Happy Spring! Today’s TTT is books on our TBR. But first, teases! But firster, Vivaldi!
They say that a person’s personality is the sum of their experiences. But that isn’t true, at least not entirely, because if our past was all that defined us, we’d never be able to put up with ourselves. We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too, all of our tomorrows.
Anxious People, Fredik Backman
It appears to us that of all the fairy tales none contains so vital a moral truth as the old story, existing in many forms, of “Beauty and the Beast.”There is written, with all the authority of a human scripture, the eternal and essential truth that until we love a thing in all its ugliness we cannot make it beautiful.
Twelve Types, GK Chesterton
To open yourself to the past is to make yourself less vulnerable to the cruelties of descending in tweeted wrath on a young woman whose clothing you disapprove of, or firing an employee because of a tweet you didn’t take time to understand, or responding to climate change either by ignoring it or by indulging in impotent rage. You realize that you need not obey the impulses of this moment—which, it is fair to say, never tend to produce a tranquil mind.
Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind, Alan Jacobs
So, books we’re planning on reading this spring….
(1) Resurrection, Leo Tolstoy. I’d like to post a review for this on Easter Sunday, for obvious reasons. This is a Classics Club entry.
(2) The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt. Waiting for this one to be released on March 26.
(3) Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, Charles Leerhsen. A newish biography that challenges popular conceptions of Cobb
(4) The Diary of a Bookseller, Shaun Bythell. I’ve read a couple of Bythell’s other books about his store, but this is the first in the series.
(5) The Victorians: Twelve Titans Who Forged Britain, Jacob Rees-Mogg. For my annual English history & literature sweep in April, naturally.
(6) The Irish in Baseball: An Early History. Meant to finish this in time for St. Patrick’s Day.
(7) Amy Winehouse in Her Own Words. Recently discovered that they’re doing a biopic on Amy, so I wanted to revisit her life.
(8) Jesus of Nazareth, Part 2: Holy Week From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. Might give this a try next week if no one else has the same idea and checks it out first.
(9) Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, Ben Goldfarb
(10) Kinfolk, Sean Dietrich. Another humorous memoir, I imagine.
Reading Freely 
I’m curious about that Amy Winehouse biopic, too. Thanks for stopping by earlier.
Lydia
GK Chesterton is an old favorite, so Twelve Types looks excellent. And I see you’re participating in the Classics Club reading challenge too? Really, all of these look great!
One of my goals for Lent was to read more GK Chesterton. I’m not doing very well at it, but I will at least finish Twelve Types — which is an unusual little work. And yes, this is my second run-through with the Classics Club. I’d like to finish this year (early), but someone stole Plutarch from my public library so I need to find access to that. Your CC list has a lot of titles I’ve never heard of – and you’re going with a hundred! Wow!
Jacob Rees-Mogg…….? [rotflmao] [pauses] [rotflmao some more…..]
Now that John Bercow’s out of the House, Rees-Mogg is easily the most entertaining MP to listen to. He uses words I’ve never even heard of. Plus, I’m a member of a Young Fogeys club on facebook, so his aesthetic sensibilities and my own are very close. 😉
I’m looking forward to your review of Resurrection, that has been on my to-read list for years!
The Chesterton excerpt is also great. I’m a sucker for Beauty & the Beast (and retellings thereof).
It was one I stumbled on. A couple of years ago I did a list just like this one with Cancer Ward and Resurrection both listed. Here’s hoping I manage it this time….XD
In re: Beauty and the Beast, have you ever run across Mercedes Lackey’s ‘retelling’, Beauty and the Werewolf?
Fantasy isn’t usually my thing, but when I was in recovery from the transplant back in ’22, a friend lent me a stack of books that included a few of those.
That’s new to me – thanks for sharing!
I am also wondering about that Amy Winehouse bio pick. Hopefully it is good.
From the trailer, the actress has Amy’s accent down pretty good, and she can pull off the hair. Will have to see about the PERFORMANCE, though, if she can invoke Amy’s stage presence.
Kinfolk sounds interesting.
Here is our <a href=”https://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/top-ten-tuesday-books-on-my-spring-2024-tbr/“>Top Ten Tuesday.</a>
Astilbe
So many interesting books. Enjoy them and have a great week!
Thanks! I forgot to say in my comment, but I like your blog name!
I hope you enjoy all the books on your tbr!
I’m afraid to read #2– I have high school–middle school aged great niece & nephews and a one year old grandson. Happily, all love nature and music (not sure on the grandson yet) and those seem to help. Have you read Last Child in the Woods?
I haven’t! Looks interesting, though.
Anxious People is such a fun book. I hope you enjoy your Spring reads!
I’ve got The Anxious Generation on my list, too.