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After Sappho
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
47 posts | 22 read | 21 to read
Its 1895. Amid laundry and bruises, Rina Pierangeli Faccio gives birth to the child of the man who raped her and who she has also been forced to marry. Unbroken, she determines to change her name; and her life, alongside it. 1902. Romaine Brooks sails for Capri. She has barely enough money for the ferry, nothing for lunch; her paintbrushes are bald and clotted... But she is sure she can sell a painting and is fervent in her belief that the island is detached from all fates she has previously suffered. ... In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes: I want to make life fuller and fuller. Sarah Bernhardt Colette Eleanora Duse Lina Poletti Josephine Baker Virginia Woolf... these are just a few of the women sharing the pages of a book as fierce as it is luminous. Lush and poetic; furious and funny; in After Sappho, Selby Wynn Schwartz has created a novel that celebrates the women and trailblazers of the past their constant efforts to push against the boundaries of what it means, and can mean, to be a woman that also offers hope for our present, and our futures.
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review
vlwelser
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Mehso-so

I appreciate what the author was trying to do here, but it just wasn't my jam. Also the narrator on the audiobook struggles with pronouncing foreign words (esp French) so that was distracting....

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 9mo
41 likes1 comment
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TheKidUpstairs
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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#12Booksof2023

One the third day of Christmas, my reading gave to me, two books I could never choose between! 🎶

Both of these reads have stuck with me for different reasons.

After Sappho is a Greek chorus of women's voices ringing through the years, lilting and dancing through stories of women trying to live life on their own terms, without the input and incursion of men. It is beautiful and playful, sorrowful and filled with rage.

Cont'd

TheKidUpstairs Trespasses tells the story of a young woman figuring out who she is and her place in the world during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It is gripping, and emotional, and I loved every page. 11mo
Andrew65 Always an interesting topic. 11mo
47 likes3 comments
review
mariaku21
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
Bailedbailed

Stopped at 24%.
I wanted to like this one but the jumping around from person to person across different times was a very confusing and hard to keep all the characters straight.

I ended up flipping back n forth a lot more than I wanted to and that along with the nonlinear pacing threw me off a lot.

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shawnmooney
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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https://youtu.be/5p2BakXvTR0

#womenintranslation
#WITmonth

Intro

Weekly Highlights

The Accompanist by Nina Berberova, Marian Schwartz & William Collins (Translators)

After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz

True Biz by Sara Nović

Breast Stories by Mahasweta Devi, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (Translator)

shawnmooney The True Story of Ida Johnson by Sharon Riis

Marzahn, mon amour by Katja Oskamp, Jo Heinrich (Translator)

Flowers of Lhasa by Tsering Yangkyi, Christopher Peacock (Translator)

On the Side of the Angels by Betty Miller

A Pagan Place by Edna O'Brien
1y
Suet624 Terrific review of After Sappho, a book I really liked. 1y
shawnmooney @Suet624 Aw shucks, thank you! 1y
27 likes3 comments
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shawnmooney
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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review
Kazzie
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
Pickpick

I enjoyed the history of lesbians in the 1880-1920 - the joy and passion and work of prominent women was fascinating. The writing style was strange and disjointed, and took from the novel

review
mjtwo
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Bailedbailed

3-4 May 23 (audiobook)
#Bookerlonglist 13
Not for me. Persisted for 2 hours before making the rare decision to bail. Has Audible stopped giving refunds?
Not sure how this is a novel. Maybe the point is that feminists of the fin de siècle were not allowed a narrative? I don‘t know but I hated the snippets of stories and could not keep track of ‘characters‘. It seemed a disjointed collection of facts: some interesting, but not enough.

review
Graywacke
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pickpick

A reflection on Sappho‘s and history‘s fragments. We are left with so little Sappho, we can only confront the lost and unrecoverable. Here a handful of famous fin de siècle lesbians form a comparable set of fragments of a lost, repressed world. I lost my mom while in the middle of this book, which is why i‘ve been so quiet here. When i got back to the book, it had unfortunately lost its magic. But it deserves a look.

dabbe I am so sorry. 😞 You're in my thoughts. 😊 2y
sarahbarnes I‘m so sorry about your mom. I am reading this book at the moment. 2y
Chrissyreadit I‘m sorry. I‘m sure this is a difficult time. ❤️ 2y
See All 26 Comments
WorldsOkayestStepMom I'm so sorry for your loss. 2y
TheKidUpstairs I'm so sorry for your loss. Sending hugs to you and your family. 2y
jlhammar So sorry to hear of your loss. My condolences. 2y
xicanti I‘m so sorry about your mom. 2y
Suet624 Oh gosh. I‘m so sorry. 2y
JamieArc Holding you in the light 🕯️ 2y
Leftcoastzen So sorry about your mom. Sending you hugs and condolences. 2y
psalva I‘m sorry to hear of your loss! My condolences. 2y
Billypar I'm so sorry to hear this - sending best wishes to you and your family 🩵 2y
Ruthiella So sorry for your loss. You have my condolences, ❤️ 2y
eeclayton I'm sorry for your loss ! 2y
batsy I'm so sorry to hear this. My condolences to your and your family ❤️ 2y
erzascarletbookgasm My condolences to you and your family. ❤️ 2y
AnneCecilie I‘m so sorry for your loss ❤️ 2y
MicheleinPhilly I‘m so sorry to hear this. Sending you ❤️. 2y
Tamra Take care. 💜 2y
Graywacke @Tamra thank you 2y
Louise Oh, Dan, I‘ve only just come upon this post. I‘m so deeply sorry for your loss. Sending a hug to you across the miles. 💙 1y
Graywacke @Louise thank you. 1y
Louise 💗🌷 1y
54 likes26 comments
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Graywacke
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Oh, Ovid

Jury duty day 3. This is -not- conductive to finding reading time. Unexpected breaks and unexpected ends of these breaks. Unpredictable time all day.

I think, with Heroides, Ovid gives us the only Roman-perspective sympathetic view of woman. (Maybe a touch also in Metamorphoses.) Don‘t trust him.

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Sophronisba
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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“The first thing we did was change our names. We were going to be Sappho.“

#FridayReads #FirstLineFriday

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Graywacke
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Not as nice as yesterday. I‘m now on a jury and spending my morning in a courthouse Lubys.

Also, I started After Sappho and it reminds me of reading a collection of her known fragments, which took all of about 2 hours. Our one western classical female author of stature was lost. (Is there another?) We‘ve lost every book, and are left with tantalizing fragments of poems. Here these pieces are played into feminine suppression.

swishandflick I've low key always wanted to be picked for a jury, lol 2y
batsy Jury duty! That's so fascinating. 2y
Graywacke @swishandflick ha. I‘m not recommending it. 🙂 @Batsy - despite my wanting to not be here, it is actually an interesting experience. 2y
batsy That's cool! All I know about it I learned from American crime shows 😆 2y
Graywacke @batsy 😂 The jury thing is strange and unpredictable. You hear the whole trial without speaking a word of it to anyone on the jury. Only when it comes time to make a decision do you find out what each person thinks. It‘a a strange moment to realize each person had their own train of thought, and each one you would never have had. 2y
52 likes1 stack add5 comments
review
Jen2
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pickpick

Got this audiobook from NetGalley. It was really good.

Aimeesue Loved this one. Like an impressionist painting in words. ❤️ 2y
Jen2 Exactly!! 2y
51 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Suet624
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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While I was reading this book the author mentions that Sarah Bernhardt liked to sleep in a coffin and she traveled with it. Meant to post this photo while I was reading the book but forgot to.

sisilia 😮 2y
jlhammar Oh my, that is a tad disturbing. 2y
DivineDiana I think it was a clever marketing ploy! 🤔 Now, I want to read her biography! 2y
sarahbarnes 😳😳😳 2y
Tamra Oh, that‘s just weird. 2y
54 likes5 comments
blurb
TheKidUpstairs
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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I just finished the tagged this morning, what a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the #independentwomen who live in its pages. Who refused to live their lives and loves based on the rules of male power and society.

Top: cover, Lina Poletti, Virginia Woolf
Middle: Romaine Brooks, Eva Palmer, Natalie Barney, Vita Sackville-West
Bottom: Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas, Isadora Duncan, Colette

@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

Chelsea.Poole Love these photos!! 2y
Aimeesue I LOVED this one. So many great moments. It was like a pointillist painting that doesn‘t make sense close up, but gains structure and form when you pull back to look at the whole piece. ❤️ 2y
Ruthiella @Aimeesue Nice description! 2y
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BarbaraBB Great pictures and the book fits the prompt perfectly 🤍 2y
Cinfhen This book would have been a perfect choice as our read!!! Excellent collage 😁 2y
TheKidUpstairs @Aimeesue I loved it too! It has pretty meh ratings on her, so I had low expectations, but I was utterly entranced from the first page to the last. The writing was so beautiful, the subjects so fascinating. I love your comparison to a pointillist painting! 2y
Aimeesue @TheKidUpstairs I can see why it didn‘t land for some people - no real story line, lots of interweaving characters with no dominant POV, the Greek chorus - but it worked for me! 2y
Suet624 I‘m so glad to hear you liked it. I did too! 2y
59 likes8 comments
review
Suet624
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pickpick

I found the information in this book fascinating but the presentation was completely disjointed & hard to follow. The author concentrates on women authors & artists who ran counter to the societal laws of the time: who love other women, who dress as men, who struggle to change laws that would put them in jail. Again, the writing is such that you can forget who is involved in what and with whom (Who vs whom? That always gets me.) but I enjoyed…

Suet624 Getting to know the women and history that I had no knowledge of. I became quite involved with Wikipedia to learn more about them. 2y
squirrelbrain Great review! I didn‘t like this one at all, probably because of that disjointed structure. 2y
AnneCecilie I feel that this is a book I should reread and research more about the women. 2y
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batsy Nice review! What @AnneCecilie said—I feel bad that I didn't get as much out of this as I probably should have. 2y
sarahbarnes Great review. I‘ll be interested to see how I feel about it. Giving it a try soon. 2y
BarbaraBB How good that it worked for you. I couldn‘t connect to this book but I read a very unattractive edition with page after page filled with a small font and no white space anywhere. 2y
Suet624 @squirrelbrain Yes, I'm not sure why I was okay with it.
2y
Suet624 @AnneCecilie Some of the women I had never heard of and it was so interesting to research them a bit more. I feel as if the author gives you an idea of them and you have to do the rest :) 2y
Suet624 @batsy I felt like it was a tough one to get through and I decided to just ride the wave of the bizarre manner of storytelling. :) 2y
Suet624 @sarahbarnes Thanks! I would suggest that you keep a list of each person as you read and then you can see how they mix and match - the author tends to move from one woman to another and back again, as well as their partners. A list would have helped me. 2y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB Oh gosh, that would be so tough to get through. 2y
BarbaraBB It makes all the difference 🤷🏻‍♀️ 2y
58 likes1 stack add12 comments
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Suet624
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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This book is filled with women I‘m delighted to get to know. Romaine Brooks is one of them. The reason I post this piece from the ArtStory.org is because of that last line. I keep trying to remember what book it was that I read several years back that included the story of having to allow Germans to live in your home? (The mind is a terrible thing to waste.). 🤣🤣

Bookzombie The Nightingale is one that I can think of off the top of my head. 2y
Suet624 @Bookzombie THAT‘S IT! Thank you! 💕🤦🏻‍♀️ 2y
Bookzombie Welcome! I can‘t recall everything I have read either. 🙂 2y
42 likes3 comments
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Suet624
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Love this paragraph.

BarbaraBB Glad you‘re enjoying this book! 2y
Graywacke I love the quote. I think i will read this in March. 2y
Suet624 @Graywacke a lot of folks don‘t seem to like the book and I can se why, but for some reason I‘m really enjoying it. I would suggest the print version. I can imagine the audio version would be difficult to follow. 2y
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Graywacke @Suet624 i bought a beautiful hardcover, the US edition just released late last month. 🙂 I also noticed the response has been lacking excitement. I‘m hoping the legacy of Sappho will carry me through the difficult parts. 2y
sarahbarnes Just picked this one up from the library. 2y
Suet624 @Graywacke @sarahbarnes I hope you like it. 2y
43 likes6 comments
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Aimeesue
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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My top 20 reads from 2022. I'm kinda all over the place 😂

TrishB It‘s good to be varied 👍🏻 2y
jlhammar Love your mix! So many good ones. I‘m happy to see Five Little Indians and Thistlefoot on here since I own both, but haven‘t read them yet. 2y
Aimeesue @TrishB Honestly, I'd be bored otherwise. I think you reach a saturation point eventually, with most genres. You can see the "twists" coming and it's not very much fun when stories get predictable. Am beginning to realize why us old people tend toward NF in our later years - been there, read that ? 2y
Aimeesue @jlhammar i really enjoyed both of those! "Enjoyed" is probably the wrong word for Five Little Indians, but it was very good! 2y
36 likes4 comments
quote
Aimeesue
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Aimeesue
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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"She shut the insistent voices of her family inside the house and went up her tree. From a haven of leaves she looked out over the cemetery. The tombs of poets were wreathed in laurel and etched in glorious verses, while the graves of the ordinary listed as their only accomplishments the names of children produced or a spouse bereaved. So many dead in childbirth, she observed, and so few by shipwreck.

TheBookHippie This has been on my list!!!! 2y
Aimeesue @TheBookHippie Really enjoying it! 2y
TheBookHippie @Aimeesue Good to know!! I am excited to read it! 2y
34 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
batsy
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Mehso-so

This was a weird reading experience for me, because in theory it seems like exactly the kind of novel I would love. Yet reading it felt strangely laborious, almost like a chore. After a point it read like a series of biographical sketches & details thrown together; it felt disjointed without a way for me to enter the text, so to speak, & I got very little out of the writing & language in terms of beauty & pleasure. I was relieved to be done.

vlwelser Everyone seems to be panning this. Thank you for adding to the reasons that I do not need to hunt this one down. 2y
jlhammar Good to know! I don't think I'll be making this one a priority. I've had enough laborious reading to last me for a while thanks to Glory and Seven Moons. 2y
batsy @vlwelser I thought the idea behind it was admirable, but somehow it didn't quite come together for me. 2y
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batsy @jlhammar I haven't read those two & this one seems pretty different in style, but yes the "a chore to read" aspect of it was pretty strong for me. I was hoping to hit it off with this book! 2y
nathandrake1997 Something about this book spoke to me in a manner books seldom do. Also, I'm a sucker for fragmented literature. Brilliant review as always ❤️ 2y
batsy @nathandrake1997 I remember your lovely review! I'm so glad it worked for you; am somewhat disappointed it wasn't quite for me. 2y
Suet624 I‘m enjoying stopping and looking at photos of many of the women she writes about. I agree it feels disjointed and a bit if a chore, but for some reason I‘m making it through. 2y
batsy @Suet624 Happy that you're enjoying it! I think it's a book with an interesting concept and I probably read it at the wrong time because I just felt mostly grumpy at the time. Lol. Also wondering if it's a book best enjoyed in print format (I read the digital version). 2y
75 likes8 comments
review
Abailliekaras
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pickpick

I loved this eccentric novel. It‘s a playful biography of women in arts & culture from the 19th & 20th centuries told in short pieces. The narrator (‘we‘ a chorus), the women‘s encounters with each other & the influence of Sappho give it cohesion & narrative drive. She brings the women to life with clean prose that is strong & poetic without being showy. I loved the infusion of myths into their stories. Wes Anderson-esque light tone & vignettes.

33 likes1 stack add
review
AnneCecilie
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pickpick

A work of fiction about women not confirming to society‘s expectations of them. Set between the 1880s and the 1920s, and mostly in Italy and France but later also in England.

Some of the women in this I had never heard of like Lina Poletti, Anne Kuliscioff, Eleonora Duse and Natalie Barney. While others was more familiar like Sarah Bernhardt, Virgina Wolf and Colette.

In a side note I had no idea there were so many words for a lesbian

AnneCecilie And the comment made by a lord about not having heard of this Greek chap Clitoris they are talking about is just too funny. 2y
Suet624 That last comment made me laugh out loud. I‘ve been enjoying googling the images of the women I‘d never heard of. Eva Palmer and her hair! 2y
67 likes2 comments
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AnneCecilie
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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But which books should we read? asked one girl very seriously, twisting the ends of her plaits. Virginia Woolf replied, If a novel bores you, leave it. Try something else. Poetry is too like fiction to be a change. But biography is a very different thing. Go to the bookcase & take out a life of anybody.

Suet624 But…but…I can‘t seem to leave a book. I just keep plodding along hoping by the end I will have gotten something from it. 2y
Cinfhen It seems like you‘re getting on well with this book 😁🎊💕 2y
AnneCecilie @Cinfhen I‘m loving it, but this was already on my radar before the longlist, so I would have gotten it even if it wasn‘t there. A book about women always gets me interested. 2y
See All 7 Comments
AnneCecilie @Suet624 I completely understand. I still don‘t DNF my own books. I find it easier to bail on library books, maybe because they are more maybe books and Longlisted books I wouldn‘t have read otherwise. It is more likely that not all of them will be for me. 2y
Suet624 That‘s a good way of going about it. 2y
charl08 A fan of this one. Hope to reread. 2y
AnneCecilie @charl08 I do get that. I think I would get even more out of it on a second read. It‘s so dense and full of information. 2y
62 likes7 comments
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AnneCecilie
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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First of all, Eleonora Duse said, Italy was indisputably a monopoly of men. Of course women wanted to be human beings instead of little dolls who danced for the pleasure of their husbands, dutifully bore children, and annihilated themselves. Who would not want what half the population had just by being born? Furthermore, Eleonora Duse went on, if ever a woman wants to work, to write, to think for herself, to take action, to love another woman, she

AnneCecilie is immediately derided as unnatural and perverse for expressing the very qualities that men hold dear for themselves. It is no wonder, Eleonora Duse concluded, that women in Italy are burning and burning with a dry rage against the long tyranny of men. 2y
AnneCecilie (Picture is of Eleonora Duse) 2y
Suet624 Burning and burning with a dry rage. ❤️ 2y
51 likes3 comments
quote
AnneCecilie
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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All through the century of Eleonora Duse‘s birth, Ibsen noted, every actress in Scandinavia fainted on the same side of the stage every time. If there was a dramatic moment, the handkerchief went to the left hand, the actress to stage left, and then there was a fainting.

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review
BarbaraBB
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Bailedbailed

This was not for me. It felt flat and repetitive and I skimmed the pages more than I read them 🤷🏻‍♀️

#BookerPrize2022

(Pic: Busan, South Korea)

rmaclean4 Good to know! I will read it if it is on the short list. 2y
Ruthiella Another amazing photo! 😍 2y
charl08 Oh no, I loved this. Please don't throw it our the window...🤣 2y
See All 13 Comments
squirrelbrain Great photo! I agree with you complexity; pretty much skimmed my way through this one; it‘s right at the bottom of my list I‘m afraid! 2y
BarbaraBB @charl08 Lol, I won‘t. I read your review and I hoped I‘d love the@book as much as you did but unfortunately I felt like @squirrelbrain about it! 2y
JamieArc I pretty much bailed on this one too, for now. I‘ll pick it back up and finish it later. I had high hopes for it, unfortunately. 2y
Megabooks You‘re high up! Cool! Sorry the book was disappointing though. 2y
Cinfhen View is fabulous sorry the book wasn‘t 2y
MrsK I think my expectations were too high when I read this…or actually…bailed before I was halfway through 😁. I felt more like disconnected short stories too me. 2y
BarbaraBB @MrsK Yes and a bit repetitive 2y
Graywacke Bummer. The title is a draw. 2y
BarbaraBB @Graywacke Don‘t mind me. Many people loved it. 2y
Graywacke @BarbaraBB i definitely appreciate, and like having, your impression. It might help me get in the right mental space when I start. 🙂 2y
79 likes1 stack add13 comments
blurb
RaeLovesToRead
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Bookspin for September 🙃 Will this be the month that I get a Bingo? Looking at it now I'm thinking I should be able to get TWO or THREE Bingos 😆💕

Ah, the optimism of a new month..

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! Good luck!! 2y
43 likes1 comment
blurb
Kimberlone
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Yesterday‘s #bookmail! I won both of these as Goodreads giveaways :)

IndoorDame Awesome! 2y
Suet624 Good giveaway wins! 2y
41 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
RaeLovesToRead
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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I've had a super-dreadful week, so have bought a big stack of books to cheer myself up 😀🥰

Four from Five Leaves 💕
Two from Page 45 💕
Two from Waterstones 💕

And I don't feel bad because I'm supporting independent bookstores and keeping myself in reading material 🙃😀

Hope you're all having a fab weekend!

Soubhiville Hope your upcoming week is an improvement. Enjoy your new stack! 2y
squirrelbrain Oh no, sorry you‘ve had a tough week. Hopefully things will improve - helped of course by your wonderful stack of books! 2y
TrishB Hope you have a better week! I love Five Leaves- used to visit when daughter was at uni. 2y
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Bookwomble I hope you get the Bank Holiday off, and that it gives you some respite from the bad stuff 💖 2y
AnneCecilie Lanny is amazing. I wish I could read it for the first time. 2y
DaveGreen7777 Hope the coming week is a much better one for you, Dr. Rae! 2y
RaeLovesToRead @Soubhiville @squirrelbrain @TrishB @Bookwomble @AnneCecilie @DaveGreen7777 Thank you, my friends 💙 I feel like I've mentioned quite a lot of bad weeks this year - usually along the theme of one heartbreak or another... time to focus on myself and escape into some good books! Onwards and upwards 🤗🙃 2y
BiblioLitten I hope you have better weeks ahead 💕 2y
Branwen Uggggh, so sorry about the dreadful week, my friend! *hugs* Books are always the best way to cheer yourself up! 2y
RaeLovesToRead @BiblioLitten @Branwen Thank you both 💕 Hopefully the naff weeks will start getting further apart soon 😅 2y
56 likes10 comments
review
ClairesReads
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Mehso-so

Schwartz is certainly innovating here, and I am always interested to read stories about womanhood. But unfortunately I loved the concept but I did not really like the execution. Structurally I never really got “into” the story that Schwartz is constructing here, and voices that I‘d expected to move me kept me at a distance.

squirrelbrain Great review - I pretty much felt the same about this one. 2y
JamieArc I am about 25% in and feel pretty much the same way, wondering where it‘s going to go. I‘ll keep reading, but I‘ll probably just pick it up slowly over the next month or two. 2y
ClairesReads @squirrelbrain thanks! Always good to know it‘s not just me. I kept waiting for her to bring the characters alive but it ended up just reading like fragmented biographies for me 2y
squirrelbrain Yes, it was almost like reading a feminist encyclopaedia or similar! 2y
ClairesReads @squirrelbrain that‘s such an apt description 2y
38 likes5 comments
review
charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pickpick

After two books I was quite "meh" about, so pleased to read a #Booker22 longlist I loved.
(Apologies for the quote-bombing)

Schwartz pulls together disparate queer women's lives to create a patchwork of protest: for equality and the freedom to be both artists and themselves.

@Cinfhen @squirrelbrain @MicheleinPhilly @batsy @vivastory @rmaclean4 @Cathythoughts @JamieArc @BarbaraBB @jlhammar @Ruthiella @sarahbarnes @Hazel2019 @Brimful

JamieArc Glad to see a positive review. From the few pages I‘ve peeked at, I‘m hoping to like this one too. 2y
rmaclean4 Sadly this is not scheduled to be published in the US until 2023. Looking forward to reading it when I can! 2y
DivineDiana Beautiful rose! That color! ❤️ 2y
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humouress Stunning photo, beautiful flower 2y
Ruthiella Excellent! Glad to hear you liked it! 2y
BarbaraBB I‘m glad you enjoyed it. I hope to get to it too. 2y
Cinfhen Gorgeous photo and lovely review!! Another book I wasn‘t looking forward to but you‘ve swayed me into wanting to picking it up 2y
charl08 @JamieArc I hope you enjoy it too. 2y
charl08 @rmaclean4 2023?! Oh I hope they put that forward now its been nominated. 2y
charl08 @DivineDiana I am very proud of having taken a cutting from the original rosebush. I've not managed to repeat it though... 2y
charl08 @humouress I love this new phone's zoom. 2y
charl08 @Ruthiella I would like to see what she writes next. 2y
charl08 @BarbaraBB hopefully the nomination is a positive for such a small publisher. 2y
charl08 @Cinfhen I hope you like it, one I want to keep on the shelves (and also, press on other people). 2y
JamieArc @rmaclean4 I‘m in the US and ordered it from Book Depository. It is owned by Amazon, but if that doesn‘t bug you, I always enjoy ordering from them for UK versions of books. (edited) 2y
rmaclean4 @JamieArc Thank you! When I get back from holiday I will check it out. 2y
Ruthiella @rmaclean4 @JamieArc Blackwell‘s also is a good source for UK editions if you want to avoid Amazon. They were previously an independent chain but recently were purchased by Waterstones. Prices are good, includes shipping and their delivery times are better than The Book Depository IMO. 2y
JamieArc @Ruthiella Thanks for that suggestion! I‘ll check it out! 2y
sarahbarnes I may have to order a copy of this one from Blackwell‘s/Book Depository. It sounds so intriguing. 2y
67 likes19 comments
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charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz

...reading that book was like lying in the arms of your lover...

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charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Readers according to Colette were like lovers. The best were attentive, intelligent, exigent, and promiscuous. She urged us to read widely and well, to seek out precisely the novels prohibited to us and lie down for hours in bed with them. We should read to gorge and sate ourselves, Colette enjoined us; after a good book we should lick our fingers. We should especially read the lives of women, for example...

BarbaraBB So true 💯 2y
56 likes1 comment
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charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Romaine painted the moment that belonged to Renata alone, before sound takes form...

#Booker2022

32 likes1 comment
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charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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On the rue de l'Odéon were the two bookshops we frequented so assiduously that Gertrude Stein would say, I have almost a country there!

.... It was a small but marvellous realm where we encountered books on every imaginable subject. Leather-bound volumes we could not afford to purchase from La Maison des Amis were lent to us, wrapped in glassine paper, for a fortnight.

#Booker2022

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charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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In 1899 there were many Italian books instructing young ladies on proper comportment. Girls were to be noble, nice, industrious, modest, devout, quiet, self-sacrificing, and above all free of vice. Anna Vertua Gentile, who wrote dozens of these books, published How Ought I to Behave Myself? just as Eva Palmer arrived in Rome. Eva did not read it.

#Booker2022

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charl08
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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The eminent Doctor Laycock of York, writing on the nervous disorders of women, could not help but notice that the young women consorted with each other, the more excitable and more indolent they became.

.... no sooner were girls reading in bed than they were reading in bed together. What might look like sisterly affection...ought to be diagnosed as the pernicious antecedent of hysteric paroxysms

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jhod
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Pleased with my postcards :-) #galleybeggarpress

BarbaraBB Wow! 2y
charl08 I love these! Were they a special for supporters? 2y
jhod @charl08 no, just if you order direct from them! 2y
charl08 @jhod ooh, what an incentive. If only I'd known! 2y
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squirrelbrain
After Sappho | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Mehso-so

I‘m afraid this is a case of ‘it‘s not you, it‘s me‘! I can see why this book was nominated for the #booker2022 but I struggled with it.

The fragmented style, vignettes telling of the lives of Sapphic women, meant that it didn‘t form a coherent novel.

The first-person plural narrative (extracts from Sappho as a kind of chorus) also didn‘t work for me, but did in another Booker nominee, Maps.

This one is bottom of my list so far. 😞

BarbaraBB Sorry to hear that but one must be. You‘ve read so many good ones! 2y
Cathythoughts You read it though ! Well done. I‘m very slow this year , so I‘ll be leaving this one out 👍🏻♥️ 2y
Cazxxx I didn‘t enjoy it much either 2y
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Cinfhen This is one that didn‘t really interest me so unless it makes the short list I‘m happy to take a pass 😊 2y
squirrelbrain Glad it wasn‘t just me! @Cazxxx 2y
Ruthiella I typically need a strong plot or strong character development…but I could be pleasantly surprised! 2y
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IndoorDame
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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This fun thoughtful quiz tells you what to read off this year‘s Booker Prize Longlist. I loved the results so much I actually preordered this which is pretty rare for me!

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/quiz-which-2022-booker-l...

ShelleyBooksie Thank you for sharing 2y
Caterina Fun! I got Treacle Walker - time to see if my library has it 😊 2y
IndoorDame @Caterina nice! I‘m interested in about half the list this year, but there‘s only a few titles I can actually get right now 2y
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Ruthiella I got The Colony…🤔 Maybe I‘ll check it out! 2y
IndoorDame @Ruthiella I thought that one looked cool! 2y
batsy That was such a well-done quiz. I got Treacle Walker, which was already on my TBR 🙂 2y
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JamieArc
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Wanting to know where to start or what to read next on the #Booker2022 Longlist? Visit the Booker website to take a quiz. Apparently, After Sappho is what I should read next. It‘s fun that they created this.

jlhammar Fun! My result was Small Things Like These which I‘ve already read and loved. 2y
charl08 Interesting idea! I've just started 2y
rmaclean4 Fun quiz! I got The Trees which I am taking on vacation with me next week. 2y
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TheBookHippie Well I‘ve added this to my list. I love Sappho ! And this looks very interesting ✊🏼. 2y
squirrelbrain I did it (just for fun as I‘ve read a lot of them anyway!) and got The Colony which is nearly my favourite! 2y
Deblovestoread Guess I‘m on the right track as it chose The Colony. 2y
vlwelser Mine picked The Trees. Which just went to the top of my list (it may have been there already). 2y
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JamieArc
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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My first #Booker2022 #bookhaul has arrived! I‘ve never been so excited to read so many of the Booker Longlist titles. Currently, I‘m flying through Nightcrawling and The Colony.

Deblovestoread I loved Small Things Like These. Up next is The Colony on audio. 2y
JamieArc @Kdgordon88 I am really liking The Colony. The prose is beautiful. I imagine it makes for a great audiobook. 2y
BarbaraBB That looks fantastic! I am reading Nightcrawling too at the moment. 2y
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batsy Nice! 😍 2y
Megabooks Great haul!! Lots to look forward to! (edited) 2y
charl08 Looks good. I'm really tempted by 2y
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Cazxxx
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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Trying to read a few from the Booker prize longlist as I always do. This is number 3 and it‘s not bad but not my favourite. Have you read any from the list? Which did you enjoy?

charl08 Reading this one, but I think @squirrelbrain has read most of them! 2y
Cazxxx @charl08 This is the only one I don‘t want to read as illness is something I can‘t read about 2y
jlhammar I loved The Trees, Small Things Like These and Oh William. Planning to read Booth, The Colony, Maps, Treacle Walker and Case Study over the next few weeks. 2y
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Cazxxx @jlhammar Case study is the one I‘m planning to read next, it sounds the most interesting to me 2y
squirrelbrain Not quite all of them yet! @charl08 I‘ve just finished number 8 @Cazxxx - I‘m about to start After Sappho next. I really wouldn‘t read Maps if you don‘t like illness, although it‘s one of my favourites from the list. 2y
Cazxxx @squirrelbrain oh you‘ve read a lot! My library doesn‘t have them all and a few I have to wait for. Yes I‘m not reading maps due to my Illnesses. What‘s been your favourite so far? 2y
squirrelbrain So sorry - forgot to answer your question! My top 3 are The Colony, The Trees and Maps. 2y
Cazxxx @squirrelbrain Thank you 😊 The trees has caught my eye also 2y
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squirrelbrain
After Sappho: A Novel | Selby Wynn Schwartz
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#bookmail number 1

I was only reading about this yesterday as there‘s some #bookerchatter around it, so I was rather surprised when it turned up today!

I have a subscription to #galleybeggarbooks which has turned out to be wonderful so far. The books are signed and always include a bookmark and, this time, some postcards.

This book sounds fascinating - a re imagination of the lives of a number of feminists at the turn of the 20th century.

AnneCecilie This book is on my wishlist. It sounds so interesting. 2y
BarbaraBB And now it‘s nominated for the Booker prize! You‘re so on par 😉😘 2y
59 likes2 comments