May 2013
11 posts
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drinkyourjuice:
oh Jane i’m so happy for you Thank you and Lizzie too of course Yes, that’s wonderful and now Lydia too thank God you all found such wonderful men to marry Thank you we would all honestly be homeless right now if you hadn’t I suppose that’s true we would have nowhere to go everyone we know would just allow that to happen to us I hope you don’t think I was so hard on all of...
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coponder asked: I don't know how long ago you posted about Alain de Botton, but I recommend starting with Essays in Love. Because it's fiction, it runs a little more smoothly - but at the same time, offers a very accurate examination of love and relationships. 10/10 would recommend. I've also read How Proust... which is also a great book with wonderful insights, but also has some lulling passages.
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“It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read.”
– Lemony Snicket (via honeycaughtalite)
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“In university courses we do exercises. Term papers, quizzes, final examinations...”
– John Gardner, The Art of Fiction (via larmoyante)
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Review: 1Q84, Books I and II
The first two books in Haruki Murakami’s trilogy, 1Q84 I and II tell the story of Aomame, a skilled assassin who finds herself in a parallel universe.
Yep. And it gets weirder; add to this an extremist cult, a long-lost childhood friend/lover, a high-school girl who appears to be some kind of writing prodigy, mysterious “little people” and multiple deaths. Not to mention a...
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April 2013
12 posts
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A recommendation request.
I’ve been seeing a lot of Alain de Botton posts on my Dashboard recently (and reblogged a quotation I especially liked here), and I was wondering if anyone cared to furnish me with a recommendation of a work of his to read?
Should I start with How Proust Can Change Your Life? Or begin at the beginning, as it were, and read Essays in Love? Or something else? Or should I even avoid him...
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theawkwardpufferfish asked: Hey, just wanted to say I was in Paris last week and I read your note in Shakespeare and Company, just thought I'd say hi :)
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Theming My Life
I recently read “I Read About It: Music, Food, Poetry, and Lifestyle Suggestions We’ve Taken from Literature”, a really great piece from The Millions about the influence of books and films on…well, everything really:
Nick Moran: Maybe I’m too suggestible, but I’ve a habit of absorbing bits of books I read. I used to think it was like literary osmosis — natural, spontaneous —...
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“Woke up this morning with
a terrific urge to lie in bed all day
and read....”
– Raymond Carver, “Rain”
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Times Literary Supplement: When Dickens Met... →
The title of this article is really a bit of a misnomer; I recommend it not to fans of either of these two authors, but fans of treasure hunts and detective novels, comic absurdity and academic life. Without giving too much away, it essentially tells the tale of a string of academics and writers who seem slightly too well-connected.
It’s a pretty long read, but absolutely worth it. There...
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“I’d have gone for Jane Austen if I weren’t convinced she’d just have a...”
– Emma Thompson on who she’d invite to a literary dinner party, in the September 23rd issue of The New York Times Book Review. (via vikingpenguinbooks)
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BOOK MADNESS →
I’m a wee bit late to the party, but y’all should definitely check out Out of Print Clothing’s “Book Madness” tournament. It’s like that American sports thing, but for people who stay inside a lot and/or don’t have a clue because they’re not American.
Needless to say I like it a lot. Go and vote for your favourites!
March 2013
7 posts
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literaryjukebox:
Let me live, love and say...
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“If ‘literally’ is really here to stay, at the...
When I was sixteen and I had to decide on what I wanted to study for the next two years at Sixth Form, I chose English Literature (obviously), History, Politics and Chemistry. To anyone that knows me now, the last choice seems bizarre. But at the time I had a deep and abiding love for certain aspects of science that came - of course - from reading a book when I was a kid. This book was Uncle...
Anonymous asked: Were you at the Inklight Stanza poetry showcase a few weeks ago? At Aikmans?
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Hello readers,
This is an apology post. I’m sorry for being utterly absent for nearly three weeks, leaving you all to deal with the abject misery that must be surviving without Rosa Reads. It was irresponsible and cruel of me.
On the off-chance that you managed to get through this traumatic time and are still out there, here are some things you might like to know:
My only excuse for not posting is that...
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February 2013
10 posts
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Radio Rosa
So like I mentioned, I had a guest appearance on a literature show on my university radio station. I was asked there as a poet (!) and we talked about my work and influences and all that jazz - as well as about poetry more generally. It’s pretty low-budget/amateur stuff, but I had a grand old time.
If you’re at all interested, the whole thing can be listened to here on Soundcloud (the...
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So I'm going to be on the radio. →
Not as exciting as it sounds - I’m going to be on my university radio station, appearing on a literary-type show (honestly, I’m not entirely sure what the deal is), and talking about my poetry, poetry in general, other…stuff?
Apologies for being vague, but if you’re interested then click above and then click “listen live”. I’ll be on the show that runs...
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As I Walked Out One Evening
fuckyeahpoetry:
As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: ‘Love has no ending. ‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street, ‘I’ll love you till the...
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You are an absolute sweetheart. I highly recommend Angela Carter - everything I’ve read of hers I’ve loved!
Of course you can make recommendations! I’ve had a William Boyd book on my shelf for ages that I’ve been meaning to read, so I will bear Any Human Heart in mind as well. I adored David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, but haven’t read your suggestion. File...
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Book Dates: recommended reads for Valentine's Day.
Today in St Andrews we have been treated to a beautiful Valentine from the sun, meaning that all I really want to do is lie around by the window and read The Waves. Obviously I would not be venturing outside, as despite lovely appearances, I am sure it is still freezing cold. We had snow yesterday - I don’t trust Scottish weather.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look...
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I went to Paris and did some stuff and saw some...
I have a wonderful human being in my acquaintance known as Morgan (because that is his name). I met him here at St Andrews, but he’s currently on a year abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris. Which is, y’know, pretty bloody cool. Just before Christmas, I went to go visit him and have all sorts of literary adventures. Here, have some photos:
The literary geek in me found it absolutely...
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booksmatter:
Zadie Smith reads Frank O’Hara’s...
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Semi-Review: How about you don't tell us how to be...
In my regular perusal of The Guardian’s feminism pages, I frequently come across things that bother me. There is something, for example, about Hadley Freeman’s recent article about Beyoncé that doesn’t sit right with me. Although I think I understand what she’s getting at, the piece comes across as something akin to slut-shaming which, coming from a columnist who I normally...
January 2013
15 posts
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Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 35, Simone... →
bookriot:
A very good way to celebrate her birthday indeed.
(It is no longer her birthday, but Simone de Beauvoir was a badass of the first degree. A recommended read.)
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London, Les Mis, Libraries
I am currently on the train on my way down to London, racing past snowy rooftops and being spoiled in first class, despite the fact my ticket was free. Just makes these complimentary biscuits taste all the sweeter.
Sat behind me are a group of people discussing the new film of Les Misérables, which is highly appropriate, as the reason I am visiting our fine capital is to see the West End...
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“Do not move, do not let the swing door cut to pieces the thing we have made,...”
– Virginia Woolf, The Waves [Vintage Classics, 2004, p.95]
Currently reading.
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Favourite Literary Tumblrs
I did this quite some time ago, and things have since moved on in the Tumblr book-blogosphere! So here are my new reading-related recommendations:
The Literary Jukebox pairs quotations from books with songs and it’s just wonderful.
Alaina runs To Be Shelved, a good solid contributor to the lit community on Tumblr.
Strand Books generally posts marginalia they’ve found in their books...
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Quiz: Jay-Z lyric or Great Gatsby line? →
Just in case you guys were wondering why you were feeling a little bit empty inside, what was missing from your lives…it was this quiz.
(I got 8/10 and I don’t know how to feel about that.)
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Just to let you all know -
I’ve updated my About the Author page, so now I’m a real hipster with faux-polaroids on her bio.
I’ve also finally updated my reading list. It was getting ridiculously long because I was keeping the ones I’d read on it. From now on, once I read something it will be taken off the list. Hopefully you’ll know when I’ve read it anyway because I’ll post a...
