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Here is what I posted this past week.
I usually post only once a week, but I have been trying to do a daily post for #ParisinJuly, so that’s a lot of posts.

Monday: Theophan’s Commentary on Ps 118, verse 89
Monday: Paris in July: French books read in January
Tuesday: Paris in July: French books read in February-March
Tuesday: Book review: Upgrade, by Blake Crouch (science-fiction)
Wednesday: Paris in July: French books read in April-May
Wednesday: Theophan’s Commentary on Ps 118, verse 90-91
Wednesday: Year 2022: Six in Six
Thursday: Paris in July: French books read in June
Thursday: Throwback Thursday (April-May2012)
Friday: Theophan’s Commentary on Ps 118, verse 92-93
Friday: Paris in July: French TV literary program: La Grande Librairie
Friday: Friday Face Off – An orange cover
Saturday: Paris in July: Paris History
Today: Paris in July: La moutarde de Bourgogne

And I finished 1 book:

JUST LISTENED TO 🎧

📚 Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand
Published in 1897

I had a lot of fun re-listening to this play – and also watching the play/movie with Depardieu.
The rhymes are both clever and hilarious most of the time, though there are some very romantic passages.
The plot is ultimately romantic, both funny and extremely sad.
It’s also about the power of language, about honor and faithfulness.
A great classic, probably actually very hard to translate with the rhymes, and if you don’t have the rhymes, you miss so much of it, I would think.

CURRENTLY READING/LISTENING TO

I am reading quite a few books at the same time right now, insane really, I’ll focus on only three here for today:

📚 The Martins, by David Foenkinos
Literary fiction
US Expected publication: July 22, 2022, by Gallic Books
Received for review

I recently discovered Foenkinos, with The Mystery of Henri Pick. Very enjoyable!
I’m almost done with The Martins, it’s so good too. Also about an author, and his struggle and ways of writing a book.

“‘Go out into the street and the first person you see will be the subject of your next book.’
This is the challenge a struggling Parisian writer sets himself, imagining his next heroine might be the mysterious young woman who often stands smoking near his apartment … instead it’s octogenarian Madeleine. She’s happy to become the subject of his book – but first she needs to put away her shopping.
Is it really true, the writer wonders, that every life is the stuff of novels, or is his story doomed to be hopelessly banal? As he gets to know Madeleine and her family, he’ll be privy to their secrets: lost loves, marital problems and workplace worries. And he’ll soon realise he is not the impartial bystander he intended to be, but a catalyst for major changes in the lives of his characters.
Told with Foenkinos’s characteristic irony and self-deprecating humour, yet filled with warmth, The Martins is a compelling tale of the family next door which raises questions about what it means to be ‘ordinary’, and about the blurred lines between truth and fiction. ”

📚 The First Men on the Moon, by H. G. Wells
Science-fiction / classic
Published in 1901
It counts for The Classics Club

I bought this in a library book sale years ago. I had totally forgotten that H. G. Wells could be so hilarious. I really have fun with this one. Great satire, on Jules Verne’s book for instance.
It’s also fun to see how we could depict and imagine the moon terrain in 1901!

“His “first men in the moon” prove to be the eccentric Mr. Cavor and his traveling companion, Mr. Bedford, who navigate a gravity-defying sphere through space before executing a rough landing on the moon. As castaways from earth, they practice lunar locomotion, get lost in the wilds of a moon jungle, and confront intelligent life forms living in lunar caverns. Through the adventures of these two earthlings, the author is able to look at mankind from a distance and, in his words, “burlesque the effects of specialization.” The result is a delightful tale filled with adventure, romance, and fantasy that is still capable of stirring the imagination of readers in the 21st century.”

🎧 A is For Alibi, by Sue Grafton
Mystery
Published in 1982

I had this one on a dusty bookshelf, and ended up listening to it (great narrator). About time.
It’s good, I enjoy her description of characters, California a few decades ago, and her humor, but I’ll probably not go on with the series.
I’m no longer in that type of mood right now.

“A IS FOR AVENGER. A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. She’s a twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments but with a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes.
A IS FOR ACCUSED. That’s why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she’s out on parole and needs Kinsey’s help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki’s bad name won’t be easy.
A IS FOR ALIBI. If there’s one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it’s playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is closer–and sharper–than she imagined.“

BOOK UP NEXT

📚 Eventide, by Kent Haruf
Literary fiction
Published in 2004

I read Plainsong, the first book in this series in 2013, and really enjoyed the writing. So it’s high time to tackle this one that’s been collecting dust on my shelf.
This is part of my effort for the TBR Challenge.

“Kent Haruf, award-winning, bestselling author of Plainsong returns to the high-plains town of Holt, Colorado, with a novel of masterful authority. The aging McPheron brothers are learning to live without Victoria Roubideaux, the single mother they took in and who has now left their ranch to start college. A lonely young boy stoically cares for his grandfather while a disabled couple tries to protect their violent relative. As these lives unfold and intersect, Eventide unveils the immemorial truths about human beings: their fragility and resilience, their selfishness and goodness, and their ability to find family in one another.”

LAST BOOK ADDED TO MY GOODREADS TBR

Holes, by Louis Sachar
Young Adult? Middle grade?
Published in 1998

“Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnats. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.
It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.”