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- The Silence of the Lambs – Thomas Harris, 1988. Wow, I absolutely loved this, and then had to go back and re-watch the movie – which is great also but not as much of a masterpiece. I started Hannibal but haven’t finished as of late July.
- On the Origin of Species (1st ed.) – Charles Darwin, 1959 – quotes marked but lost in a Nook reset
- The Way of All Flesh – Samuel Butler, 1903 – ditto…
- The Burning of Bridget Cleary – Angela Bourke, 1999 – and again.
- A Reader’s Delight – Noel Perrin, 1988. I read the sequel about children’s books last month; this is the first collection of Perrin’s Washington Post reviews of neglected books, and I very much enjoyed it also. Unlike the other, most of these books I haven’t read, read long ago and don’t remember much about them (Period Piece by Gwen Raverat, A Fine and Private Place by Peter Beagle), or didn’t finish them (The Silver Stallion by James Branch Cabell, Islandia by August Tappan Wright – love the idea of it and have attempted it several times but never made it past the middle, The Three Royal Monkeys by Walter de la Mare). I’d love to read them all and started with All Hallow’s Eve (next in this list).
- All Hallow’s Eve – Charles Williams, 1945. A weird “spiritual thriller” set during the Blitz with some interesting characters and peculiar but vivid descriptions of art (painting) and its power.
- Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, 1987. Re-read as I started to watch the HBO series which was streaming for free on Juneteenth (I only got through the first four episodes before it went back to subscription, but it’s wonderful and I’ll borrow the DVDs to finish it). I loved this when I first read it (in the 90s? early 2000s?) but mostly remembered Dr. Manhattan; I got a lot more of it now. I hadn’t remembered the twist at the end about the smiley face! Coincidentally, the iconic original was created by Harvey Ball in Worcester, quite close to here.