I can stumble about in French if I ever find a copy-

Seen this? lightholderbooks.com/products/nig...

Night of the Pig-Killing by Magda Szabo

Night of the Pig-Killing by Magda Szabo. Translated by Kathleen Szasz. 1966 Knopf, first U.S. edition, 224 pages. Szabo was a Hungarian writer who has experienced a renaissance with the NYRB reissue o...

lightholderbooks.com

Still fresh in my mind since reading it in 2023 with @joiedevivre9.bsky.social who also introduced me to Olivia Manning, Vicki Baum, Helen Weinzweig et al! 📚👏

"How lucky it was that our faces didn't betray what we were thinking, and that no one knew that she, or anyone else in this great squat building, was thinking of him as St. George...But of course these Calvinists didn't recognize saints." 49 #Abigail #Szabo #NYRBWomen26 #Rix

I loved "Iza's Ballad," the doctor daughter, the old school mother, their love & poor understanding of the other, the changes confronting one's beloved country. And "Abigail" reminded me of Au revoir les enfants (1987) and Europa Europa (1990), favorite movies from my childhood.

"He once insulted me," he said. Her quick eyes rested on his face. "I see! You didn't avenge it, and it rankles. Poor Father! You let me have a go!" P1C2 To Let #Forsytesaga26 Fleur Forsyte, 19 and ready to join the family feud. #Daughters

“A family feud? It’s like the Bible, or Mark Twain—awfully exciting.” Apparently, Twain was very popular among British intellectuals. #forsytesaga26

#Forsytesaga26 ... his father, and now for his daughter Fleur, is palpable. And though in Soames's world, he has to couch his love in the language of property and possession, I guess the main intrigue of this novel is whether his love for Fleur will break his Forsytean impulse, if for a moment.

Debating whether to read Katalin Street (1969) next, or The Door (1987)! I loved Iza's Ballad (1963). How is it that her first novel, Fresco (1958) lacks a published English translation?!!! #NYRBWomen26

It's always so interesting when our books talk to each other!

Week 15: Book 3 (To Let), #Forsytesaga26 Mo, Aug 3-Ch1 Encounter Tu, Aug 4-Ch2 Fine Fleur Forsyte We, Aug 5-Ch3 At Robin Hill Th, Aug 6-Ch4 The Mausoleum Fr, Aug 7-Ch5 The Native Heath Sa, Aug 8-Ch6 Jon Chapter 1 is a bit long but others are short. Thank you for reading with us! Happy August ☀️

#ForsyteSaga26 "He remembered the first wave of influenza in 1887—or '8—hatched in China, so they said. He wondered where this—this Expressionism had been hatched. The thing was a regular disease!"

David experienced the bitterest of all humiliations--that of shame for a father... He crushed down his pain into his heart, realizing that he was alone, that there was no one to whom he could turn... Tr. K. Raine 16 The Two Poets #BalzacTogether He needs Young Jolyon as his father! #Forsytesaga26

Harriet Walter (70 now is 50 then).

"Gina did not cry, if only to make it clear to the two of them that she considered them absolute strangers whom she could never allow to witness her suffering." 25 #Abigail #Szabo #NYRBWomen26 #Rix Hair is an extension of oneself. (An old mentor's long eye brow hair was the last hippie bit left.)

@nemi.eurosky.social : as you're reading the original French, did Balzac organize The Two Poets in chapters? The 1971 Hunt translation has chapters; the 1951 Raine translation does not. Curious. Merci! #Translations #Balzactogether

"If Balzac deserves the 'realist' label that has stuck so fast to him, it must not be because he is romantically 'larger than life,' but because he is, precisely, life-size and 'twice as natural.' " Intro by Richard Howard, 2001, The Modern Library Classics ed. 2001 #Balzactogether

the peasants coming in on market day might have thought that the devil was taking a wash inside the house. (2/2) *I am reading both the Raine and Hunt translations until one wins me over. 🧐

There, also, was the sink where the formes--in other words, the blocks of set-up type--were washed; from it issued an inky stream, mixed with the dirty water from the kitchen sink, so that (1/2) The Two Poets #Balzactogether Translated 1951 by Kathleen Raine, The Modern Library Classics

I loved Angel- could see a young Diana Rigg in the role as the creative, immoral, irreverent protagonist. The Sweet Dove Died was watching the figurines in a snow globe: trapped, taking tiny steps. I wanted her to stab someone! Looking forward to reading some Early #Pym novels. #NYRBWomen26

"And this was the answer in his eyes: Well then, give it to me as to a stranger, if that is what you wish. ... One day, you will ask my pardon for this. May God grant that we both live to see that day." 15 #Abigail #Szabo #NYRBWomen26 #Rix Being 14 in 1943- Germany invades its former ally, Hungary.

Ah, a journeyman with luck & timing & ambition & wife with money. #balzactogether Knew an art director, Kansas high school unfinished, joined the merchant marines, bumped into Dali, roamed around & ended up in 1970's CA to apprentice to become a set designer, & later an art director & my mentor!

or 18th c. England for a penurious upperclass woman named Jane Austen who tries to get more money from the stingy, sexist publisher. (Just re-watched Miss Austen Regrets (2007).) #Nowwatching #Balzactogether

Just me or did you find this play heavier than your memory of it? I loved its balance of light and dark, fairy & human worlds. Thanks for being with us & see you in Venice with #TheMerchant2026 ! 🇮🇹

allez-y! #balzactogether week 1 schedule has landed!

PUCK I am sent with broom before To sweep the dust behind the door. #MidsummerND2026 V,1,381-382 William Shakespeare Arden 1979

#MidsummerND2026 Day 19, 7/31- Act V s1 from 296 THISBE (FLUTE). Asleep, my love? What, dead, my love? to end of play BOTTOM. Give me your hands if we be friends And Robin shall restore amends. *Thanks for reading with my mom & me! Hope to see you for #TheMerchant2026 on Aug. 15, 2026. 📚 #Venice

HIPPOLYTA. This is the silliest stuff that e'er I heard. THESEUS. The best in this kind are but shadows, and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them. ... If we imagine no worse of them than they of themselves, they may pass for excellent men. Act V s1 #MidsummerND2026 (2/2)

#MidsummerND2026 Day 18, 7/30- Act V s1 from 201 WALL (SNOUT). Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so; And, being done, thus Wall away doth go. to 295 DEMETRIUS. And thus she means, videlicet-- (1/2) *videlicet: that is to say (Latin)

Consider then, we come - but in despite We do not come - as minding to content you; Our true intent is all for your delight: We are not here that you should here repent you. The actors ... 3