Then and Now #12 (10/11 - 10/17)

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

What a week! I was still recovering from my rather intense cold for most of this week, which means it was a week of following classes online rather than in person. Even though I did plenty of self-tests to know it wasn't COVID it still felt better to stay at home and not spread the cold around my classrooms. This sadly also meant I missed my Tai Chi lesson, but I was able to attend a practice session today to catch up! 

I also started a new student assistantship this week, working with one of my lecturers in Leiden on an upcoming book he is editing. I'm mainly checking this like footnotes and creation bibliographies, but thankfully I'm a big proofreading/editing fan, so it's actually been kind of fun. But then on top of that I wasn't feeling 100% and had a major presentation to prerecord for Friday, so it was A LOT. Hence, I've hardly posted anything this week, but I hope to do better next week.

What I posted:

• Friday Friyay: Devotions by Mary Oliver

Recommendations

I was wracking my brain for recommendations but since I've not really done anything except work and cough, I don't really think I have anything... That's quite sad, isn't it.

I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING! How could I possibly forget that this week graced us with the return of the one, the only, Adele!

Mailbox Monday

Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire (Machmillan-Tor/Forge; 1/4/2022)

In Where the Drowned Girls Go, the next addition to Seanan McGuire's beloved Wayward Children series, students at an anti-magical school rebel against the oppressive faculty

"Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you’ve already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company."

There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again.
It isn't as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.
And it isn't as safe.

When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her "Home for Wayward Children," she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn’t save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster.

She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...

I absolutely loved the sound of this and heard some great praise for McGuire's Wayward Children series, so this is my jumping on the bandwagon. Now I just need to read the previous 6 (!) books ... gulp!

Guillermo del Toro: The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work by Ian Nathan (Quarto Publishing - White Lion; 11/9/2021)

Guillermo del Toro is a complete and intimate study of the life and work of one of modern cinema's most truly unique directors, whose distinct aesthetic and imagination are unmatched in contemporary film.

Widely regarded as one of the most imaginative directors working in cinema today, Guillermo del Toro has built up a body of work that has enthralled movie fans with its dark beauty and edge-of-the-seat set pieces.

In this book, acclaimed author Ian Nathan charts the progression of a career that has produced some of contemporary cinema’s most revered scenes and idiosyncratic characters. This detailed examination looks at how the strands of del Toro’s career have woven together to create one of modern cinema’s most ground-breaking bodies of work.

Delving deep into del Toro's psyche, the book starts by examining his beginnings in Mexico, the creative but isolated child surrounded by ornate catholicism and monster magazines, filming stop motion battles between his toys on a Super-8 film camera. 

It follows him to film school, where we learn of his influences, from Kafka to Bunuel, and explores his 1993 debut Cronos, the independent horror debut which draws on the religious and occult themes which would recur throughout del Toro's work.

As I mentioned in my review for Mrs Caliban, I adore del Toro's films so of course I had to get into this book ASAP. I'm really enjoying this deepdive so far and its beautifully laid out as well.

The Widow by K.L. Slater (Bookouture; 11/12/2021)

My husband was not a monster. No matter what they say… 

The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. He was devoted to me and our six-year-old daughter. But they’d connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village.

Now I stand at Michael’s funeral, clutching my little girl’s hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to all our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth.

But none of them can read the secrets in my heart, or know about the phone I found hidden in his toolbox…  

I’m determined that my daughter will not remember her father as a monster. I will erase any hint of wrongdoing in this house whatever the cost. 

Because to keep my daughter safe, the last thing I need is for people to start looking at me… 

This gave me such strong The Serial Killer's Wife vibes, by Alice Hunter. I loved that book, so of course I wanted to explore this one as well!

The Illustrated Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth (Icon Books; 11/4/2021)

The Etymologicon is an occasionally ribald, frequently witty and unerringly erudite guided tour of the secret labyrinth that lurks beneath the English language.

What is the actual connection between disgruntled and gruntled? What links church organs to organised crime, California to the Caliphate, or brackets to codpieces?

Mark Forsyth's riotous celebration of the idiosyncratic and sometimes absurd connections between words is a classic of its kind: a mine of fascinating information and a must-read for word-lovers everywhere.

I really enjoyed the Eymologicon when I first read it because I love finding out the links between words, why we use them, where they come from, how they have changed in meaning. And this illustrated version is absolutely lovely!

So that's me! Hopefully work and university will give me a little bit more time to actually get some reading done this week. How are things over at your end of the blogosphere?