Nancy Mitford: The Pursuit of Love
I finally read Nancy Mitford’s The Pusuit of Love, a radiant, bittersweet novel that’s as funny as it is quietly devastating.
1940s
M.F.K. Fisher: How to Cook a Wolf
Have you ever read M.F.K. Fisher’s culinary classic How to Cook a Wolf? I had not, but I’m so glad I did! Here are some of my thoughts.
Jean Stafford: The Mountain Lion
The most recent #NYRBWomen24 book that we finished was Jean Stafford’s The Mountain Lion, and it is not at all what I was expecting . . . in a good way!
William Maxwell: The Folded Leaf
In my quest to read all of William Maxwell’s novels, I hit a bit of a stumbling block with his 1945 novel The Folded Leaf.
Henri Bosco: Malicroix
Henri Bosco’s Malicroix, translated from the French by Joyce Zonana, is a beautiful, terrifying exploration of isolation and nature. It’s shot up to being one of my favorites!
Elizabeth Taylor: Palladian
Elizabeth Taylor’s second book, Palladian, from 1946, shows she had a strong point of view and a genius ability to articulate it. Here are my thoughts on the novel.
John Williams: Nothing But the Night
John Williams’ debut novel, Nothing But the Night, has finally come home! NYRB Classics published their edition today, completing their collection of all four of Williams’ novels. It’s a fine work from a young man filled with promise.
Jean Giono: Melville: A Novel
In the late 1930s, Jean Giono worked to translated Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick into French for the first time. To accompany the new edition, Giono provided a strange, fictional introduction to Melville the man, instead giving us a lovely look at Melville our imagined author.
Monica Dickens: Thursday Afternoons
Lisa Guidarini, from Bluestalking Journal, commences a trip through Penguin’s vintage, numbered spines by looking at Monica Dickens’s Thursday Afternoons.
Leonora Carrington: Down Below
Trevor reviews Leonora Carrington’s account of her mental breakdown and institutionalization in Spain during World War II, Down Below.