My week in books #42

 

 

(Below are the books that I reviewed and/or read this week - click on the covers to access the links.)

 

 

First, I'm linking back to The sunday post held by Kim, The Caffeinated Reviewer. Click on the logo above to access her post and discover plenty of great bloggers who are dying to share their book reviews, and other things, with you !

Second : I'm sorry if I didn't answer comments quickly since the last Sunday post (I still have some left to answer to...), if I didn't visit more blogs than I did, but here it is : we're being locked down again here in France and I had to organize myself. I've been on special leave for medical reasons since tuesday evening, the lockdown has begun thursday night and will last... a certain time. So I took my daughters out visiting (again) the medieval little town of Provins while we still could, we went one last time to the restaurant, we visited bookshops and local shops to support them by buying and ordering books and things. All of this wearing masks, keeping our distances and washing our hands, of course. 

 

We also went to Sens to, once again, support the local bookshop. Here's the cathedral on the left, the first French gothic cathedral (Saint-Etienne), and the museum on the right with its typical Burgundy roof : 

The library where I work will be opened just for click and collect. In France, this is how strict lockdown works : we're all locked down. Oh, except for children : they all go to school. Oh, and for teachers, of course, and people who work in schools. And garages, supermarkets, public administrations (including libraries, obviously), construction workers, essential places (food, DIY stores). And yes, a lot of these people will have to travel in public transports to get to work (imagine the french "métro" - subway, and trains, in rush hour in a pandemic era...). And once they reach work, they'll have to be together (just like before) but take care. But working from home should be the priority ! Yet it's not mandatory. Sigh. No logic here. This is very frustrating. When we heard the president talking, we had to consult each other to translate what he said into something we could understand in a practical way. That said, my eldest daughter remains at home (she studies online at university). My youngest daughter will go to school. No comment.

Bookshops were locked down too and they protested because supermarkets remained open and could sell books so now : no books in supermarkets either. I wish they'd just let the bookshops open, they were very safe.

Lockdown is not hard for me : I live in the country, we have a pretty view on the countryside and the nearby wood, our appartment is big enough, we have plenty to occupy ourselves (including that huge physical TBR pile and working from home) and the cats will be delighted to have us at their service ! One drawback : my boyfriend, who works in a nursing home, has had a little accident last sunday and we're trying to get an appointment with a doctor that was impossible to have this week. We'll see how it goes. I'm afraid I won't be seeing my sister any more this year - we last met in february for her birthday...

On top of the lockdown, there were the attacks... I'm really afraid the way we are going, there will be a sort of civil war at some point... I personally have nothing against Muslims, some are my friends and coworkers and they would never do something like this, they are appalled as everybody is. But I do have something against crazy murderers who will jump at any reason to go on a slaughtering rampage and kill innocent people. Working near Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan, La Belle Equipe (5mn walk from my library), the recent attack near the old Charlie Hebdo offices, I'm really tired of all this violence.

I hope you're safe, your families too, take care :)

To finish on an optimistic note, I unhauled many books from my physical TBR shelf so I hope, maybe, probably, to read the remaining novels/essays before the end of next year *fingers crossed*.

This week on the blog : not much, I'm afraid. The situation makes it hard for me to concentrate on reading books or researching. So I just watched stuff instead.

 

This week, I watched the entirety of this very funny BBC show. I recently saw the trailer for season 2, so I decided to give a try to season 1 and it was perfect to watch in those troubled times :

I started watching Victoria and really like it, much better than The crown (I couldn't stand more than a few episodes - sorry, Matt Smith) :

A Victober video that I loved is one of Kate's : 

She compares Victorian novels with contemporary Korean dramas and I think it's a great idea ! My eldest daughter is learning Korean, she loves dramas, and we both love watching Victorian tv series, so it would be something like birds and stones with no killing involved.

I read The history boys, so I felt like watching The history boys - loved it ! :

 

Grandma cat likes to keep her distances too :

"Don't you come any closer, you thoughtless youngster !"