#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”

[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? ❤️

[crispapples]

“For as long as there’s something for me to love in the forest, I shall love it; and if some day there is nothing, I shall stop living.”

“Loving and looking after a creature is a very troublesome business, and much harder than killing and destruction. It takes twenty years to bring up a child, and ten seconds to kill it”

Marlen Haushofer.

The Wall.

Forever and always my favourite book.

[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”

[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]

September 2024 Reads

Never Date a Roommate - Paula Ottoni

Love and Other Conspiracies - Mallory Marlowe

My Salty Mary - Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

In the Orbit of You - Ashley Schumacher

The Beast's Heart - Leife Shallcross

At First Spite - Olivia Dade

The Wall - Marlen Haushofer

The Book Swap - Tessa Bickers

Someone You Can Build a Nest In - John Wiswell

A Daughter of Fair Verona - Christina Dodd

Given Our History - Kristyn J. Miller

Fall for Him - Andie Burke

I'll Have What He's Having - Adib Khorram

Lips Like Sugar - Jess K. Hardy

The Grandest Game - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Such Charming Liars - Karen M. McManus

The Champions - Kara Thomas

Jupiter Rising - Gary D. Schmidt

Splinter & Ash - Marieke Nijkamp

Knight Owl - Christopher Denise

Young Hag and the Witches' Quest - Isabel Greenberg

Mismatched - Anne Camlin

The Truths We Hold - Kamala Harris

The Third Gilmore Girl - Kelly Bishop

The Striker and the Clock - Georgia Cloepfil

But Everyone Feels This Way - Paige Layle

Ambition Monster - Jennifer Romolini

Body Work - Melissa Febos

Rage - Lester Fabian Brathwaite

The Joy of Connections - Ruth Westheimer

Everyday Dharma - Sunned Gupta

Over Work - Brigid Schulte

Nothing to Fear - Julie McFadden

100 Ways to Change Your Life - Liz Moody

More, Please - Emma Specter

How to Piss Off Men - Kyle Prue

Shitty Craft Club - Sam Reece

Simply Julia - Julia Turshen

Bold = Highly Recommend

Italics = Worth It

Crossed Out = Nope

Thoughts:  I'll be thinking about The Wall by Marlen Haushofer for quite some time. It's a feminist, dystopian, survivalist tale with some truly harrowing moments.

Goodreads Goal: 334/400

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads | 2022 Reads | 2023 Reads | 2024 Reads

[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

[librarycards]

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer for the book ask game!! And for recs, any short sci-fi/speculative fiction (about 100 pages or less)? Alternatively, know any good detective mysteries similar to The City & The City by China Miéville? Thank you ^_^

added to TBR | on my TBR | couldn’t finish it | did not enjoy | it was OK| liked it | loved it | favorite | not interested

this is the exact kind of book i love, thank you for the reminder to prioritize it!!

recs (also I LOVE YOU for the specific examples and details mwah!!)

Renee Gladman, Event Factory (short SFF; similar themes to The City & The City!)

Torrey Peters, Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones (short SFF)

Nino Cipri, Finna (short SFF)

Susanna Clarke, Piranesi (speculative mystery)

Davey Davis, X (speculative mystery)

I also wrote a chapbook (read here) (Goodreads here) that qualifies!

[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”

[rachel-sylvan-author]

Happy Women in Translation Month! ❤️ “I Who Have Never Known Men” by Jacqueline Harpman (French) “Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish) “The Wall” by Marlen Haushofer (Austrian) “An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good” by Helene Tursten (Swedish) “Convenience Store Woman” by Sayaka Murata (Japanese) “The Traveling Cat Chronicles” by Hiro Arikawa (Japanese) “A Woman’s Story” by Annie Ernaux (French) “Childhood, Youth, Dependency” by Tove Ditlevsen (Danish) “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante (Italian) “The Forbidden Notebook” by Alba de Céspedes (Cuban-Italian) “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir (French)

QOTD: Who is your favorite translated woman author, and your favorite book by them?

[crispapples]

“I always kept quiet about this heavy load; a man wouldn’t have understood, and the women felt exactly the same way I did”

-Marlen Haushofer

The Wall

[lionofchaeronea]

Since Tumblr is doing its "Tumblr Wrapped", I thought I would do one of my own. So, here are the ten best novels I read in 2023, in ascending order.

10. A Private Affair by Beppe Fenoglio 9. The Lover by Marguerite Duras 8. The Bear by William Faulkner 7. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata 6. Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut 5. The Stronghold by Dino Buzzati 4. The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner 3. São Bernardo by Graciliano Ramos 2. The Wall by Marlen Haushofer 1. The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington

[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”