What better way to start a week full of hard work and worthy projects than with a delightful bit of procrastination? Thank you to Susan, Annabel and David for the impetus… I think…
The rules are simple: make an acrostic of your name using the books you have read recently (or, in some cases, not all that recently). I have used books that have truly impressed me, that I have rated 4 or 5 stars. The links are to reviews, although not all of the books below have received the reviews they deserve from me. I don’t think I’ll have time to do them justice in the near future, so I’ve completed with brief comments taken from my Goodreads archive.
M Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson
An island, a lighthouse, a garden: what more could you want? The book where we get the clearest picture of the tensions between Moominpappa and Moominmamma, yet also a story of the triumph of family love and the beauty of impractical dreaming.
A Apocalypse Baby by Virginie Despentes
R La Route de Beit Zera by Hubert Mingarelli
I The Islanders by Pascal Garnier
N No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary
A The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Amazing how the author manages to inject such a serious and heartbreaking subject, so many rather shocking and sad events, with humour, tenderness and the practical, no-nonsense yet vulnerable mindset of an adolescent. Beautiful and emotional piece of work.
S Scarred Hearts by Max Blecher
Such a modern feel to this one: Blecher does not shy away from the good, the bad, the ugly, the things we would rather not acknowledge. Not for the squeamish or hypocritical. A burst of candour and poignancy, an urgent love of life, from a character (and an author) doomed to die. Heartbreaking.
O Our Andromeda by Brenda Shaughnessy
This inspiring collection of poems has something for all tastes: from the playful and linguistically inventive (particularly for those among us who are more auditively inclined) to the deeply moving pathos of the title poem, which had me in tears even while queuing for 1.5 hours at US borders. Captivating voice and a willingness to be brave, honest and experiment, rather than showing off.
F Faces in the Crowd by Valeria Luiselli
I Les Ignorants by Étienne Davodeau
A Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Would love to see your own versions, so please don’t be shy!
Oh, what fun, Marina Sofia!!! And you’ve been so clever, too! I love it. Here’s my feeble, Agatha Christie-themed attempt:
M – Murder on the Orient Express
A – And Then There Were None
R – The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories
G– The Golden Ball and Other Stories
O – Ordeal by Innocence
T – Three Act Tragedy
Very impressive indeed, Margot – doing it just with one author is a challenge too far for me!
Thank you *blush.* Of course I had it easy, with a short name and an author with a large bibliography… 😉
Wow… no flies on you Marina! I’ve just spent/lost a good hour raking back through my Goodreads ‘read’ shelf… think I’ve finally found my ‘almost acrostical’ choices 🙂
‘Lost’? ‘Lost’? So much more fun than writing an article on HR topics, I can assure you…
Delighted to see you found an ‘O’ after all. Good fun, isn’t it!
Going back nearly 2 years to find that elusive ‘O’ – thanks for a great start to this week!
I’ve seen this on Susan’s blog and it looks like you both had fun with it. I may have to give it a try 🙂
Oh, please do, it’s so fun. I think ‘J’ might be a bit of a challenge…
cool idea – i had difficulties finding a book with C though – ha
and not enough time to read at the moment