#the wall marlen haushofer

[theinquisitxor]

April 2024 Reading Wrap Up

I read 6 books in April, which is honestly more than I thought I would get to at the beginning of this month. April's are historically slow reading months for me, and while this was another slower month, I'm happy with what I read. Audiobooks really saved me this month! I read 2 fantasy books, 3 nonfiction (who am I?) and 1 literary fiction.

1.The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown (3.5/5 stars) This was an anticipated new release for me, and I was very intrigued by the premise. This was enjoyable, but there were some things I didn't really care for. This was engaging and easy to read, and if you liked The Cartographers or The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I think you'd like this. Adult low fantasy

2.The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann (4/5 stars) I really enjoy survival stories and seafaring stories, so I knew I was going to like this. The audiobook was great, and I liked how this was a shorter nonfiction. I'm not sure how much I like the narrative nonfiction that Grann writes in. Either way, this was a super engaging and entertaining read. Nonfiction audiobook

3.Atomic Habits by James Clear. I was not planning on reading this book in April, but I randomly go interested in it. Overall enjoyable, and interesting to see how we structure our lives around habits.

4.Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World by Rosalind Miles (4/5 stars) I read this 80s feminist nonfiction on audio, and while this could get pessimistic and difficult, I found it to be an engaging read with flashes of humor throughout. I would be interested to see what this book would be like published in the 2020s vs the 1980s. Nonfiction audiobook

5.The Bloody Throne (Hostage of Empire 3) by SC Emmett (5/5 stars) This was the fantastic conclusion to one of my favorite new series. Everything came together in this book and delivered an ending well worth the series. I wasn't sure how the series would end, but it was satisfying and bittersweet. I'm going to be talking about this series for a while. Adult fantasy

6. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (4.5/5 stars) This is a translated dystopian fiction book about a women who is stuck behind a wall while the rest of the world as ended. She only has a cat, dog, and cow as her companions. She must learn to survive and cope with loneliness. I deeply enjoyed this novel, and found many passages that really stuck with me. Parts of this book got me very emotional.

That's it for April! I'm hoping for a strong reading month this May and summer!

May TBR:

The Familiar by Lehigh Bardugo

The Winners (Beartown 3) by Fredrik Backman

The Language of Trees: A rewilding of literature and landscape

Desert Solitare by Edward Abby

Brave the Wild River (nonfiction audiobook)

The Hedgewitch of Fox Hall by Ana Bright

Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland

The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks (my Random TBR Pick for May)

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[deactivealleg]

“On the long walk back I thought about my former life and found it unsatisfactory in all respects. I had achieved little that I had wanted, and everything I had achieved I had ceased to want. That’s probably how it was for everybody else too. It’s something we never talked about, when we used to talk.”

Marlen Haushofer, “The Wall”

[allegorecho]

“Since my childhood I had forgotten how to see things with my own eyes, and I had forgotten that the world had once been young, untouched and very beautiful and terrible. I couldn’t find my way back there, since I was no longer a child and no longer capable of experiencing things as a child, but loneliness led me, in moments free of memory and consciousness, to see the great brilliance of life again.”

Marlen Haushofer, “The Wall”

[crispapples]

“I knew I couldn’t go on like this, but I’d never been capable of simply nipping an anxiety in the bud. I always had to wait until it was ripe and mature and fell from me”

-Marlen Haushofer

(The Wall)

[rachel-sylvan-author]

Last (or is she?) Woman on Earth (or is it?) 5 stars, both!

"I Who Have Never Known Men" by Jacqueline Harpman "The Wall" by Marlen Haushofer

QOTD: What last-woman-on-earth books do you love? ❤️

[thatsugarglazedlook]

“nothing but each other and the endless, secret dialogue of their warm bodies.”

[katefathers]

Starburst Magazine Issue 486 is here!

In this issue, we take a look at 45 years of the XENOMORPH, as well as Star Wars, cult horror Basket Case, anime, books and more!

In my Book Wormhole column, I review Marlen Haushofer's dystopian novel The Wall, and in Volume 2 of our new 1001 Best Films You've (Probably) Never Seen, I sing the praises of Enda Walsh's 2022 stop motion animation anthology film The House.

Head on over to the Starburst website and pick up a copy today!

[the-forest-library]

Best Reads of 2024: Fiction

In Memoriam - Alice Winn

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands - Heather Fawcett

The Wall - Marlen Haushofer

My Antonia - Willa Cather

Fox 8 - George Saunders

Funny Story - Emily Henry

The Rom-Commers - Katherine Center

Just for the Summer - Abby Jimenez

The Pairing - Casey McQuiston

Ready or Not - Cara Bastone

Only and Forever - Chloe Liese

Adulthood is a Gift - Sarah Andersen

The Eyes and the Impossible - Dave Eggers

Knight Owl - Christopher Denise

Frog and Toad Series - Arnold Lobel

In a Jar - Deborah Marcero

Mr. Postmouse's Rounds - Marianne Dubuc

[kumerish]

Hi! I keep up with blind alley every week with my friend. We send each other panels that we love when we miss each other. Thank you for creating such good art and stories. <3 <3

Two questions for you…

I am always curious what my favorite artist’s favorite books are, do you have any?

Also thoughts on Tove Jansson? Sometimes your line work reminds me of hers.

Ah - that's so nice to hear! Thank you.

I can always revisit Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf or the Earthsea books. Some recent favourites are The Argnoauts by Maggie Nelson, Having and Being Had by Eula Biss, Everyboy by Olivia Laing, Ways of Being by James Bridle, Saving Time by Jenny Odell, The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, and I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman.

Your eyes do not deceive you - Jansson is someone I steal from often! I've unfortunately not read much of Moomin or her fiction but I look at my copies of her illustrated The Hobbit and Alice and Wonderland often for inspiration on mark making. Somehow, despite being busy with lines and heavy with black, her drawings feel so light and alive!

[theinquisitxor]

I just finished reading The Wall by Marlen Haushofer a few minutes ago and I haven’t stopped crying since

[ch4momile]

hii alina, happy new year!🪷🌾 curious about 3,4,24 for the book ask🫶

Pelinnn happy new yeaaaaar <3 <3 <3!!

3) What were your top five books of the year?

I just answered this but i maybe want to add Martyr! by kaveh akbar to the list (thinking emoji)

4) Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

i already mentioned Toni morrison and Elena Ferrante! but like I said above, i also really liked Kaveh akbar's novel so now i want to read hsi poetry too ^_^

24) Did you DNF anything? Why?

I dnf'ed "Someone you can build a nest in" because it was really bad sorry...and i also dnf'ed the wall by marlen haushofer, but it's more like i paused it, because i still want to read it ^_^ i just got busy with uni halfway through and didnt feel like continuing..

[deactivealleg]

“She loved life so much, and always did everything wrong, because in our world you can’t love life as much as that with impunity.”

Marlen Haushofer, “The Wall”

[allegorecho]

“As a child I had always suffered from the foolish fear that everything I could see disappeared as soon as I turned my back on it. No amount of reason could completely banish that fear. At school I would think about my parents’ house and suddenly I would be able to see nothing but a big, empty patch where it had previously stood. I was later prey to nervous anxieties when my family wasn’t at home. I was only really happy when they were all in bed or when we were all sitting around the table. For me, security meant being able to see and touch.”

Marlen Haushofer, “The Wall”

[crispapples]

I’m still going to talk about ‘The Wall’ because it is forever my favourite book.

“I’m not ugly, but neither am I attractive, more like a tree than a person, a tough brown branch that needs its whole strength to survive”

- Marlen Haushofer

(The Wall)

[daphnedauphinoise]

january tbr

The Honjin Murders - Seishi Yokomizo

Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata

Thousand Cranes - Yasunari Kawabata

Blighted Stars - Megan E. O'Keefe

Post Office Girl - Stefan Zweig

Ice fields - Thomas Wharton

Heaven and Hell - Jón Kalman Stefánsson

The Wall - Marlen Haushofer

This Thing Between Us - Gus Moreno

Only alive on Sundays - Kim Rashidi