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I disliked this short story the first time I read it years ago and I forgot I‘d read it. I still don‘t like it. It‘s quite sad though because it could be quite good—about why an old woman gave up gambling. Then the ending falls so flat. Fortunately it‘s very short so there‘s that. #letterQ #halloweenatoz

#hauntedshelf #hexesandcrows @Catsandbooks @PuddleJumper

I read most of this, according to The Serial Reader I‘ve read more than 70% of it but gave up after the chapter of beating up a girl for absolutely no reason.

Almost instantly after injecting one syringeful of two-per cent solution, a state of calm sets in which turns straight away into delight and bliss. But this continues for only one or two minutes. And then it's all lost without trace, as if it had never been. Pain, dread, darkness set in. The spring roars, black birds fly from bare branch to bare branch, while in the distance the forest reaches towards the sky like bristles, broken and black...

...she undid a package, and out of it fell a long, snow-white towel with an artless red cockerel embroidered on it....

And for many years it hung in my bedroom in Muryino, and then it went with me on my wanderings. Finally it grew ragged, faded, became full of holes, and finally disappeared, fading and disappearing just like memories.

I bailed less than 100 pages from the end. Somehow this book made an overpopulated sprawling mess of a most excellent concept.

Weekly Report

I've finished the utterly strange Life of Insects. I've also read the emotional Aue. After an odd ebook set back, I am continuing 2666 at home and King Lear of the Steppes is my subway read.

#readaroundtheworld #ukraine I love Bulgakov‘s The Master and Margarita and this is not quite up to that. The novel reads almost like a cinematic script with the city of Kiev playing a leading role. It is 1918 and there are White Russians, Red Bolshevik's, Ukrainian national socialists, Germans and our title group; the White Guard who are Ukrainians loyal to the memory of the tsar. A flowing easy read and a wonderful history lesson.

One of the best books I‘ve ever read.

I‘m just a bit at a loss for words to be honest. There‘s no way I could fully discuss this novel without writing a true essay-length-verging-on-dissertation exploration on this story‘s depth and richness, but… I‘m gobsmacked at the rawness and reality of this novel written in 1870s.

Just breathtaking.

Lady With an Ermine By Jeff Stanford. Not related to picture: Get $5 off on Etsy on a purchase over $25 til tomorrow.