Welcome to Litsy!

A little shoutout to Rushdie. I hope he is recovering ok.

From my 2019 review: I was entertained before Rushdie gets serious with the Oxycontin epidemic and American racism, and I was thoroughly involved when he toyed, semi-seriously, with Indian spiritual mythology, the American physical and psychic landscape, love and obsession, and finally mortality and the fabric of reality.

#Alphabetgame #LetterQ @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#2022Book78
It seemed like Rushdie was trying to do too much with this book. It‘s a political commentary, a literary satire, an investigation of our obsession with celebrity, a look at the opioid epidemic, and so much more. I think if he had narrowed his focus a little, the story would have worked better, but instead there is just way too much going on so the plot is all over the place.

Despite a sloppy categorization of Rushdie as “past his peak“ (ignoring the fact of having published the tagged book, which many consider one of his greatest, only 2 years ago) this is an excellent article about the resilience of the print format in a digital age. I vividly recall attending a SRO panel in 2010 about the future of books & e-readers. The presenter expressed surprise at the turnout for the topic:

My book journal spread for the #readathon

Quichotte is a blur, in the most exciting way. A spy author‘s new story about a dreamer named Quichotte, who‘s on a quest for the heart of a popular TV star, begins to feel like his own life. Our world is a blur: A game-show host is President; our biggest phonies appear on “reality” TV. Such an indecipherable mess can be depressing or it can be hopeful — our wildest, most impossible ideas have the chance to be brought to life and considered Real.

For so long I wanted to read something by Salmsn Rushdie. Well, now I did and it turns out, he's no author for me. Or sz least this book wasn't...

I couldn't get into the story, or find any interest in the characters. Only Sancho had some scenes I liked reading. The rest was 'meh' to me...🤷‍♀️

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Brilliant.

Listened to audio (at 1.5x speed, as usual). Performance wonderful.

Only caveat: this is only my 2nd Rushdie, my 1st being his Arabian Nights (not my fave). So, even if this is “typical Rushdie,” I (1) have no way of knowing that and (2) don‘t think it detracts from its brilliance.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Also: Bunny got another haircut today 🤭🤭
And, I rather enjoyed my tea, in my Sanderson mug, using my skull sugar spoon from #owlcrate 🥰

Full disclosure: I adore Salman Rushdie and his particular brand of magical realism. This book fell right into that sweet spot for me. While the book is really about relationships, not just with others but with ourselves, it incorporates interesting spins on a traditional story or two to weave the multi-dimensional tale. A book within a book, it can be challenging to follow in places. But if you are a Rushdie fan, definitely give it go.

Immensly enjoyed this book! So dense and complex ehile still funny. Utterly 'of the moment' and yet timeless. A worthy companion to its namesake. I am looking forward to be reading it again in a couple of years

#coronareadingtime #shelfie

My first Rushdie was Midnight‘s Children back when I was young and impressionable, have never forgotten that exhilaration(that now what?!, the language and style). He has had his ups and downs, but he‘s definitely back to form (verbose but at times indulgent, but brilliant) in this re-telling of Cervantes‘ Don Quixote. Feeling replete from this feast.

My first book of 2020 didn‘t disappoint! Rushdie tells compelling stories within this work.

I‘ve read so many books this month I can barely contain them in a single photo! #NovemberStats: 18 books finished (3 started in October), 2 in progress. #FavoriteNovemberRead was Quichotte. Most disappointing was Little Fires Everywhere.

#NamasteNovember @Eggs
#GratefulReads @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

Finished while having a panini and an Americano 😁

The relationship between me and Salman Rushdie‘s novels could definitely be described as complicated. His writing is verbose; he comes across, in his writing, as arrogant; he wants us all to know how much more intelligent he is than us, his readers. There were times when I was close to DNFing this one.

And yet, now that I have finished it, for all its conceits, it is quite a brilliant novel.

Rushdie is a very wordy author, but sometimes he can sum up perfectly...

‘“Normal doesn‘t feel so normal to me,” I tell him.
“It‘s normal to feel that way,” he replies‘

Is this cheating? #RedWhiteAndBlue #NamasteNovember @Eggs

Omg, this book 😳😮😍💗💓💕💞. I'm not sure I can say enough to give this book its due. This is Rushdie at his best. Magical realism at its finest. Storytelling at its peak. This. THIS is the type of literary fiction that I adore. A modern retelling of Don Quixote told by a master.

Highly HIGHLY recommended. Possibly my favorite read of the year.

Thank you to #randomhouse for the #arc.

I would have to say that I appreciated this book more than I enjoyed it. It was funny and satirical; it was a critique of the current insanity of American culture; and it was somewhat experimental. The characters, however, were uninteresting—they seemed to stand in for ideas rather than be actual people. This left me a bit detached from the story and definitely impacted my ability to enjoy it. 3⭐️

Parts of this were typical Rushdie genius. Timely, contemplative, satirical, meta, and thematically bursting. But, when I was not in awe of the allusions, wordplay, and smart social commentary, I was bored, annoyed, and detached. But bravo to the voice actor. The narration was really well done, especially considering the complexity of the prose.

I don‘t know when I‘ve walked so far except on the treadmill at the gym.

Smart, funny and surprising satire entwined with a humane meta storyline. A thoroughly enjoyable #audiobook nimbly narrated by Vikas Adam.

#audiowalk on my way to the Vancouver Writers Fest. #VWF2019

Another, more colloquial term for going off-label might be… becoming a drug dealer, or even… becoming a narcolord.

I am smirking my way through this audiobook, which has so many quotable quips and amusing list sentences that you Littens are fortunate that my hands are busy getting ready for my upcoming flight to Vancouver. Otherwise, your feed would be bombarded with Rushdieisms.

5 of the 6 Booker Shortlisted authors at Cheltenham Literature Festival today.

Quichotte is a sprawling, meta-fictional, auto-fictional, absurdist, deeply real roller-coaster of a read Once/if you can surrender yourself to the, cutting yet comedic tone. what captured me most, was the breadth of social commentary that Rushdie managed to integrate in a meaningful way in this novel. I held back from five stars, because I felt that Rushdie was a bit heavy-handed with his treatment of the meta-fictional elements of the story.

All of us are in two stories at the same time.

Wow.

Early days this is already quirky and prescient

Cat and Rushdie

Im in 2 minds about this bk, i struggled at 1st to get into the stories of an author + his character which explore many of the issues that preoccupy modern society from racism and family to TV, celebrity and designer drugs. Definitely imaginative and very relevant but something didn't click for me. Once i felt it had a Vonnegut style i couldn't get away from that and also the rd trip from lolita. Still interesting as I've not rd rushdie 4 a bit.

My first Rushdie is his take here on Don Quixote (alternately “Quichotte”). Rushdie was having fun, creating characters who create other characters who create other characters to address Oxycontin, the Indian diaspora, American xenophobia, the American landscape and even the fabric of reality. And love, of course, along with spiritual mythology, and obsession. And it actually works. I got really into it while listening on my commutes.

September Reads :- Almost the entire month spent chipping away at Ducks and it feels good to have that one done ✅. However my standout for September is the tagged book, from the Booker shortlist and I have already raved about that extensively. I enjoyed my time spent with the Atwoods but I think October needs to be a refocus on #ReadHarder another 6 books to go !

I finished this book, hooray! I almost bailed halfway, but I‘ve been doing that a lot lately so I told myself I needed to finish it. A solid 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 for me.

Haven‘t posted a pic of my newest read, so here ya go 😆 I‘m mixed about this book so far, I‘m almost halfway and I don‘t have a firm feeling about it. Some pages I want to put it down and move on, other pages I can‘t stop reading to see what happens. Too early to review it I guess 🤷🏼‍♀️

I‘m now reading this with my partner (I read it to them) which is possibly my favourite thing we‘ve done as a couple.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My first experience with Rushdie and I was quite taken by this one. It‘s a crazy, sprawling meta-fictional ride with a little sci-fi / absurdist bent. It does traverse a porous line between fiction and reality, there are Mastodons as a kind of social metaphor, alongside stinging indictments of aspects of modern day America, Britain and India. This novel has such breadth and yet remaIns funny, propulsive and grandly risky. Loved it !

Current audiobook, my second from the Booker lists.

This book is weird and trippy. I've not read Don Quixote yet, but plan to one day, and it will be interesting to compare the modern day retelling with the original - like watching Clueless before reading Emma.
I imagine it's a book that would hold up to re-reading as I feel like I'd have to read it a few more times before I start to understand what's really going on.

I really enjoyed this. It doesn‘t reach Rushdie‘s highest highs (though not much else does either), but it‘s well above his lows. I‘d say if you like Rushdie, you will like this. If you don‘t, I don‘t think it will do much to change your mind. I was completely charmed by it though. #BookerPrize Longlist 9/13, Shortlist 4/6

Not the most readable book. I‘m tempted to bail because I have The Testaments waiting for me at the library. But the current cultural references abound and are fun, and was surprised to find this philosophical musing coming from The Bachelor/ette 😂

#TBRtemptation post 1! Just released. This is a modern-day Don Quixote, satirizing today‘s cultural America as Cervantes satirized his culture. Sam DuChamp, mediocre writer is spy thrillers, creates the courtly, addled, tv-obsessed Quichotte, who sets off with his imaginary son Sancho to prove his worthiness to win the hand of a tv star. Meanwhile, Sam is gonna through a midlife crisis with urgent challenges. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

This was a lot better than I expected! I have only read one Rushdie before, which I didn‘t love, so I had prepared myself for “meh”, but I ended closer to “yeah”.

It was weird and funny, with an abundance of current topics told through a story within a story - the opioid crisis, racism, politics, tv and film, and so much more.

It‘s a lot, I know. But unexpectedly well done. #BookerPrize2019

#bookerprize2019 5/6

I‘m head over heels for this book. It did SO much, but pulled together so well and I never had difficulty following it. A retelling of Don Quixote, about an old tv obsessed Indian American man in love with a talk show host, his cousin fuelling the opioid crisis, on a road trip across America with his imaginary son, and the personal troubles of the author who writes him. Weird but beautiful, hopeful, so individual.

#bfcr3 I‘m getting back in the swing of the challenge this week now im not sick and not travelling. I‘m focusing on exercise and healthy eating and enjoying it! I‘m trying rly hard to get my five a day with mixed success but I‘m doing really well compared to how much fruit and veg I‘d eat if I weren‘t trying. How we doing team? @Megabooks @TheEllieMo @KathyWheeler @cobwebmoth @cewilf @bromeliad @Tineke @tjwill @guinsgirlreads @wanderinglynn

The MC of my current audiobook seems to be the kind of person who “gets knocked down, and then gets up again”, even if it is in a kinda crazy-stalker-ish way 😳 and I realize I make this sound more sinister than it is. Actually, I‘m finding it kinda funny and interesting, so far

#TubThumbing #RedRoseSeptember #BookerPrize2019

I got the tagged book in the mail today since I‘d preordered it. (Excellent #bookmail day!) Expecting The Testaments on 9/10. I really need to look into the others. #bookerprize2019

Anyway, here‘s the link to the NPR story if y‘all are interested:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/757031950/margaret-atwood-salman-rushdie-headline...