This was one of those books that lingered on my Kindle forever and a day. It just always terrified my with its bulk. And for a book to do that on Kindle it really has to be long. Two years ago I read How To Be Alone, Franzen's collection of essays. And I really enjoyed …
'It's not easy writing about nothing' That's how Patti Smith starts her book. The words uttered by a cowpoke in her dream. A kind of challenge that she accepts. Before I proceed with the review bit, I need to make a small disclaimer. I have seen Patti Smith live on All Points East in 2018, …
I got this book from my mum for Christmas I think, or my birthday. In Polish edition, it has a beautiful cover, so I was tempted to read it, but at the same time deterred by its size. Finally roaming my shelves during lockdown in April I got to it. It is an odd choice …
Continue reading Wanderlust: A History of Walking – Rebecca Solnit
It is one of the four books on city planning I got from my mum last Christmas. I have Polish editions, but where I can identify the English version I'll refer to it for convenience (it saves me re-translating the title). My mum is a civil engineer and I am an art historian by education. …
Continue reading Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design – Charles Montgomery
I bought this book back in 2018 during my crazy bookshop crawl. Looking at the list now, I'm pretty much done reading half of the books I bought then. Definitely not running out of reading matter anytime soon! Witold Rybczynski is an architect and a professor, but he is mostly known for his writings on …
Continue reading Mysteries of the Mall and other Essays – Witold Rybczynski
Welcome to week six! I hope you are all still safe and healthy. After last week's relatively depressing fare I wanted to treat you this week to some of the most moving books I've read since I started writing this blog. Some of them are funny, others full of hope, yet others are tragic. What …
Week five is here! How are you all doing? I really hope you and all your loved ones are safe and sound! Last week we had quite a sad themed list, so this week we’ll change tack a bit. Let’s look at the books that will keep you in their world, and away from the …
Welcome to week four, you can find links to the previous three posts at the bottom. We continue on the emotional merry-go-round. Last week focused on the wise and calming books, so this week we’re turning to darker topics. Books about death, dying and grieving. Surprisingly some of them actually offer a lot of consolation …
Continue reading Books for the Lockdown – Death, Dying and Grieving
I read this book as a teenager, which I guess is pretty typical. The age of fascination with Plath's tragic figure. A while ago as I was visiting my family home I came across the copy I read then and decided to see how much has changed. I remembered being deeply impressed by the book …
This book lingered on my Kidle for a long time, definitely since before I started blogging in 2015. Somehow first I could not get drawn to it and then once I started blogging and moved to reading a lot more paperback it really got stuck in the back shelf. But as it happens the last …
