Maylin

This was such an intense read, what with the bleak landscape but also Galla's own gulity actions - the accident by the road, the pitchfork in the hay, her sister's death? So much left unsaid or pushed away into the recesses of her mind. Not read anything like this. Powerful stuff.

Photo of the NYRB Classics edition of Free Day by Inès Cagnati, translated by Liesel Schillinger. The cover shows a black and white drawing of a haunted looking woman on a bicycle through a surreal landscape of ghosts and tunnels.

Whew - this was quite an intense read! Sad, tragic, defiant, despairing and at times, menacing, are the emotions of 14 yr old Galla as she reflects on the poverty and violence of her life while cycling 20 miles from school to home. A rivetting, compelling voice. #witmonth #NYRBWomen25

Will have to look out for the film - the book was so intense.

Looking forward to it - I really enjoyed The Long Form

Will now concentrate on #witmonth and then want to read Kate Briggs' This Little Art.

A copy of Fair: The Life-Art of Translation by Jen Calleja sits on a marble table with a coffee cup and pastry bag nearby. The cover is deep blue with the large black type of the title running vertically.

A very creative and original memoir/manifesto that could be applied to any of the creative arts. It certainly made me think about all the hundreds of decisions made my translators on every page. Grateful for their skill and creativity. Highly recommended.

A cropped patchwork jacket covered with colourful, intricate embroidered flowers.

The back of the jacket showing a peplum also covered with embroidered stitches.

Incredible patchwork jacket stitched all over with intricate flowers to hide the patches. In the Stitching in WWII exhibit at the Festival of Quilts. #FOQ25

Don't have time for the full reread ( read it about 20 years ago), but I've always wanted to try reading at least Swann's Way in French, ( very rusty) so may challenge myself to do this. Will take me as long as your schedule for the full novel!

I love my elegant Persephones and Fitzcarraldo's look is instantly recognizable as a great read. But the white covers do get damaged easily in a bookshop. And my collection of NYRB classics with its riot of colours is also beloved. The trick is to find a look. recognizable and original.

A pile of books on a mantel piece, all by women, all in translation. On top is a copy of Jen Calleja's Fair: The Life-Art of Translation. In the pile are books by Inès Cagnati, Maylis de Kerengal, Claudia Piñiero, Carla Mallandi, Satu Rämo, Claire Bagun, Hélène Bessette, Marie-Claire Blais and Tove Jansson.

Putting together a pile of books for potential reading during August - Women in Translation month. But to get me psyched up for the books, I'm going to first read Fair by @jencalleja.bsky.social ( not in translation), one of the essential people who makes WIT possible. #Witmonth

The joy is watching the cast. It's over the top but still worth seeing

You did predict Endling and Misinterpretation which I'm sure you're happy about. Both look intriguing, especially Endling which looks like a fab read.

Oh good, I have that to look forward to.

Well, I got three correct and have read one. Intriguing list - I look forward to reading more of it.

Have read the first two, the next two will go to top of tbr pile if nominatec and I have Helm and the McEwan on order. My predictions based mostly on books that have piqued my interest although I read far more backlist these days. Still Looking forward to the longlist. #bookerprize2025

Theft, Abdulrazak Gurnah
Call Me Ismaelle, Xiaolu Guo
Muckle Flugga, Michael Pedersen
The City Changes Everything, Eimear McBride
What We Can Know, Ian McEwan
The Benefactors, Wendy Erskine

A pile of books sits on the arm of a leather chair with the spines showing: The Book of Records by Madeleine Thien, The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey, Universality by Natasha Brown and Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser

Joining in the fun with my predictions for the Booker longlist announced later today:
Universality, Natasha Brown
Theory & Practice, Michelle de Kretser
The Möbius Book, Catherine Lacey
The Book of Records, Madeleine Thien
Helm, Sarah Hall
Flashlight, Susan Choi
Audition, Katie Kitamura

Just got a copy recently - looking forward to it

A copy of David Coventry's novel The Invisible Mile with a sand coloured cover with a tire track, sits on a cycling magazine showing Tadej Pogacar looking back at Jonas Vingegaard

I have also reached the mountain stage of this novel
set during the 1928 Tour de France when many of the peleton are also battling memories of the WWI battlefields. It really depicts the thrill and exhaustion of the race - they also had to fix their own punctures and ride during the night!

Yes, read it years ago but wanted to revisit it. Have you seen the Ozon film adaptation? Again been years since I saw it but enjoyed it at the time.

I'm two books behind - still got Angel and A House and Its Head to get through - yikes, where does the time go?

A copy of Crochet Squares by Maria Gullberg showing very graphic and colourful crochet squares, incorporating lots of circles and swirls and repeating patterns.

The endpapers of the book Crochet Squares by Maria Gullberg showing a blanket inspired by William Morris, made up of various crochet squares in varying shades of green, with repeating patterns of a graphic and botanical nature.

And also stumbled on this cool Swedish crochet squares book by Maria Gullberg. A crochet blanket inspired by William Morris - oh, yes please. 🧶

A brown tote bag hangs over the back of a chair with a black outline of a corner shop and the words Sam Read Bookseller Grasmere Established 1887. In front are three books purchased there - The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş, The Hollow Land by Jane Gardam, and Wild Geese by Nan Shepherd.

I'd be remiss in posting about Grasmere without a shoutout to @samreadbookseller.bsky.social which is one of my fave bookshops in the UK - crammed with goodies everywhere you look; I always find something interesting there. Didn't even know about this Gardam novel set in Cumbria.

It is - old stash. Some Rowan Valley Tweed

Two photos taken at Easedale Tarn in the Lake District - holding up part of a lace cardigan in tweedy grey, and a copy of All Before Me: A Search For Belonging in Wordsworth's Lake District by Esther Rutter. Green mountains and threatening grey skies loom behind.

A photo of a Dove Cottage, a white cottage with greenery on the sides and three interior photos - a needlepoint bag with a tree motif, the inside of Dorothy Wordsworth's bedroom, papered with reproduction newspapers, and the front room with a table with candles and a mended sock.

A day of two halves - reading and knitting up at Easedale Tarn before the rain started. Then I decamped to Dove Cottage for a cuppa in the café and a good mooch in the museum. I do love the Wordsworths' beautiful postal bag. And very much enjoying the memoir.

A knitted shawl on a hanger against a blank wall. The shawl has large stripes in seven different colours, then a thinner stripe sequence with a slip stitch pattern, followed by a few rows of garter stitch and ending with a tasselled fringe.

Finished a this shawl though it's too muggy to wear at the moment. This is The Weatherhouse from Susan Crawford's book Echoes, inspired by the novel by Nan Shepherd. Fun to knit. I think these colours would look good in the Cairngorms.
#knitsky 🧶

A hardcover pink copy of Nobody's Empire by Stuart Murdoch showing the side profiles of three people, against the yellow LP of Belle & Sebastian's Dear Catastrophe Waitress with its dominant photo of a young woman, eyes cast down.

Stuart Murdoch stands in the middle of two fans, one of them - me - holding up a copy of his novel Nobody's Empire.

Thrilled to attend Stuart Murdoch's recent interview (with songs) at Prescot's Shakespeare North. The novel was sweet, nostalgic, full of angst and café observations, alongside insights into living daily with chronic fatigue. Took a while to get into its rhythm but enjoyed it. Book 52/2025

I really enjoyed this, and yes, that shocking scene of abuse still haunts me. I too need to find/read the previous book.

Totally agree that The Master tops Brooklyn.

I really despair that this is needed. I feel 2025 may be the threshold year where I no longer read new books as there will always be doubt as to whether it was written, even partially, by AI. Not that I couldn't be happy with my huge pre-2025 library of unread books for the rest of my life.