Books on my Spring TBR 2020

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Tulips in Spring

Books on my Spring TBR was a Top Ten Tuesday topic and probably one I missed this year, however I thought I would resurrect it, for my own interest as well as yours.  Why my own?  Well, I have very little idea what I plan to read this spring.  As the death of my mom has left me somewhat lost and meandering and the pandemic has changed life considerably, I’ve found that I don’t feel like concentrating on the books I usually choose.  And while I haven’t officially chosen any particular book, today I thought I’d wander through my bookshelves to see what catches my eye.  My choices might even be a surprise to myself, lol!

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The Missing Blogger Returns … but briefly …

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Playing with Mother William Kay Blacklock

Playing with Mother – William Kay Blacklock
~ source Wikimedia Commons

To all my friends, followers and those who just happen to stumble across my blog, I’m so sorry that I’ve been absent and have fallen behind in The Iliad Read-Along.  My mother has been in the hospital for the last month+, which has taken up most of my time for reading and blogging.  She lives some distance from me, about 1 1/2 – 3 hours round-trip, depending on traffic, and with the visits and talks with doctors, etc. I’ve had little time to do much else.  Right now, she’s not eating much and at times refusing food, so it doesn’t look good.  She’s had a long life and she says that she’s ready to go, so I believe it’s just a matter of when.  It’s sad but then again, it’s part of life and we must accept what it brings. Hopefully Jesus has made a special place for her with the angels. 😇

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The Iliad ~ Book XI & Book XII

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The Iliad Read-along

In these sections the epic lives up to its reputation of being a “poem of death,” but in spite of this title, you can still see very human exchanges between characters.  I’m going to try to pick out some of these more human elements.

In Book XI there are a number of similes (a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid) so be on the lookout!

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At the Sign of the Cat and Racket or La Maison du Chat-Qui-Pelote by Honoré de Balzac

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La maison du chat-qui-peloteLa Maison du Chat-Qui-Pelote: “Half-way down the Rue Saint-Denis, almost at the corner of the Rue du Petit-Lion, there stood formerly one of those delightful houses which enable historians to reconstruct old Paris by analogy.”

I quite love French literature and wish I had time to read more of it.  I’ve begun reading La Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola which consists of 20 novels of which I’ve read four. Honoré Balzac has surpassed Zola’s series in great magnitude with his La Comédie Humaine (originally called Etudes des Mœurs or The Study of Manners) which is comprised of 91 finished works and 46 unfinished works.  The sheer volume of reading is daunting but if one never begins, one never conquers, right?  So I’ve started with one book in a sub-series called Scènes de la vie privée or Scenes from a Private Life, La Maison du Chat-Qui-Pelote. Originally titled, Glory and Misfortune, elements of it echo in Balzac’s private life: his fabric merchant uncles, the impassive and unresponsive behaviour of his family, etc.  It’s a wonderful start to his magnum opus as he begins his examination of the motivations, mistakes, pleasures, modes and experiences of human life!

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The Iliad ~ Book V & Book VI

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The Iliad Read-along

I’ve been having some computer problems but am still almost on track as the read continues.  I hope that you’re all enjoying it.  Once you become familiar with the characters, the interplay between and around them is fascinating.  In these next books, we learn more about Diomedes, are introduced to Hektor’s family and learn more about the ancient Greek worldview.  And, of course, the gods work towards fate often in confusing ways, as the story unfolds.

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The Iliad ~ Book III and Book IV

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The Iliad Read-along

Book III

The Achaians advance across the plain and the Trojans move to meet them.  Alexandros (Paris) struts out to challenge any of the Argive leaders, yet when Menelaus, the husband of Helen, steps forward, in cowardice Alexandros/Paris shrinks back to disappear among the fighters.  Hektor, shamed by his brother’s behaviour, rebukes him firmly:

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