The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by
Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It’s a chance to share news.
A post to recap the past week on your blog,
showcase books and things we have received.
Share news about what is coming up
on your blog for the week ahead.
See rules here: Sunday Post Meme
***
This post also counts for
#SundayPost #SundaySalon
#MailboxMonday #itsmonday #IMWAYR
#WWWWednesday #WWWWednesdays
Click on the logos to join the memes
This past week was very important for my reading of the classics, as you can see with what I just posted:
- Tuesday: Top 10 Books With Geographical Terms in the Title
- Wednesday: The Classics Club: 2020-2025, 3rd list recap (137 titles)
- Thursday: The Classics Club: 2022-2027, my 4th list (150 titles)
- Friday: Friday Face-Off: Clocks
- Saturday: My list for The Classics Club Spin #31
Here are the 3 books I recently finished:
JUST READ/LISTENED TO 🎧
📚 Eventide, by Kent Haruf
Literary fiction
Published in 2004
I so enjoyed this book!
It was great meeting again the McPheron brothers, and Victoria. The brothers are two old farmers, living and working together on this isolated farm near the very small village of Holt, Colorado.
Victoria is a young woman they sheltered in the previous book (Plainsong), when she was in trouble. She now has a young child, and she is going back to school.
I really enjoyed the slow pace, the description of the landscape, of the daily chores on the farm. And obviously the study of the relationships between people in this city. The focus is really on relationships, within different families, in different social milieus.
And Haruf is so good at dialogs, especially at evoking the accent and speech characteristics of these two old guys. I read the book, I didn’t listen to the audiobook, but still, their voice was so alive to me through Haruf’s writing!
He wrote a 3rd book in this trilogy (Benediction), but it’s not about the same characters. I’m disappointed, as Raymond is kind of turning a new page in his life (you are never too old for that), and I wanted to know more about that. I also wanted more on the young boy DJ. But alas the author has passed away, so no more adventures coming on these characters I feel like I met in real life.
🎧 The Witch in the Wood (The Once and Future King #2),
🎧 The Ill-Made Knight (The Once and Future King #3), by T. H. White
Children’s Historical fiction
Published in 1939-1940
They count for The Classics Club
If Book 1 is clearly for a children’s audience, the series is growing with the child and now dealing with themes more related to coming of age and even YA themes.
As such, maybe I didn’t enjoy Book 2 as much. There’s a lot about learning to go to battle, and nastiness with the Orkney clan – this is still in Book 4 that I just started listening to yesterday night.
BUT I did enjoy a lot Book 3, which focuses on Lancelot, my I believe first ever literary crush – I was around 8 or 9!
It was really neat meeting him again. And now almost 50 years later, I can better understand why I loved him so much!
I love his eagerness to learn, to be loyal and faithful, and his struggle between his friendship with King Arthur and his love for Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. And in between, the call for following God’s summons – even if T.H. White first presents his going on the Grail Quest as a way of leaving Guinevere and escaping this inner struggle.
Maybe one day, I’ll read Chrétien de Troyes’s or Malory’s version, to see their views (I’ve read that T.H. White kind of follows Malory’s), to check also how the Grail Quest begins – here it’s presented as some spiritual occupation needed, after the kniggts no longer have real other fights to do. They are bored, and tend to go back to their old quarrels, whereas King Arthur was trying to create a better world away from the use of brute force for brute force sake.
CURRENTLY READING/LISTENING TO 
📚 Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa, by Haruki Murakami
Nonfiction, music
Published in 2016
If you are familiar with my blog, you know how much I enjoy Japanese literature, and especially Haruki Murakami.
Several years ago, I bought this book in a neat bookstore in “Three Pines, Quebec”, and am FINALLY reading it, as part of my 2022 TBR Pile Reading Challenge.
Murakami is a big fan of jazz music, as it shows in many of his novels, but he loves classics music as well, and knows a lot about it. So these are fascinating conversations!
“A deeply personal, intimate conversation about music and writing between the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author and his close friend, the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Haruki Murakami’s passion for music runs deep. Before turning his hand to writing, he ran a jazz club in Tokyo, and from The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood to Franz Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage, the aesthetic and emotional power of music permeates every one of his much-loved books. Now, in Absolutely on Music, Murakami fulfills a personal dream, sitting down with his friend, acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa, to talk, over a period of two years, about their shared interest. Transcribed from lengthy conversations about the nature of music and writing, here they discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from record collecting to pop-up orchestras, and much more. Ultimately this book gives readers an unprecedented glimpse into the minds of the two maestros. It is essential reading for book and music lovers everywhere.”
📚 Un Chien à ma table, by Claudie Hunzinger
Literary fiction/Autofiction?
Published on August 24, 2022
Ah, a book that was not on my TBR lists!
I enjoyed a lot Les grands cerfs by this author. I went to Netgalley.fr (dangerous move!) to check something, and saw that her latest book was available!
I’m about 25% done and am really enjoying all the nature descriptions as well. The narrator is getting old here, as the author.
I think it’s one of these books between fiction and autobiography that the French to write these days. I usually don’t like the autofiction genre, but it works with Hunzinger.
Here is my personal translation of the synopsis:
“One evening, a young dog with a broken chain, witness of the tough life she’s had with her owners, appears at the door of an old couple: Sophie, a novelist, who loves nature and walking in the forest, and her companion Grieg, living out of the world, sleeping by day and reading by night, and surviving through literature.
Where does this wounded dog come from? What has she been through? Is somebody tracking her?
Her sudden arrival will transform the old world and the old couple. It is an ode to life, showing us that another path is still possible.
Un Chien à ma table [A Dog at my Table] connects rebellious femininity and the devastation of the environment: if our disturbing time seems to be threatening our future and that of books, poets in times of distress can save what we have left of humanity.”
And I’m still reading two books with my French students:
Le Chant du monde [The Song of the World], by Jean Giono
Autour de la Lune [Round the Moon], by Jules Verne.
Check my previous Sunday Post to get more details on these.
🎧 The Candle in the Wind (The Once and Future King #4), by T. H. White
Children’s Historical fiction
Published in 1940
It counts for The Classics Club
The Candle in the Wind is the fourth book from the collection The Once and Future King by T. H. White. It deals with the last weeks of Arthur’s reign, his dealings with his son Mordred’s revolts, Guenever and Lancelot’s demise, and his perception of right and wrong.
I’m just 30 minutes into the book. I have the feeling it’s going to be tough, emotionally.
BOOK UP NEXT
📚 Murder in the Crooked House (Kiyoshi Mitarai #2), by Soji Shimada
Japanese mystery
Published in 1982
Translated by Louise Heal Kawai (2019)
This is the sequel to The Tokyo Zodiac Murders.
Now, it will have to be after Hunzinger’s book!!
“The Crooked House sits on a snowbound cliff at the remote northern tip of Japan. A curious place to build a house, but even more curious is the house itself – a maze of sloping floors and strange staircases, full of bloodcurdling masks and uncanny dolls. When a guest is found murdered in seemingly impossible circumstances, the police are called. But they are unable to solve the puzzle, and more bizarre deaths follow.
Enter Kiyoshi Mitarai, the renowned sleuth. Surely if anyone can crack these cryptic murders it is him. But you have all the clues too – can you solve the mystery of the murders in The Crooked House first?”
LAST BOOK ADDED TO MY GOODREADS TBR
The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett
Mystery
Published in 1934
Well, I had put The Glass Key by Hammett in my brand new 4th list of classics, and talked about it with one of French students, who knows his classics really well.
He encouraged me to switch The Glass Key with The Thin Man (NB: I also have The Maltese Falcon on the list!). So I followed his lead.
What do you think, is this a good move??
“Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett’s most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.”
📚 BOOK RECEIVED THIS PAST WEEK 📚
See above about it.
Words And Peace 
Absolutely on Music sounds fascinating! I will keep it in mind for when I’m in the mood for non fiction. Hope you have a good week😁
LikeLike
If you love classical music, this is for you!
LikeLike
Interesting looking books!
Have a great weekend!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/09/18/sunday-salon-21/
LikeLike
Thanks, you too
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never knew The Once and Future King was a series. I remember reading that when I was in my mid teens and had a thing about Arthur
LikeLike
I guess we both were in great company.
Yes, there are actually 5 books – I goofed and listed only 4 on my new classics list, so here we go, I’ll be soon adding a book I read that was not listed, lol
LikeLike
The way you described Eventide – slow paced, beautiful writing, evocative, family relationships – made me think of One For the Blackbird, One For the Crow – that I would use the same words to describe. If you haven’t read it yet, you might enjoy it. The Shimada book sounds intriguing – I like books set in Japan….
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/sunday-post-16
LikeLike
Thanks so much, on my way to check One For the Blackbird, One For the Crow
LikeLike
You always have an interesting selection of books. I hope you have a great week. My post is here: https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2022/09/stacking-shelves-41-sunday-post-38.html
LikeLike
Thanks. You too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The Thin Man is one I’d be interested in. I found your thoughts on the grail quest from TH White interesting as well- I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the movie Excalibur but John Boorman (the director) spent a lot of time on that and Lancelot’s travails as well. A lot of the Grail stuff went over my head as a kid (especially since I hadn’t read the source material other than popular retellings) but it hit differently in adulthood.
LikeLike
I can’t even remember if I saw it! But now, I wonder if I want to have the face of an actor in my head for Lancelot, lol
LikeLike
I’ve seen the movie, “The Thin Man” and enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy all your books this week!
LikeLike
I believe I saw it a long time ago, it’s good I don’t remember a thing about it! Have a great week too. What have you been reading?
LikeLike
Big fan of Haruki Murakami here! I haven’t read any of his nonfiction, probably should. I’m less a fan of Japanese locked room mysteries. Too contrived — though that’s the point, they aren’t really novels they are puzzles.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
LikeLike
Welcome to the Murakami fan club, and I just discovered he has a new nonfiction coming out in November!!
LikeLike
I’ve read & enjoyed The Maltese Falcon – American crime is so different to the British writers around the same time. It’s a bit darker & the tecs are pretty tough & a bit lawless!
I’ve just finished Endo’s book ‘Silence’ – gradually getting into Japanese literature. 🙂
LikeLike
Yes, these are more in the noir genre.
Nice for Endo! I know it’s his masterpiece, but I haven’t read it yet!
LikeLike
I didn’t know that there were books after The Once and Future King. Your other books look interesting too. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
LikeLike
The Once and Future King is the name of the whole series. The fist book is called The Sword in the Stone
LikeLike
I read a few Dashiell Hammet novels when I was a teenager going through a hard boiled/noir mystery phase, but I don’t have a stand out memory of any except The Thin Man, I’m pretty sure it was my favourite. I hope you enjoy it.
Wishing you a great reading week
LikeLike
Thanks, I guess that’s really good I made that switch
LikeLike
I’ve read Eventide and the T.H. White book(s), Emma, but long ago. I may need to re-read some? I have kept my copy of The Once and Future King! Thanks for the others, too. (FYI – the link for #IMWAYR is not working. You may need to post again.) Have a great week!
LikeLike
Yes, some great books need to be revisited sometimes, but it’s hard with so many other to read!
Hmm, thanks for mentioning the link, I wonder how I goofed that one. Have a good week too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t read any of these books. They look like good ones. Hope you enjoy them and have a great week!
LikeLike
Thanks, you too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
One of the first classical LPs I bought in the late 60s (before I even had a record player!) was Seiji Ozawa conducting Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’, so it’s weird to think he’s still going strong in his late 80s!
As for Lancelot, if you ever get round to it Chrétien de Troyes’ introduction of the character may be different from why you may have expected. Chrétien named him first, and the best explanation of the name I’ve come across is that, as l’ancelot (from Latin anculum, ‘manservant’) he was the unnamed personal servant of Arthur’s queen.
For most of ‘Le Chevalier de la Charrette’ neither the knight nor the queen are named except through their roles. It’s likely Chrétien never finished ‘The Knight of the Cart’ and that it was completed by someone who added Guinevere’s name and perhaps assumed ‘l’ancelot’ was a forename. The poem alludes of course to the medieval tradition of courtly love.
LikeLike
Thanks for the refresher! I’m French actually, so I did study Chrétien de Troyes (plus I lived 10 years 15 miles away from Troyes!!) in my younger years, so that’s a long time ago. I’m debating to go back to him, yes.
Yes, Ozawa is amazing. Actually they did these interviews when he was rather sick and around surgery times
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sorry to have gone into lecture mode, Emma, of course I knew you’re française, it’s just that I’d got the impression that “maybe, one day” you’d read Chrétien’s Lancelot – still, I shouldn’t’ve have leapt into my habitual teacher role!
LikeLike
Oh no, I love it. I’m a teacher as well, so I’m often in that mode as well, lol.
And you are totally right, why on earth am I hesitating revisiting Chrétien de Troyes? I actually studied an excerpt with a student of mine (preparing for AP French).
So the maybe one day could come from the fact that I’m daily aware of my getting on years, and focusing more on shorter works these days. Also, I did a look a but around, and I was a bit confused about which edition to look for, to tell the truth. And ways to find that edition at a cheap price – not that easy for French books in the US. I can use interlibrary loan, but there’s usually no renewable dates on these, so it would be a challenge to take time to enjoy the book. We’ll see
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for understanding! Yes, I do empathise with that increasing desire for shorter works to read; and I find that I’m reading less and less nonfiction these days too. I know what you mean about editions too; I have a Livre de Poche edition of ‘Perceval ou le Conte du Graal’ in modern French which is better than nothing, but a few years ago I would’ve been happier to pore over an annotated parallel text edition of the original…
LikeLike
Ah yes, that would be perfect!
Thanks for mentioning this edition, I may actually go that way, though starting with the previous volume, on Lancelot : Le Chevalier de la Charrette
LikeLiked by 1 person
Eventide sounds great, I’d be like you, wanting a third in the series.
LikeLike
Alas, too late. I highly encourage you to read both Plainsong and Eventide if you like that type of slow literary fiction
LikeLiked by 1 person
Have a great reading week!
LikeLike
You too!
LikeLike
I am just down the road from you in Chicago, Emma. Can you see me waving hi?
I feel 100% certain, based on your reviews, that I would love to read Plainsong and Eventide. I have added them to my life list, and I hope I find a way to read them soon.
The characters—King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot—are so compelling that many people can’t resist writing about their lives. It would be fun to read other versions of their stories.
LikeLike
Hi!
Oh yes, I think you really need to read Haruf!
LikeLike
I’m a big fan of Haruf so Eventide caught my eye. I still have a few of his on my shelf waiting to be read but since he passed away I want to wait a while.
LikeLike
Ah, I see what you mean
LikeLike
You have me interested in dipping into the TH White series. Have a good week.
LikeLike
Try the audio, especially for book 1, fa-bu-lous.
LikeLike
I hope they all are good reads.
Hope your week is good.
LikeLike
Thanks, you too
LikeLike
I wonder how many of us read A Once and Future King back when we were enamored of Arthur and Camelot?
The Music title looks like one you would like.
Have a good week and Happy Reading!
LikeLike
Ah, and was in love with Lancelot, lol!
LikeLike
Pingback: 2022 TBR Pile Reading Challenge: September checkpoint | Words And Peace
I’ll have to look up all those books that came after The Once and Future King, one of the best books of all time.
LikeLike
Yes, it’s neat to listen to the 5 books
LikeLike
Pingback: 2022: September wrap-up | Words And Peace
Beautiful covers on your incoming books.
Hope you are having a good week.
LikeLike
Thanks
LikeLike