{Wrap up} Books I read in April, including L’Origine by Milgrom, and Hello World by Fry

April has been a quiet month for reading: in total I’ve read only seven books!

It’s also been the hardest month of unemployment since COVID/ lockdown 1.0 began, and I am barely limping on. I miss London, and my family there so much that I wake up having dreamt of wandering around there with them. Hopefully the worst of the homesickness and missing folks has passed (foolish optimism, sustain me!) and I will be back to reading lots, getting back to work, and seeing loved ones soon.

Hilariously I rediscovered the Classics Club (with 3 months to go until my original time slot expired) this month. Instead of trying and probably failing to cram in 50 classics in 3 months, I sent a message politely asking them whether they could update my challenge time-frame so that I could officially restart from 0.

Now on to this month’s reading wrap up!

 

WWW Wednesday – 21/4/21

Although I’ve been having a fantastic time of reading others’ blogs since re-starting this one, I’ve been feeling a little isolated from the book blogging community, so I’m going to participate in this meme on a trial basis to see whether it helps me feel more connected to the community as a whole.

When I first started blogging, WWW was one of the first weekly events I discovered, and I got to know some fantastic books (and readers of said books), sadly we all stopped blogging at the same sort of time. So this is going to be a lovely walk down nostalgia lane.

 

{Review} L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece- Lilianne Milgrom

Firstly, I’d like to thank France Book Tours for letting me have a free review copy of this book in return for an honest review. If the thought of reading and blogging about some stellar works with French settings or themes interests you then please check out the page here.

Now on to today’s book review.

 

Teaser Tuesday – 23/03/2021

This is Teaser Tuesday, a weekly Meme hosted by The Purple Booker. Anyone is welcome to join in!

This week’s teaser is for “L’Origine: The Secret Life Of The World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece” by Lilianne Milgrom.

L’Origine is a historical fiction novel inspired by Courbet’s painting, L’Origine du Monde. It has received glowing reviews, and has won the Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion Award. The painting blew my mind when I saw it, and the concept of the book piqued my interest, so I applied for a free review copy here.

Currently I’m just over half-way through and loving the excellent story-telling. A review should be forthcoming by the end of the week (in case you’re interested).

The more I interacted with the public, the more fascinated I became with what others saw in Courbet’s painting. For one elderly gentleman, it triggered memories of his deceased wife, while for one sweet little grandma it seemed like the perfect teaching tool to introduce her granddaughter to the birds and the bees. It didn’t quite go as planned.

“Look, chérie,” said Grandma. “That’s where all babies come from.”

“No, it isn’t!” whined her young charge.

“But it is, my little cabbage. You too came into the world from there.”

“No, I didn’t!” replied the little girl, stamping her foot. “Maman had a caesarean!”

L’Origine: The Secret Life Of The World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece” by Lilianne Milgrom