Hello readers!
I am finally back to my usual posting schedule or rather I am trying my best to get back, anyway. So, here’s another feeble attempt to remove some books from my TBR. I haven’t felt like reading much but I am never comfortable removing anything from my TBR as you are well aware, let’s how well I do this.
The Creator and the Rules
This was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story — she has a new blog though called Sunflowers and Wonder!
- Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf
- Order on ascending date added.
- Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
- Read the synopses of the books.
- Decide: keep it or should it go?
- Keep track of where you left off so you can pick up there next week!
Book #1
Euripides III: Hecuba / Andromache / The Trojan Women / Ion by Euripedes
1. Hecuba, translated and with an introduction by William Arrowsmith
2. Andromache, translated and with an introduction by John Frederick Nims
3. The Trojan Women, translated and with an introduction by Richmond Lattimore
4. Ion, translated and with an introduction by Ronald Frederick Willets
‘Clear accurate reflections of the Greek in well-polished mirrors of contemporary American language and taste. Not just language and taste: although they are far from being playbook ‘treatments, ‘ they are eminently actable’. . . . Kenneth Rexroth, The Nation
Verdict: Keep!
Yeah, this one isn’t going out, I have the book and I only have to read it. Yeah. That will definitely happen.
Book #2
The Works and Days / Theogony / The Shield of Herakles by Hesiod
Three epic poems by Hesiod, the ‘other’ great epic poet of ancient Greece (along with Homer, his near-contemporary).
Constituting some of the earliest known works of literature in European history, the poems of Hesiod describe the creation of the cosmos, the history of the gods, the life & concerns of a simple shepherd in rural Greece, and agricultural knowledge and techniques, and all, as scholar Robert Lamberton wrote, in a voice that is “idiosyncratic, ironic, self-conscious…appropriating proverbial wisdom…and transforming it into a discourse that is as much an account of poetry as it is an account of the world.” [Robert Lamberton, Hesiod, Yale Univ. Press]
Verdict: Keep!
I am suddenly in doubt about this whole meme because anything related to mythology, especially mythology that is dear to my heart will probably stay on the list regardless of whether I possess a physical copy or not. Oops?
Book #3
The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman
Rome, 1955. The artists gather for a picture at a party in an ancient villa. Bear Bavinsky, creator of vast canvases, larger than life, is at the centre of the picture. His wife, Natalie, edges out of the shot.
From the side of the room watches little Pinch – their son. At five years old he loves Bear almost as much as he fears him. After Bear abandons their family, Pinch will still worship him, striving to live up to the Bavinsky name; while Natalie, a ceramicist, cannot hope to be more than a forgotten muse. Trying to burn brightly in his father’s shadow, Pinch’s attempts flicker and die. Yet by the end of a career of twists and compromises, Pinch will enact an unexpected rebellion that will leave forever his mark upon the Bear Bavinsky legacy.
Verdict: Remove
It hurts me to say this but I might actually have to let of this dream. I might go back to this one and actually read it because it’s been sitting on my iBooks but yeah, it hasn’t happened yet, so will it actually ever happen? Who knows? Not me.
Book #4
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
You go through life thinking there’s so much you need…
Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother.
Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend, Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she’s tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit, and Marin will be forced to face everything that’s been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart.
Verdict: Remove
The same as above, I am not sure when I will read it but it also hurts to let it go.
Book #5
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
Hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking, Colm Tóibín’s sixth novel, Brooklyn, is set in Brooklyn and Ireland in the early 1950s, when one young woman crosses the ocean to make a new life for herself.
Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the years following World War Two. Though skilled at bookkeeping, she cannot find a job in the miserable Irish economy. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America–to live and work in a Brooklyn neighborhood “just like Ireland”–she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.
Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, a blond Italian from a big family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. He takes Eilis to Coney Island and Ebbets Field, and home to dinner in the two-room apartment he shares with his brothers and parents. He talks of having children who are Dodgers fans. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love with Tony, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future.
Verdict: Remove
I am definitely letting it go because I doubt I am gonna buy this one and read it. I guess this is one of those rare scenarios where I am actually content with just the film instead of the book.
Books Removed in this Post: 3/ 5
Total Books Removed: 13/ 394
bookwormmuse 