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Summer 2016 Reading List
The summer has started weeks ago, but I was busy finalising things at work and watching football, and some of the books only just arrived – so here we are with the list in the middle of July. Looking at the pile, I admit it DOES look ambitious. Then again, I..
10 Summer Reading Recommendations
Estonian women’s magazine Anne & Stiil recently asked me to recommend summer reads for their June issue. Understandably but unfortunately, I was limited to books that have been translated into Estonian. That meant I had to leave out a few I would have liked ..
On the Uses of Bookstagram (and Six People to Follow)
The activities people most frequently associate with me are coughing* and reading, often conducted simultaneously. I’ve read since I can remember myself and never expected my reading experience to change much. And in most ways, it hasn’t – although I’m somew..
Wide Sargasso Sea
I would possibly never have read Wide Sargasso Sea if it wasn’t for Diana Athill. In her memoirs, she speaks about Jean Rhys with such clarity and emotion that I could not help but be intrigued. The idea of a person so inept at life – addicted to alcohol, ho..
How to Read More Books
Statistically, the questions I hear most often are: “Oh my god, are you unwell?” when I haven’t applied any make-up and “How do you manage to read so much?” when I’ve finished another book and feel the whole world should know. The latter question is often as..
A Slow Read: Richard Mabey’s The Cabaret of Plants
Among the things I promised to do in 2016 was reading longer books, as an antidote to my impatience and my growing inability to concentrate. I haven’t been doing too badly: in addition to quite a few other books, I recently finished The Silk Roads by Peter F..
Better Than Star Wars: Saga vol 1
I am not a huge graphic novel/comic book reader – I do get through enough of them to prove that I’m not one of those elitist snobs who disregard comics on principle, but not much more. This means reading mostly Alan Moore* and of course Neil Gaiman’s Sandman..
Love In a Cold Climate and Other Light Reads
I owe one of my lovely commenters a list for light reading and here’s my attempt to pay that debt. I considered calling the post Comfort Reads, but I find these to be very personal and not always recommendable – although quite a few titles below also work as..
Woman of the Month: Diana Athill
I know Diana Athill – or I know OF Diana Athill, to be more precise – because I’m a regular reader of The Guardian. In 2009, they published an essay by Athill, who was already over 90 at the time, about why she decided to move into an old people’s home. I re..
The Future of Tolerance
It was 1998 and I was on my way to Lübeck, upon the invitation of Germany’s young social democrats – to witness the general elections and eventually, Gerhard Schröder’s defeat of Helmut Kohl. As both I and the Estonian social democrats were poor, I arrived w..