Finished Bleak House and continued to live in Esther's world in my head for a while. I thought it was good the first time I read it some 30+ years ago. And I liked it this time as well.
Just picked up The Moonstone, and just like 30 years ago I find Wilkie Collins a superior writer on all counts.
Just picked up The Moonstone, and just like 30 years ago I find Wilkie Collins a superior writer on all counts.
November 21, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Finished Bleak House and continued to live in Esther's world in my head for a while. I thought it was good the first time I read it some 30+ years ago. And I liked it this time as well.
Just picked up The Moonstone, and just like 30 years ago I find Wilkie Collins a superior writer on all counts.
Just picked up The Moonstone, and just like 30 years ago I find Wilkie Collins a superior writer on all counts.
"...a zone of infinite reverberation to human destiny..." #rachelcusktogether
November 13, 2025 at 12:02 AM
"...a zone of infinite reverberation to human destiny..." #rachelcusktogether
Pg187 "I've tried to remember some particular incident" Melete says re: the former student/stalker (seeking the catalyst for the behavior), but Anne--the new teacher--refers to her mugging as "the incident." Anne knows exactly what precipitated everything that followed.
#RachelCuskTogether
#RachelCuskTogether
November 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Pg187 "I've tried to remember some particular incident" Melete says re: the former student/stalker (seeking the catalyst for the behavior), but Anne--the new teacher--refers to her mugging as "the incident." Anne knows exactly what precipitated everything that followed.
#RachelCuskTogether
#RachelCuskTogether
Today's reading--the story about the dog--tests the limits of believability in its delivery. Getting dialog on a page is more than recording words said; there's pacing. Stage directions and descriptions can give the feel of pauses in actual conversations. But Cusk is going for +1
#RachelCuskTogether
#RachelCuskTogether
November 3, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Today's reading--the story about the dog--tests the limits of believability in its delivery. Getting dialog on a page is more than recording words said; there's pacing. Stage directions and descriptions can give the feel of pauses in actual conversations. But Cusk is going for +1
#RachelCuskTogether
#RachelCuskTogether
It is so interesting to see all the different interpretations of the characters (in particular the nameless "neighbor" or boat guy). I can't help but think they are all there to educate the narrator. Each tale instructs her about her broken marriage and survival as a single self. #RachelCuskTogether
October 31, 2025 at 4:19 PM
It is so interesting to see all the different interpretations of the characters (in particular the nameless "neighbor" or boat guy). I can't help but think they are all there to educate the narrator. Each tale instructs her about her broken marriage and survival as a single self. #RachelCuskTogether
"'I've tried, obviously, to remember some particular incident, but there isn't one. You could spend your whole life,' she said, 'trying to trace events back to your own mistakes.'"p187
And we do. We search for that one misstep.Melete says we should accept the situation.
Maybe so. #RachelCuskTogether
And we do. We search for that one misstep.Melete says we should accept the situation.
Maybe so. #RachelCuskTogether
October 31, 2025 at 3:57 PM
"'I've tried, obviously, to remember some particular incident, but there isn't one. You could spend your whole life,' she said, 'trying to trace events back to your own mistakes.'"p187
And we do. We search for that one misstep.Melete says we should accept the situation.
Maybe so. #RachelCuskTogether
And we do. We search for that one misstep.Melete says we should accept the situation.
Maybe so. #RachelCuskTogether
"I listened to this confession...in silence. I found that I was disappointed in him, and that discovery made me feel, for the first time, afraid of him."
This fear may stem from the fact that her neighbor made her feel...something, anything. He goes on to complain that his +1
#RachelCuskTogether
This fear may stem from the fact that her neighbor made her feel...something, anything. He goes on to complain that his +1
#RachelCuskTogether
October 31, 2025 at 3:48 PM
"I listened to this confession...in silence. I found that I was disappointed in him, and that discovery made me feel, for the first time, afraid of him."
This fear may stem from the fact that her neighbor made her feel...something, anything. He goes on to complain that his +1
#RachelCuskTogether
This fear may stem from the fact that her neighbor made her feel...something, anything. He goes on to complain that his +1
#RachelCuskTogether
The workshop icebreaker is one I've used, and the students (whose sole purpose for signing up for the class is to tell stories) do so with enthusiasm.
It is difficult to sort who is revealing more. The students? The narrator? The author? How much is tailored for a certain effect?
#rachelcusktogether
It is difficult to sort who is revealing more. The students? The narrator? The author? How much is tailored for a certain effect?
#rachelcusktogether
October 24, 2025 at 3:36 PM
The workshop icebreaker is one I've used, and the students (whose sole purpose for signing up for the class is to tell stories) do so with enthusiasm.
It is difficult to sort who is revealing more. The students? The narrator? The author? How much is tailored for a certain effect?
#rachelcusktogether
It is difficult to sort who is revealing more. The students? The narrator? The author? How much is tailored for a certain effect?
#rachelcusktogether
"Those people were living in their moment, and though I could set it I could no more return to that moment than I would walk across the water that separated us. And those two ways of living--living in the moment and living outside of it--which was the more real?" p75
+1
#rachelcusktogether
+1
#rachelcusktogether
October 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
"Those people were living in their moment, and though I could set it I could no more return to that moment than I would walk across the water that separated us. And those two ways of living--living in the moment and living outside of it--which was the more real?" p75
+1
#rachelcusktogether
+1
#rachelcusktogether
The voice is hypnotizing. The detailed description is entrancing.And the precise word choice is stellar.
Yet I cannot help but think about the people she's captured and drawn on these pages. The book is described as both fiction and nonfiction.
So imagine telling intimate secrets #rachelcusktogether
Yet I cannot help but think about the people she's captured and drawn on these pages. The book is described as both fiction and nonfiction.
So imagine telling intimate secrets #rachelcusktogether
October 8, 2025 at 3:43 PM
The voice is hypnotizing. The detailed description is entrancing.And the precise word choice is stellar.
Yet I cannot help but think about the people she's captured and drawn on these pages. The book is described as both fiction and nonfiction.
So imagine telling intimate secrets #rachelcusktogether
Yet I cannot help but think about the people she's captured and drawn on these pages. The book is described as both fiction and nonfiction.
So imagine telling intimate secrets #rachelcusktogether
#AnthonyPowellTogether
Oooh! A Widmerpool reference.
Oooh! A Widmerpool reference.
#RIP Jilly Cooper.
Here she is on Barbara Pym, from the introduction to the current Virago edition of JANE AND PRUDENCE. #BookSky #JillyCooper 💙📚
Here she is on Barbara Pym, from the introduction to the current Virago edition of JANE AND PRUDENCE. #BookSky #JillyCooper 💙📚
October 6, 2025 at 2:04 PM
#AnthonyPowellTogether
Oooh! A Widmerpool reference.
Oooh! A Widmerpool reference.
I keep thinking about the flight attendant with her props: "we listened or half-listened, thinking about other things, as though some special hardness had been bestowed on us by this coupling of formality with doom."
"Special hardness" absolutely encapsulates that feeling.
#RachelCuskTogether
"Special hardness" absolutely encapsulates that feeling.
#RachelCuskTogether
October 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
I keep thinking about the flight attendant with her props: "we listened or half-listened, thinking about other things, as though some special hardness had been bestowed on us by this coupling of formality with doom."
"Special hardness" absolutely encapsulates that feeling.
#RachelCuskTogether
"Special hardness" absolutely encapsulates that feeling.
#RachelCuskTogether
#rachelcusktogether
I have opened the first volume--publisher Picador--and what is this font?!
Books used to say which font was used, some even had the history of the font in a little blurb on the back page.
Sigh.
I have opened the first volume--publisher Picador--and what is this font?!
Books used to say which font was used, some even had the history of the font in a little blurb on the back page.
Sigh.
September 30, 2025 at 4:19 PM
#rachelcusktogether
I have opened the first volume--publisher Picador--and what is this font?!
Books used to say which font was used, some even had the history of the font in a little blurb on the back page.
Sigh.
I have opened the first volume--publisher Picador--and what is this font?!
Books used to say which font was used, some even had the history of the font in a little blurb on the back page.
Sigh.
Reposted
Discover the neglected modernist masterpiece. Dorothy Richardson's 13-volume novel, Pilgrimage, available in the US weagain, exclusively from @asterismbooks.bsky.social.
September 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Discover the neglected modernist masterpiece. Dorothy Richardson's 13-volume novel, Pilgrimage, available in the US weagain, exclusively from @asterismbooks.bsky.social.
#ANote_2025
The fact that BOTH young men in this novel know Oliver is oddly reminiscent of Anthony Powell. And we find Mary (the mistress of the manor) knew Hugh's father. These insulated groups are baffling to me.
The fact that BOTH young men in this novel know Oliver is oddly reminiscent of Anthony Powell. And we find Mary (the mistress of the manor) knew Hugh's father. These insulated groups are baffling to me.
September 24, 2025 at 10:11 PM
#ANote_2025
The fact that BOTH young men in this novel know Oliver is oddly reminiscent of Anthony Powell. And we find Mary (the mistress of the manor) knew Hugh's father. These insulated groups are baffling to me.
The fact that BOTH young men in this novel know Oliver is oddly reminiscent of Anthony Powell. And we find Mary (the mistress of the manor) knew Hugh's father. These insulated groups are baffling to me.
#ANote_2025
"Time was not real, except as one made it so. Why not bind it to one's purpose, make it servant instead of master? It should be a simple matter to abolish ten years of nothingness..." p165
John Donne making the sun run... all seems possible until your knees and hips tell you otherwise.
"Time was not real, except as one made it so. Why not bind it to one's purpose, make it servant instead of master? It should be a simple matter to abolish ten years of nothingness..." p165
John Donne making the sun run... all seems possible until your knees and hips tell you otherwise.
September 21, 2025 at 4:17 PM
#ANote_2025
"Time was not real, except as one made it so. Why not bind it to one's purpose, make it servant instead of master? It should be a simple matter to abolish ten years of nothingness..." p165
John Donne making the sun run... all seems possible until your knees and hips tell you otherwise.
"Time was not real, except as one made it so. Why not bind it to one's purpose, make it servant instead of master? It should be a simple matter to abolish ten years of nothingness..." p165
John Donne making the sun run... all seems possible until your knees and hips tell you otherwise.
#AnthonyPowellTogether
(Talk about wallpaper!)
(Talk about wallpaper!)
September 16, 2025 at 5:31 PM
#AnthonyPowellTogether
(Talk about wallpaper!)
(Talk about wallpaper!)
Anthony Powell by his eventual brother-in-law Henry Lamb 1934.
September 15, 2025 at 6:12 PM
P76-77 "It does not ease the burden of the past to share in recollections; for with each plunge into it, each withdrawl, something is left behind that weighs more heavily than the memory; something that can never be shared or imparted--a sense of accumulating unease..." #ANote_2025
September 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
P76-77 "It does not ease the burden of the past to share in recollections; for with each plunge into it, each withdrawl, something is left behind that weighs more heavily than the memory; something that can never be shared or imparted--a sense of accumulating unease..." #ANote_2025
Found the article about Powell's wife, Lady Violet Powell in The Hudson Review. Well worth the read!
hudsonreview.com/2024/11/at-l...
#AnthonyPowellTogether
hudsonreview.com/2024/11/at-l...
#AnthonyPowellTogether
At Lady Violet’s | The Hudson Review
hudsonreview.com
September 14, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Found the article about Powell's wife, Lady Violet Powell in The Hudson Review. Well worth the read!
hudsonreview.com/2024/11/at-l...
#AnthonyPowellTogether
hudsonreview.com/2024/11/at-l...
#AnthonyPowellTogether
"You never know till you try. Besides, if things had been different, they would have been totally different. That is something that perhaps only those--like ourselves--engaged in the arrangement of words fully understand."
Delavacquerie continues-- " #AnthonyPowellTogether
Delavacquerie continues-- " #AnthonyPowellTogether
September 14, 2025 at 4:11 PM
"You never know till you try. Besides, if things had been different, they would have been totally different. That is something that perhaps only those--like ourselves--engaged in the arrangement of words fully understand."
Delavacquerie continues-- " #AnthonyPowellTogether
Delavacquerie continues-- " #AnthonyPowellTogether
Reposted
John Blaxter pointed out on the Anthony Powell email group that Hearing Secret Harmonies, the 12th and final volume of A Dance to the Music of Time, was published on 8 September 1975, which means we've just passed the 50th anniversary of this remarkable series.
musicoftime.com
musicoftime.com
September 8, 2025 at 2:33 PM
John Blaxter pointed out on the Anthony Powell email group that Hearing Secret Harmonies, the 12th and final volume of A Dance to the Music of Time, was published on 8 September 1975, which means we've just passed the 50th anniversary of this remarkable series.
musicoftime.com
musicoftime.com
#aNote_2025
Pg1 we see Grace remembering being up a tree, separate from family and "the Parish Ladies," and we're told she "blushed painfully" for her father and "had known he was being ridiculous." Still, she wanted to "protect" him from those ladies.
So much to unpack here. Her father is a vicar
Pg1 we see Grace remembering being up a tree, separate from family and "the Parish Ladies," and we're told she "blushed painfully" for her father and "had known he was being ridiculous." Still, she wanted to "protect" him from those ladies.
So much to unpack here. Her father is a vicar
September 2, 2025 at 3:06 AM
#aNote_2025
Pg1 we see Grace remembering being up a tree, separate from family and "the Parish Ladies," and we're told she "blushed painfully" for her father and "had known he was being ridiculous." Still, she wanted to "protect" him from those ladies.
So much to unpack here. Her father is a vicar
Pg1 we see Grace remembering being up a tree, separate from family and "the Parish Ladies," and we're told she "blushed painfully" for her father and "had known he was being ridiculous." Still, she wanted to "protect" him from those ladies.
So much to unpack here. Her father is a vicar
There are so many dualities and contrasts in Swann's Way, like the Swann the family knows and the Swann the family won't believe exists, I wonder how I didn't notice this before.
#AContinuation25
#AContinuation25
August 13, 2025 at 5:05 PM
There are so many dualities and contrasts in Swann's Way, like the Swann the family knows and the Swann the family won't believe exists, I wonder how I didn't notice this before.
#AContinuation25
#AContinuation25
As I read Swann's Way this time, I am struck by how M. Swann senior is a perfect contrast to our narrator. Senior lives in the moment, enjoying his garden and the hawthorns, and saying "it's good to be alive." I can't imagine our narrator doing or saying any of those things. #AContinuation25
August 13, 2025 at 4:57 PM
As I read Swann's Way this time, I am struck by how M. Swann senior is a perfect contrast to our narrator. Senior lives in the moment, enjoying his garden and the hawthorns, and saying "it's good to be alive." I can't imagine our narrator doing or saying any of those things. #AContinuation25