The 44th Grapevine
November 28th, 2021
Hello and happy Sunday!
Here is the music soundtrack for this week’s Grapevine:
Will Smith’s book is out
My side of the Internet has been raving with news about Will Smith and his new memoir which came out on November 9th. Since then, I have watched his YouTube series, Best Shape of My Life, saw him on Oprah, I have downloaded his audiobook and bought the Kindle edition. Because this is a book I just HAVE to read!
And like Will says: “Oprah is the book lady of the world, so when Oprah likes your book, people listen” and she loved it. Even called it the best memoir she has ever read. In her life!
I am aware of how hyped books can disappoint, but I feel very ready to receive the wisdom of this one, especially since, from what I have seen so far, I can identify similarities between the way Will Smith was raised and what I would consider standard upbringing in the pre-revolution Romania.
One thing that impressed me throughout watching all the material available has been the radical honesty that Will Smith has applied. It sounds an easy enough thing to say, but I find it one of the hardest things to apply to oneself.
Speaking of raving reviews…
Book Marks Reviews
I have finally managed to finish Billy Summers, by Stephen King, and in my curiosity to finally see what the world thought of it, I came across the reviews page by Lithub.com. I have tried to stay away from reading any reviews until I was done, since book reviews these days have become just as bad as movie trailers in terms of spoilers.
The Book Marks Reviews side of Lithub ranks books based on the reviews from critics, and I was happy to see that they saw Stephen King’s latest as favourably as I thought it deserved to be. I mean, it’s not just marked as “POSITIVE,” but as “RAVE”!
Goodreads reading challenge
As we are nearing the end of the year, we’re getting into that mindset of drawing conclusions. Goodreads have already launched the Annual Goodreads Choice Awards and going through the lists I realise that there have been a lot of awesome books this year.
It is also the time when I stop and look at my Reading Challenge for the year and adjust course. I started the year in full force and by the end of spring I was a few books ahead of my reading target. I've lost my rhythm sometime in summer and never really got it back. I blame it on my lizard brain sabotaging my good progress and maybe on bouts of depression that have come and gone. Other times reading had been a refuge and a way to pull myself to the surface, but it hasn't worked that well this year. I've complained profusely about it in the Grapevine so I won't go there again.
There are a lot of views on how to treat a reading challenge and I'm leaning towards the philosophy that we should be kind to ourselves and read what and however much we enjoy.
But I can't help feeling the frustration of being so close! It looked so doable at the beginning of the year and I don't want to fail my past self with a lackadaisical effort.
I'm ten books behind my target. And to help boost me up I'm planning to get inspired from this list:
How Walt Whitman dealt with fan mail
It dawned on me recently that every day there are more books in the world than ever before and every day more books are written, launched, read than the previous day.
What happens to unsold books, depending on the publisher, country and regulations is sometimes just as bad as the fashion’s industry inability to keep up with recycling and responsibly getting rid of last season’s merchandise.
But I’m choosing to focus on: there are so many books in the world.
By that token, there are so many writers today. For these writers, so many fans that I can’t imagine famous writers even keep up with fan mail. When we have the internet as a direct means of communication with them, who writes fan mail anymore?
Back in the 19th century, though, books were not only a lot more scarce but so was literacy. Walt Whitman received a letter from one of his fans, although that word was probably not used as much back then:
Gilchrist praised Whitman’s writing (“[Reading your books] was the divine soul embracing mine. I never before dreamed what love meant: not what life meant.”); confided in him about her husband’s death; and confessed her love to him (“O dear Walt, did you not feel in every word the breath of a woman’s love? did you not see as through a transparent veil a soul all radiant and trembling with love stretching out its arms towards you?”). Receiving no response, she begged for one: “Spare me the needless suffering of uncertainty on this point & let me have one line, one word, of assurance that I am no longer hidden from you by a thick cloud.”
Lithub.com
Here is what he replied:
Just kidding. It is an actual transcript of part of the letter but click the button below for the whole text and the unexpected conclusion to this story.
Crime Reads
I don’t think of myself as an avid reader of crime fiction, but Paula Hawkins changed all that for me. And Stieg Larsson before her, but I didn’t class his books as crime fiction at the time; I am not sure I do now either.
Crime fiction is probably one of the most prolific literary genres today. The rise of true-crime documentaries has a lot to do with that. But there’s something enticing in reading about the dark side of the human psyche and what we are capable of doing to one another for the meagrest of reasons.
I don’t agree that crime novels are more leisurely than others, especially if done right. I feel the plot of a crime novel more viscerally than other genres. And yet it’s like I can’t look away.
I know there is at least one person in the audience who is a crime fiction avid reader (ahem, Mădălina). And I don’t know if she’s in need of more ideas, but here’s an awesome website dedicated to this genre only.
Game time
Try this and post your result in the comments:
Bonus content: Bill Gates’ winter reads recommendations
You probably knew that Bill Gates is a voracious reader. He’s even got a website where he shares his thoughts on what he reads and posts book reviews.
Here’s what he thinks we should read this winter:
If you want to buy me a coffee to fuel my energy, here’s a link.
Our next book is J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire.
The book discussion will happen on December 15th at this link.