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merelybookish Fun picks! I'm curious about Jean Stafford but am going against my usual taste and voting for

Leftcoastzen What great choices! They all look so good ! Shows our reading group & NYRB Classics good taste.

vivastory What @Leftcoastzen said 3y

vivastory My vote is for

saresmoore Ooh, intriguing picks! I‘m torn! I will go with

quietjenn As is frequently the case, I'm finding it a difficult choice, so will default to the one already on my shelf

daena Wow. This is a hard one! I‘m going with

sisilia I vote for The Murderess 3y

GatheringBooks Oh i already read the murderess - and i thought it was for this group! Must be another litsy group altogether. Thus, i vote for

Reviewsbylola Ooooh love your choices! Gonna go with The Murderess. 3y

sprainedbrain I‘m going to vote for

Billypar Put me down for one slynx please 🙂

LeahBergen Ooo, good picks! I‘ve been curious about this one, so my vote goes to

mklong Fun picks! I‘m going with

Liz_M Tough choice, but I vote for

BarbaraBB I have already read The Murderess and am voting for

arubabookwoman I've read both The Slynx and The Murderess-both excellent-so I will vote for #BostonAdventure. 3y

sarahbarnes Great choices! I‘ll vote for Boston Adventure. 3y

vivastory Voting is still open @KVanRead @batsy @emilyhaldi @readordierachel @Tanisha_A @Theaelizabet 3y

batsy Oh sorry, I missed this! Fascinating choices. I read The Murderess; it was intriguing and memorable. I'm gonna vote for The Slynx which has long been on my TBR

Tanisha_A Oooh! Super choices again! I am voting for

emilyhaldi Love these choices!! Sorry I‘m so late to the voting game, but just in case you‘re still counting votes… my pick is

The Pilgrim Hawk: A Love Story

vivastory Update: It is a very close vote. I am going to leave voting open for remaining members until tomorrow & then will declare the winner according to the tallies. 3y

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BarbaraBB

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

#BookReport 40/20

I had a really good reading week. I have accepted I‘ll be working from home again for the foreseeable future and that gives me plenty of time to read too. These were all good except for the Justified Sinner but that may be me. Favorite: The Blank Wall.

Cinfhen

Reviewsbylola Great week! 🙌🏻🙌🏻 4y

Cathythoughts Oh I stacked The Blank Wall after your review 😁❤️ 4y

squirrelbrain Great week! 👍😁 4y

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erzascarletbookgasm I‘m going to read The Expats for Luxembourg. Thanks for putting this on my radar! 4y

sarahbarnes Great stack of books! I‘m going to have to add a couple of these to my TBR. 4y

LeahBergen Great week! 👏🏻 4y

Cinfhen Expats is on my list too @erzascarletbookgasm ❣️Sorry, you‘re back to remote working....at least it helps your reading life 😘 4y

TrishB I need some tips on how working at home gives you more reading time. I must really suck at this! 4y

BarbaraBB @TrishB For me all that zoom-ing is so efficient (no small talk) that I allow myself more time off than usual. And no commute time. Plus I am not so anxious, which is a big pro these days, mostly I manage to keep positive and don‘t worry too much. 4y

TrishB Yeah, I definitely suck ☹️ my commute used to be my reading time too so I‘ve lost that. It was also my separation between home and work. I am also definitely more anxious because work just seems to have taken over everything now. 4y

BarbaraBB @TrishB I see what you mean, about separation between home and work. I used to have that too but since I have my own company things have been mingling all over. And I admit, my work is not that hard. I can turn it off when I want to (that used to be different too when I worked for a boss). So it may be easier for me. 4y

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BarbaraBB

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

so-so

Autumn is here to stay for some time, so I cuddled up with this #NYRB novella.

After years of frustration of being a woman in Greece‘s man‘s world, Hadoula cracks and kills her grandchild to safe her from a fate of being a lifelong slave. This is so satisfying that she can‘t stay away from other baby girls afterwards.

The book reminded me of Swift‘s A Modest Proposal though it‘s not as good.

erzascarletbookgasm Sounds sad and twisted. 😕 4y

emilyhaldi I was thinking about reading this one in October... At least it's short 🙃 4y

BarbaraBB @emilyhaldi It‘s very short but not as good as for example

(edited) 4y

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jenniferw88

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

#spinepoem2 #acrossapril @Eggs

The Murderess (has a)
Blind Witness (in)
Dark Pines

Eggs Great poem! Love the little cats 🐈❣️ 4y

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jenniferw88

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

#bookmail Finally spent my Amazon gift card from my birthday! Plus 2 #nyrb editions (tagged and Cat Town). Also thanks to @TheReadingMermaid - I'll try to get a reply out this week! #52lists #litsylove

Crazeedi Beautiful flowers!! 5y

Cathythoughts Nice picture 👍🏻♥️ 5y

fictionaddictbooks Lovely picture 5y

emilyhaldi The Murderess sounds really good!!! 5y

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vkois88, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

so-so

#AdelesMayMashUp Day 2: This probably fits into #SorrowIntoTreasuredGold as main character struggles with guilt and a vindictive sense of righteousness over the atrocious murders that she is committing against young girls. While on the one hand there is deep sorrow over these deaths, she sees it as part of a greater good, a kind of community service even. The voice of this novel is distinct & definitely not contemporary, but worth getting into.

GatheringBooks also fits into #readaroundtheworld - greece hosted by @JenP and our #LitWorld2018GB (literary voyage around the world reading challenge) 6y

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Sad 😞 6y

vkois88 Oh wow. That's heavy 6y

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batsy

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

pick

Set among the rural poor of the island of Skiathos in Greece, this is a slim novel of crime & punishment. Indeed, our elderly woman criminal Frankojannou commits her murders of little girls because of her ideas of the deep-rooted injustice of women's lives, & like Raskolnikov, her crimes haunt her waking life. This is a Greek gothic that has the tone of a brutal fable, with Frankojannou scuttling about the craggy landscape, trying to escape. ⬇️

batsy The terse, vivid, cinematic language propels the narrative forward while casting a retrospective eye on her life. The sense of place is strong & the author depicts in restrained prose the way in which patriarchy works. But I feel that a woman would have written this book differently. For a man, the tragedy of being a woman, & a poor one at that, is all-encompassing. But a woman would know that victimhood is not total. #readaroundtheworld @JenP
6y

saresmoore Excellent review. I had a very similar thought about males writing females just yesterday. Even some of the commentary can feel over-the-top, whereas oftentimes, from a female perspective, the patriarchy is only a minor character, grumbling away at a dull roar in the background of the real story. It certainly makes a difference sometimes. 6y

Abailliekaras Wow, it sounds fascinating. There have been some very twitter stories about men writing women characters lately. 6y

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batsy @saresmoore Thank you! And yes, you put it perfectly. I realise this book isn't meant to be read as realism, as such, yet the overwhelming doom of femaleness was sort of overblown, I felt. 6y

batsy @Abailliekaras It's definitely a fascinating read! And yes, I was reading the tweets about that. There was a really good article in The New Yorker, I think, that compiled a bunch of the tweets. 6y

BiblioLitten Awesome review 😊 6y

emilyhaldi Nice review! I'm really into NYBR series recently 😍😍 6y

readordierachel Lovely review. Sounds like an interesting read 👍🏽 6y

erzascarletbookgasm Sounds really good, I like gothic! Great review, as always, friend 👍 6y

batsy @BiblioLitten @erzascarletbookgasm Thank you ❤️ 6y

batsy @emilyhaldi Thank you! They have some really intriguing titles 😍 6y

batsy @ReadOrDieRachel Thank you! It was definitely interesting, plus it's short :) 6y

RohitSawant Fantastic review! 👏🏼👏🏼 6y

Centique So well put @batsy victimhood is rarely all encompassing. Women have been carving lives out of patriarchal rock for so long, there‘s a long history of strength and resilience there too right? 6y

batsy @rohit-sawant Thank you! :) 6y

batsy @Centique Yes, exactly! You said it beautifully. And from being around women who have endured all kinds of stuff, there's also always that glimmer of humour. 6y

RaimeyGallant How interesting. What era? 6y

batsy @RaimeyGallant Set in the late nineteenth-century, written in the very early twentieth century I think. 6y

RaimeyGallant Thanks! 6y

vivastory Wonderful review! 6y

batsy @vivastory Thank you! 6y

LauraBrook I‘d never have heard of this one if not for you! Thank you for such an amazing review! 💸 I‘ve really missed you! 6y

batsy @LauraBrook Aww, thank you so much. I've missed you and Chico too 🐱💜 6y

GatheringBooks i also felt that there was a great deal of self-loathing in frankojannou too. i did not think so much about the author being male when i drafted my review at GatheringBooks (to be posted in july i think for our murder/crime reading theme), but there was a matter-of-fact way around the narrative that perhaps would be different had it been written by a female author. 6y

batsy @GatheringBooks Yes, great point. I'm sure another male author would have written in differently, as well, and perhaps in a way that I won't find fault with 😉 There was a sense of nuance that was missing in Frankojannou, though I'm guessing it was meant to read like a myth or fairy tale of sorts, hence the lack of interiority. I look forward to your longer review! 6y

GatheringBooks @batsy i am also looking at it as a product of its time? it was written sometime in the early 1900s, there was reference to girls being educated as well, but the kind that isn‘t perceived to be “useful” perhaps by the community. in fact if anything, the femicide reminded me just a bit of jonathan swift‘s “a modest proposal” - the way frankojannou justified her murders. 6y

batsy @GatheringBooks So true! I haven't read the Swift and I know I ought to #somanybookssolittletime 6y

GatheringBooks @batsy oh it‘s a very short essay! if you google it, you can have immediate access to the full text. i‘ve shared the link of the essay as well in my own review. 6y

batsy @GatheringBooks I didn't realise it was short! Yay! Thank you, I found a copy via Project Gutenberg :) 6y

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Currey

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

pick

#readaroundtheworld #Greece A novella in which, on a starkly beautiful but extremely poor island in Greece, our protagonist comes to believe that the only thing a girl baby has to look forward to is misery and suffering. The language (in translation) is lyrical but the passions are dark.

JenP, batsy

batsy Great review. I'm still halfway; though it's such a slim book I have to take it in small doses because it's so dark. 6y

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batsy

The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

#TheMarriageMarket "Everyone had to give in addition a dowry counted in money. It might be two thousand, or a thousand, or five hundred. Otherwise, he could keep his daughters and enjoy them. He could put them up on the shelf. He could shut them up in the cupboard. He could send them to the Museum."

I guess if I ever start a feminist punk band we could call ourselves Keep Your Daughters and Enjoy Them.

TrishB 😂😂 6y

batsy @TrishB 🙃🙃 6y

Leftcoastzen Love that!!Rock on!I have a male friend who is educated yet wasn‘t aware how the Dowry system is still widely practiced in some cultures.I enlightened him. GREAT name for a band. 6y

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readordierachel Oh man, I would see that show in a heartbeat. 6y

batsy @Leftcoastzen Thank you. I think you'll appreciate this book. Such a bleak read but gorgeous writing and imagery of rural 19th-century Greece. 6y

batsy @ReadOrDieRachel 😊🤘🏽💜 6y

Centique OMG this sounds so good but I don‘t know if I could handle the deaths 😱😱 What do you think? Is much of the death described on the page? 6y

batsy @Centique The deaths are not described in detail, but it's pretty stark. So much to think about in this book. It's interesting how the facts of life for a woman in this time and place are described, but I'm thinking if a woman wrote this it wouldn't be utterly tragic like this. Women have a sense of humour even in the midst of the awful things that happen to them... I don't know. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, I'm still mulling it over. 6y

Centique @batsy don‘t worry that is helpful! 6y

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The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

For #ReadAroundTheWorld I am pairing the tagged novel set in #Greece with husband‘s version of #Greek roka salata with caramelized walnut, sundried tomatoes, parmesan cheese and bleu cheese. #Greek vinaigrette consists of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, mustard and all things good. Yum. Perfect for our #LitWorld2018GB as well.

JenP

readinginthedark Sounds delicious! 6y

EricaReads Yum! Screen shot it so I can make it, thanks! 6y

JenP Looks amazing! 6y

EJG31 Looks amazing and sounds delicious. I a going to try it soon. 6y

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The Murderess | Alexandros Papadiamant?s

🌜Through a book friend on Facebook who raved about it. She isn‘t too active here now, though. @Fantaghiro23 are you still here???
🌜YES! Goodreads does that for me.
🌜Oh yes! That‘s what I live for as a book blogger and teacher educator
🌜either tagged book or Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell for #BowieBookClub

Chellebearss

Chellebearss Between Goodreads, Library Thing and Litsy my TBR pile is growing huge! 😀 6y

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