Tag: Harvard Book Store

Books

Book 401: Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Geoff W

Austen, Jane - Pride & PrejudiceIt will come as no surprise that this is the first book to reach three re-reads since I started The Oddness of Moving Things. I read it twice in 2013, January and August, in honor of its 200th publication date.

What WILL come as a surprise is that I was supposed to read this for our final installment of Jane Austen Book Group and I didn’t! Everything was so busy and I somehow got so flustered that I didn’t read it in time. Thankfully, I know the story so well and had read the Marvel Illustrated version earlier this year, I was capable of discussing it without too much effort. I did know that as soon as I finished trudging through The Dante Club I had to get this re-read to feel as if I’d completed our Jane Austen Book Club for the year! And it’s a great refresher before I dive right into Prejudice & Pride a “gender-bendy twist” on the original by Lynn Messina that comes out December 15th.

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Random

A Book Reading and Obnoxious Readers

Geoff W
2015 03-09 Boyne and Vann at Harvard Book Store
David Vann, left, and John Boyne, at Harvard Book Store.

Monday night, I had the pleasure of attending a reading at Harvard Bookstore (Shop Local!) featuring John Boyne, of The Absolutist fame, and David Vann, whom I haven’t read yet! It was an enjoyable event and both novelists’ new works, A History of Loneliness and Aquarium respectively, sound fascinating! (I will definitely request them from my local library in the near future.) Boyne’s humility impressed me and I was glad to see him shift focus to Vann when everyone kept asking him questions.

While there, I took the chance to get my copy of The Absolutist signed (SWOON!) and that photo is at the end of this post. Did you know that it was his favorite as well? I nearly hyperventilated (and actually clapped out loud like an awkward lunatic) when he said that and immediately messaged Heather (who is getting a signed copy of a surprise book). When John, first name basis obviously, signed my book I told him how Heather and I are still getting a lot of traffic from our responses to The Absolutist and that I got a long email just last week about it. He commented that he was always fascinated about how long a story can continue to gain traction.

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Books

Culture Corner – October 2013

Geoff W

2013 10-14 Tickets PleaseThis was a very cultural month or perhaps I made an effort more than I have the past few months. I’ve noticed a lot more public artwork around the city and haven’t taken a single photo of it, maybe I’ll try to get some for next month’s Culture Corner. Instead you get to relieve two amazing events and my virtual rock-starness.

 

Above you can see my tickets for the Harvard Bookstore Margaret Atwood reading and the Boston Lyric Opera’s performance of The Magic Flute.

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Updates

June 2013 Recap

Geoff W

This month was a weird month when it came to reading. I read four books, two of which were nonfiction and I think that has to do with why I’ve only read four. Of the four, one was a library book and three have been on my TBR shelf for a very long time. I think the two nonfiction books bogged me down a bit, but I did enjoy stepping out of my fiction comfort zone for a change. The coolest thing of the month is the awesome video I stumbled across from the Seattle Public Library which you should watch here.

On a personal note June, for some reason, was a bit of a roller coaster ride for myriad reasons, many of which have nothing to do with me. Hopefully July will be a little less turbulent and I can pretend I’m on vacation for most of it even though I’m working.

Recent Acquisitions

Apparently late spring/early summer is when I go a little crazy with the book buying! Although, considering how crazy I’ve gone at other times this month was nothing. Above you’ll see the totality of my purchases this month. (I didn’t purchase a single Kindle book, for shame Amazon, for shame.) I’m probably most excited about The Enchantress being released in paperback as I now have all six books and I think a re-read is a must. The others I purchased at the Harvard Bookstore Warehouse sale which is always fun. I stuck only to the remainders tables and went with books I thought sounded interesting. We’ll see when I actually get to them how they are.

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Books, The Classics Club

Book 172: Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen

Geoff W

Austen, Jane - Pride & Prejudice[For less fan-boy love and more response check out my August 2013 response here.]

Swoon. That’s my review, that’s it. I have nothing more to say. And that has nothing to do with Mr. Darcy, okay well maybe a little, but not as much as you’d think. And just to provide you with fair warning, this isn’t so much a review or response as it is a fan-boy “I love you Jane Austen” post. So read on if you like, you’ve been warned!

I’m not sure how many times I’ve read Pride and Prejudice, but I definitely feel like I should read it more often! I planned this re-read to coincide with the 200th Anniversary and I’m glad I did because it had been far too long! It also counted as one of my re-reads for The Classics Club. Hopefully the next time I re-read this novel I will be able to write about the characters or the story and have less fan-boy love, but I honestly doubt it, I mean look at all the crazy spinoffs I read even though they can never approach the original!

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