NYRBBookClub

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

pan

Oh dear. I really enjoyed the first 40 pages or so and then I started to actively loathe this book. 😆😆 I hate-read the rest of it and found Sarah Weinman‘s afterword the best part of the reading experience for me.

It could be the headspace I‘m in today or maybe not. I can‘t wait for the discussion and hope some of you prove me wrong!

#NYRBBookClub
@vivastory

Suet624 I can‘t remember you ever panning a book before! 4d

Tamra You had the wherewithal to finish! That‘s hard to do. 😬 4d

AmyG Yikes. 😬 4d

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LeahBergen @Suet624 Probably because I would bail on it first! 😆 The shortness of this novel and the fact that it‘s an #NYRBBookClub pick made me finish. 😆 3d

LeahBergen @Tamra It was quite short (and I admit to some speed reading going on in the latter half). 😆 3d

LeahBergen @AmyG I always feel guilty when I “pan” a book. 😆 3d

BarbaraBB I love your review, you‘re not often that outspokenly negative. That will add to the discussion 💛 3d

LeahBergen @BarbaraBB Haha, I know! I always find it hard to “pan” a book. But sometimes… 🤷🏻‍♀️ 3d

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LeahBergen

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

It‘s time to start this month‘s #NYRBBookClub!

@vivastory

vivastory 🍷📚 Enjoy 5d

Suet624 I started it yesterday. I'm dying to talk to someone about a seemingly random event that takes place in the early part of the book! :) 5d

batsy I hope you enjoy! I've yet to start 😅 I'm hoping to this week or next, since we have a little bit more time and because Camp Litsy is also starting 😆 5d

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LeahBergen @vivastory @Suet624 @batsy Eek! I really didn‘t get along with this one. 😬 I posted a very short review and will comment more during the discussion. 4d

batsy @LeahBergen Oh no, that's a bummer. 4d

LeahBergen @batsy I hope you like it more than I did! 🤞 3d

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Megabooks

Weekly Forecast | Thomas Gibson Inc

This week IJ kicked my butt. I just wasn‘t feeling it. Both Damnation and Mean Baby are minor disappointments so far. Sigh.

Looking forward to next week! I‘ve got How High We Go #reread for #CampLitsy, Basic Black for #NYRBBookClub, and 7 Days for #SummerHeat. It‘s always fun to read with friends! I‘m trying to get more fiction in, but my library‘s nonfiction audiobooks have been 🔥🔥 this month. Wild Places is a #BlameItOn @Chelsea.Poole 😁

Megabooks #WeeklyForecast @Cinfhen 6d

ChaoticMissAdventures I struggled with Damnation. It is close to the culture I was raised in so I thought I would be interested but the entire thing dragged. 6d

Cinfhen Nice forecast!! Lots of goodies on deck 🤩 6d

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Megabooks @Cinfhen thanks!! 😘 6d

Megabooks @ChaoticMissAdventures yeah, my dad owned a lumberyard when I was growing up, so some of it I get, but it doesn‘t need to been over 400 pages! 6d

IamIamIam Oh man, I was really looking forward to Mean Baby! I have the audio on hold at the library. 6d

vivastory 👏👏 for buddy reads. Feel free to join in the June & July NYRBBookClub. In June we read

Good Behaviour

vivastory & July

The Radiance of the King

BarbaraBB Great plans! And you are going to reread How High. How good! I‘m not sure if I will… I didn‘t like it much and have so many books waiting I‘d rather read. Do you think I should? 6d

Chelsea.Poole I just checked out Damnation Spring on audio. 😬 6d

Chelsea.Poole Also, hope this one works for you! I think it was the right book at the right time. After several nonfiction titles l was ready to really shake things up and not think too much.

A History of Wild Places: A Novel

(edited) 6d

Megabooks @IamIamIam yeah, it just didn‘t hit me right. I‘m still thinking it through. I don‘t think it‘s bad, but maybe not right for me. The crying at emotional parts of the audiobook sounded fake to me, which was annoying. 6d

Megabooks @vivastory thanks! I really appreciate you including me! 6d

Megabooks @BarbaraBB I am. I liked it, and I don‘t remember a lot of the specifics of books, especially if I initially read them on audio. It‘s probably fine if you don‘t reread. I guess I just want to be over-prepared for our first week. I was always that kid in school! 😂😂 6d

Megabooks @Chelsea.Poole yeah. It was too long…just kind of dragged…I didn‘t like the ending. Some of the characters were absolutely abhorrent! I don‘t know. Just kinda didn‘t work for me. I have it at 3⭐️ now but I‘m still thinking about it. 6d

Megabooks @Chelsea.Poole I don‘t have high expectations for wild places, but I was looking for a no brain needed fiction audiobook. 👍🏻 6d

BarbaraBB That is so nice of you! @squirrelbrain will be happy- especially since I probably won‘t be the best co-host for this specific book! 6d

squirrelbrain Ha Meg, I was always that kid in school too! You don‘t need to re-read @BarbaraBB - I‘m sure you‘ll make valuable contributions anyway. 6d

84 likes18 comments

Billypar

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

#nyrbbookclub
I'm really enjoying this one so far! I'm not quite halfway through, but there's a scene involving this Bonnard painting in the Toronto gallery the main character visits that is pretty surreal and, without preempting our eventual discussion where we can dig into its meaning, I'm wondering if those who've read it can confirm if my reading of the basic 'what's happening' level is the same as yours. I'll summarize in the comments...

Billypar My main question is the place and time of this experience: I think it's happening in the Toronto gallery but I wasn't 100% sure at times. It begins right after a memory she had at the Frick gallery, but it shifts to the present tense. And I can't find any indication that the Bonnard painting was ever at the AGO, but the prior Marchesa Casati painting is. Still, an inconsistency like that isn't a problem in fiction. But there's another detail... 1w

Billypar On page 59 of the NYRB edition, the paragraph "In Paris, I was so caught up with waiting each day for Coenraad's arrival..." refers to a possible memory dated in 1967, but in it she describes forgetting a promise made to the girl in the painting she's currently looking at in the late 1970s so there's a time paradox going on if the painting fantasy is happening in the present... 1w

Billypar And it's even more disorienting since the world of the painting is the 1930s. But maybe that's the point - once she's in the painting she's in that room's time, so she can imagine 1967 is the future and insert that broken promise into her fantasy. Is that the way you were thinking of it? Tagging those who posted reviews to see if you were also puzzling over time traveling matters 🙃 @merelybookish @sarahbarnes @BarbaraBB 1w

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BarbaraBB I wasn‘t aware of these various time frames but she is not the most reliable narrator, so maybe that can be the reason? 1w

Billypar @BarbaraBB It's a good question - like, is she faithfully recounting a 'petit mal attack' as she claims, or trying to turn her despair of waiting for Coenraad (both present day and in Paris) into an artistic construction to ward off loneliness? Or maybe somewhere in between. 1w

merelybookish I think I read it as your last suggestion - that she becomes the vulnerable girl in the painting in her imagination. It's such a disorienting shift, it took a moment to 'get' what was happening. But throughout the book, she seems to recollect a variety of stories about young girls who are violated in some way. She overhears them, reads them in the newspaper, and this one triggered by art. It's something she is very attune to 1w

Billypar @merelybookish Yeah, it was the dreamiest sequence so far in the novel, and I thought I got what was happening until she brought the Paris thing into it. But I think you're right, she has a real pattern with her responses to these stories and Weinzweig nicely dramatizes how deep in her head she is in reacting to the painting. 1w

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vivastory

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

#NYRBBookClub Join me Sun. 6/5 @ 12 CST as we discuss Weinzweig's novel. Reviews have been positive so far. Looking forward to the discussion. Discussion open to all.
@BarbaraBB @catebutler @daena @arubabookwoman @emilyhaldi @quietjenn @sprainedbrain @mklong @youneverarrived @LeahBergen @Leftcoastzen @Liz_M @merelybookish @GatheringBooks @readordierachel @sarahbarnes @batsy @Billypar @Megabooks @Suet624 @DrexEdit @Sapphire @Addison_Reads

Megabooks Excited to read this next week! 1w

Leftcoastzen I‘m about half way through, enjoying it! 1w

vivastory @Megabooks I'll be diving in next week as well. Looking forward to it! 1w

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vivastory @Leftcoastzen 👏 👏 1w

sarahbarnes Looking forward to it! 1w

LeahBergen I‘ll be cracking it open next week, too 👍 1w

vivastory @LeahBergen I hope it works for you! 1w

vivastory @sarahbarnes I think it will be a good discussion! 1w

merelybookish I'll be there with pearls on! 😁 1w

vivastory @merelybookish 🍾📚 1w

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BarbaraBB

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

pick

Shirley Kaszenbowski , a Jewish immigrant in Toronto, escapes her “basic black” life for a more exciting one: one with secret rendezvous all over the world with a mysterious lover, who is a spy for the Agency. They communicate by code an this time this leads her to her hometown.
While walking the streets of Toronto it becomes clear how unreliable our narrator is. I can‘t say too much without spoilers but it‘s quite the read!

#NYRBBookClub

vivastory

CarolynM Sounds good🙂 1w

Sapphire I really enjoyed this one 1w

merelybookish Great review! 1w

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Megabooks Excited to read this! 1w

Suet624 I had some other books I thought I‘d read next (Valerie Perrin … library books!) but fine. Your review sealed the deal. I‘ll pull this one off the shelf and read it next. 1w

BarbaraBB @Suet624 I feel the pressure! I love that you‘re reading a #NYRB but I can‘t imagine it‘s as good as the new Perrin! 1w

Suet624 Hmmm…. Very good point. 1w

vivastory Great review. Looking forward to discussing in a couple of weeks 👏 1w

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BarbaraBB

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

Never considered that 😉 #NYRBBookClub

vivastory

vivastory 🌊🤣 1w

CarolynM 🤣 1w

50 likes2 comments

sarahbarnes

Basic Black with Pearls | Helen Weinzweig

pick

I really enjoyed this interior story of a woman‘s search for meaning and happiness. I have so many questions about Shirley, her experiences in the novel, and her account of events. Which means I‘m really looking forward to the discussion! #nyrbbookclub @vivastory

vivastory I'm glad that you enjoyed this one! I'm looking forward to the discussion. 2w

merelybookish Yes, lots of questions! 1w

31 likes2 comments

BarbaraBB

Winter in Sokcho | ELISA. SHUA DUSAPIN

#WeeklyForecast 20/22

Still enjoying and cherishing The Island of Missing Trees. Then I‘ll read the short but very intriguing Winter in Sokcho, followed by this month‘s #NYRBBookClub choice.
After that, I guess it will all be about Camp!

Cinfhen

Cinfhen Hahaha and don‘t forget #SummerHeat ♥️😘 2w

BarbaraBB @Cinfhen Absolutely not! I‘ve got my copy ready to go! (edited) 2w

Hooked_on_books How are you doing with The Books of Jacob? Are you hanging on with it? 2w

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Megabooks I think you‘ll love Sokcho! 2w

BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books I haven‘t picked it up again. I might if it wins the International Booker but I am not tempted too. You bailed too didn‘t you? 2w

BarbaraBB @Megabooks I expect so too! 2w

Hooked_on_books I did bail. I just couldn‘t get engaged in it. 2w

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