An end of week recap<\/h4>\n
\u201cWhen I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes<\/em>.\u201d Today marks the start of Literacy and Numeracy Week<\/strong> in Australia (running until 4th<\/sup> September) \u2013 a time for storytelling, composing poems, writing short stories and indulging in number games, while tomorrow brings Frankenstein Day<\/strong> around the world in honour of Mary Shelley\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n Awaiting an ethereal slice of birthday cake today are American poet and polymath (of the Fireside<\/a> group) Oliver Wendell Holmes<\/strong> (1809), Belgian playwright, poet and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck<\/strong> (1862), Haitian-French poet Ren\u00e9 Depestre<\/strong> (1926) and English poet Thom Gunn<\/strong> (1929). \ud83c\udf70\u00a0 Joining the eerily silent queue on Sunday are English writer Mary Shelley<\/strong> (1797), French poet, author and critic Th\u00e9ophile Gautier<\/strong> (1811), Paraguayan poet in the Guarani language Julio Correa<\/strong> (1890), American writer N.H. Kleinbaum<\/strong> (1948) and the Swedish crime writer who may be alone among the living Camilla L\u00e4ckberg<\/strong> (1974).<\/p>\n As ever, this is a post in which I summarise books read, reviewed and currently on the TBR shelf. In addition to a variety of literary titbits, I look ahead to forthcoming publications, see what folk have on their nightstands and keep readers abreast of various book-related opinions and happenings.<\/p>\n CHATTERBOOKS >><\/strong><\/p>\n If you are planning a reading event, challenge, competition or anything else likely to be of interest to the book blogging community and its followers, please let me know<\/a>. I will happily share your news here with the fabulous array of bibliowonks who read this weekly wind up.<\/p>\n * Blogs from the Bookcellar *<\/strong><\/p>\n * Irresistible Items *<\/strong><\/p>\n Umpteen fascinating articles appeared on my bookdar last week. I often make a point of tweeting\/x-ing<\/a> (not to mention tooting<\/a> and bsky-ing<\/a>) a few favourite finds (or adding them to my Facebook group<\/a> page), but in case you missed anything on your literary rambles through cyberspace, here is a selection of interesting snippets:<\/p>\n If you would like to stay up to date with the latest Tove Jansson<\/a> and Moomin news, views and happenings, please head over to Tove Telegraph<\/strong><\/a>. Don\u2019t miss out on events happening near you! \ud83c\udfa9\ud83d\udc5c<\/p>\n ****************************<\/strong><\/p>\n BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus:<\/strong> \ud83c\udfa9\ud83d\udc5c\ud83c\udfb6 Total Immersion: The World of Tove Jansson \u2013 Seasons in Moominvalley (19:30 Sat 3 Jul 2027 Barbican, London)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cAs the climax of a day of Total Immersion in the imagination of Tove Jansson, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor explore the cultural context and enduring legacy of Jansson\u2019s life and work. Sibelius\u2019s luminous seascape lays the scene for the premiere of Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen\u2019s new homage to Jansson, using images as well as Jansson\u2019s own writing to create a vivid sonic portrait.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spectator (via Archive Today): Shots in the dark: Fatal Love, by Louisa Treger, reviewed<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cThe tragic story of Ruth Ellis, hanged in 1955 for murdering her abusive lover, is retold in gripping fictional form\u201d. Julie Bindel finds Louisa Treger\u2019s historical mystery novel A Fatal Love<\/em><\/a> \u201cbrings Ellis to life\u201d, presenting us with \u201ca remarkable woman who committed a remarkable crime.\u201d<\/p>\n McNally Editions: Those Phosphorescent Years: \u201cQuake\u201d by Kitty Mrosovsky<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cQuake<\/em><\/a> is the [third and] last work [of] Anglo-Russian writer and scholar Catharine (\u2018Kitty\u2019) Mrosovsky, who in 1995 became one of the first women in the UK to die from a complication of HIV\u201d, says Maggie Gee \u2013 \u201ca friend of [the author] and a fellow alumnus of Somerville College, Oxford.\u201d The story of a woman\u2019s erotic odyssey, the novel wasn\u2019t published during her lifetime as for many years it was considered \u201clost\u201d.<\/p>\n ABC Arts:<\/strong> \ud83e\udd98 If My Brilliant Career is all you know of Miles Franklin\u2019s life, you\u2019re missing out<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cWith the release of Netflix\u2019s new TV adaptation of My Brilliant Career<\/em><\/a> [\u2026] and the announcement of the winner of this year\u2019s Miles Franklin Literary Award earlier this month, August feels like the month of Miles\u201d, says Hannah Reich.<\/p>\n The Times (via Archive Today):<\/strong> \ud83d\udcd6\u270d\ufe0f James Marriott: The 36 books that changed my life<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cAn obsession with words got the columnist [James Marriott] through his eccentric childhood and his parents\u2019 divorce. Now 33, he has written a book \u2014 in praise of reading, of course\u201d. The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society<\/a><\/em> is his attempt to do his bit to save the world of books.<\/p>\n Word on Fire:<\/strong> \ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udf93 Flatness and Shine: \u2018Lords of Serendipity\u2019 and the Modern University<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Canadian novelist, essayist, literary critic and professor of English at the University of Toronto, Randy Boyagoda, repeats the phrase \u201cflatness and shine\u201d throughout his new campus novel, Lords of Serendipity<\/em><\/a>. And while \u201cthose words could be applied to many specific things in modern life, [here] they most directly describe two universities, one in the United States and one in Sri Lanka [\u2026]\u201d. Eric Cyr\u2019s review explores how the author uses this motif to illuminate the hollowness of contemporary academic culture.<\/p>\n The Duck-Billed Reader:<\/strong> \u2694\ufe0f\ud83d\udee1\ufe0f Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Promising as a Test of Faith<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Claire Laporte looks carefully at Sir Gawain and the Green Knight<\/em><\/a>, the \u201cmedieval poem [which] illuminates the inner world of a man as he undertakes a deathly quest\u201d, examining what a deadly serious act promising can be and asking questions about his fidelity to \u201cthe mysterious Green Knight\u201d.<\/p>\n EcoLit:<\/strong> \ud83e\udd84 The Parliament of Mice, A Fable<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cAnimals have always been used in storytelling as a mirror on our own sorry human selves, and [Robert Epstein\u2019s tale] is no exception\u201d, says JoeAnn Hart. At the farm in The Parliament of Mice, a Fable<\/em><\/a>, every creature wants something and is willing to plot and scheme to get it. Its hero is \u201ca house mouse in love with a barn mouse\u201d who lives \u201cwith a fat lazy cat\u201d and woven into the stories are foxes, wolves, humans, and all manner of other creatures.<\/p>\n Reading in the Sentimental Age:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd6f\ufe0f\ud83e\udee3 Terror in the Absence of the Sublime<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Set entirely in Wybrany College, Spanish writer Sara Mesa\u2019s Four by Four<\/em><\/a> (translated by Katie Whittemore) is a Gothic-Dark Academia novel \u201cof anticipated scarcity, taking place in a future that seems to be around the corner\u201d, says Milena Billik. \u201cIn the relationship between the college and the [surrounding] woods, [she] found [herself] looking for the sublime but found it cancelled out by the human. It is other people that are to be feared\u201d in this book, she cautions.<\/p>\n Bookforum:<\/strong> \ud83c\udfa4 Always Be Closing<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 In Laura B. McGrath\u2019s new study of the literary agent, Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction<\/em><\/a>, she attempts to \u201cexecute the most complete portrait yet\u201d of the profession\u2019s \u201cundersung role in literary history\u201d, drawing \u201cupon stray papers in disparate archives, industry publications, biographies, memoirs, and her own quantitative analyses,\u201d says Elias Altman. Over at The Paris Review<\/strong>, Rosa Lyster speaks with McGrath about the book in a wide ranging conversation: The Literary Agent\u2019s Invisible Hand: Laura B. McGrath on Middlemen<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Womack\u2019s Wanderings:<\/strong> \ud83e\udd84\ud83e\ude84 Deep Secret by Diana Wynne Jones [Review]<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Philip Womack \u201ccame late to Diana Wynne-Jones\u201d \u2013 it \u201cwas only as an adult that [he] began to read her\u201d \u2013 though she is principally (but not exclusively) known for writing speculative fiction novels for children and young adults. Here he discusses Deep Secret<\/em><\/a>, the first in the Magids series, published in 1997, a fantasy written with adult readers in mind (complete with a sprinkling of adult themes). So why, he wonders, does her publisher classify it as a \u201cchildren\u2019s book, suitable for 11+\u201d?<\/p>\n The Times (via Archive Today): Life with the du Mauriers \u2014 by Daphne\u2019s grandson<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cPaul de Zulueta\u2019s highly personal family biography, Last Night I Dreamt<\/em><\/a>, will be lapped up by Rebecca<\/em><\/a> fans\u201d, says Robert Douglas-Fairhurst.<\/p>\n Women of letters:<\/strong> \ud83c\udfa4 \u201cI continue to be surprised\u201d: T\u00e9a Obreht on her career as a writer<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cI have a huge sense, maybe from having moved around so much, that things are temporary. I\u2019m often like, \u2018Well, something new is coming.\u2019 That\u2019s been enormously helpful. That\u2019s been sustaining.\u201d Jana M. Perkins has a long conversation with T\u00e9a Obreht \u2013 the American author born in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia \u2013 who feels \u201cculturally Balkan and at home almost anywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n The New York Times (via Archive Today):<\/strong> \ud83d\udd75\ufe0f\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\ud83d\udd2a Iceland\u2019s Murder Rate Is Off the Charts \u2014 in Its Books, at Least<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cThe Nordic nation has almost no homicides, yet crime fiction is its favorite literary genre. That means writers face a challenge: making murder feel believable\u201d, says Amelia Nierenberg.<\/p>\n Marginalia:<\/strong> \ud83d\udcd6 5 ways to read more, without overcomplicating your life<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Emm\u2019s light-hearted post offers \u201cpractical (if a little snarky) tips [on] adding more meaningful reading to your life\u201d.<\/p>\n The Arts Fuse:<\/strong> \ud83d\udd2e Book Review: \u201cThe Eighth Wonder\u201d Traps a Drifting Man in a Dream of Doubt<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cIn Vlady Kociancich\u2019s newly translated Argentine novel, an indecisive Buenos Aires lawyer wanders through Berlin, cinema, erotic fantasy, and a reality that may be entirely of his own making.\u201d David Mehegan reviews The Eighth Wonder<\/em><\/a>, Kociancich\u2019s 1982 work of speculative fiction, freshly rendered in English by Jessica Sequeira.<\/p>\n Books in the Scullery:<\/strong> \ud83d\udcd6 Is Lizzy Bennet A Great Reader?<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cAnother week, another moment in Pride and Prejudice<\/em><\/a> which I had misunderstood.\u201d Jem Bloomfield on \u201cthe alleged bookishness of a heroine\u201d.<\/p>\n Degruyter Conversations: \u201cStories Provide a Safe Space for Discussion\u201d \u2013 A Conversation about African Folktales in Youth Crisis Management<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cAdolescence means finding your place in the world\u2014facing challenges big and small, even sometimes existential. In times of upheaval, could age-old folktales be part of the answer? In this interview, the editors of [African Storytelling and Images in Teaching<\/em><\/a>,] a new book on storytelling and youth crisis management in Kenya and Ethiopia make their case.\u201d<\/p>\n Odyssey<\/em> double feature<\/u>: \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f\ud83d\udd31\ud83c\udffa The Observer (via Archive Today): Ruth Rehmann, German literature\u2019s lost illusionist<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Megan Nolan writes: \u201cWith her 1959 allegorical novel, the author ruminated on her country\u2019s fascist past while offering a prescient glimpse into a more individualistic future\u201d. Illusions<\/em><\/a> (translated by Rob Madole) is set within the Wellis Corporation\u2019s 23-story, neon-adorned glass complex where we delve into the dichotomy of corporate uniformity versus human individuality, as seen through the eyes of an acrobatic window cleaner.<\/p>\n The Irish Times (via Archive Today): The Writer\u2019s Writer: A dive into John McGahern\u2019s literary archive shows his huge impact<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Leitrim writer John McGahern\u2019s \u201carchive features words of praise from Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel and Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn, while Claire Keegan and Anne Enright also speak of his influence\u201d, says Eamon Maher, who along with Kathleen Costello-Sullivan, Derek Hand and Barry Houlihan is co-editor of The John McGahern Companion<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Gathering Bones: Properly funny: five novels from the 1930s<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Eva Baker has \u201cbeen reading a lot of 1930s novels lately\u201d and is \u201csurprised by how funny they are.\u201d All of them \u201cfeature women constrained by money, class, family expectations or simply other people\u2019s low estimation of them\u201d and she finds them \u201claugh-out-loud funny. And oh so clever, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Asharq Al-Awsat:<\/strong> \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f\ud83d\udd31\ud83c\udffa Is this Cave in T\u00fcrkiye Where Homer Wrote \u2018The Odyssey\u2019?<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cOn a Turkish hillside overlooking the olive-covered slopes outside Izmir is a cave known to generations of locals as the place where Homer penned The Odyssey<\/em><\/a>.\u201d Could this place, known to them as Homer\u2019s Valley, be the spot where he composed his poems?<\/p>\n Jansplaining:<\/strong> \ud83d\udc66\ud83d\udc67 For what you did for young readers, we will always love you, Dolly Parton (1946-2026)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cWe should remember Dolly Parton as an author and children\u2019s literacy advocate, not just as a beloved singer-songwriter\u201d, says Jan Harayda.<\/p>\n Tu\u1ed5i Tr\u1ebb News: Which foreign author has had the most books published in Vietnam?<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cHigashino Keigo, a major figure in Japan\u2019s mystery genre, is the foreign author with the most works translated and published in Vietnam, with more than 60 titles to date and around 70 expected by the end of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ink-Stained Desk:<\/strong> \ud83e\udee3 The History and Psychology of Cults in Horror Literature<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 This week Christine Maree Reid takes a deep dive into cult fiction. Of all the horror tropes she finds this \u201cthe most interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n Toronto Star (via Archive Today):<\/strong> \ud83c\udf41\ud83c\udfa4 The Toronto author of \u2018Becalming\u2019 on her dream coffee date and which novelist should be more widely read<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Polish-Canadian writer Aga Maksimowska \u201chas described her latest novel, Becalming<\/em><\/a> [\u2026], as a book \u2018about the rage and frustration of early adulthood in a time of toxic positivity and polished appearance.\u2019\u201d Here she answers Jean Marc Ah-Sen\u2019s author questionnaire.<\/p>\n Poetry Foundation:<\/strong> \ud83d\udcdc\ud83e\udeb6 The Truth Is in the Detail<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Lucy Ives on the German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor and literary translator Paul Celan \u2013 and his \u201cwriting between languages.\u201d<\/p>\n Sipping Italy with Tino:<\/strong> \u2708\ufe0f\ud83d\udcda The Library of the Dazed Ones<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cThe quietness and brick walls make me forget the outside world. And when I need a break from my writing, I go into the central cortile and sit for a while.\u201d Tino Masecchia introduces us to the Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati.<\/p>\n The MIT Press Reader:<\/strong> \ud83d\udef8 The Man Who Saw Humanity From Two Billion Years Away<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 First published in 1930, the English philosopher and author Olaf Stapledon\u2019s science fiction classic, Last and First Men<\/em><\/a> \u201cimagines humanity\u2019s rise, ruin, and strange rebirth on a mythic scale\u201d, says Matthew De Abaitua.<\/p>\n BBC Guernsey: Hidden manuscripts reveal medieval reading habits<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cSeventeen fragments of medieval manuscripts that had been \u2018hidden in plain sight\u2019 for centuries have been uncovered in Guernsey\u201d, reports Britta Zeltmann. \u201cOffering insight into the island\u2019s early literary culture, the fragments suggest [it] was home to keen readers, [especially those] reading in French [\u2026]\u201d.<\/p>\n Colin Marshall\u2019s Books on Cities:<\/strong> \u2708\ufe0f How Seoul Joined the First World: Reading the Korean Metropolis<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Seoul-based essayist, broadcaster and public speaker on cities, language and culture, Colin Marshall, shares his thoughts on \u201cSung Hong Kim\u2019s Seoul Urban Architecture<\/em><\/a> (2026), Russell Burge\u2019s The Promised Republic<\/em><\/a> (2026), Yu-Min Joo\u2019s
\u2013 Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WUTW-TOVE-BIRTHDAY.jpg?resize=260%2C390&ssl=1\" "\\"Winding")
Sadly, we bid Tove & Moomin Month<\/strong> farewell this coming week as August draws to a close, the last of its soft light slipping away while we in the north ready ourselves for the more muted tones of September. Mrs J\u2019s BIG birthday is coming up soon, which means you will see a little less of me in coming days (plus, next Saturday\u2019s wind up is likely to be on the short side) \u2013 but I won\u2019t be too far away.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SLEEP-PHASE.jpg?resize=188%2C300&ssl=1\" "\\"Sleep")
<\/a>Retrieved from our subterranean shelves this week \u2013 1)<\/strong> John Folk Williams of SciFi Mind<\/strong> shared his thoughts on Mohamed Kheir\u2019s Egyptian fantasy novel Sleep Phase<\/em><\/a> (\u201cbeautifully translated by Robin Moger\u201d), in which its protagonist, Warif, having been released from prison, experiences \u201cthe world as derealized\u201d or with a sense that nothing around him is quite real. The reader follows him \u201con a powerful journey through political oppression, panic attacks, uncertain memories and a collapsing identity\u201d along the streets of a much altered Cairo. Everything about the city seems different to him and there \u201care foreigners everywhere, who seem to have taken over a great many jobs.\u201d Amid these \u201cnew sensations and questions about a changed reality, Warif tries to focus on getting back his old job as a translator\u201d but merely goes through a series of \u201cinconclusive interviews with officials who [\u2026] probe his background rather than give him a conclusive answer\u201d. John declares it \u201can unforgettable portrait of a man in limbo\u201d and says the narrative held his \u201cinterest despite the lack of a complex plot.\u201d Indeed, he deems it a story that \u201cportrays a wounded mind and soul with intensity and compassion.\u201d ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VILLAGE-EDGE-NOON.jpg?resize=188%2C300&ssl=1\" "\\"The")
<\/a>You can read his full review at Sleep Phase by Mohamed Kheir, Translated by Robin Moger<\/em><\/a>. 2)<\/strong> Last March, Zimbabwean Jacqueline Nyath of Harare Review of Books<\/strong> examined Darya Bobyleva\u2019s 2025 horror fantasy novel set in a Russian village where the residents \u201cspend their summers resting and relaxing, gardening and repairing roofs [\u2026]\u201d, until one midsummer morning when they wake to find the road leading out of the village is \u201cmissing.\u201d What\u2019s more, the \u201cclocks have stopped working\u201d, as has the internet, TVs and phones; in fact, all exits \u201clead right back\u201d to where they started. The Village at the Edge of Noon<\/em><\/a> (translated by Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse) is \u201cincredibly well-written\u201d and \u201cvery funny,\u201d says Jacqueline; its \u201ccast of characters, and the setting are a complete delight.\u201d She declares it \u201cenchanting\u201d and intends to read it \u201cagain, and again, and again.\u201d Please see her review at The Village at the Edge of Noon x Darya Bobyleva, Ilona Yazhbin Chavasse (tr.)<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WAVING-GOODBYE.jpg?resize=500%2C333&ssl=1\" "\\"We")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CROCODILOP.jpg?resize=250%2C380&ssl=1\" "\\"Crocodilopolis")
<\/a>Washington Independent Review of Books:<\/strong> \ud83e\udda5\u26a3 Crocodilopolis: A Novel<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cAny writer who attempts to combine sweeping historical fiction with achingly elegant prose is walking a tightrope indeed. In Crocodilopolis<\/em><\/a>, [the gay Costa Rican\u2013Uruguayan poet and novelist] John Manuel Arias pulls it off. Mariko Hewer describes it as a \u201csearing portrayal of generational strife set against a lush Costa Rican backdrop.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LONG-WAVE.jpg?resize=250%2C393&ssl=1\" "\\"Long")
<\/a>The Boston Globe:<\/strong>\u00a0\ud83c\udf42\u00a0Looking for your next great read? Here are 40 of the best new books to read this fall.<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s publishing\u2019s hottest season, just in time for cooler weather\u201d. Carolyn Kellogg, Cory Oldweiler and Kate Tuttle share forty titles arriving between September and November, books they believe \u201cwill pair perfectly with a cozy scarf and steaming latte.\u201d Among them is Daisy Johnson\u2019s Long Wave<\/em><\/a> \u2013 a novel in which \u201cseveral generations of women strive [\u2026] to support each other while coping with the fears [\u2026] and joys of motherhood, all while a remote, possibly mythic, island offers the temptation of salvation.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/WINNIE-THE-POOH.jpg?resize=250%2C381&ssl=1\" "\\"Winnie-the-Pooh")
<\/a>NPR:<\/strong> \ud83d\udcaf\ud83d\udc66\ud83d\udc67 In which \u2018Winnie-the-Pooh\u2019 turns 100<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 \u201c100 years ago, Edward Bear \u2014 also known as Winnie-the-Pooh \u2014 also known as Pooh \u2014 went bump<\/em>, bump<\/em>, bump<\/em> down the stairs for the first time.\u201d Samantha Balaban looks back at Winnie-the-Pooh<\/em><\/a>, author A.A. Milne and illustrator Ernest H. Shepard\u2019s 1926 \u201ccollection of stories about the honey-loving bear.\u201d She also reviews Annette Bay Pimentel\u2019s new non-fiction picture book about the creation of the \u2018world\u2019s most famous bear\u2019, How a Bear Became a Book: The Collaboration That Created Winnie-the-Pooh<\/em><\/a> (illustrated by Faith Pray).<\/p>\n
AP: Emily Wilson\u2019s \u2018Odyssey\u2019 became a cultural flashpoint. Now, she\u2019s retranslating the whole thing<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cIf you\u2019re among the many readers who learned to love The Odyssey<\/em> through Emily Wilson\u2019s 2017 translation, you might be surprised that she\u2019s going to translate it again\u201d, says Hillel Italie. Apparently, it will be \u201ca complete retranslation [and] not a revision of the old version\u201d. She is already \u201cabout halfway through.\u201d
A Commonplace Book: Many Faces, Many Words<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cThe time has come to stop reading about and thinking about The Odyssey<\/em> and about Emily Wilson\u2019s translation of The Odyssey<\/em><\/a> and about Christopher Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey and start writing about them\u201d, says Margaret. And she does.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STRANGERS.jpg?resize=250%2C400&ssl=1\" "\\"The")
<\/a>The Readerista:<\/strong> \ud83c\udf42\ud83d\udef8\ud83d\udd2e September New Releases<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 According to Kimberly Morales, \u201cSeptember is shaping up to be an amazing month for new books.\u201d She has a list of 41 titles she\u2019s keeping her eye on, including The Strangers<\/em><\/a>, a sci-fi\/speculative fiction novel by Naomi Alderman about a \u201cwriter wrestling with grief even as a new species is discovered, forcing humans to reconsider what it means to share our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bookjotter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RANGE.jpg?resize=250%2C375&ssl=1\" "\\"Range")
<\/a>World Literature Today (via Archive Today):<\/strong>\ud83d\udd2d Range<\/em> by Dorthe Nors<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 \u201cIn her new novel, Range<\/em><\/a> [Danish author Dorthe] Nors\u2019s protagonist, Gunn Haven, is a successful astrophysicist,\u201d who has taken \u201cleave from her job and moved to a rural area that seems to have some neighbors who find her unconventionality threatening. She is forced to tread lightly.\u201d Aside from her work, \u201cshe seems to have one other obsession\u201d. Elaine Margolin explains.<\/p>\n