The Glass Hotel | 
pickI loved the themes of choice and opportunity, memory, guilt and accountability. How do our choices impact others, and what is the cost to ourselves?
19 likes
pickI loved the themes of choice and opportunity, memory, guilt and accountability. How do our choices impact others, and what is the cost to ourselves?
pickFinally finished this one! I had to keep putting it on hold at the library. It had ebbs and flows for me, but I love the way everything was tied up at the end.
pickIt took me three tries to finish this book, and I‘m so glad I did. Her books have so many pieces, but the come together beautifully. Now I want to go back and re-read Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility. #backlistreadathon a little late
How can it almost be May!! Here is my list for #bookspin #doublespin #bookbingo. Not pictured are my audio selections: When We Were Sisters, Once Upon A Wardrobe, The Rabbit Hutch, and Into The Silence. I had reading "ADD" in April, starting several books at a time. I hope to be more focused in May
pickI absolutely loved this meandering story! I didn't expect the entire central story to even show up but I really loved the way the characters were woven together. I love that the landscape and locations are their own characters but end up being the only likable characters in the book! Just beautiful!
I love the way Emily St. John Mandel sees people as a whole. Her writing is so rich.
so-so🌟🌟If I didn‘t love this woman‘s exceptionally haunting writing style, I may not have finished this. The writing itself was more intriguing than the story and this from someone who looooooves her books.
pickThe author has such an incredible talent for writing interconnecting stories of strangers, and of unfolding the consequences of small and higher events in those characters' lives. Even though overall there wasn't a whole lot of action in the book, I could not stop reading. I was never bored, and the continuous shift in point of view sped up the pace of my reading even further. I also enjoyed the small presence of the "ghosts" and "other space".
I‘ve read a couple other of her novels. Finally time to check out this.
I've botched this up... I read Evelyn Hugo in May, not April 😬 #12booksof2022
Which was my favourite book in April? Despite 4-starring several, looking back on them today I feel annoyed with all of them.
So I'm going to break the rules and say my April pick is The Glass Hotel, even though I read it in May too.
Try and stop me 😋
This was a mesmerising tour of the persons affected when a Ponzi scheme collapsed. And there was a glass hotel.
I started reading this in 2020 shortly after it was published, but I didn‘t get far before it had to go back to the library. When I read Sea of Tranquility this summer, I thought I missed a few bits of context. In any event, I did knock off a few of the “unfinished” books on my Kindle this year, one way or another. But I also added more! Not to mention physical books that are languishing. Obviously, I‘m okay with this, so I‘m not gonna worry!
pickMy bookclub is working it‘s way through all of Mandel‘s loose trilogy - Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel, and Sea of Tranquility. This was a reread for me, but I love Mandel‘s writing so much that it was a pleasure! I‘m excited to see what Sea of Tranquility has to offer!
#BestMidYear22 Day 13: When an anticipated title is released I find that this is often motivation to catch up on a previous release that I missed. Such was the case with Mandel's latest & judging from the flurry of reviews on Litsy for The Glass Hotel in March & April, I wasn't alone. This was a one sitting read for me & I actually enjoyed it more than Station Eleven. Mandel's melancholy prose & intricate narrative portrays flawed & complex👇
pickI don't think I ever would have picked up a book about the fallout of a giant Ponzi Scheme if not for the fact that I had loved Station Eleven so much. Turns out Emily St. John Mandel's writing style just really works for me because I was completely sucked in.
Sneaking in a page here and there between mediating arguments between the kids... 🙄🙄🙄 On the plus side, I'm loving this book!
pickGood Lord that was beautiful.
Emily St. John Mandel gives zero shits about the rules of literature. She just does what she does, paints vivid worlds, dances from vignette to vignette and lets it all play out.
Station Eleven took me quite a while to read, whereas I breezed through this spellbound.
Usually I hate it when a plot wanders haphazardly, but this was such a gorgeously written and captivating read that all is forgiven.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars
Thanks for the tags @Yuki_Onna @JenReadsAlot @BrittanyReads 💕💕💕
#thoughtfulthursday @MoonWitch94
I'm hoping to finish The Glass Hotel which is a physical book 😊 It's heading for a 4 stars, although I'm thinking I perhaps should have given Station Eleven 4 stars too because they're about on a par.
I don't mark my books, but I have been known occasionally to dogear select quotes so I can come back to them later. Don't hurt me!!! 😅😅
"Begin at the end: plummeting down the side of the ship in the storm's wild darkness, breath gone with the shock of falling, my camera flying away through the rain -"
#firstlinefridays
"It wasn't the romance of the century, but it didn't have to be; if you genuinely enjoy someone's company, she'd been thinking lately, if you enjoy your life with them and don't mind sleeping with them, isn't that enough? Do you have to actually be in love for a relationship to be real, whatever REAL means, so long as there's respect and something like friendship?"
(Vincent is a lot more pragmatic than I am when it comes to "love" ?)
"What I'm suggesting," Caroline said softly, "is that the lens can function as a shield between you and the world, when the world's just a little too much to bear. If you can't stand to look at the world directly, maybe it's possible to look at it through the viewfinder..."
@squirrelbrain @Caroline2 Was there anyone else buddy reading The Glass Hotel?? I'm about to get started but I can't remember who else was reading along 😅
#two4tuesday @TheSpineView
1) I'm going to say The Glass Hotel & Sea of Tranquility because I need to get better at my buddy reading / book clubbage ☺
My heart is in the realm of the elderlings though. Once I start a Robin Hobb book everything else takes a back seat!
2) Not really - although "general café ambience" can be nice ? Also, you know what I really hate in the background? Whatever Dad is watching on telly ?
Tags below ⬇️⬇️
pickI read this in advance of our #gladstonerds #bookclub read of Sea of Tranquility. It was a good pick, but nothing like as good as Station Eleven.
When it first came out I read reviews that said the Ponzi scheme storyline was rather impenetrable but I didn‘t find that at all. It was more the characters; they were all unlikeable, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but there was no real back story to make you care about them.
This is a #BlameItOnLitsy read & I completely enjoyed it.
~
I didn‘t enjoy having my tire stabbed six times resulting in a blow out on the way home from work on Friday. However, I‘m a pro with flats & had a donut on in less than 10 minutes. I was at the part where Johnathon calls Vincent into his work, so of course I kept listening.
A story about a Bernie Madoff type character and the affect he has on the lives of Vincent and her brother Paul….both just trying to “get by” and live their lives. Excellent book. So much to think about.
pickWell, it turned out that my Litsy chums were correct on how spectacular this is. I recall when The Glass Hotel was released that it had received somewhat mixed reviews. This along with reading that it was about a Ponzi scheme, which seemed somewhat boring, led to it lingering on my TBR for the past 2 years since its release. Ostensibly The Glass Hotel is about Jonathan Alkaitis, a wealthy investment manager, at the middle of said Ponzi scheme.
Miranda had left the meeting ahead of him and was sitting some distance away on an industrial sofa, writing something on her legal pad. No, not writing, sketching...
Not only did Mandel write about a pandemic years before the pandemic, here she is on shipping & supply chains.
Devouring this while waiting for my copy of her newest to arrive.
pick41/150 It's probably not fair to compare books, but this is no Station Eleven. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I wasn't blown away like the previous novel. The non-linear story timeline was annoying at first, but it quickly grew on me. I liked the diverse viewpoints, even when describing the same events.
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
14th book for #KickTheSlump @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
3rd book for #20in4 @Andrew65
We did a little shopping today, and naturally that included a book store stop... Can't wait to read these! @LittleMouse5708
so-so'Why don't you swallow broken glass' written on a window of a hotel in rural Canada. A chance meeting with a investor and a new opulent way of life for troubled young women. A ponzi scheme revealed. Lives intertwining. I read this because I vaguely remember reading Station Eleven some years ago.
pickI struggled a little to get into this novel, but soon I was hooked and flew through the last 2/3! It was interesting how some storylines engaged me more than others. Very reminiscent of Station Eleven (5/5⭐️)with evocative writing and shifting narrators, settings, and time periods woven together to create a multilayered tale. It left me feeling pensive as I considered how even the most insignificant choices shape our lives. #LMPBC #GroupV
3.5/5⭐️
pickOh. I. love. it.‼️😍
There are so many layers that it‘s hard to say what it‘s about. It‘s about a girl and the story of her life. That might fit. But simultaneously it‘s about financial transactions and sea-faring. About guilt, decisions and living on the edge of society.
But it‘s never boring because the author intertwines her plot lines cleverly.
The whole art of narration reminds me a bit of Elisabeth Strout but “St.-John-Mandel-style”. 😉
Oh, I love it when there is a circle in a book that closes without you restlessly sitting on the edge of your chair as you read, waiting for this closure of the gap, because at some point you forgot that this one scene, this one sentence, is a loose end whose denouement is actually still pending and open.
“Darkness had already descended on New York, but it was only three o'clock in the afternoon in Las Vegas, where shipowner Leon Prevant, who had had the colossal misfortune to meet Alkaitis in the bar of the Hotel Caiette, was stuck in a meeting that had long outlived its natural lifespan but refused to die.” (p. 259)
⬆️⬆️⬆️ This. 😁
“Since she was seventeen she had been paying her own rent. How could she have become so dependent on another person?
The answer was depressingly simple: she had preferred dependency. She preferred dependency because dependency was easier.” (p. 201)
⬆️⬆️⬆️ That‘s true. And when you realise it, it might be guaranteed to not be a nice finding. On the one hand. On the other hand, you can't always be daring and risk-taking. 🤷🏽♀️
“In the kingdom of money, as she called it, there were immense periods of time to fill. immense periods of time to fill, and she had a vague fear of drifting and letting a day pass without a set routine or plan.” (p 78)
⬆️⬆️⬆️ I feel her. I felt the same when watching “Downton Abbey“. I always wondered what they are filling their time with except constantly changing for meals. If you have no job, no chores to do, what do you spend your time with❓
pickThis was my all time favorite reads for #2021. I love this author and I am blown away by the lyrical prose. This comes highly recommended by me because I want to know your opinions! #alltimefave #loved #highlyrecommended How can I encourage people to pick this up?
