Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s our roundup of your comments and photos from last week.

First, a lesson on mutability from reverendbow:

I’ve just finished a yellowed paperback of The First Circle by Solzhenitsyn that I found in a second hand bookshop in Isleworth. As I read it, the sections I had just finished fell apart. In my imagination, the book had been stuck in the shop for decades waiting to be read and when it was picked out and fulfilled its destiny it expired in my hands. I know actually it was just a result of old paper, cheap glue and unexpected movement but it’s nice to dream. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Full of real characters, struggle and pain but also moments of lightness and levity. It was only pointed out to me once I’d finished that I was reading the shortened version and the original version was translated fairly recently. Oh well.

Next, a lesson in being open to literary experiences from HousmansEngland, who has enjoyed Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13:

I’d seen all the hype about this novel, of course, but decided it wasn’t for me. I changed my mind at the weekend, and gave it a go. I’m so glad I did! ... This is a closely-observed story of an entire village, an entire way of life. The story covers a decade of village life, showing the characters, and the countryside in which they live, going through their daily lives, showing how they change, how the years change them, and how they respond to the environment and each other.

I found this a genuinely amazing book. The cool, distant narration has a power that draws the reader in, making you want to know what happens next. This is the first time in a long while that I was genuinely sorry to have finished reading a novel.

And a few words on perseverance from Misstash16:

I’m about halfway through John Crowley’s Little, Big. I started off being confused, then reached a place where I felt like I had a firm grasp on what was going on, and now I’m utterly lost again. So, I’ll just keep going I think.

Elsewhere, dylan37 has enjoyed The Herald Tribune: The First Hundred Years by Charles Robertson:

It’s a romping tale of fin de siècle rich playboys, sailing yachts across the Atlantic, two World Wars, American ex-pats in 1930s Paris drinking, screwing and writing, and changes to newspaper publishing and attitudes of (and to) the press. It’s a window on a lost world, like stepping past the palm fronds into one of those old world, gold and red cafés they still have in Paris.

And Indrek Hargla’s Apothecary Melchior and the Ghost Of Rataskaevu Street has entertained safereturndoubtful:

It is set in Tallinn in 1419 and is actually the second in a series (the first one was tremendous also). The murders take second stage to the wonderful backdrop of the city and the cast of characters. Crime is rare, which is no surprise with the pillories, torture of suspects and a variety of styles of public executions, and the taverns are well frequented. Melchior is in the role of sleuth, and often extends his questioning to his favourite pub, which happens in this story to be inside the Nunnery and apparently, has many fine ales. Hargla is by far the most famous current Estonian author. He also writes other fiction which is popular, but at present it is just these two books that have been translated. There are another four Melchior books which I hope will follow. I’m usually not one for series, but this is great fun.

Finally, paulburns recommend’s Angela Carter’s superb final novel, Wise Children:

Read Angela Carter’s Wise Children. A rambunctious epic of two theatrical families spanning the British music hall, Edwardian Shakespeare, the 1920s, 1930s Hollywood, WW2 and post war Britain. A shout of joy out to the world.

Interesting links about books and reading

• The Millions 2018 book preview is here.
• A fine collection of Mickey Spillane pulp fiction covers.
• “You write whenever you’re not doing your real, proper job.” Ashleigh Young on (not) earning a living as a writer.
• HBO are making a version of Fahrenheit 451.
• Oh dear.

If you would like to share a photo of the book you are reading, or film your own book review, please do. Click the blue button on this page to share your video or image. I’ll include some of your posts in next week’s blog.

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