:09 pm
Deborah
I discovered Neil Gaiman on audio at the library. “The Graveyard Book” and “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” are both narrated by the author and most enjoyable.
April 26, 2016 at 1:03 pm
Alex
I listened to The Graveyard Book narrated by him and he’s a natural!
April 25, 2016 at 11:22 pm
Lisbeth Ekelöf
I loved Antonia Frazer’s book about Marie Antoinette and I am sure this one is as good. I also loved the movie Little Big Man, it was a very popular movie when I was young! Harr’s book sounds interesting. I can imagine it is a world of itself.
I am reading a Swedish book, The Alchemists Daughter who has been raised to end the universe in the end of the 18th century! Another world of its own.
April 26, 2016 at 1:04 pm
Alex
Is the Swedish book translated? I’ve listened to one hour of Little Big Man and decided to drop it. Need to write a whole post about it!
April 26, 2016 at 2:54 am
Jenny @ Reading the End
I never read biographies! I’m awful about it actually — even when I have the best intentions, I give up halfway through. This Monday I’m finishing up a book about a missing Nigerian boy, and then I’ll be reading a few chapters of a long-anticipated YA novel, and then we’ll see what comes next. So many choices. So little time.
April 26, 2016 at 1:07 pm
Alex
So true 🙂 In particular I love biogs of authors: Austen, Dickens and the Brontes were particularly good one.