📖 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak 💫 a book about Leila, a s3x worker in Istanbul, and her five dearest friends. a book about life, memory, and found family. it has beautiful prose and realistically paints a portrait of the character's lives and how they intersect with each other. ✒️ after sitting on this for a while i'm very happy to give it a 4 star rating. as someone with strained familial relations myself, i loved seeing the emphasis on friendship and found family. it spoke to me more than themes of family in other historical fiction books like pachinko. i also loved learning more about a place and time that is foreign to me, and i appreciate the historical events weaved throughout. defintely recommend this to anyone who likes reading historical fiction about the lives of women and marginalised peoples! there's SW, queer (trans) and disability rep. happy i picked this as my first read for #asianreadathon2024. i've been super busy with the count of monte cristo so i haven't made anymore progress, but i hope to read more asian authored books by the end of the month. (even though the challenge can include books with asian characters, i prefer to read own voices works.) what books are you planning to finish by the end of the month?
This has been on my tbr list for a long time. ❤️ #whatimreading #whattoreadnext #readallthebooks #librarybooks #tbr #tbrlist #tbrpile #youshouldreadmore #thecolony #audreymagee #bookerprizelonglist #irishauthor
📖 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak 💫 first read of May and first read for the #asianreadathon2024! I really loved this one, still letting it marinate for a bit longer before I give it a rating but it's definitely 4 stars at the very least! review to come ✒️ I love the theme of time and memory in this book. I tabbed this book while I was reading and I can't wait to go through the rest of my tabs, but this is a line from the start of the book. It reminds me a bit of Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot: 𝘉𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥; 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥. 🪐 What's everyone else reading right now at the start of a new month?
BOOK 9. LOST ON ME BY VERONICA RAIMO, Tr. LEAH JANECZKO, LONGLISTED FOR #INTERNATIONALBOOKER2024 A bildungsroman, autofiction, with a dash of humour, narrated by the author in a nonlinear format. An overprotective, anxious mother and germophobic father, a brother, apparently with a very high IQ; overall an odd family with a strange makeshift house. “THANKS TO OUR STRICT UPBRINGING, NEITHER MY BROTHER NOR I EVER LEARNED TO DO SUCH HAZARDOUS THINGS AS SWIMMING, RIDING A BIKE, SKATING, OR JUMPING ROPE (IN A FLASH WE MIGHT HAVE DROWNED, CRACKED OUR SKULLS, BROKEN A LEG, STRANGLED OURSELVES).” Her eagerness to run away from home when she was fifteen, her failed attempts, her constipation, boredom, (inventing games), flashers, her friends, her boyfriends, her grandpa, parenting flaws (as in mistakes made by her parents bringing them up), her love for her grandpa, her problems as a woman, be it menstrual, or pregnancy. “YOU KNOW WHAT’S THE WORST FOR A DICTIONARY?” “NO.” “NOT HAVING THE LAST WORD.” She feels her mother's favourite is her brother. Probably, she suffered from low self-esteem as her mother favoured her brother more than her. “MEMORY, FOR ME, IS LIKE THE GAME OF DICE I USED TO PLAY WHEN I WAS LITTLE. IT’S JUST A MATTER OF DECIDING WHETHER THE GAME IS POINTLESS OR RIGGED.” One senses a disconnected undertone. Probably, the author wanted the reader to feel the same. Many of the incidents that she narrates, she is not very sure of. QOTD: How many hours do you read in a day? Preferably when? I appreciate the author's effort and the unique narrative style but couldn’t connect somewhere. The translation is perfect. It’s an easy, fast-paced read, which is the tale of the fictional life of the author. Her life is packed into a 200+ page novel! “A STORY IS AN AMBIGUOUS CONCEPT”
📚Book Review📚– Prophet Song by Paul Lynch Right, I have a big statement – I think this might be the best Booker Prize winner I have read. I sat in silence for about 30 minutes after finishing. It is an outstanding book, I can’t quite get over it, but as a warning, it’s incredibly heavy and bleak. Set in an alternate version of Ireland in which the country is under an authoritarian regime. The story follows Eilish, a mother trying to hold her family together. The secret police come for her husband and she is left to look after their children in this new grim reality. She is persecuted at work and has no idea who to trust when navigating this new world. It was so hard not to draw comparisons to what is going on in the world at the moment. The writing is exceptional. Lynch does not use paragraphs and speech marks and so the narrative is very oppressive. I personally didn’t find this confusing and for me, it added to the consistent tension throughout the book! He uses such vivid imagery and it completely makes you feel the dread and terror of this world. The characters are all incredible and the relationships in the book feel so real. I love how he captures the feelings and psychological effects of this new world for teenagers, kids, parents and grandparents. This book is dystopian but it doesn’t feel like it! Lynch shows how any person at any time can become a refugee whether we want to face that reality or not. This is a book that will stay with me for years. I have barely been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it. It is such a worthy winner of the Booker Prize. Have you read this? What were your thoughts? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 #prophetsong #paullynch #bookreview #bookreviewer #goodreads #booksofinstagram #bookoftheday #alwaysreading #bibliophile #bookworm #booknerd #bookaddict #booksbooksandmorebooks #booklover #ilovebooks #fiction #idratherbereading #fivestarread #5starreads #5starbooks #bookerprize #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizelonglist #bookstagramreadsthebooker #bookershortlist #bookerwinner2024 #bookerwinner
HOW TO BUILD A BOAT writer: Elaine Feeney There are basically two intertwined stories here, with some supporting players in each. The main character is Jamie, a young adolescent starting at a parochial school in a small town in Ireland. It becomes apparent on the first page that he would be considered "high functioning" somewhere on the autism spectrum. (Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow is that he is apparently undiagnosed in this modern-day novel.) He is bullied and belittled by several classmates, and even some of the adults at the school. The protagonist of the story (that is, the one who undergoes the most extensive and dramatic narrative changes) is one of his teachers, Tess. She is married to an incredibly toxic man and undergoing IVF treatments despite some very serious reservations about having children / becoming a mother. One of Jamie's teachers suggests woodworking as a way to channel his focus and manage both his energy and his aptitude for mathematics, and thus the title of the novel is born. As Jamie gets more into the process (and even artistry) of boat-building, the novel takes on a kind of rally-around-the-underdog feel. You can almost hear the John Williams-esque score taking shape and the tissue packets being unwrapped, as we are treated to scene after scene of our heroes rising up against and then overcoming adversity in the third act of the inevitable Oscar bait film adaptation. RATING: 1.5/5 #books #bookreviews #irishliterature #literature #femalewriters #femaleauthors #bookerofthemonth #bookernominee #bookerprizelonglist #bookerlonglist #elainefeeney #howtobuildaboat #howtobuildaboatbook #ukliterature #bookstagram #windycitybookstagram #windycitybookstagrammers #madcrazymoviereviews
Has all the ingredients - art, feminism, postcolonialism, transcontinental pursuits - and I so, so wanted to love this. Instead I read it diagonally as I zipped through looking for the polyamory scenes. I'm a philistine, I know. #undiscovered #gabrielawiener #bookclubread #bookerprizelonglist
[19] This novel told in four parts was extremely creative and a great pair with #PineappleStreet. Set in the 1920s and exploring the life of a wealthy couple - he a legendary Wall Street tycoon, her the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. It’s not exactly a love story but they certainly have been extremely successful together until her untimely death. The book is all about competing narratives and who gets to tell the story and how power can manipulate facts as each new part peels back a new layer of the literary puzzle. The four parts of this metafiction are: a novel-within-a-novel, sketches of an unfinished autobiography, a memoir, and a journal, each telling the same story by a different author. The whole thing is focused on the life of Andrew Bevel who is, unfortunately, not likeable in any of those iterations. Thankfully Ida Partenza, the ghostwriter of the autobiography and daughter of an Italian anarchist/Marxist, is extremely likable and her story and perspective kept me engaged. 📖 “I believed it was the end of our marriage. In time, I understood that that was when it really started. One is truly married only when one is more committed to one’s vows rather than the person they refer to.” [95%] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #TrustBook #HernanDiaz #FictionOf2023 #PulitzerPrizeWinner #BookerPrizeLongList #Bookstagram #BookReview
A deceptively complex masterpiece.... Chef's Kiss #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizelonglist #studyforobediencesarahbernstein
The Country Without a Post Office – Agha Shahid Ali I've found a prisoner's letters to a lover— One begins: 'These words may never reach you.' Another ends: 'The skin dissolves in dew without your touch.' And I want to answer: I want to live forever. What else can I say? It rains as I write this. Mad heart, be brave. This is the last stanza of Ali's poem, the namesake of this poetry volume- The Country Without a Post Office. Agha Shahid Ali is a Kashmiri-American poet, who immigrated to the US for further studies and later settled and lived out the last of his days there. All of Shahid's poetry resonates with nostalgia, longing, memory and at times, the loss of memory for his home itself, Kashmir. This volume of Ali's poetry poignantly reminisces about Kashmir, her history and the fascinating fabric of her composition– be it in terms of natural beauty, demography, or culture and is set against the political turmoil of the 1990s. The rippling effect of wars and political disturbance in the lives of common people as experienced by them has also been highlighted in these poems. This collection of 27 poems is deeply agonising, full of mourning for history and culture and evokes powerful emotions in the reader. They paint a portrait of war and life, death and survival and fearful living in a war-torn, volatile locale. Some of the poems I was really touched by were- Farewell, 'Lo, A Tint Cashmere!/ Lo, A Rose!', A Country Without a Post Office, Ghazal (in Part III), Ghazal (in Part IV) and The City of Daughters. I first heard of Agha Shahid Ali in 2021 and his poetry has fascinated me since. Ali's poetry is abstract and can go above one's head, as it did in mine in many cases. But his poems do truly evoke powerful emotions. If you're someone interested in poetry and political history in Kashmir, this and the poet himself is definitely a wise pick! #bookreviewsofinstagram #books #bookstagramindia #poetry #kashmirhistory #kashmirpoetry #kashmirarts #aghashahidalitranslation #aghashahidali #englishpoetry #kashmirbeauty #bookerprizelonglist #bookphotography #bookstagramindiafeature #bookworm #bookbouquet #bookshelf #bookcollections #bookgirlsreadtogether #bookgirlsgang
Time Shelter - last year's International Booker Prize winner translated from the Bulgarian - is an interesting book, but it's not easy. . My book club had about 1/3rd of readers in the love camp, 1/3rd in the 'couldn't finish it' camp and 1/3rd (myself included) somewhere in the middle... . I loved the premise - an odd character obsessed with the past sets up a clinic with floors from different decades for Alzheimer's patients; then living in previous eras becomes so alluring that the idea spills out across the whole of Europe, leading to a series of referendums. The narrative makes the reader consider how memory and nostalgia might feed into politics and nationalism, not learning the lessons of the past. This is where it began to dip for me - the narrator delves into Bulgaria's time referendum for a long section and then the narrative becomes (I think knowingly) confused as we reach the final section, playing further with the idea of memory. It's one of those books I didn't always enjoy reading but I did mostly appreciate - it is certainly unique, poignant and occasionally funny. . Let me know your thoughts if you've read this or any others on this or the last year's international booker longlist! . #TimeShelter #GeorgiGospodinov #Internationalbookerprize #internationalbooker #bookerprizelonglist #fictionintranslation #europeanfiction #diversifyyourbookshelf
I thought an easier entry into the complex topic of Israel and Palestine would be through a fictional story (Apeirogon), followed with a non-fictional account (the Palestine Laboratory) to cement the facts. Honestly both were tough reads, but I did learn a lot. Colum McCann made the Booker Prize longlist for this story of two men who became best friends through a parents group where they shared the loss of one of their children. One was Jewish - his daughter killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber, the other Arab -his daughter shot by an Isreali soldier. While meant to be fiction, it was based off a true story and felt more like non-fiction with quite a unique style of numbered paragraphs that peak in the middle of the book and then reduce to zero at the end. 4 stars 🌟 The Palestine Laboratory is a dense series of names, dates and countries that have engaged in weapons or intelligence technology from Israel. Israel using its position as occupier of the Palestinian population to test and prove new technologies for other dictators and repressive regimes to use on their own people. I was shocked at just how many dictatorships there are around the world. Not a page turner but a good reference tool if researching this info. 3 stars ✨️ #bookerprizelonglist #nonfictionreading #tbrpile #bookstagram #ilovereading
Synopsis: For teenage Kambili, life has always been the same: her Papa, a prominent businessman and church elder, maintains rigid control over her family's life. When Kambili, her brother Jaja, or their mother step outside Papa's control, he punishes them. It is not until Kambili and Jaja visit their intellectual, headstrong aunt and cousins that they begin to question how their lives have always worked. Verdict: Brutal, beautiful, and layered. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's debut novel demonstrates both her immense talent and her (at the time this was written) inexperience with pacing. Pros Adichie's prose is as gorgeous as ever, and her story of a young woman beginning to question her upbringing is deceptively simple. Beneath the surface of Kambili's bildungsroman swim complex ideas about religion and colonialism. Papa insists that his family speak English and never Igbo, their native Nigerian language, and reviles any mention of Nigerian religion in his household. This leaves Kambili and Jaja believing the traditions of their own country are evil, and estranged from their grandfather because he refuses to convert to Catholicism. If I were to propose a thesis, it might sound something like this: Papa shaming his family for engaging in Nigerian customs mirrors the way colonialism positions British culture as superior to Nigerian culture. And the way Papa uses Catholicism to control his family mirrors the way colonialist powers have affected Nigeria. Perhaps surprisingly, I do not believe this is an anti-religion story. There are examples of positive religiousness scattered throughout, particularly through Kambili's aunt and Father Amadi, who value Nigerian beliefs even though Catholicism is integrated into their lives. It's this tension that makes the book most interesting. Cons Although I adore Adichie's writing, this story is slow to pick up, and the cycle of Papa's abuse is described to an extent that it requires endurance to get through the first third. The story blooms once Kambili and Jaja visit their aunt. Certain events and their triggers are unclear - for instance, what inspires a certain character to take action - an essential part of the plot.
This was such an intelligent, thought-provoking puzzle of a novel. I was completely absorbed in it. I knew going in it was written in four parts, as four books written by different fictional authors. I admit this put me off a bit, I worried it would feel disjointed and hard to follow. But it was anything but. From novel to autobiography to memoir to diary, the four sections kept me on my toes and enthralled throughout. I’ve never seen sections linked in such a way before. And it requires the reader to do a bit of mental gymnastics, sure, but it was fascinating connecting the dots. Set in New York in the early 1900s we begin with Benjamin and Eleanor Rask, an extremely wealthy couple and an unstoppable combination of stock-market money and a revered family name. Throughout the sections we see the couple from a range of angles, undoing and redoing your beliefs in them. ‘Trust’ throws into question the reliability of historical biographies, the press, the motives of people. It exposes the way the rich control their own narratives amidst themes of capitalism, humanity, and legacy that are so cleverly woven through the novel. It leaves you with many unanswered questions, but I think that’s the beauty of it. The language is elegant, compelling and transported me right into the heart of the roaring twenties. Diaz manages to write in the voice of four characters brilliantly, capturing the ego of the tycoon, Andrew Bevel, and allowing us to feel the misogyny and discrimination Ida experiences as a female writer. A gripping journey back in time. A cast of complex, changing characters. Outstanding writing. I couldn’t put this down. ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ • Trust by Hernan Diaz •
The end of March is around the corner and so is our reading of Pearl by Siân Hughes. What an emotional ride it has been! Wading in and out of memories, questioning the depth of one's remembrance, and carrying grief like a heavy stone on one's heart: these are just a few things that the protagonist intimates to the reader, and in doing so, allows them to look at her fraught world from a kinder lens. Empathy is what a reader takes away from this novel. If you haven't read it yet, please do 🌻🌻 #pearlsianhughes #bluesbookclub #bookofthemonth #marchbookmadness #marchbookofthemonth #bookershortlist #bookerprizelonglist #bookerprize #womenwriters #womensday #womenwritingwomen
📖 The Stationary Shop of Theran @marjankamali7 . . . . . . . . . . #book #bookerprizelonglist #bookspodcast #booksondelhimetro #booklover #reader #readerlife #bookstagram #avidreader #bookrecommendations #theran #fiction #fictionbookstagram #fictionalcharacters #loop #bookreview #bookaddict #bookblogger #quote
✨current✨ Really enjoying my first read by this author... ☕️ Have you read any of Sally Rooney's works? or watched the TV adaptations of her books? 📘 Normal People: A Novel --by Sally Rooney ~279 pages 🏆 was longlisted for the Booker Prize 🔖The publisher's description is quoted here:"Connell and Marianne grew up in the same small town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when the two strike up a conversation—awkward but electrifying—something life changing begins. "A year later, they’re both studying at Trinity College in Dublin. Marianne has found her feet in a new social world while Connell hangs at the sidelines, shy and uncertain. Throughout their years at university, Marianne and Connell circle one another, straying toward other people and possibilities but always magnetically, irresistibly drawn back together. And as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other. "Normal People is the story of mutual fascination, friendship, and love. It takes us from that first conversation to the years beyond, in the company of two people who try to stay apart but find that they can’t. "WINNER: The British Book Award, The Costa Book Award, The An Post Irish Novel of the Year, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award"🔖end of publisher's description #normalpeoplebook #normalpeoplesallyrooney #sallyrooneynormalpeople #sallyrooney #conversationswithfriends #beautifulworldwhereareyou #irishauthors #bookssetinireland #bookerprizelonglist
Even after a huge pile of books waiting to be read, four new ones found their way on to the shelves in March. Lol....!!!!!!! I tried to be a little creative #readingwith_bee #booksformarch #tombofsand #geetanjalishreeauthor #listenforthelie @amytintera #lifeceremony @sayaka_murata_ #thevalleyoffearandhislastbow @aurtherconandoyle #BookwormLife #ReadingCommunity #BookishLove #BookAddict #Bookstagram #AmReading #BookNerd #NewBookAlert #MustRead #BookRecommendations #CurrentlyReading #PageTurner #BookLovers #BookObsessed #LiteraryWorld #BookishAdventures #BookishEscape #Bibliophile #BookishFaves #BookishThoughts #bookdragon #bookerprizelonglist #titlewavesbandra
What’s exciting about getting off of work on a Friday is a book waiting at your door. Not just any book but this book, THE HOUSE ON VIA GEMITO BY DIMENICO STARNONE TRANSLATED BY OONAGH STRANSKY. This book is on the long list for the 2024 International Booker Prize. I can’t wait to dive in as soon as I finish WELCOME TO THE HYUNAM-DONG BOOKSHOP. You must admit this cover is amazing. I wish everyone a beautiful weekend of reading. . . . . #thehouseonviagemito #starnone #bookerprice #bookerprizelonglist #literatureintranslation #booksforfunandlearning #art #books #tbr #tbrlist #bookbloggersofig #readmorebooks #booklife📚 #bookandcat #catsandbooksmakemehappy
Internacional Booker Prize 2024 É um prêmio concedido anualmente à melhor obra de ficção de todo o mundo que tenha sido traduzida para o inglês e publicada no Reino Unido e/ou na Irlanda. A seleção feita a partir de 149 livros publicados entre 1º de maio de 2023 e 30 de abril de 2024, forma a chamada “Long List” 13 livros foram selecionados . Em 09 de abril serão anunciados os 6 finalistas que é a “Short list” Após análise dos 13 livros, escolhi meus 6 favoritos abaixo para compor a Short List . 1.The Silver Bone Andrei Kurkov 2.Undiscovered No Brasil já lançado com o título :Exploração Gabriela Wiener ( Peru) 3.White Nights Urszula Honek ( Polônia) 4.kairos Jenny Erpenbeck ( Alemanha) 5.Lost on me Veronica Raima (Itália) 6.Crooked Plow( Torto Arado) Itamar Vieira Júnior ( Brasil) Veja as capas dos livros( arte que admiro e chama a atenção para conquistar o leitor) Nos próximos dias irei escrever sobre cada um dos meus escolhidos ( não quero fazer um texto longo hoje) Não necessariamente serão os indicados, é minha “ torcida e percepção como leitor “ Vamos juntos? #bookerprizelonglist #romance #livrosmaislivros #leituranocaminho
… I was quite pleased to see Jenny Erpenbeck’s novel Kairos longlisted for this year’s Booker Prize. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve so much enjoyed her three other novels that are translated into Norwegian. So far I think Alle Tage Abend/The End of Days is my favourite. Q: Have you read any of Jenny Erpenbeck’s books? 📚 #JennyErpenbeck #BookerPrize #bookerprizelonglist #justread #contemporaryfiction #teadersofinstagram #bookcommunity #readingcommunity #booksbooksbooks #readingisfundamental #readingisfun #booklover #greenhouselife #bookphotography
POV: it’s international booker prize longlist day so you run to your local bookstore and buy all of the books they have on the list. happy booker longlist day to all that celebrate !!! this is the first year I’ve decided to challenge myself to read all of the longlist, after reading the synopsis of each of them I’m really excited. a few on the list I’ve already read amazing reviews about so especially looking forward to reading those!! anyone else reading the longlist this year? 🪭🪭🪭 #bookaddict #booksta #booklover #bookish #bookstagramuk #booksbooksbooks #booksbywomen #europaeditions #bookerprizelonglist #internationalbookerprize #internationalbookerlonglist #thehouseonviagemito #crookedplow #internationalbooker2024 #bookaesthetic #currentlyreading #booksintranslation #womenintranslation
Book delivery 📚🥳🙌 I'm especially excited to read The Ship Beneath the Ice 😀 📚 📚 📪 📥 📚 📚 📦 📦 📚 #shackleton #bookmail #readingismyhappyplace #dogsandbooks #literature #contemporaryfiction #bookerprizelonglist
Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid has been on my tbr for quite a while... I've got a bit of a habit of picking books up and saving them until the moment feels right 🫣 ⁉️ If you were reading the books that have been on your tbr for the longest... what would you be reading??? . . .
Pearl, a debut novel long-listed for the Booker Prize. Loosely based around the medieval poem of that name, in which a man mourns his lost child, everyone is bereaved in this novel, and yet it maintains a strange equilibrium. The cover illustration is perfect, as the plot is somehow writ in water and returns to water. It has shades of A Casual Vacancy and The Girl with the Louding Voice. All three are about young women living through troubled, startlingly original and firmly rooted in a landscape. @wisewordsbookshop #mymoree #moreebookshop #bookerprize #bookerprizelonglist #siânhughes #goodreads #bookclubchoice
‘It is not a sin, he tells himself, there is no sin left now, there is only the blood and the water and the ice; there is only life and death and the gray-green spaces in between.’ . . . . #thenorthwater #ianmcguire #bookerprizelonglist #fivestarread #historicalfiction #realistfiction #maritimefiction #whalehunting #arctic #arcticfiction #arcticexpedition #arcticexploration #books #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookwyrm #bookworm #bookwormproblems #bookhaul #bookwyrm #bookwyrmshoard #thebookwyrmreviews
𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 Elmet by Fiona Mozley The Booker prize often champions books where the landscapes themselves feel like characters, most recently for example, Birnam Wood. In Elmet, long listed in 2017, Fiona Mozley brilliantly brings to life the wilderness of living without notion of ownership, instilling the motto you reap what you sow. This story follows a boy, his daddy and his sister Cathy while they live free of the confines of society, deep in the wilderness and completely off the land. Deeply introspective it explores this alternative reality, but it’s not as simple as it seems, the outside world is still there lurking, resistant to their philosophy and it can’t be as simple as they want it to be. Greed and the histories of the townspeople begin to creep in and cloud this utopia, things turn sinister and tense. I worried for this family and what was to come, exploring how we protect those we love and how deep that need can go. This was beyond thoughtful and assured writing and it read like a literary thriller. For fans of Unsettled Ground, If God Was a Rabbit and Brother and Sister Enter the Forest, I can’t wait I read more from this author. 4.25★
In Paul Lynch’s Booker-winning novel, “Prophet Song” the Republic of Ireland is under the grip of a rightwing nationalist party and descends into totalitarianism. Civil liberties vanish, and a civil war starts. In the center of the story we meet the Stack family. The father Larry, a trade unionist disappears and leaves his wife, Eilish and the three children wondering what happened to him whilst trying to survive in a Dublin which slowly descends into war and chaos. At the same time Eilish struggles to take care of her father who’s dementia is getting worse every day. What follows is a series of events turning their plight from bad to worse. They reason for the family staying in Dublin, when they are offered other solutions, are never fully and convincingly explained in my opinion, but that’s about the only negative thing I can say about this book. Really loved it. A worthy Booker prize winner ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(5/5) #bookerprize2023 #paullynch #langzullenwelezen #prophetsongpaullynch #prophetsong #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookreviews #bookreccomendation #bookrecs #booksbooksbooks📚 #booksbooksandmorebooks #boekentip #boekreview #boekrecensie #boekrecensies #boekenworm #bookstagram #bookstagrambelgium #bookstagramvlaanderen #boekentips #boekenliefde #bookerprizelonglist #bookerprize #ilovebooks #bookaddiction #bookaddicts #bookaholics
Bir Booker ödülü takipçisi olarak, Booker listesinden tesadüfen tanıştım Deborah Levy ile. İlk okuduğum kitabı #SıcakSüt idi. Bu kitabı #EveYüzerken ise 2012 Man Booker finalistlerinden biri. Fransız Rivierası’ndaki bir tatil sırasında, iki İngiliz ailenin dünyasına hızla giren Kitty Finch ve kaçınılmaz son. Kolay okumalık bir kitap arayanlara tavsiye. #everestyayınları #deborahlevy #swimminghome #eveyüzerken #sedaslibrary #ensonneokudun #bookworm #bookerprizelonglist #manbookerprize #literature #southafricanauthors @everestyayinlari
Nature/Woodsy Covers 🌳✨ Thought I’d gather up some seriously good nature book covers today as Spring begins to unfurl around us here in South Florida. I’m starting to daydream about Spring dresses for my daughter, all the colored hardboiled eggs we’ll make, and drop it to her that the Easter bunny doesn’t exist 👀 Maybe I’ll hold on to the secret for another year? I’m currently reading Kate Collins’ A Good House for Children to whet my Gothic appetite and it’s delivering all the twisted nature vibes and haunted house love for my little black heart 🖤 With its lush natural descriptions, it’s no wonder it inspired this post! Def has Starve Acre/Rebecca vibes and I’m gobbling it all up with a side of Chianti 😉 Which of these featured books have you read?
In Ascension by Martin MacInnes- a spoiler-free book review ✨ Genre: Science Fiction, Literary Fiction Length: 512 pages First Published: 2023 Setting: Rotterdam, Atlantic Ocean, Mojave desert… This book blew my mind and I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about it for months after reading it. Review: A young girl grows up with her sister, mother, and volatile and violent father in Rotterdam and becomes fascinated with microbial life, particularly the undersea world which she can escape to where every single inch is brimming with invisible life. She becomes a marine biologist and travels to various places around the world where she studies and excels in her studies on algae. She is living at a time of many amazing scientific discoveries and breakthroughs - NASA has just announced new jet propulsion technology that could revolutionise space travel, and when she gets a place on an Atlantic ocean exploration project, a strange reading from a deep-sea trench casts doubt on the accuracy of the chartering of the sea floor. The book is cinematic and beautifully written, it is absolutely transportive and I absolutely savored it, reading it for over a month because I didn’t want it to end. I got the opportunity to do an Astrobiology course at University and this book covered so many topics that we learnt on the course so I really enjoyed that. Accessibility: It is very scientific and intellectual at times, but I felt it introduced concepts rather than alienated. I must have forgotten a lot of my Biology from school because I had to do a lot of Googling to find out what some words meant! It’s told in the first person POV. Thank you so much to Netgalley for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. #InAscension #BookerPrizeLonglist #MartinMacinnes #Astrobiology #ScienceFictionBook #BookReview #ScienceFiction #FavouriteBooks
Review: Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ We follow the story of Micah Mortimer, a 40-year IT consultant aka ‘Tech Hermit’, who has meticulously curated his life to maintain his cleaning routine, work life, health and relationships. He takes a run every morning at 7.15 am! His woman friend Cassia is not quite the same. She lives a colourful life. His family is chaotically charming, loud, and funny. The people around him are all different. And suddenly one day the balance of his life is disrupted; Cassia is threatened with eviction from her apartment; an obnoxious teenager shows up at his doorstep claiming to be his son; and finally a unforeseen breakup. While the book is relatively short, it’s an intricately detailed character study. She takes us through the daily mundanity of Micah’s life that doesn’t quite seem normal to neurotypical people. While everyone else seemed to thrive in chaos, for Micah it made his brain feel “fractured”. The descriptions are vivid, funny, and heartwarming in way that makes the ordinary so much more interesting. There’s not much in terms of plot — it’s rather a slow-paced exploration of this man’s life, his habits, his worldview, his reminiscence of past relationships, his memories, and his regrets. It’s a condensed version of ‘The Man Called Ove’ by Fredrick Bachman; I loved that book. Same goes for this one — it was a quick one to read (only 178 pages). The writing is amazing. It draws you into his world and keeps you there. The pacing is just right to keep us turning every page. It also helped me ponder on our existence and how we choose to live our lives. It was moving in an unusual way, thought-provoking, and uniquely perceptive. I liked everything about it except the ending; it could have been done in a better way; I felt like it was rushed and quite abrupt. But overall, it was very enjoyable. Pick this book up if you like: character-driven stories, explorations of the human psyche, thought-proving narratives, and heartwarming quick reads. #bookreview #bookstagram #annetyler #redheadbythesideoftheroad #bookerprizelonglist #bookreviewer
"And as if from nowhere I realised, suddenly, with appreciation, that absolutely everything around me was alive. There was no gap separating my body from the living world. I was pressed against a teeming immensity, every cubic millimetre of water densely filled with living stuff. These organisms were so small I couldn’t see them, but somehow I felt their presence, their fraternity, all around me. I didn’t look through the water towards life, I looked directly into water-life, a vast patchwork supporting my body, streaming into my nostrils, my ears, the small breaks and crevices in my skin, swirling through my hair and entering the same eyes that observed it. In what felt like minutes, but must have been only seconds, I saw a completely different world, a place of significance and complexity, an almost infinite number of independent organisms among which I floated like a net.”(Martin McInness, In Ascension) 🌊 ⚓️ 📚 🌊 ⚓️ 📖 #reading #booknerd #booksofinstagram #bookclub #readingtime #readabook #bookrecommendations #greatreads #fortheloveofreading #booksaremagic #idratherbereading #goodreads #booksofinsta #whatimreading #bookstagram #dogsandbooks #bookanddogs #literature #currentlyreading #igreads #bookerprizelonglist #readingbuddy
#Books2024 No 2 The Fortune Men - Nadifa Mohamed The Fortune Men is the semi-fictionalised account of Mahmood Mattan who was wrongfully convicted for the murder of a shopkeeper in Cardiff. Violet Volacki, a Jewish woman, is murdered by an unknown assailant in her shop cum house in Tiger Bay in Cardiff. A couple of days later Mahmood is picked up by the local police. Mahmood, a former Somali seaman and a petty thief is not flustered about it because he is used to being harassed by the police, partly due to his colour and partly due to his earlier mischiefs. Later he comes to know that he is charged with murder and vehemently denies it. He doesn’t plead guilty and argues in court about it. All that is available is circumstantial pieces of evidence conjured up by the police and the folks who would like to see a coloured man behind bars. Nadifa’s account of this real-life story also follows Mahmood from his childhood in Somaliland and his family life in Cardiff. He has married a white Irish lady Laura and has three boys. He yearns to be back with them, but with each passing day, his hope slowly diminishes. Nadifa has taken great care in presenting this story with historical accuracy. Mahmood is written with a lot of research. The days he spends in the prison awaiting the noose are particularly poignant. She has done great work in making the innocent convict humane, without which the novel has no holding. I felt the novel was a bit slow and some of the characters got lost in between. #bookstagram #nadifamohamed #somaliland #bookerprizelonglist #thefortunemen
👮🌊🔎 Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry - Now in paperback for £9.99! 🔎🌊👮 LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023 THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER TWICE WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR A FINANCIAL TIMES, TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Tom Kettle, a retired policeman and widower, is settling into the quiet of his new home in Dalkey, overlooking the sea. His solitude is interrupted when two former colleagues turn up at his door to ask about a traumatic decades-old case. A case that Tom never quite came to terms with. And his peace is further disturbed when his new neighbour, a mysterious young mother, asks for his help. A beautiful, haunting novel in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God's Time is an unforgettable exploration of family, loss and love. Now available in the shop and on the website! #oldgodstime #sebastianbarry #paperback #bookerprizelonglist #bookoftheyear #thesundaytimesbestseller #browsersbookshop #browsersbookshopporthmadog #shoplocal #indiebookshop #supportsmallbusinesses
Hey friends! It is six days into February and I am only 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 posting my monthly “To Be Read” list (TBR). I am a mood reader by nature, so it’s very likely my February wrap-up will look entirely different from my TBR. I am still recovering from a concussion I suffered in January, so I have pulled a mix of books from my queue that are short, easy reads and books that I can dip in and out of. I also have one book I am listening to on @audible (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘦) and one that I have to slog through for work (𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥). Here is my February game plan: 📍𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘯 by Annie Ernaux 📍 𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 by Aldous Huxley 📍 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘩𝘰 by Selby Wynn Schwartz 📍 𝘋𝘢𝘺𝘢 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘪 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱 by Satoshi Yagisawa 📍 𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦 by Samantha Irby 📍 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘦 by Britney Spears What are your reading plans this month? Do you have any short, interesting, but not 𝘵𝘰𝘰 mentally demanding? A gal with a broken brain is looking for recommendations! #TBR #FebruaryTBR #February2024TBR #Bookstagram #EastBayBookstagram #BookBlogger #BookBloggers #Bookstagramers #EastBayBookstagramers #BayAreaBookstagram #BayAreaBookstagramers #SatoskiYagisawa #SamanthaIrby #AnnieErnaux #SelbyWynnSchwartz #AldousHuxley #BritneySpears #Concussion #ConcussionRecovery #Audible #audiobooks #BookerPrizeLonglist #JapaneseLiterature #EnglishClassics #FrenchLiterature #NobelPrizeInLiterature #HumorousEssays #ShortNovels #BooksToRecoverWith
Pearl by Siân Hughes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Marianne’s mother disappears when she is 8 years old, leaving a void in the lives of her and her family. As Marianne tries to understand and find peace with the disappearance, she is influenced by the narrative that other people are feeding her. Can people disappear just because they want to or is there more to it than that? This book was an instant hit for me. The calm and fluid prose sets the reader up to be able to focus on the very likeable main character and her journey without her mother. I thought all the characters were well developed and although this is not a plot-driven novel, the plot does keep you hooked and wanting to understand more. You can really tell that Hughes took her time writing this book due to the well thought through intricacies. The fact that Hughes is also a poet really shines through and gives the book that poetic edge that I personally adore. A gorgeous debut novel. Highly recommended by me 🌷🌲 #ukbookstagrammer #ukbookblogger #femaleauthors #bookerprizelonglist #debutnovel #bookstagram #bookblogger
🌊 🦠 📚IN ASCENSION📚🦠🌊 Read: September 2023 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Maybe controversial, but I stand by it!) Last year, I started paying more attention to book prizes, and when I saw In Ascension long-listed for the Booker, it quickly jumped to the top of my TBR list. I ordered a copy to be shipped over from the UK rather than wait for the US publication and I was not disappointed! In Ascension by Martin MacInnes follows Leigh, a microbiologist (just like me!) who is studying ancient microbes in the deep ocean. When a mysterious trench opens up in the ocean, Leigh joins the research team sent to explore. From there, the narrative expands from the microscopic to the intergalactic. Throughout the novel, Leigh wrestles with committing to her career at the expense of her family relationships, and the narrative keeps a close psychological gaze on its protagonist. Leigh’s relationship with her sister is a highlight of the novel, in my opinion. ***MILD SPOILERS FROM HERE FORWARD*** For more traditional sci-if readers, the pace of the novel will probably feel slow. Many have criticized the novel for being boring and not paying off on its premise. I disagree. The novel is contemplative, even meditative at times. The ending is spectacular in its ambiguity. My guess is that the ambiguity is what has turned some people off, but I found the ambiguous ending to be not only effective but deeply moving. When I closed the book, I was left with a sense of wonder. The novel is a love letter to scientific research, to family, and to our planet. It is also a stark warning of ecological collapse. At the end of the day, this is the planet we’ve got, and we should love it and the people that inhabit it. FYI In Ascension is finally being released in the US on Feb. 28th, so pre-order now! #inascension #martinmacinnes #bookreview #sciencefiction #literaryfiction #books #novel #bookstgram #reader #bookerprize #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizelonglist
N+121 . . #Bookreview: a short novel on grief and its impact on life. The story follows the protagonist who lost her mother early in her life when she was young enough to still always want her mother and old enough to know when her mother was not in her life. The story also shows glimpses of parallel of her father and younger brother which when is juxtaposed with her own grief gives an idea of how grief also varies from people to people. Reading every new chapter feels like reading a new narrative style. There is a flow and its a bit scatters storytelling. Overall, its never boring and always inviting to move on to the next paragraph and then to break and breath and move on. Its not a happy book per se and maybe it’ll be a better fit for someone going through their own struggles with grief. I recommend it for readers of literary fiction and who can withstand books on loss of parent. . . . #newbook #pearl #sianhughes #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizelonglist2023 #bookerprizelonglist #grief #loss #triggers #selfharm #revival #survival #family #parent #cheshire #somewheretoday
Moments in this book so poignant they make you stop reading. My latest book review: The House of Doors by Tan Twang Eng #literaryfiction #bookreview #bookreviewer #colonialism #bookerprizelonglist
How has everyone been? I know, I know. I have been missing here. But then, there is only so much I can strain my weak eyes and fragile brain. I have picked up few books, managed to finish fewer. I bought this last year and while I was hooked on to it initially, it really took a while to get through, not that the book was remotely close to bad. In fact, it a book very relevant to our times, when truth is no longer absolute. Everyone believes in their version of it. The author very astutely presents many version of the same story, convincingly befuddling the user only to make her realize that they are actually living in such a reality. Wonder why probably it’s not so unsettling to live with it rather than read it. #trust #hernandiaz #bookstagram #bookerprize #bookerprizelonglist #bookish #ilovebooks #bookworm #paperbacks #hardcopy
In today’s episode I’m talking about the second book I’ve read from the 2023 Booker Long List. Study for Obedience might be the lowest-ranking on Goodreads as of right now, but it is one of my newfound favorites and a great way to start 2024 when I read it earlier this month. Click the link in my bio to listen to this episode and more! - - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - - #writingpodcast #bookpodcast #bookerprize #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizewinner #bookerprizeshortlist #bookerprizelonglist #prophetsong #thebeesting #westerlane #thisothereden #ifisurviveyou #studyforobedience #sarahbernstein #canadianliterature #canadianlit #englishlit #englishliterature #bookrecommendations #bookrecommendation #bookrecs #bookrec #bookreview #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookreviewers #womenliterature #booksbywomen #bookclub #bookclubs
Long listed for the 2023 Booker Prize and the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction, This Other Eden is based on the true story of one of the first racially integrated towns in the Northeast. With lush prose and unforgettable characters this is a must-read. #thisothereden #paulharding #bookerprizelonglist #bookstagram #barnesandnoble #bnsevencorners #barnesandnoblemonthlypicks #literaryfiction #wwnortonandcompany #bookworm
'On a rainy Sunday afternoon in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend her remaining days....' Scouring my to be read shelf, how could I not pick this for January reading! This slim novel, just 200 pages, was a gem. Set in the late 1960s in London, Elizabeth Taylor's fine eye for character and human nature was in turn funny, poignant, sad and truthful. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ #elizabethtaylor #elizabethtaylorauthor #mrspalfreyattheclaremont #viragomodernclassic #bookerprizelonglist #womenwriters #middlebrowfiction #januaryreads #januaryreading #winterreading #sundayread #sundayreading
We received a visit from the great Martin McInnes on Thursday during his visit to Oxford. A limited number of signed copies of In Ascension are available in store, but be sure to be quick to avoid disappointment. #martinmcinnes #inascension #bookerprizelonglist
This book... 🩵 I found it utterly strange (in the best way), creepy, and compelling. I'm not surprised it was longlisted for last year's Booker Prize. 'All the Little Bird-Hearts' by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow tells the story of single parent Sunday, her teenage daughter Dolly, and the intense relationship that develops between them and glamorous new neighbours, Vita and Rollo. Set almost entirely in two houses on a quiet street, it's filled with longing, love, and the devastation of loss and powerlessness. It's also a powerful portrait of neurodivergence (the author is autistic, as is narrator, Sunday). There's something so unsettling at the heart of this story - it's been described as having 'shades of Highsmith'. I pretty much inhaled it. This one's coming out in paperback in a couple of weeks' time... #allthelittlebirdhearts #viktorialloydbarlow #hachette #bookrecommendations #bookerprizelonglist #neurodiversewriting #newbookstagram #paperback #outsoon #bookreview
WESTERN LANE writer: Chetna Maroo This book has a way of sneaking up on you. Nothing about WESTERN LANE is flashy or attention-seeking. This is an understated novel that speaks of quiet truths and the power (even devastation) of silence. Our narrator is Gopi, an 11-year-old British Indian. In the first pages of the book, her mother dies. The remainder of the book is about Gopi and the rest of her family (two older sisters and her father) navigating that loss. This could have easily been a heavy-handed tearjerker, with scenes of crying, hugging, and anguish aplenty. But what makes WESTERN LANE unique is how debut author Chetna Maroo strips away everything that isn't absolutely necessary to leave us with a novel that is more powerful and effective than you would think it should be. (The style is very reminiscent of Hemingway.) WESTERN LANE is somehow more than the sum of its parts. This is a book that I liked quite a bit when it was done, and it seems to only get better the more I think about it. Highly recommend. RATING: 4/5 (though I feel like that could improve) #books #bookreviews #britishliterature #literature #bookerofthemonth #bookernominee #bookerprizenominee #bookerprizelonglist #bookerlonglist #bookerprizeshortlist #bookershortlist #bookerprize2023 #chetnamaroo #westernlane #westernlanebook #ukliterature #bookstagram #windycitybookstagram #madcrazyreviews
Just getting round to posting my #DecemberReads Usually I have a clear favourite of the books I’ve read, but this month I had two favourites! ‘In Ascension’ by Martin MacInnes and ‘Beatrix and Fred’ by Emily Spurr tied for the position. . . #MurderAtMaybridgeCastle #AdaMoncrieff #cosycrime #christmasbooks #InAscension #MartinMacInnes #BookerPrizeLonglist #SpeculativeFiction #TheLastDance #Mark Billingham #CrimeFiction #LeonardAndHungryPaul #RonanHession #IrishFiction #HouseOfGold #CTRwizi #ScienceFiction #HowToBuildABoat @ecfeeney11 #BookerPrize2023 #YoungMungo @douglas_stuart #ScottishFiction #Bookstagram
#damongalgutthepromise growing up in South Africa Great Fiction with historical South African theme and setting Book #southafricahistory #endslavery #educategirls #betterreadthandead #sydney #midnorthcoast #bookerprize2021 #bookerprizeshortlist #bookerprizelonglist #bookerprize #womensday Stolen Dreams History of S.Africa Black Struggle for equality Native Rights , Colonialism, Family , Culture, Servitude , Civil Rights , Currents reads 2024 Booker prizes and lists are always a good pick at your #locallibraries #summerreads #literaryfiction #historicalfictionbooks separateness", one general definition 'aparthood ' apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s
Our discussion on All the Little Bird-Hearts at @peoplesbooktakoma is sure to be a fun one! You still have a week to read it if you are in the TKPK area and want to join me, Gretl the dog (ok, not Gretl, but her mom!), @coppolaklein @kristen.reads.in.dc and other wonderful humans in book conversation! . 📚 . #bookclub #booksanddogs #literaryfiction #bookerprizelonglist #2024reads #winterreading
In this episode I’m talking about The Booker Prize and the winner Prophet Song! Tune in to discuss the novel and share some opinions about the oddly formatted dystopian novel. Click the link in my bio for this episode and more. - - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - - #writingpodcast #bookpodcasts #prophetsong #paullynch #thebookerprize #thebookerprizes #thebookerprize2023 #bookerprize #bookerprizewinner #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizewinner #bookerprizeshortlist #bookerprizelonglist #irishauthors #irishauthor #irishwriters #irishwriter #irishliterature #irishlit #irishbookstagram #irishbooks #irishbook #irishbookstagrammer #dystopianbooks #dystopian #dystopianliterature #dystopiannovel #dystopiannovels #dystopianbook #dystopianreads #bookreviewers
THIS OTHER EDEN is set in the early 1900s on Apple Island off the coast of Maine, depicting the small, isolated community of mixed-race islanders there. Based on the true story of Malaga Island, the main action of THIS OTHER EDEN begins as a schoolteacher missionary comes to Apple Island. This ultimately draws the attention of the mainlanders back to the island, and their accompanying small-mindedness ultimately destroys the community. Paul Harding’s writing is undeniably beautiful and lyrical. Take for instance, this description of character Ethan Honey drifting into sleep: “As he lowered into sleep the salty pined breeze and cricket songs and schools of stars poured into and birled around his brains so the night became his mind and his mind the night and the mother owl watching over him swooped down from her tree and through his dreams.” It is a delight to read and inhabit this natural Eden he depicts. Yet, the writing is like a mask, beautifying the description of a society that is marred by the disease of racial prejudice and eugenics. I often felt uneasy at the limited emotional range expressed in the islanders’ perspectives, which felt dangerously stereotyped. In a Booker interview, Harding admitted that after he was inspired by the events on Malaga, he stopped reading about it to feel free to shape his story in a way that resonated with him. To me, this raises the question of what an author’s responsibility is to their subject - if his subject is recognizable as Malaga Island, his themes recognizably about racism and eugenics, does Harding have a responsibility to convey something true about these events and themes? I think he does - or else he runs the risk of undermining the narrative by falling prey to the same paternalism and objectification exhibited by the islanders. Ultimately, I’m not sure that Harding threads this needle successfully in this novel. That said, overall, I enjoyed THIS OTHER EDEN, and would happily purchase a copy to reread. I loved the writing, and I think there is enough in the book to stimulate thought and conversation. Have you read THIS OTHER EDEN? What did you think?
Onto my second book of the Booker Prize 2023 long/shortlist! Prophet Song wasn’t my cup of tea but I’m hoping I like Study for Obedience. A lot of reviewers whose likes align with mine have liked this book so I am hoping I have the same good experience! - - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - - #writingpodcast #bookpodcast #bookerprize #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizewinner #bookerprizeshortlist #bookerprizelonglist #prophetsong #paullynch #studyforobedience #sarahbernstein #irishlit #irishliterature #canadianliterature #canadianlit #englishlit #englishliterature #bookrecommendations #bookrecommendation #bookrecs #bookrec #bookreview #bookreviews #bookreviewer #bookreviewers #womenliterature #booksbywomen #bookclub #bookclubs #booklover
A year of Tired Mammy Book Club 2023 📚 January - Debut Novel: Trespasses by Louise Kennedy 📚 February - Feminist February: Know My Name by Chanel Miller 📚 March - Irish Author: Small Things Like These and Foster by Claire Keegan 📚 April - Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist: Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin 📚 May - Science Fiction: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 📚 June - Pride X Banned Books: This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson 📚 July - Summer Read: My Hot Friend by Sophie White 📚 August - Booker Prize Longlist: How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney 📚 September - Leaving Certificate Prescribed Material: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 📚 October - Black History Month: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler 📚 November - Non-Fiction November: Poor by Katriona O’Sullivan 📚 December - Christmas / Winter: Snowed In by Catherine Walsh 📚 10 female authors; and 2 male authors. 6 Irish authors; 3 American authors; 1 author of Vietnamese and French heritage; 1 British author; and 1 African-American author. 📚 How many did you read? Which was (/were) your favourite(s)? 📚 #TiredMammyBookClub #NotJustForMammies #TiredMammy30minutes #BookClub #IrishAuthors #FeministFebruary #WomensPrizeForFiction #WomensPrizeLongList #ScienceFiction #SciFi #MayTheFourthBeWithYou #Pride #BannedBooks #SummerRead #BookerPrize #BookerPrizeLongList #LeavingCertificate #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackAuthors #NonFictionNovember #AmReading #CurrentlyReading #ReadersWanted
Of all the 78 books I read this year, the best book of 2023 is The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng ❤️ #book #bookerprizelonglist #bookclub #booklover #tantwaneng #thehouseofdoors #bookoftheyear #2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Pearl Sian Hughes 218 pages Longlisted for the @thebookerprizes 2023 🪦 ‘When someone takes their life, they don’t only steal the future out from under our feet, they also desecrate their past. It makes it hard to hold onto the good things about them. And no one deserves to be judged on the worst five minutes of their life, even if those 5 minutes turn out to be their last.’ ✍️ If you are susceptible to lost mother stories then I think you might enjoy this one. At only 218 pages, you’ll get through it in no time too. Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing. Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a falling-down-house on the outskirts of a small town. It’s a real surprise of a book as a debut novel deserving of its place on the #bookerprizelonglist 🪴 #thephrasebook #auskiwibooksta #bookerprize #pearlbook #pearl #sianhughes #whattoreadnext #bookstagram
I’m finally tackling the Booker Prize Long/Shortlist. I’m starting with the winner and excited to see what all books have to offer as a reader! The Booker has always brought such good books to my attention and I can’t wait to read this years’ books! - - ┈┈∘┈˃̶༒˂̶┈∘┈┈ - - #writingpodcast #bookpodcasts #theprophetsong #paullynch #thebookerprize #thebookerprizes #thebookerprize2023 #bookerprize #bookerprizewinner #bookerprize2023 #bookerprizewinner #bookerprizeshortlist #bookerprizelonglist #irishauthors #irishauthor #irishwriters #irishwriter #irishliterature #irishlit #irishbookstagram #irishbooks #irishbook #irishbookstagrammer #dystopianbooks #dystopian #dystopianliterature #dystopiannovel #dystopiannovels #dystopianbook #dystopianreads #bookreviewers
I was enthralled by "Study for Obedience" by Sarah Bernstein. I binged this in two days, immersed completely in the unreliable unnamed narrator's telling. I have read a number of criticisms for this novel, but I would consider it one of my top reads of 2023. Shortly after reading this, I listened to the audio book read by Sarah Bernstein and loved it even more. #studyforobedience #SarahBernstein #bookerprize2023 #fiction #novel
Happy to be a perch on the All the Little Bird-Hearts blog tour. This debut novel, written by Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow was longlisted for the booker prize. Sunday is a neurodivergent single mom to a sixteen-year-old daughter, Dolly. When charming neighbors move in, they begin spending more and more time with the Dolly, leaving Sunday feeling excluded. Can Sunday protect her daughter from the outside world? This is a beautifully written novel about a mother’s fierce love. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy books that include: 🐦 Mother and daughter relationships 🐦 Neurodivergent characters 🐦 Explorations of parenthood 🐦 Interiority 🐦 Literary fiction The Booker Prize is one of those prizes I follow and try to read all the finalists (and the winner) because these books are always so fantastic and interesting. Bird ornament made by @blueshineart #bookerprizelonglist #booksaremypeople #allthelittlebirdhearts #recommendedreads #debutnovel #literaryfiction
There is not getting much time to read these days so I am enjoying short stories here and there!! And this book surprised me a lot! I had read a few stories sometime back and stopped. However now when I picked it up, the stories I read got more interesting!! Guess books also have the right time to be read!! It’s horror, science fiction and magical realism. It’s a good break from the books I had been reading for each story was unique and interesting. What are you reading now ? #cursedbunny #shortstories #koreanliterature #translatedliterature #booksintranslation #bookerprizelonglist #bookstagramreadsthebooker #horrorbooks #magicalrealism #booksandcoffee #cafeaesthetics #booklover #bookstagram #indianreaders #readersofinstagram
This was such a great read, quietly powerful with many things unsaid but felt. As a lifelong tennis fan, this story about an 11 year old girl playing squash struck a chord. It's about grief, adolescence, sisterhood, winning, and losing. This novel has all the narrative arcs of a Hollywood movie, but it is genuinely moving and subtle. #westernlane #chetnamaroo #bookerprize #fiction #squash #Edinburgh #comingofage #novel #bookerprize2023