Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Magda T.'s avatar

Martha, I’m so sorry about your loss and thank you for sharing Bruce’s story. Pets are such a special gift to us humans.

Good luck with the little guy! With our puppy (now 2) it was like having a toddler and also the work is never done 😅

Congratulations on Martha’s Monthly 2nd anniversary! I look forward to your reading report every month.

I also enjoy Clare Keegan’s writing. I read through all of her work last year. While I feel that Small Things Like These and Foster are my favorite (her best?) work I think she’s a very talented writer and will read anything she puts out. If you want to read more of her So Late in The Day (the short story as well as the short story collection) is a good progression. I personally enjoyed The Forester’s Daughter.

I have The Family Lexicon by Natalia Ginsburg on my summer tbr as well as East of Eden. I’m even more motivated to pick those up after reading your reviews of the two authors’ adjacent works.

I just finished Silk by Alessandro Barrico. It’s now sitting on my favorites of the year list. Have you read it?

Wishing you a great reading month!

Expand full comment
TLDR's avatar

Omg, I loved The Friend! I really want to watch the movie adaptation with Naomi Watts too. I read an interview about how the dog was such a good actor. I am so, so sorry to hear about Bruce, and also teared up reading your story. Dogs are such gentle creatures. They love in such an unselfish way, they are so loyal, and so forgiving.

Very interesting June reads! I wonder if you've ever considered editing other writers. I love Irish fiction (English majors are obsessed with James Joyce!). Claire Keegan's writing is a master class in the novella, and I have read every single novel of Sally Rooney. Intermezzo is really her best! (I really enjoyed your review of her book). I think that the Irish are the best minority writers in UK English, and then it's a tie between Indians and Sri Lankans (so underrated) afterwards. I have not read enough African minority writers in English though. And then you go into the layers with translation of African minority writers in French, translated into English, Algerian writer in French, translated into English, etc.

I find it interesting how minority Filipino writing in US English compares to those writers and what I might learn from them. I've read John Steinbeck's East of Eden, and a lot of Filipino writers were trained to learn and write in English by reading Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner - including my great, great grand uncle Nick Joaquin, but also Tagalog writers like Edgardo M. Reyes who wrote Sa Kuko Ng Mga Liwanag (In the Claws of Brightness), which if there is ever an English translation of the book, I recommend and think you'll enjoy.

Expand full comment
54 more comments...

No posts