Welcome to Litsy!

I have so many thoughts about this brilliant, original, incomprehensible, and ultimately truthful book. I can totally see why YMMV. If ever a book felt like what it‘s like to go through therapy, this is it. Zebra is fragile, traumatized, intelligent and sensitive to the point that she is unable to accept her own humanity. This is the story of how she learns to accept the brokenness of being a human. More thoughts in comments as they come to mind.

Zebra is tragic and funny and impossible, yet insightful about her pain and her mission in life. This is how I feel about being a direct speaker, too. “I survive in order to leave testimony.”

Stealing a moment for this flawed, quirky protagonist. Lots of Litsy folx don‘t care for this one, but I‘m loving it.

The first bracket today in the #ToB2019. I haven‘t read Zebra (I literally have not read one positive review). I read Warlight last Summer and don‘t remember much about it. I know I didn‘t find it as good as some other books by Ondaatje but for now I think it should go to the second round of the Tournament. Any thoughts?

#tob2019 progress. I could not stand Call Me Zebra and gave it up quickly. Just started Italian Teacher and should finish it before Wednesday, but it‘s not looking good for Overstory. 😢 Milkman is still my favorite...just an astonishing work.

Hated this, then realised at the end ‘what it all meant‘ and suddenly thought it was v clever - but that doesn‘t mean I enjoyed the first 3/4 of it. Intense character portrait of an incredibly damaged woman whose trauma makes her intensely pretentious, cruel and pompous. The psychology of it was amazing but it‘s hard to maintain interest in a narrator who‘s that overblown with her belief that she‘s the only person who understands literature.

I read the reviews and thought I‘d hate this, and more than hating it I‘m just confused? I don‘t know what the author wants to say to me or wants me to feel by making the narrator who‘s survived awful things and lost everything such an awful snob? Idk maybe that is the point

I‘m trying not to find her awful as I‘m sure that‘s not the point, but I truly hate the idea of ‘the 0.1%‘ of the intelligentsia being the only people who can really think?

Two books for #24in48 #readathon done so far! I've fallen behind on my reviews for this year, these are books 27 and 28 for 2019. Call Me Zebra was a pretty wild read - I think it's one you either hate or love because it comes across as so pretentious. I ended up rating it highly, because I loved the bonkers philosophical stuff the author was doing.

Good luck with everyone doing the readathon! I don't know if I'll make it to 24 hours this time.

She is an unquestionably talented writer with a far better grasp of literature than I will ever have. However, to me, reading this book felt like listening to the punchline of an inside joke, the context to which I was not invited.

First up in the 2019 #TournamentOfBooks

How serious was I supposed to take this novel? In all honesty, I did the audio and laughed throughout but wasn‘t sure it was supposed to be a comic novel, at least not as much as I was taking it to be. Would like to hear other reader‘s thoughts...

This was not a bad book, but it was not for me. I felt like it was 10% interesting and 90% impenetrable.

I‘m so on the fence about this book, especially the ending. But it‘s definitely more than so-so, so I‘m going to give it a 🤘🏻

I did not care for this book. The main character was insufferable. It had a ton of name dropping of authors and books. I could not tell if the author thought it was clever or knew it was offputting and had done it like that on purpose.

Day one of the Bay Area Book Festival haul! Many of these were signed by the authors. I‘m exhausted but excited to come back for round two tomorrow.

This narrator is, pardon my French, an asshole. Seriously damaged.

Just in from the library. Excited to read as the cover describes: “An adventure tale, a love story, and a paean to the power of language and literature, starring the heroine as quirky as Don Quixote, as introspective as Virginia Woolf, as who-smart as Miranda July and as spirited as Frances Ha...”

I have come to the conclusion that we are seeing a narrator that has been driven insane or eccentric by her trauma. I mean, she is 🥜. But she is also a prophet of sorts, right?

I'm afraid I simply did not get this book at all. I was intrigued by the idea of a woman connecting to her dead parents and her heritage through literature, but I was just left confused the entire time. The MC was just way too eccentric for my taste. I found myself sort of skimming most of it (which I NEVER do!). Also, I hate relationships in fiction where it's super clear the characters hate each other but still remain together. ⭐️⭐️ #arc

Reading this for book club and it might not have been the best pick for that sort of thing. I like the book— reminds me of Salman Rushdie but it‘s definitely not light reading...

I enjoyed this so much on audio. Zebra falls in the "unlikeable protagonist" category, and I loved that about her. She's witty, she's snarky, she's absurd, and her relationship with Ludo is straight up fascinating and frustrating.

A heroine tracing her family's history via literature. HELLO WHEELHOUSE.

Such a good use of a Friday night observing the brilliance of Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi and the wise words Lynne Tillman. 🤓

Littens, this is definitely one to check out! Azareen has lived around the world and created an “uncooperative” female MC, likely inspired by her own background. 🙌🏻

Library haul 📚😬

Spending a little time with my book and coffee before my first meeting starts. I‘ve got a full day of meetings and extroverting so I‘ve got to mentally prepare myself 🤓

Received an amazing selection of @hmhbooks titles! They all look so good - which one should I read first??? Just kidding, the answer is Ursula. 📚📚📚