Welcome to Litsy!

JUNE 2019: I finally went down the Ferrante wormhole! To my surprise, my favorite character is Naples. The way she depicts the widespread poverty and violence after WWII and how that affected the city's working class is striking. I found a great Time Magazine article about the history of Naples in conversation with these novels, which I really suggest. I've started book two and I am kind of lukewarm about it so far. Did anyone else feel that way?

The first book in the story about Elena and Lila told in retrospect by Elena about their childhood and early teenage yrs.

I think it‘s hard to rate this book. I liked it more than I thought I would. What tipped it to a so-so for me was that I could put it down last night before going to sleep with only 16p left. Normally I would have finished the book.

I will probably read the remaining 3 books, but I won‘t rush to the library to borrow them.

Next up.

I feel like I‘m the last person in the world to read Ferrante, but I‘ve some bad experiences reading books on the bestseller list.

Borrowed this from the library and since I‘m going to see the documentary “Ferrante Fever” next Tuesday, I thought now is the time to give this a go.

I hope this book proves me wrong.

At first, I didn‘t really like this book. It took me a long time to get through the first chapters. But once I started reading it with a bit more of an academic eye, rather than looking for entertainment, I enjoyed it more. Still not my favorite, but definitely an interesting read!

😎

switching between two books, I always like to have a lighter one if I am reading an intense book and my other book right now is the Iliad so this is my little breather haha

So good! Going to the store today to buy the second one 😁

My library hold came in! 😁 I loved this book series and can't wait to start watching this.

#Shesleavinghome #BeatleMaynia @Eggs
She tried and tried to leave, but her heart for better or worse was Neapolitano

If you can‘t travel the world, you may as well read it. In the case of this series, maybe even watch it.

So far I'm quite enjoying the style and subject, although I'm going to have to break out the Italian dictionary at some point!

Started a new book tonight. one I have been looking forward to for a while!!!

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. I‘ve been compared to Lenu from My Brilliant Friend a few times and I‘m v proud 😇

2. Every male Bildungsroman protagonist who writes paragraphs about wanking being good for the soul and is very proud of having read Don Quixote. And Tyler Durden

3. Foyles or Forbidden Planet in London

4. @Skye1 and @vishodev you‘re my two newest followers! Hello there 😘

Going into this book I knew very little about it, only that it is about a friendship between women and that a lot of people liked it. And certainly I found the central friendship compelling but there was so much more that I loved, too. The neighborhood and its community felt very real to me, and the ways class and violence (and the threat of male violence) permeated nearly every interaction. Really interested to see where this goes.

An interesting depiction of coming of age in post-WWII Naples (how accurate, I don't know), but overall the writing felt flat. It is relentlessly single point of view with little complexity to the narration -- no omniscient description or narrator observations to reinforce (or contradict) Lenu. Nothing hints at any inner life of other characters. Once the narrator is in high school I was utterly bored with her life and the perfect Lila.

1. Friday
2. The Beatles
3. Work then dinner with an old friend from high school
4. In Cold Blood was the last one I‘ve finished. Currently reading the tagged book and Paul Tremblay‘s Cabin at the End of the World.

#premondayvibes @pepsicola

Next

For the first two-thirds of this book I couldn't wait for it to end, then I started thinking about reading the whole series. It is beautifully written and the story is good, but on the whole, it didn't do it for me.

It was relatively warm today (-6 when I set out; -2 now), so I took a 6.3-mile walk that involved a greasy and delicious McGriddle, a trip to my old library, and three thrift stores. The last of these coughed up a bunch of books: three more of Linnea Sinclair's SF romances for my mum, plus copies of MY BRILLIANT FRIEND and A PRINCESS IN THEORY for my stash of stuff that might do for swaps someday.

interesting.

I was looking for pastel books and realized I had a lot of pink and blue books, but not many yellow, purple, or blue.

A friend recommended this #audiobook and I picked it up not knowing anything. The world is immersive and I love the titular relationship. However, I did not know this was a series so the cliffhanger was a real bummer. HOODWINKED.

These are the replacements for the #FirstInASeries Display 😁! Have you read any of these? (“The Parable of the Sower” was returned and is back on it again! 👍🏻👍🏻)

#LitsyLovesLibraries #MrBooksDisplays

Puh...ich tue mich ja etwas schwer mit diesem Buch...
Ich find's öde und belanglos, die Sprache kann mich überhaupt nicht gefangen nehmen und irgendwie wirkt alles so heruntergeleiert...
Ich weiß noch nicht, ob ich es beenden werde, aber eins weiß ich:
Die anderen Bände werden nicht den Weg zu mir nach Hause finden!
#buch #buecherwurm #buecherliebe #bookstagram #lesen #leseliebe #bibliophile #bookaholic #buecher

Newton's review: "This story is one I can really sink my teeth into." ?

I really liked this story about two girls growing up in Naples.
That cover though🙄

Wieder daheim, hat die Arbeit mich wieder voll in Beschlag genommen...
Nun habe ich Feierabend und mein "Wochenende" startet.
Schon lange schleiche ich um die Ferrante Bücher herum, hab ich doch die Erfahrung gemacht, dass solch gehypten Bücher mir oftmals nicht zusagen...
Ich gebe ihr aber endlich eine Chance?
Habt ihr die Reihe schon gelesen? Haben sie euch gefallen?
#buchliebe #bookish #bibliophile #coffeeandbooks #booksandcoffee #bookstagram

Can‘t believe how good the TV series was. Almost as good as the book.

Still reading this book. And although I'm liking the story, I don't like the cover.
So no picture of the book, but a picture of our morning walk this cold saturday morning

#currentlyreading

😭

Trying to start my next book, but my friend has other plans...

#dogsoflitsy
#currentlyreading (sort of)

In a hotel somewhere in Cusco, Peru snuggling up to a good book after a long day touristing!

1-8-19: My second finished book of 2019! #mybrilliantfriend #elenaferrante 👍🏼📖#️⃣2️⃣

Looking back at my year of books! I didn‘t reach my goal but I‘m still proud of all the great books I read in 2018!

I read the book surprisingly fast. This book has drawn me into it's story.
I had a friend like Lila, but I quickly discovered who she really was and forever told her goodbye.

#croatianedition

I think I'm the last person to read this, and honestly it's because I loathe the cover so much. But thanks to some book challenge prompts, I had to read it!

I'm not sure if I enjoyed it because my family is Italian and I could imagine this being my mom's life if her grandparents had made different decisions, but I get the hype now. Plus, it oozes Napolitano realness!

#pop18 #bookwithanuglycover #readharder #bookwithacoveryouhate @bookriot

First book finished in 2019, part yay and part should have finished a week ago 🤣VERY interesting ending but not worth slogging through any more of the Neapolitan novels ( probably should be a pan)

"Dobro, dođite svi: pit ćemo pjenušac, plesati, nova godina, novi život."

"All right, come everyone: we'll have a champagne, dance, a new year, a new life."

#croatianedition

The cover is awful and the beginning is brutal, but I may just finish it as the end seems okay 😜

Once I got into it I really did, the dynamic of Lenu and Lila is incredibly complex and tempestuous (and there were totally some sapphic vibes there). Every character in this is deeply flawed, and it really highlight the violence which seems to shape “the plebs” and their neighborhood. I may continue this series at some point, but I also don‘t know if I can emotionally put myself through seeing Lila and Lenu get to the point the book starts with.

I started reading this stunning book. I like it very much. I can not drop it out of my hand. I have a feeling like I'm in the book, side by side, with Lila. I'm looking for her approval for everyone.
And she is such a mean girl.

#croatianedition

This book lived up to my expectations--Ferrante develops the tempestuous friendship between Elena and Lila with subtlety and complexity, never overlooking the treachery that underlies their genuine loyalty. Told in a series of fairly brief chapters, My Brilliant Friend paints a vivid picture of the poverty-stricken village in which the girls grow up and from which Elena wishes to escape. I'm really looking forward to watching the series now!

On page 127, still not sure if I‘m going to finish this, but it got a bit better recently. On the train to Vienna from Munich and my apfel sprizz is part motivational speaker