Monthly Archives: May 2011
May 2011 Reads
May feels like those creaking weeks after some Mysterious Illness, where you instinctively know that thy must not Exert thyself. Which accounts for cautious reading, which accounts for a mound of books set aside and, also, a mound of books you simply have to bear, since you’re too blargh to exert the energy to look […]
On When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James
I bought Eloisa James’ When Beauty Tamed the Beast on impulse—I think I was drawn to the flagrantly purple-fuchsia concoction that is its cover. Can you blame me? Anyhoo, the impulse has paid off, and continues to: It’s been weeks since I last read this, and I still keep going back to certain images, certain […]
On The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt
What to say about The Summer without Men, favorite author Siri Hustvedt’s latest? For one, it’s unlike any other novel of hers I’ve read. In fact, although I love this novel, if you’d taped over her name on the cover, I wouldn’t have known this was a Hustvedt book. That’s a compliment, I guess, yes—although […]
On Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
Notes made while reading Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin: • I guess it’s only natural that after I’ve read ten [mostly] kitschy erotic romance novellas in quick yet listless succession, I’d go for the tried-and-tested kind. Still. This is just my first encounter with Nin—she scares me. Or, well, I’m scared that she’ll disappoint […]
Make way for the falco peregrinus—
Some notes / questions-to-self made while reading The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story, a novella by Glenway Wescott. This edition, published by NYRB Classics, includes an introduction by Michael Cunningham. • Is it possible for a really short book to transcend the usual burdens of symbol? See, the eponymous pilgrim hawk is, as Michael Cunningham points […]
