http://www.missmoss.co.za/2017/04/07/georgia-okeeffe-horizons-of-a-pioneer/

BOOK 143: QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN'T STOP TALKING: SUSAN CAIN

Cain argues that modern Western culture misunderstands and undervalues the traits and capabilities of introverted people, leading to "a colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness."

Notable individuals described by Cain as introverts, or whose notability is based on introverted personality characteristics:

Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Marcel Proust, Frédéric Chopin, Charles Darwin, Steve Wozniak, Mother Teresa, Gandhi

Steven Spielberg, J.K. Rowling, Charles Schulz, Bill Gates

Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul

Dale Carnegie, Albert Einstein, Dr. Seuss

Warren Buffett, Al Gore, Larry Page

Charles Schwab

David Letterman, Barbara Walters

Isaac Newton

Pablo Picasso ("Without great solitude, no serious work is possible”)

W. B. Yeats, J. M. Barrie, George Orwell

"Seekers"—Moses, Jesus, Buddha

Johnny Carson, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Steve Martin

The Wall Street Journal's Philip Delves Broughton reviewed Quiet as "an earnest and enlightening 300-page inquiry into introversion and its uses," described examples of the research and investigations Cain undertook, and closed by stating "Ms. Cain's rich, intelligent book will probably have broad appeal."

BOOK 115: INVITATION TO A BEHEADING: VLADIMIR NABOKOV

Invitation to a Beheading is a novel by Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov. It was originally published in Russian in 1935-1936 as a serial in Contemporary Notes (Sovremennye zapiski), a highly respected Russian émigré magazine. In 1938 the work was published in Paris, with an English translation following in 1959. The English version was translated by Nabokov's son, Dmitri Nabokov, under the author's supervision.

The novel is often described as "Kafkaesque," but Nabokov claimed that at the time he wrote the book, he was unfamiliar with German and "completely ignorant" of Kafka's work. Nabokov interrupted his work on The Gift in order to write Invitation, describing the creation of the first draft as "one fortnight of wonderful excitement and sustained inspiration." Some scholars have argued that the central plot of Invitation has its roots in Chernyshevski, a character from The Gift.

While Nabokov stated in an interview that of all his novels he held the greatest affection for Lolita, it was Invitation to a Beheading that he held in the greatest esteem.

MY VERDICT: I found this book a little hard to read.  It seemed lacking in something to me and I feel like it could be the fault of the translation.  I know Nabokov to be an astounding writer and Lolita is proof of this but there seemed to be something less tangible, easy to grasp, in this novel.  I didn’t dislike it completely, there were still little hints of the unique visual descriptions that I admire Nabokov for, but they are a few precious jewels in an otherwise hard to look at scene.  This is just my opinion, some believe it’s a great book maybe even his best.  Lolita will always be the one for me.  I think it’s because Humbert Humbert is so human and Cinncinnatus (the protagonist in this novel) is almost the very opposite, he is indifferent and wholly unlikeable (which seems to be why he ended up in prison in the first place) but I didn’t really care for him and so I was not particularly concerned about the outcome of the book.