Book Corner 2026.33

The Empusium

by Olga Tokarczuk

What did I just read? The subtitle is “A Health Resort Horror Story”. There is some horror here and there (particularly at the end) but it’s a slow build. I don’t think I fully understand what happened.

I picked this up because I loved DRIVE YOUR PLOW so much, but perhaps I loved that one mainly for the protagonist. I was sympathetic with the protagonist here as well, which kept me slogging through, even when it felt too much like THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, which was also about a sanitarium of the same era, with similar grotesque descriptions of the clientele. MAGIC MOUNTAIN I abandoned – it was too unpleasant, slow, and thick. This one at least is a pretty quick read.

29 years later…

Been cleaning my office a little at a time. That armrest that’s been worn away – the keyboard where the letters on the keys have been literally worn off, the texture of my fingers having become ingrained onto the plastic. Day by day this will feel less raw & visceral.

(I did not use that same chair for 29 years of telecommuting, but it may have been that very same keyboard this whole time… and it was this office.)

Book Corner 2026.32

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

by Olga Tokarczuk

Was hooked on this book right away and was totally enthralled. Fantastic narrator. Five stars and five thumbs up.

Many quotable quotables, but here’s one to share. “We have this body of ours, a troublesome piece of luggage, we don’t really know anything about it and we need all sorts of Tools to find out about its most natural processes. Isn’t it scandalous that last time a doctor wanted to check what was happening in my stomach he made me have a gastroscopy? I had to swallow a thick tube, and it took a camera to reveal the inside of my stomach to us. The only course and primitive Tool gifted us for consolation is pain. The angels, if they really do exist, must be splitting their sides laughing at us. Fancy being given a body and not knowing anything about it. There’s no instruction manual.”

Book Corner 2026.31

Island of the Blue Dolphins

by Scott O’Dell

A “juvenile fiction” novel and famous Newbery Award winner. The heroine is the last of her tribe left on a remote California channel island. She lives alone from age 12 for 18 years before a ship finally comes to take her to civilization. I was prepped for a tale of survival, stoicism, and can-do-ism with a young female protagonist. But it was a heartbreaker. So much loss. I cried when her dog died. Beautiful illustrations by Ted Lewin.

Book Corner 2026.28

Quartet in Autumn

by Barbara Pym

Takes place in 1970s England and features four 60-something office workers on the verge of retirement.

My main takeaway is how much aging has changed since the 1970s. These people are presumably in their 60s, and they seem OLD. They act and think like my mother-in-law, who is 85.

For much the book I honestly struggled to keep track of who was who, because the two men spoke so much in the same voice, as did the two women.

I felt very glad that things ended on a hopeful note for at least two of the characters. Go out and LIVE, people!