The Gustav Sonata: A Novel | 
I loved this book, a tale of intense friendship between two men - Gustav Perle who grows up in a small town in Switzerland, and a Jewish boy, Anton Zweibel, a talented #concert pianist.
#LetsTravelJuly
Heartbreakingly moving. Two boys growing up, learning about love and friendship.
#MayMovieMagic #IceDance I read this a couple of weeks ago on hols ... very good ♥️👍🏻
pickI really liked this one ... maybe a little too much melancholy. Too many jumbled images. I think my most enduring memory / image from this book will be the small Gustav playing with his one toy , a tin train with passengers painted on the windows & Gustav whispering to passengers as he plays “ master yourselves “ ♥️💔
pickThis was painfully, beautifully sad. A boy brought up in poverty in Switzerland in the aftermath of war, taught to “master himself” to be neutral and controlled as his country has been, to cope even when cold and hungry - and the talented, precocious and fragile friend he cares for so deeply. Through his story and that of his parents we see the legacy of bitterness vs the potential that might remain for hope and passion. 5 stars.
More covers with #sky . These from my read shelves, all I‘ve enjoyed very much.
#showusyourcover
pickThis was a #blameitonlitsy and I loved it. Beautiful story about a friendship between two boys in post WWII Switzerland. Looking forward to reading more by this author.
Started this last night. So far I'm enjoying. I don't think I've read anything based in Switzerland before.
When you visit a village fete and leave with a pile of books!
Quite looking forward to reading these...
#TBRtemptation post 6! Gustave grows up in a small Swiss town. An only child, he lives with his anti-Semitic mother who treats him with severity. He'll intensely befriend a talented Jewish boy, Anton, a budding pianist. The novel will work back through the WWII years and ahead through their adult years. We'll watch as a friendship lost, transformed, and regained despite whatever calamities and people interrupt it. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎
#allthebooksof2017 #newtoyoufavoriteauthors
These are six of my favourite authors I discovered this year.
Kent Haruf, Daphne du Maurier, Rose Tremain, Sarah Winman, Jane Harper, Margaret Atwood. 🤘
pickLoved this 💟 was so happy with the ending too.
A lovely Sunday afternoon read.
#🎼 #EmojiNov Loved this book set in Switzerland about relationships and with a musical connection. @RealLifeReading
pickThis was a heartbreaking and beautiful read. Set in Switzerland after the war, it brings together a story of brokenness, friendship and love. Highly recommend.
pickThis was beautiful, and heartbreaking. I loved it. I'm definitely going to seek out more Rose Tremain after this.
New book night. I see this one has lots of good Litsy reviews...
This arrived yesterday from Book Depository. I think I heard about it from Simon at Savage Reads. Excited to get to this.
pick67 ~ The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain (Paperback📖) ~ Started: 24.06.17 ~ Finished: 01.07.17
Rating: 5/5📚
pickBook 19: Soared through this one - a well crafted story, powered with music and memory and the secrets history hopes to keep hidden. Travelling through time with our two protagonists, we move from pre-WW2 on the Swiss border to modern day, with all its ghosts. But family skeletons have a tendency to emerge in unlikely ways...History sometimes gives its own perfomance. #readwomen #baileysprize
Book one of my recent haul 😇 On a side note, that sticker mark is very annoying.
pickI liked this very much. If every novelist, at some point in their career, needs to confront the Holocaust, then this was an original and sideways way to go about it. Broken people living broken lives and managing the best ways they can. Searching for love and occasionally finding it. No one here was particularly remarkable, but there was a surfeit of compassion and loyalty and a genuine emotional payoff.
Started this on the plane this morning, after finishing up Eveningland by Michael Knight, which I loved. #planereading #travel
I've never read this author before, but am really enjoying this delightful book about the lives of two boys in post Second World War Switzerland. Not sure where it is heading or what has happened prior to the book starting but absolutely loving the journey. I'm reading this as an audiobook and Mark Meadows is doing an excellent job. I agree with the Observers review, 'remarkable and moving novel'. Now off to find out what happens next. #audiobooks
This is a wonderful interview.
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/rose-tremain-on-unlocking-the-swiss-so...
pickMy original plan was to go back and forth between the audio and the hardcover. But while waiting for the hardcover to be ready at the library I started listening to this yesterday on my way to work. I couldn't stop; finished last night. I think Tremain just about killed me. And y'all are enablers of the highest order. Wouldn't have picked this up if it weren't so highly touted on here. #audiobook
Started listening this morning. So good. #audiobook
pickThis was my first novel by Tremain: assuredly, not my last. A deep connection between two Swiss men from boyhood on into late middle-age, neither of them sure what to make of it; a haunting backstory about one set of parents in jittery neutral Switzerland amid World War II. The novel moves from quiet moment to quiet moment, punctuated by the most incredible, explosive twists of emotion and sexuality. Just wow!
Oh my
Fun fact: Japan is still largely the same way in 2017. The first name/last name order is reversed here, so let me use the still-too-Western terms 'Christian name' and 'surname' to make this clear: many of my young Japanese friends have forgotten, or never learned, the Christian names of most of their friends. One 30-something friend even had no idea what his sister-in-law's Christian name was!
Why have I never read Rose Tremain until now?! This book is gorgeous!
pickThis was a lovely bank holiday weekend read about love, friendship, betrayals, ethics, passion - fantastic - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Books read in April 2017: 46 (many of these are short poetry collections)
Audiobooks: 2
eBooks: 25
Print: 19
Review copies: 17
April has been a slow reading month for me, but I'm happy to have read these which are my picks for #bestofapril.
#aprilbookshowers
pickI really enjoyed this story of Gustav and slowly understanding all the parts of his story. #baileysprize
pickAn interesting look at some of the ethical questions posed during WWII, The Gustav Sonata was a read that treads familiar water, but manages to do so in a fresh manner. Of course, it tackles more than just ethics, hitting at love, loss, fear and family dysfunction among many other topics making for a worthwhile reading experience.
pickThis book was heavy, full of sadness and melancholy. Yet, the writing was so effortless and warm...like an embrace. A story of friendship, understanding, acceptance and longing. Very character driven, expressive and finely tuned. Just shy of 4 🎵🎵🎵🎵
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