Four Books Reviewed

[@myreadinglife8816]

Shorty September is a great reading event. It’s so satisfying to get through a bunch of books!

[@BookishTexan]

It’s my favorite.

[@EveningReader]

I'm amazed you can review four books so well in thirteen minutes. Goals. I love that Held cover. I may have to fit in Home this month.

[@BookishTexan]

That is a great cover. Home is a good shortie. Not only are there less than 200 pages, but the pages are not densely packed with text.

[@TKTalksBooks]

@@EveningReader I had to break my book buying ban because of that Held cover. Had to have it!

[@BookishTexan]

@@TKTalksBooks Ha!

[@TKTalksBooks]

Loved Held .. it is on my Booker short list Thx Brian

[@BookishTexan]

Mine too!

[@davidnovakreadspoetry]

I could just repeat what Priscilla @eveningreader said earlier - both I’m struck by the full picture you give of the books so briefly _and_ how appealing that cover is.

[@BookishTexan]

@@davidnovakreadspoetry I think one of the consequences of teaching high school developing a knack for summing things up.🤓

[@Elnora-i6e]

Thank you. Another great video! 😊❤

[@BookishTexan]

Thank you.

[@bookofdust]

Put me in the loved column for Held, its second behind My Friends currently (I haven’t read James yet, so it might be third eventually too). I thought of you with your Magritte after an aside in a book about art scandal, shock and rivalry. It relates some personal history that informs his painting of lovers who are embraced in a kiss, but their heads are concealed in a white sacking cloth. It’s an anecdote I’ve not heard of before that was quite shocking and seems like something out of Munk’s life, more than Magritte.

[@BookishTexan]

Glad to hear from a fellow fan of Held. I am sure you will like James. I have seen that Magritte painting, but I don’t know the anecdote. Now I’m very curious.

[@joniheisenberg]

I loved “Home.” I finished “All The King’s Men” and it will stand as the best book I have ever read,with the last line of the novel on par with that of “The Great Gatsby.” I actually slowed down my reading when I had about 200 pages left as I didn’t want it to end. I came across a review which compared Robert Penn Warren to William Faulkner,and as you are a fan of Faulkner’s I thought you might get a chuckle from it as I did: “Warren’s digressive style and use of abstract descriptions is at times reminiscent of the work of William Faulkner,another notoriously hard to follow Southern author.”

[@BookishTexan]

That line from the review is funny. I will definitely have to give All the Kings Men a try. I thought Home was very good.

[@PageTurnersWithKatja]

I'm planning to read Baltasar's Triptych, but I think it'll be a mini-project for 2025. It feels crazy to think about next year, but maybe also practical 😅. Great wrap - the books you read all sound really good.

[@BookishTexan]

Thank you. I’m hoping to finish Baltasar’s Permafrost today. I have loved her other two books.

[@readandre-read]

I haven't yet read Held but I've enjoyed the variety of reviews. My library didn't get it and I haven't been moved to buy it but if it makes the short list I might reconsider. I'm up for any and all Percival Everett. Great reviews!

[@BookishTexan]

@@readandre-read I hope you get a chance to read Heidi because I’d like to see what you make of it.

[@1book1review]

You just made me curious about Held. Good job as no one else did that so far. Sadly I think my brain will not manage to enjoy it anytime soon. In my plot driven phase of gobbling down books still.

[@BookishTexan]

Yeah, the plot of Held isn’t really a plot so much as a series of ideas about life and loss and legacy.

[@eyesonindie]

Oh amazing - I've been seeing so many negative reviews of Held, which of course made me most curious about it. =) Now I really want to read it based on your review!!!

[@BookishTexan]

@@eyesonindie I hope you will read it. I thought it was trying to do something amazing and found it’s moving and thought provoking.

[@MargaretPinard]

'held' sounds like it was made for you, Brian. ⚡

[@BookishTexan]

I did like it a lot, but it kind of fell apart in the end.

[@jennisrandom42]

Great video! I’ve got Permafrost out from my library and that’s next on my list after I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman.

[@BookishTexan]

I have to read I Who Have Never Known Men.

[@jennisrandom42]

@@BookishTexan it’s really good so far

[@HannahsBooks]

I just read So Much Blue-and like you, I was less blown away by it than I have been by so much of his other work. I struggled to connect with one of the three story lines.

[@BookishTexan]

That’s pretty much my experience. The 1979 storyline didn’t seem to fit. Have you read Telephone? I feel almost like So Much Blue was kind of a warm up for that book.

[@HannahsBooks]

@@BookishTexan I still have not!

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

"Home" sounds an intriguing but difficult read.

[@BookishTexan]

@@jimsbooksreadingandstuff It does have some very disturbing stuff in it, but most of it happens “off stage” and is alluded to.

[@MargaretPinard]

So, Fosse's 'slow writing' is like a pantoum or villanelle in prose? Interesting.

[@BookishTexan]

The repetition isn’t that regular. It comes randomly but persistently if that makes sense.

[@Dawnsbookreviews]

I am planning to read Morning and Evening this month; it will be my first book by Jon Fosse- hope I like it!!🤗 Thank you for the book reviews!

[@BookishTexan]

@@Dawnsbookreviews I hope you like it also. Thanks for writing and commenting.

[@Dawnsbookreviews]

@@BookishTexan 📚🤗📚

[@lolaphearse3688]

Just curious-have you eaten Marmite,and if so,where do you side?

[@BookishTexan]

I e never eaten marmite and I’m not sure I know what it is exactly. Is it some kind of fermented (?) grain spread that you eat on toast? Or am I confusing it with vegamite?

[@lolaphearse3688]

@@BookishTexan Similar to Vegemite,but far superior in my opinion. Yes,essentially fermented yeast extract with fantastic umami flavour. Very divisive . Lasts forever. Can get it very reasonably at some grocery stores (Publix here in South) Highly recommend a try!

[@rosarioalves598]

As always you have very good sugestions and your reviews are short but effective. I have a curiosity, as an Hemingway lover which are his good books in your opinion? I read Garden of Eden and think it is good. Another good one is "a Farewell to Arms".

[@BookishTexan]

I think Hemingway is best in his short stories. To me his best novels are A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Sun Also Rises in that order. The Sun Also Rises is my favorite though.

[@tealorturquoise]

I didn't know Percival Everett is also a painter. Anyway, So Much Blue sounds interesting.

[@BookishTexan]

It’s a good book. It really only suffers in comparison to the other books by Everett I have read.

[@johnsilver8059]

Something you said struck me:”This book is not for everyone.” I think no book is for everyone. While Stephen King’s books were immensely popular in the late 70s - 80s, I discovered that they were not for me after reading some of them via a paperback exchange. Some people loved him while I did not.

[@BookishTexan]

That is very true. Good point. I should have said something more like, “I think this book will appeal to only a limited number of readers” and then gone on to explain why.

[@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd]

Probably will only read two Booker . nominees this year James being one of them and at the moment reading The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner which made the Booker list a few years back. Her Creation Lake is on the current long list though think I like Mars better.⚛️

[@BookishTexan]

I’ve never read Kushner and I don’t think Creation Lake sounds like the place to start. I will think about reading The Mars Room.

[@freelancheromor]

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