Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks: June 2021

Sunday, June 27, 2021

BW26: Nothing Gold can Stay by Robert Frost

We're halfway through the year and July is almost upon us. Where have your reading journeys taken you so far this year? My year has turned into 'what are you in the mood for' which means lots of romance and dragons, librarians, and villains. Can you just hear lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Just me? Oh well! I'm also enjoying rereading Nora Roberts back list which has been comforting as well as feeding my muse and inspiring me to be creative. What inspires you to create a story, a song, a recipe, a new crafts project? Share some of your creations.

This week's mini quest is to read something with half in the title. And since we're about to go through another heat wave, better yet, read something cozy. Perhaps take a literary trip to the Antarctic or maybe while a few hours away in a tropical climate while drinking a fruit cocktail with one of those cheerful little umbrellas ~Cheers!

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

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Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 61. How a Gardener May Get Rid of the Dormice

Chapter 62. Ghosts

Chapter 63. The Dinner

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Sunday, June 20, 2021

BW25: Summertime

Happy Father's day to all our dads! It's officially Summer in our neck of the woods and we are a hot 105 degrees at the moment. Thank goodness for air conditioning! Are you in the mood for a light summer read or something more heady? Perhaps that chunky book you've been meaning to read for quite a while. And if you are on the other side of the world celebrating the start of Winter, maybe a fun beach read will help make those long winter nights seem just a bit warmer. Maybe you could use a literary hug.

Dive into summer reading with a book set during the summer, with a character named summer, or challenge yourself to spell out summer. Read a book in which things heat up, nature wise or relationship wise. *grin* Read a book set on a beach or set in a beach town, near the water somewhere, or even on the water. Read a book picked by the queens of writing beach reads.

Have you ever thought about what your favorite literary characters get up to during the Summer? Or which literary characters love to read? What are they reading now? Hmm!

Dive into the books of summer and have fun following rabbit trails!

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Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 58. M. Noirtier de Villefort
Chapter 59. The Will
Chapter 60. The Telegraph

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Sunday, June 13, 2021

BW24: 52 Books Bingo - Different Cultures

Happy Sunday! It's time for another round of 52 Books Bingo and our category this week is different cultures. According to livescience.com:

"Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.

The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group."

From historical fiction to contemporary fiction to non fiction, there is a wide variety from which to choose to read and learn. As we all know, literature opens our eyes and minds to different places and times, cultures and ideals.

Finding culture and identity through books

Reading while Bilingual: How Translated Books Helped Shape My Cultural Identity

Experience New Things with These 21 Books About Cultures That May Not Be Your Own

10 Cross-Cultural Novels that Illuminate the World We Live In

Around the World in 27 Books: Travel Writers’ Recommendations

Become a Multiculturalist with These 11 Books About Different Cultures

There are a number of ways to go with this category and you can interpret it anyway you like, so have fun following rabbit trails and see where they lead you.

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Count of Monte Cristo Readalong

Chapter 55. Major Cavalcanti

Chapter 56. Andrea Cavalcanti

Chapter 57. In the Lucern Patch

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Sunday, June 6, 2021

BW23: Chanson d'Automne by Paul Verlaine

Courtesy of World War Media

Today is the 77th Anniversary of the D Day invasion when allied forces launched operation Overlord to free northwest Europe from Nazi occupation. 156,000 United States, British, and Canadian troops stormed five beaches that day in a large amphibious assault. One historical tidbit is the French Resistance had been told the invasion would begin shortly after the first three lines in Paul Verlaine's Chanson d’Automne was read on BBC's Radio Londres in a real time radio broadcast

Chanson d'Automne

Les sanglots longs

Des violons

De l’automne

Blessent mon coeur

D’une langueur

Monotone.

Tout suffocant

Et blême, quand

Sonne l’heure,

Je me souviens

Des jours anciens

Et je pleure;

Et je m’en vais

Au vent mauvais

Qui m’emporte

Deçà, delà,

Pareil à la

Feuille morte.

Autumn Song

translated by Arthur Symons

When a sighing begins

In the violins

Of the autumn-song,

My heart is drowned

In the slow sound

Languorous and long

Pale as with pain,

Breath fails me when

The hours toll deep.

My thoughts recover

The days that are over,

And I weep.

And I go

Where the winds know,

Broken and brief,

To and fro,

As the winds blow

A dead leaf.

We honor those soldiers who fought and died in service to our countries.

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Count of Monte Cristo Readalong

Chapter 52. Toxicology

Chapter 53. Robert le Diable

Chapter 54. A Flurry in Stocks

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