Welcome to Litsy!

My first Antoine Laurain, and certainly not the last.

The titular notebook is one of many objects that the protagonist Laurent Letellier, a bookseller, finds in a mauve bag on the street one day. He goes through each object, and all the things he finds leads him to go on a search for the intriguing and mysterious Laure.

At 140 pages, the story covers growing older, making new starts, a deep love of literature, and taking chances.

If there was one thing that defined adolescence it was hysterical laughter. You never laughed like that again. In adolescence the brutal realisation that the world and life were completely absurd made you laugh until you couldn‘t catch your breath, whereas in later life it would only result in a weary sigh.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

As part of my shelf clean up project I decided to systematically go through books that are obvious one-off reads.

In stage 1 I focus on the German ones, as the reading speed tends to be significantly higher🤓

The tagged book has been binged in a day and was quite cute, awesome material for a romcom movie, probably starring Amy Adams and Jude Law😂
I am surprised that it doesn't exist yet!

If I had to pick one word for this book it would be delightful! This is short and sweet - I want to read it again.

I quite enjoyed this novella. I‘m not really a fan of novellas as I like something a bit meatier, something to get my teeth into! 😁. It‘s a sweet little story and the translation isn‘t bad. There‘s not much more I can say about it.

Bookstore owner Laurent finds a stolen handbag and -- based on its contents -- becomes obsessed with finding its owner. Like a bad rom-com, this book aims for charming but is closer to cheesy, cringey, and downright creepy. Reading it on audio probably made it worse. It was short, so that was fortunate.

"The hotel employee stared at the woman's bare breasts waiting to see if her chest rose and fell."
?
The kind of sentence only a (cishet) male author could write. ?

The story was okay, but it didn‘t pull me in. I‘m glad it was short because it definitely was enough. I think I liked the idea of the story better than how it was written.

A man finds a woman‘s handbag and is instantly drawn in by the items of her bag especially a red journal. This is how their paths cross and the magnetic pull to each even though they have never met face-to-face. All information is second hand.

“Are we capable of having nostalgia for something that might have been?.”

August Book 19/25 #LitsyLove #bookspinbingo

Antoine Laurain‘s books range from charming, funny, endearing, to a satirical take on modern #France .

#fallfinds

I had real problems with this one. The characters in this book lacked healthy boundaries to the point that I found the book creepy rather than romantic. The expectation that readers (the majority of whom, I‘m guessing, are women) will find what basically boils down to stalking as something romantic is troubling. And depicting the female lead - who is a victim of assault at the book‘s start - as being charmed by this behavior was gross. Yuck!

What a gorgeous little novel this was. Couldn‘t stop smiling as I finished the final few pages. All the stars!

Traveling for business means eating dinner by myself occasionally. Solo eating means solo reading! #winwin

There was a part around the middle where it dropped hugely. But “The Nostalgia of the Unknown” (?) and the last hour (approximately) makes it all good again. I fell for Laure and her thoughts and attitudes. ❤️

Additionally, I liked that the going of the search was at least close to how things normally go. Chloé had a brilliant scene. ?

Nice, light and partly an above-average feel good read. ??

I did a bit of audiocooking tonight. This noodles sauce was supposed to last for two lunches but I‘m sure I‘ll eat at least three times of it. ??‍♀️ It already smells good. Can tell you tomorrow if it‘s tasty.

I still like the audiobook. It‘s light and entertaining. Even though I‘m finding the situation where he is in her apartment to look after Belphégore and where he is then going through her stuff, photos and so on, weird. To say the least.

Seems, my life wants to tell me to sleep now. 🙄

The good thing is: the kitchen and the dining room all smell after freshly baked cheesecake, that‘s wonderful.

The sad thing is: The electrical slatted frame in my bed _once_again_ has packed up. 😠 Which is why I now decided to want a new one.

No more reading in bed for me today.
Don‘t like that. 😰

Maybe I treat myself with some more audiobooking – even if it doesn‘t really feel like a treat.

What I did this evening.

It‘s just the picture that indicates that the right side of the cheesecake is as dark as midnight; in reality it‘s less sinister.

While preparing the cake I listened to some music because I knew that the noise of the blending machine wouldn‘t let me concentrate on an audiobook but after having put the cake in the oven and while cleaning up 🧼 I started the tagged audiobook.

Seems to be nice light entertainment so far.

When unassuming Parisian bookseller Laurent Letellier stumbles upon an abandoned handbag, he feels compelled to return it to its rightful owner. There is no formal identification in the bag. There is, however, a red notebook, filled with all manner of jotting, musing, and beguiling disclosure. With effortless style and splashes of he said/she said humor, this novella feels old-fashioned yet modern, simple yet complex, frivolous yet philosophical.

#nextup I probably won‘t get much read here tonight, because I‘m really tired, but at least I got this #kindlitsy gift downloaded onto my Kindle. Lately, downloads have been an adventure. I guess my baby is starting to feel her age😂

Thanks you so much @Insightsintobooks this was a very unexpected gift! #kindlitsy

Thank you @sammisho this one looks so cute!! #kindlitsy

I would love to thank the giver of this generous #kindlitsy gift, but he/she didn‘t include their Litsy handle in the message, and the name doesn‘t come up in the database. Thank you, thank you, whoever you are! This is pure Litsy. This is a book on my TBR because of reading a Litsy review, gifted by a Litten. Love it! 💕 I think today will be a pay-it-forward day.

A delight for book lovers and francophiles! A Parisian bookseller finds a stolen handbag and searches throughout Paris to find its owner. #ReadingAroundTheWorld #France

Finished this up last night. Story about Paris which is good, story about a book store/bookseller which is good. Very fine line between live and stalking a little less good.

Parisian bookseller Laurent finds a woman‘s handbag in a street dustbin. There is nothing in the bag to identify its owner, only some personal effects and a small red moleskine notebook filled with the intimate writings of a woman Laurent begins to feel he would really like to know. A charming romantic story that will leave a #smile at the end.

#SeptemberDanes #bonjourmadame

#SisforSeptember @CaliforniaCay

This was a very quick, light-hearted read. I enjoyed it as much for it offering a hopeful respite from all of the ugly in the world, as I did for it‘s gorgeous prose. Often I found myself rereading passages just to savor them a little longer. Beautifully written, and superbly translated. Read it if you need a little boost in your faith in humanity but aren‘t looking for anything astoundingly deep or profound.

The perfect book to use for combining #Red for #readingresolutions and #Paris for #Augustisatrip!

Today's theme in the #augustisatrip photo challenge is #Paris and it's reminded me of some more books I would like to read. They are all set in Paris.
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and @vkois88 👍

This light, funny novel will have you longing for a trip to Paris. 🇫🇷
#juneitselectrifying #frenchy

On the blog today: some recommended authors to go to when you want a feel good read.

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2018/06/15/feeling-groovy-authors-to-pick-up-...

The reminded me of the movie While You Were Sleeping. A so-so for me. 2/5⭐️

This was a quick read about a man who finds an abandoned bag. He becomes intrigued by the bag‘s contents—particularly the musings in a little red notebook—and sets out to find the mystery woman the bag belongs to. A light, sweet, and charming book. Thank you to @tpixie for including it in my Secret Santa box!

1. I blatantly stole this image from @DebbieGrillo because these crackers are amazing.
2. In a good way, the tagged book was a #blameitonlitsy for me.
3. No
4. Messy 😞
5. Sherlock Gnomes. It was cute.
#humpdaypost

Three picks that are all a #quickread. #ReadingResolutions @Jess7

#readingresolutions #red

Yet another book I want to read.

Just 159 pages, but you‘ll be soaked in Parisian atmosphere in this lovely novella.
#marchinbooks #under200pages

#allthebooksof2017 #mostreadgenre
I glanced through the list of books I‘ve read in the past six months - books I picked up on my own, not for book club reads - seems like I‘ve read quite a mixture of genres, except horror, maybe? And I don‘t read enough non-fictions and sci-fictions, too. 🤔

It took me an unreasonably long time to realize that Laure wasn‘t in her early 20s.

😍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I so enjoyed this little charming love story. Quick read that contains some of my favorite topics...books, bookstores, journals, and handbags. 😁 book 73 of 100 for #2017readingchallenge

Is it wrong to rate a book based on a previous book read that is similar? I will tag the similar book in the Comments with a Spoiler filter so as not to rule out anyone else's enjoyment.

There was also a bit of a creep factor with one of the characters. Did anyone else feel this way?

I ADORED this author's book, The President's Hat. Maybe I was expecting too much?

Don't know about you, but I wouldn't be keen to send my child to the Robespierre Nursery School!

😱☠️😱☠️😱☠️😱☠️😱☠️😱☠️😱

Happy #InternationalCatDay !

This is probably the closest they've ever been to each other. 😼

The tagged book DOES have a cat in it. 😊

This is one of those days when it IS my circus and it IS my monkey.

At least my bracelet matches my book.

This charming little book swept me away and took me by surprise. 5⭐️ from me, exactly what I needed to read right now!

Googled for an image of the book. Love the French cover 👍🇫🇷

And I loved this book...his others are on my reading list ☺

Catching up on some more #netgalley reads. I like this one a lot. Getting me in the mood for our travels to France next weekend ☺🇫🇷