I loved DeWitt's The English Understand Wool and now want to pick up The Last Samurai, thanks to your recommendation. Thank you for these round-ups -- I always enjoy them!
Thank you so much for reading these posts! And I do hope you'll enjoy The Last Samurai. It's surprisingly playful, too? Lots and lots of humor early on (especially when DeWitt writes about Sibylla trying to WFH and being constantly interrupted by baby Ludo)
Introductions - yes! I once wrote an essay about the importance of reading introductions.
Here is my one sentence summary of Madame Bovary: "A cautionary tale about a woman who doesn't know who she is and doesn't spend her time trying to find out."
Celine, Thank you for your reviews and reflections. Food for my literary soul!
Going to add 'The Last Samurai' and 'The Uncontrollability of the World' to my list immediately. Also v keen to read 'Meditations for Mortals' soon – 'Four Thousand Weeks' inspired me to start writing on Substack again so will be interesting to read Burkeman's followup.
Gonna have to track down 'The Hermit' after I finish 'The Bee Hut' by Dorothy Porter. Need more poetry on the go. Sooo thanks for another inspiring list. :)
Man the Last Samurai rules so hard
I almost can't believe how good it is…DeWitt is such a treasure!!
sometimes i like table of contents or indexes ...the way they are laid out & the way they wobble in specificity is very beautiful some times... 💕
ah yes, this is a good one (the poetry in what concepts are included/excluded from an index!!)
I loved DeWitt's The English Understand Wool and now want to pick up The Last Samurai, thanks to your recommendation. Thank you for these round-ups -- I always enjoy them!
Thank you so much for reading these posts! And I do hope you'll enjoy The Last Samurai. It's surprisingly playful, too? Lots and lots of humor early on (especially when DeWitt writes about Sibylla trying to WFH and being constantly interrupted by baby Ludo)
glad you liked The Last Samurai! One of my favorites, distinctly remember tearing up on a train into nyc when i finished the ending
omg yes—I felt so MOVED by the end of it! the capacity to actually cry, and actually feel invested in a fictional character's journey…
Great quote from Kanai
Introductions - yes! I once wrote an essay about the importance of reading introductions.
Here is my one sentence summary of Madame Bovary: "A cautionary tale about a woman who doesn't know who she is and doesn't spend her time trying to find out."
Celine, Thank you for your reviews and reflections. Food for my literary soul!
Going to add 'The Last Samurai' and 'The Uncontrollability of the World' to my list immediately. Also v keen to read 'Meditations for Mortals' soon – 'Four Thousand Weeks' inspired me to start writing on Substack again so will be interesting to read Burkeman's followup.
Gonna have to track down 'The Hermit' after I finish 'The Bee Hut' by Dorothy Porter. Need more poetry on the go. Sooo thanks for another inspiring list. :)
I really like the way you incorporate book images in your post. It's clear you put a lot of attention into it and the results look great!