Who’s there? Geats!
Okay. I should have made this entry in Old English, but despite my advanced age, my Old English is exceedingly rusty. By the way, that”s the yeah-ats.
Last month I read an historical novel dealing with the early years of England after the Norman Conquest (Stephan, Maud, Henry … remember?). When I was younger I took experimental light treatment for my skin and, due to the deterioration of the long light bulbs, I would have to stand naked in a box for as long as ninety minutes with my eyes closed.
Try it: turn up the heat; take off your cloths; stand still with your eyes shut tightly for 30, 60, 90 minutes.
This is when you really have to rely on your mind. A few mental tricks I used were to recreate Shakespeare’s Macbeth (my graduate thesis), or to build a wooden workbench in my garage, or to recite the kings and queens of England. In the early 1970s I could do all those things … but not now. It was those pesky kings and queens that have recently stuck in my mind and rather than read a stuffy old history book, I have turned to historical fiction.
Will I get them all straight: Edwards and Henrys and Georges? We’ll see. It’s not on the month’s list but my next historical read is Time and Chance. Still, don’t forget all the other titles I suggested you look into.
08-01-22 – The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre — Stephen D. Youngkin
08-02-22 – You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty — Akwaeke Emezi
08-03-22 – Paris Is a Party, Paris Is a Ghost — David Hoon Kim
08-04-22 – Disorientation — Elaine Hsieh Chou
08-05-22 – Beowulf For Cretins: A Love Story — Ann McMan
08-06-22 – Companion Piece — Ali Smith
08-07-22 – The Long Corner — Alexander Maksik
08-08-22 – Happy-Go-Lucky — David Sedaris
08-09-22 – A Grain of Truth — Zygmunt Miloszewski
08-10-22 – Mean Baby — Selma Blair
08-11-22 – More Than I Love My Life — David Grossman
08-12-22 – Cult Classic — Sloane Crosley
08-13-22 – Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker’s Life — James Curtis
08-14-22 – Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century — Kim Fu
08-15-22 – Portrait of an Unknown Lady — Sigrid Nunez
08-16-22 – 2 A.M. In Little America — Ken Kalfus
08-17-22 – Woman Running in the Mountains — Yuko Tsushuma
08-18-22 – The Authoritarian Personality — Theodor W. Adorno
08-19-22 – Grand Hotel Europa — Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
08-20-22 – Interfictions — Delia Sherman
08-21-22 – The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen — Hendrik Groen
08-22-22 – Carnality — Lina Wolff
08-23-22 – The Twilight World — Werner Herzog
08-24-22 – The Making of Americans — Gertrude Stein
08-25-22 – Either/Or — Elif Batuman
08-26-22 – Night of the Living Rez — Morgan Talty
08-27-22 – L.A. Weather — María Amparo Escandón
08-28-22 – The Earthspinner — Anuradha Roy
08-29-22 – Where the Red Fern Grows — Wilson Rawls
08-30-22 – Flight and Metamorphosis — Nelly Sachs
08-31-22 – The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer — Doron Swade
A Celebration of Reading 