📚 2666 📚

Finished this MONSTER of a book last night as the sun was coming down ... struggling to read as I was losing my light - The perfect way to reach a conclusion that leaves the reader somewhat in the dark. Not that I'm complaining. Quite an adventure!

By Chilean born novelist, poet Roberto Bolaño - released posthumously in 2004, a year after his death at age 50.

#RobertoBolaño #2666 #readinglist #books #booklist #novel #literature #mybookshelf #robertoblaňo2666 #twosixsixsix

📚 I recently finished reading The Warmth Of Other Suns - the story of the Great Migration, the movement of Black Americans out of the South from about 1915 to 1970 - by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson. Telling the story through the eyes of 3 people who experienced that journey made for a moving + enlightening read. 📚

#books #readinglist #thewarmthofothersuns #isabelwilkerson #blackhistorymonth #africanamericanhistory #mybookshelf #reading #PulitzerPrize

📚 My Year in Books 📚

Love that Good Reads can keep track for me 😆

#yearinbooks #books #myyearinbooks #goodreads #mybookshelf #livres #libros #mylibrary

" ... And people saw that every sort of beauty, every sort of love was from the gods, and they became free and bold, and they grew WINGS." 🪽 ---- Mikhail Kuzmin from his novella Wings, 1906

#wings #novella #novel #mikhailkuzmin #quote #beauty #love #onbeauty #onlove #onloveandbeauty #thegods #russianwriter #russianliterature #russianauthor #russiannovelist #fiction #books #book #livres #mybookshelf

Marlene Dietrich & Konstantin Paustovsky

Just finished 'The Story of a Life' by Konstantin Paustovsky (1892-1968), Russian writer nominated 4 times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was of Zaporozhian, Turkish + Polish descent + raised mostly in Ukraine

In her autobiography, Marlene Dietrich devoted an entire chapter to the author inspired by his novel 'Telegram' :
"This novel made so great an impression on me that I could no more forget it than I could the name of the author, of whom I had never heard before"
In 1964, Dietrich arrived in the Soviet Union on a concert tour. As soon as she got off the plane she asked about Paustovsky. Despite being ill, Paustovsky attended the performance + afterwards went up on the stage. “I was so shocked by his presence that, being unable to utter a word in Russian, I did not find any other way to express my admiration for him, except to kneel in front of him"

#konstantinPaustovsky #marlenedietrich #thestoryofalife #autobiography #sovietauthor #sovietwriter #russianwriter #russiannovelist #russianauthor #instabooks #booksofinstagram #mybookshelf #readinglist #mybooks #bookworld #books #ilovebooks #livres #biblio #buch #bücher #книги

The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man

Just finished reading this excellent 1912 novel by James Weldon Johnson - the fictional account of a young biracial man living in the post-Reconstruction era of America. The title of the book is a bit misleading since throughout most of the lead character's story he is exploring his place in society with full acknowledgment of his true racial identity.

Weldon was a writer + civil rights activist - an early leader of the NAACP. He was known during the Harlem Renaissance for his poems + wrote the lyrics for "Lift Every Voice and Sing", which later became known as the Black National Anthem.

#autobiographyofanexcoloredman #jamesweldonjohnson #writer #author #poet #novel #mybookshelf #myreadinglist #book #books #booklist #bookworld #lifteveryvoiceandsing #harlemrenaissance

📚 2 Books 📚

Finished reading 2 very different books recently by 2 very different authors

Shadows on the Hudson by Nobel Prize winning author Isaac Beshevis Singer, about a circle of Holocaust survivors establishing new lives in America after the trauma of war.

Summer by Pulitzer winning author Edith Wharton (Also nominated for the Nobel Prize 3 times) about a young woman's yearning to escape the constraints of her small town New England life.

I found both of these books fascinating ...

#book #books #booklist #mybookshelf #summer #edithwharton #isaacBeshevisSinger #shadowsonthehudson #authors #writers #livre #livres #bookworld #novels #novel #reading #readinglist

Passing

Just read this 1929 novel by American author Nella Larsen. The story centers on the reunion of two childhood friends + the discovery that one is 'passing' in a mixed race marriage.

Born in Chicago, Larsen was part of the Harlem Renaissance of the 20s + 30s. She wrote 2 novels during this time.

Photographs are by Carl Van Vechten

A film adaption of the novel was made in 2021 by Rebecca Hall.

#passing #nellalarsen #harlem #harlemrenaissance #novel #readinglist #book #books #mybookshelf #reading #livres #buch #bücher #carlvanvechten

📚 Finished two great books this month:

📕 Fathers & Sons (1862) by Ivan Turgenev - explores the generational clash between fathers and their radical sons during a time of great social change in Russia.

📕 The Nine (2021) by Gwen Strauss - follows the escape of 9 women, resistance fighters, out of Nazi Germany

#fathersandsons #ivanturgenev #thenine #gwenstrauss #books #mybookshelf #mybooklist #readinglist #booklist #livres #buch #bücher #libros #resistancefighters #nonfiction #novel #russianliterature #literature

Another Country

Finished reading this 1962 novel by James Baldwin and it has found a place among my favorite titles of all time

#anothercountry #jamesbaldwin #readinglist #books #Booklist #book #mybooklist #mybookshelf #authors #novels #writers #literature #livres #buch #bücher #roman #ecrivain