Posts

On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle (2024): A Review

Title : On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) Author : Solvej Balle Publication Year : 2024 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 176 Source : ebook Genre : literary fiction, philosophical fiction Awards : Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle is a short, peculiar little book — “little” in the same way a black hole is little. Technically compact, yes, but once you’re inside, time stretches, reality collapses, and you begin questioning your sanity. At first, the title is terrifying. On the Calculation of Volume sounds like the sort of book that might suddenly ask you to solve for x or explain fluid dynamics. You think, “Please, God, don’t let this be about mathematics or physics.” Then you read the first parts, figure out what is actually happening, and immediately think, “You know what? Maybe mathematics would have been kinder.” That said, I absolutely loved the premise. I am a ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today in Bookish and Literary History, June 23

Image
1819 The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent by Washington Irving | US | 392 | 📽️ 2020 Mother Daughter Widow Wife by Robin Wasserman | US | 288 | 2020 Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert | UK | 400 | 🏆 | 2020 Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg | US | 240 | 2026 Names Have Been Changed by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow | Singapore | 267 | 2026 Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison | US | 192 | 2026 Isis of Egypt: Goddess of Thrones by Malayna Evans | US | 320 | 📚 2026 Retro by Jessica M. Goldstein | US | 416 | 2026 It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell | UK | 384 | 2026 All We Hunger For by Anna Mercier | US | 400 | 2026 Agnes Lives! by Hallie Elizabeth Newton | US | 256 | 2026 Tata by Valérie Perrin | France | 627 | 2026 Nine Lives by Catherine Steadman | UK | 432 | 2026 Weddings by Danielle Steel | US | 254 | 2026 Don't Upstage the Body by Naomi Stephens | UK | 304 | 2026 When You Loved Me by Beatriz Williams | US | 433 | 2026 Worse Than Strangers by Kyleigh Leddy | US | 320 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Today in Bookish and Literary History, June 22

Image
2010 Family Ties by Danielle Steel | US | 320 | 2021 God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney | US | 320 | 2021 Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor | US | 288 | 🏆 | 2023 The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue | Ireland | 320 | 🏆 | 2023 Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa | Japan | 96 | 🏆🏆🏆 | 🔗 Check this list for Today in Bookish History for June: https://fable.co/list/2067ba4d-156b-4ab9-9cc3-350565bf7a9b/share
Post a Comment
Read more

Today in Bookish and Literary History, June 21

Image
1843 The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allan Poe | US | 86 | ⭐⭐ | My Review | 📽️ 2003 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling | UK | 766 | 🏆🏆🏆 | 📽️ 2022 Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola | UK | 368 | 🏆🏆 | 2022 Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh | US | 320 | 🔗 Check this list for Today in Bookish History for June: https://fable.co/list/2067ba4d-156b-4ab9-9cc3-350565bf7a9b/share
Post a Comment
Read more

There But For The by Ali Smith (2011): A Review

Image
Title : There But For The Author : Ali Smith Publication Year : 2011 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐💫 Pages : 288 Source : ebook Genre : literary fiction, queer Awards : longlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction There But For The is Ali Smith’s fifth novel, starring a man named Miles Garth, an "ethical consultant" who decides the most ethical thing he can do is…lock himself in a spare room in a stranger’s house and stay there. For a long time. Why does he do it? Why does he stop doing it? Smith refuses to tell us in any straightforward way, and as someone who agrees with Katherine Mansfield’s “I hate mystery” (quoted in epigraph), I was not exactly thrilled to be handed this particular knot and told, “Enjoy!” The book quickly wanders away from its human hermit and starts circling the lives of people who crossed paths with Miles at some point. He becomes less a character and more a rumor, the novel once heard and is still thinking about. Through them, Smith ruminates on time, sp...
Post a Comment
Read more