Welcome to Litsy!

Set mainly in Paris and Istanbul, several pasts and present, the narrator a young woman remembers her friendship with a famous writer but also her relationship with her family, in particular her mother. Central are also walks through both cities, food and drink, and then there is London and the ex boyfriend Luke. Poetic, beautiful writing, but a real story is missing.

I so wanted to love this book (I adored her other novel) but this just didn‘t capture me. The writing is wonderful but the story …meh.

This is a really quick read. Something about it reminded me of Second Place but I found it much more enjoyable. A young Turkish woman befriends an older British writer living in Paris. But the story is really about the narrator's relationship with her mother.

I liked the way this book was structured with story lines from three different cities/times woven together. It was well written, and I enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn‘t say that it was altogether satisfying reading. I wished that I could have rewritten parts of it so that Nunu didn‘t withdraw into herself or so that she had a more enjoyable and fulfilling life. It was a good book, but it‘s not a feel-good book. For those who savor introspection.

Started and finished this on audio today - was sad to see so few ratings on Goodreads. Stylistically, it reminded me a lot of What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons. It's very short - less than four hours on audio - would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys books about peoples' interior lives.

My June books. All solid reads but the only 5� was A Midsummer Night's Dream. 🧚�♂�

This is a meandering, poignant meditation on memory, stories, loss, and loneliness amidst changing cities. Nunu describes walking in Paris with her writer friend M; her childhood in Istanbul; her time in England. Places, pieces, people are loosely intertwined creating not so much a story as a story-in-the-making. The writing is gentle, wispy, diffuse which fits the themes, but also makes me wonder how long the not-quite story will stay with me.

Starting a new book while a kid does swim lessons.

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Also, I had a great time last night learning more about a much-anticipated book, Walking on the Ceiling, a sort of flaneur novel, written by the very smart & sweet Aysegul Savas. It was a bonus that Helen Phillips (author of the upcoming The Need!!) was asking all of the insightful questions. 💕