Tom Smith

Book haul from a wonderful visit with friends in Kansas City. Stops at Rainy Day Books in Fairway and Raven Books in Lawrence. The stack on the right is from a Half Price Books clearance section in Des Moines.

My selections for the #1949Club

I have blamed The agents That hacked Your website And which You probably Reasonably thought I controlled Forgive me I am rich And unaccustomed To taking responsibility

December reading. Not pictured: Time Regained by Marcel Proust. Favourites were the Proust, Buzzati, Teffi, and Plyäinen. #NYRBWomen25 #Proust2025

Is the Press Free yet?

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” ― H.L. Mencken

October reading with Scandinavia well tepresented. Not pictured: The Captive by Marcel Proust. I enjoyed all but the Garcia Marquez. My favorites were Orbital, The Postcard, and Mirror to Shoulder, Signal. #NYRBWomen25

#NoKings Boston

Just finished Slouching Towards Babylon. Next up are I Used to be Charming and Didion & Babitz. #NYRBWomen25

September reading. Favorites were Occupation Journal and Look at Me. #NYRBWomen25 #SpinsterSeptember

Couple of visitors this morning.

Read in January. The highlights for me were Tom Jones, Trees, and The Omnivore's Dilemma. Spent a lot of time with Lies and Sorcery and Swann's Way. #NYRBWomen25 #AContinuation25 #Proust25

Finally posting November and December reads. Too many slow reads in November, but December was very productive and everything was great. Finished 21 of 23 for #NYRBWomen24 skipping two rereads.

Wow! A world used to exist where Barbara Loden could go on Dick Cavett to promote her singular independent masterpiece, Wanda, to an audience almost certainly unfamiliar with her and it. Even more remarkable, the clip is a full 2 1/2 minutes long and the first full minute is dialogue free.

Okay, this is our final 2025 subscription giveaway of the year. Repost this and be entered to win a 2025 subscription. Or, even better, sign up to receive 7 books for $100. Come January, the subscription does NOT include a backlist title of your choice. sandorfpassage.org/product/sand...

From now on I'll be referring to Twitter as "the old country."

If you have Holocaust survivors or their children at your Thanksgiving table, please encourage them to get a free DNA test. It can be an incredibly powerful tool for connecting families that have been severed. We also provide free genealogical consults to build back. holocaustreunions.org/dna-test/

Post a film still from the year you were born.

Recent review of Lili Anolik's Didion & Babitz #NYRBWomen24 wapo.st/4hYbsII

October was a good reading month for me. Finished The Vegetarian just before the Nobel announcement. It was a favorite, along with the Freya Stark and the two Deborah Levy books. #NYRBWomen24

October reading. I enjoyed them all, but perhaps the Solnit was my favorite. Loved the references to two books I own: Views of the Mississippi and Death Valley in '49. Read two for #NYRBWomen23 and the Jackson for #1962club.

Great time in Iowa City last night seeing Werner Herzog in conversation with Andrei Codrescu about his new memoir.

New additions to my library from the Moline library book sale and a visit to Prairie Lights. A table full of nature books from a single donation. Another person donated two tables of French lit, which sadly I can't begin to read.

September reads included books for #NYRBWomen23, #CzechLitMonth, and #SpinsterSeptember

Currently reading red

Another great month of reading in August. Eight books for #WITMonth, two for #NYRBWomen2023, and seven writers who were new to me. I loved all but the Bronsky and my favorites were the Giono, Nors, and Djavadi.