Country Road, a Tree | 
pickI truly enjoyed this book. I had read a biography of S. Beckett previous, but what a sparse luxury Baker put down before me. Her handling of the language in many ways reflects Beckett‘s work, and the foreshadowed references to images that populated Beckett‘s work were seamless and believable; not trite but engaging.
Attending my first production of Waiting for Godot. I read Beckett in grad school and didn't like it. But then I read Baker's book and it made me want to revisit his work.
It's intermission...not sure absurdist is my thang.
"And the city is... as infested with absences as the hospital is with rats. Walking in Paris in October 1945 is the loneliest thing in all the world. He will get used to it. Just as he has grown accustomed to the missing teeth, the missing toe..."
Perspective.
Book people are the best. Every time I return a book to my neighborhood library, this is what I see. Thank you, kind stranger, for being awesome!
I loved Longbourn by Jo Baker, and am now diving into her new book. Set in France - WWII. I'm not crazy about the characters but the writing is breathtaking.
I ❤️ Litsy! Landmark day for me. 😊 Thanks for all the great recs and conversation, peeps!
Look at what I scored at the Lacuna at the Berkeley Book Fair! It's a wonderful day to celebrate books.
so-soWhile the language was beautiful and the story uniquely told, the characters, the plot, and even my attention span remained elusive. Samuel Beckett's life was tragic and fascinating but Jo Baker merely skims the surface. This book was a decent but not fulfilling read.
The world is ending, and it is exuberantly, ridiculously beautiful.
pickA melancholy but introspective portrait of a writer during the French Occupation. It doesn't take much effort to work out who the writer is, so you'll spend the rest of the book looking for echoes of his work. Very, very interesting. NetGalley ARC.
