Hello readers.
The walls of my apartment are thin, so I know my neighbors very well. “Am I creepy or just conscious?” A question that reoccurs when certain personal noise penetrates the drywall. Unless I actively pursue the opportunity for eavesdropping, I think I can claim innocence, for example, by putting a glass on my ear and confronting the wall. And anyway, it’s a two-way road. Certainly my neighbors also collected uninvited data about my habits.In other words: what I don’t know about they Can’t hurt me!
Below are two novels that led me away from the plague urban dwellings to 1) a country hut and 2) a country mansion.
Happy journey,
— —Molly
Chris lives on the edge of an old cottage bog with crumbling plaster and a sufficiently low ceiling, so he is at risk of being decapitated each time he climbs the stairs. He is 45 years old and has been “redundant” from his work. But he’s happy with his humble country life and empty calendar, and it’s easy to see why. Chris’s youth was full of drama enough to inspire the reality television equivalent of the season.
One day, an unexpected visitor asks about Chris’ past — a past characterized by adultery, divorce, brotherhood wars, artistic victories, and professional despair. A real can of worms. In fact, there are too many worms. There may be a surplus conspiracy here, but it is underpinned by a wealth of keen awareness. The cover of my edition depicted above does not painfully represent the text.
Read if you like: “Jane Gardam, Helene Hanff, who burst the door in a frenzy of excitement.84, Charing Cross Road“
Available from: ArrowOr check out the library and second-hand bookstores
Mr. Crow is a ridiculously lucky person. His mansion has a geometric garden, a hedge maze, a lawn for croquettes, and a perfectly square pond. (How? Why?) For dinner, eat red shrimp with gold leaf spots. (How? Why?) Other residents of the house include Butler and Consigliere Eustas and Clara, a child with an unspecified disability that prevents her from speaking. During the routine nights of the fall, Mr. Crow appears to have whiplashed a gun and killed a man with his property — but when the corpse was examined, there were no ammunition wounds. And that’s not the only mystery!
Floating between Gothic and fantasy, this novel begins with a laid-back trot and continues to a gallop. It’s not a polite way to say that a book is boring. The first act is just to pay close attention to the subsequent twist.
Read if you like: David Mitchell, Susanna Clarke, Mysterious (or “British style”) crossword puzzles
Available from: Tin house
why…
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Slyther “Old Masters“If you Love With art / diabetes Hate Sentiment/Does the paragraph break?
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Tell the people you had “rude Solarization “ What if you get sunburned next time? (And steal Nabokov’s other phrases While you are in it. )
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Sigh and resign Full-fledged crazy When Yet another word puzzle?? As far as I know, there are no instructions on how to play on this site, but you can understand it.
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