Then and Now #5 (8/16 - 8/22)

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted @ Caffeinated Reviewer. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.  It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads! 

Last Week

Happy Sunday/Monday! It's been a pretty good week full of interesting things and good news, which was a major relief after the slight stress of the week before. I booked my train tickets for next week, which means two days in a train but I always feel more comfortable with that than flying. I also found out they are giving me a spot on a university module about Tolkien this academic year and I can't wait to spend a few months digging into his work! I still have a few things to get organised before university can start again but yay!

Here's what I posted this week:

• Review: Anna by Sammy H.K. Smith
• Review: Animal Farm by George Orwell, narrated by Stephen Fry
• Review: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, narrated by Chiwetel Ejiofor
• Friday Friyay: These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

Saturday the 21st was also the official one-year anniversary of my departure from Shanghai and I did feel it. I had four amazing years there and met some of the best people possible. Shanghai is also where I found my cat and where I kinda found myself. So yeah, mixed emotions, but I'm glad that I loved it so much I miss it. And I do adore what I'm doing now, so all in all, I'm doing good! Below is my last staycations in Shanghai at the W Hotel, it was stunning. 

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And of course a picture of Toothless is required! This is from the day after we landed in Germany. Although he was about to develop a major bladder infection, he mostly made it across the continents in one piece. 

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Recommendations

I don't actually  have anything major to recommend this week, except that I realised the sixth season of My Dad Wrote a Porno, one of my favourite podcasts ever, had come and gone. So I have been listening to that!

Book Haul

The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen (Perseus Books; 11/9/2021)

Perfect for book lovers, this is a fascinating exploration of the history of libraries and the people who built them, from the ancient world to the digital age.
 
Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes, or filled with bean bags and children’s drawings—the history of the library is rich, varied, and stuffed full of incident. In The Library, historians Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen introduce us to the antiquarians and philanthropists who shaped the world’s great collections, trace the rise and fall of literary tastes, and reveal the high crimes and misdemeanors committed in pursuit of rare manuscripts. In doing so, they reveal that while collections themselves are fragile, often falling into ruin within a few decades, the idea of the library has been remarkably resilient as each generation makes—and remakes—the institution anew. 
 
Beautifully written and deeply researched, The Library is essential reading for booklovers, collectors, and anyone who has ever gotten blissfully lost in the stacks. 

I'm still working my way through Susan Orlean's The Library Book, but this one is following it straight afterwards! I also read one of Pettegree's previous monographs, Reformation and the Culture of Persuasion for one of my modules last year, so I'm very intrigued to see how his thoughts on printing there develop in Library.

Oddball (Sarah's Scribbles #4) by Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel Publishing; 10/12/2021)

The newest Sarah's Scribbles collection from New York Times bestselling author Sarah Andersen

The fourth book in the enormously popular graphic novel series, the latest collection of Sarah's Scribbles comics explores the evils of procrastination, the trials of the creative process, the cuteness of kittens, and the beauty of not caring about your appearance as much as you did when you were younger. When it comes to humorous illustrations of the awkwardness and hilarity of millennial life, Sarah's Scribbles is without peer.

I absolutely adore Sarah Andersen's cartoons! They all make me laugh, each of them is so recognizable, and I just love showing them to other people and being all 'Right?!'. So of course I requested this and of course I have already gone through it and laughed and nodded and looked at my cat and gone 'This is you'. 

So that's me! How was your week? And what new beauties are in your inbox?