Welcome to Litsy!

“A heart has no shape, no limits. That's why you can put almost any kind of thing in it, why it can hold so much.“

In a society where everyone is made to forget, how do we remember who we are? I loved the stillness and quiet suspense that hangs over this novel; and the secondary tale that is woven throughout adds an interesting parallel. 6/10

This is my second Yoko Ogawa novel, and I couldn‘t put it down. Semi-dystopia. Ogawa‘s ability to weave precious moments of love and human connection into the most desperate and hopeless situation is exquisite. The book raises and answers so many questions: how far can a system go in its determination to oppress? how much can people really put up with? do tiny acts of rebellion matter? Powerful read

An interesting concept... Things on the island disappear and all memories of the objects disappear too. There is a gene that prevents people from forgetting and The Memory Police are tasked with rounding them up as enemies. Really odd because the scare tactics are power of suggestion. Lots of layers here but it's super sloooow, which I struggle with when reading Japanese writing. This book is really cerebral.

I love that this book brought up questions but didn‘t provide answers; it‘s been a while since I‘ve read a book that allows a lot of room for interpretation and it had me thinking even long after I‘d finished it. I liked the writing, the characters, the atmosphere - glad to have finally read it! #titlesandtunes #islandvibe

This was amazing ♥️💔
Great story, great cover. Will be thinking about this for a while.
#titlesandtunes #islandvibes

#titlesandtunes #islandvibes
My thinking- book set on an island off Japan- one of my fave 80s groups Japan- awesome song Taking Islands in Africa 😁
I was hopeful no one else would choose this one.
About a 1/3 of the way through the book and loving it.

#titlesandtunes #islandvibes
Great first line.

I finished this yesterday and I'm still mulling it over. It didn't end the way I thought it might, but got darker than I expected--in a good way. Thought provoking and tender.

I really like this but I feel like I missed something. But sometimes it's literally just a dung beetle. It's compared to Kafka and Orwell but definitely totally its own thing also. I'm going to just let other people analyze the shit out of it.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Probably one of the most bizarre and disturbing dystopian books I‘ve read in a long time. The one thing I‘m left wondering is how and why the society came to create the memory police? #AuthorAMonth

I finished this book on my plane ride. Honestly this was so well imagined and terrifying. I loved this author‘s voice and the family these people found from each other.

On an unnamed island things just disappear, and the Memory Police make sure it stays that way. This book was haunting. I wasn‘t sure what to expect, but I really liked this book and will read more by this author. #AuthorAMonth

This is one I‘ll be thinking about for a long time. The style is experimental, and the larger metaphors and allegories seem to me to point to more than one thing. I think some people would find that frustrating, but I find it fascinating. I‘m definitely planning on reading more by Ogawa, though not during #AuthorAMonth as I want time to digest this one, (and time for some seasonal reading). @Soubhiville

I had a really hard time following this. The premise seems interesting but I just couldn‘t connect the story.

#AuthorAMonth

@Soubhiville

Originally written in Japanese in 1994 & translated into English in 2019, this book still manages to feel fresh & relevant. On an unnamed island, in an unknown time objects simply begin to vanish, where eventually the islanders can no longer recall the item or it‘s purpose. Our narrator, a novelist is terrified that one day words will begin to disappear not realizing there could be much greater worries. Not perfect but very thought provoking.

I started listening last night for #AAM and WOW!!!! It‘s really good. Mysterious and unsettling, sci-fi? dystopian? fantasy? Not sure how to classify this book but I‘m in!!

Here's my #bookspin #bookspinbingo for December - trying to finish a couple challenges and read what I received around this time last year! Looking forward to extra time off at the end of the year to read. @thearomaofbooks

I really like the premise of this novel, but I‘m bailing. Either it‘s the translation or the writing itself, but it‘s choppy making it hard to stay in the story. The narrator isn‘t helping either. 🫤

On to the next!

A haunting Orwellian novel about the terrors of a surveillance state. On an unnamed island, objects are disappearing: first hats, then ribbons, birds, roses--until things become much more serious. Most of the island's inhabitants are oblivious to these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the draconian Memory Police, who are committed to ensuring that what has disappeared remains forgotten.

OCTOBER 2022 Wrap Up

I read 36 books, here are 16 of my favorites. I‘d say there was only 1 or 2 that were merely good, the rest were amazing!

The Stephen King readathon was fun! Some great books this month!

🎧 📚 I loved this book. I wasn‘t sure what to expect, I went in blind. A deliciously creepy story that‘s left me thinking. Well written & narrated! I got Fahrenheit 451 vibes. An Orwellian tale? Enjoyed it! A keeper!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4

I really wanted to enjoy The Memory Police, and find the meaning in it that others seem to, but I couldn‘t shake the feeling that it was missing something the whole way through. There‘s no explicit reason given in the story for the existence of the Memory Police, or why they make the whole population forget these apparently random objects. It was hard to get invested. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-memory-police-yoko-ogawa/

Wow. This was incredibly thought provoking and I enjoyed it in a sense. And now I really have to find something lighter to read!

“Men who start by burning books end by burning other men.”

“Still,” began the ex-hatmaker, “I wonder if spring will ever come.”
The rest of them nodded in agreement.
“Perhaps it never will again,” murmured the woman with bad knees. 😱😱😱

“A heart has no shape, no limits. That‘s why you can put so much in it, why it can hold so much. It‘s much like your memory, in that sense.”

One of the characters goes to the library just to make sure the narrator‘s books are on the shelf as they should be 💕

A stack arrived from BookOutlet today.

I‘ve only read Fan Fiction. Fun book!

Just adding the rest to my MBR. Which book caught my eye … which book instigated this hall?

The Memory Police

Have you read any of these? Are any of these goood?

Really enjoyed this dystopian novel where things and memories disappear and the memory police enforce their laws. This has 1984/Fahrenheit 451 vibes and is quite a sad read

Well,
that was…
depressing and sad.

June #bookspin

Told in the first person by a novelist, with inserts of the novel she is working on as more and more things vanish. Dystopian magic realism, and disconcerting at that. Library loan.

The Litsy summary is wrong! The writer hides her editor inside her house!

My #bookspin section is also my last #LMPBC book of this round so I know I will definitely get to that one. My #doublespin is one I've been meaning to read soon (I LOVED The Lost Village by her).

@thearomaofbooks

I was not expecting this book to be this good. I like that the main character was nameless. It felt as though you were reading a diary that she had left behind in the secret room after she disappeared. Also the parallel between her and the novel that she was writing about the typist that lost her voice to her typing teacher had so many parallels to her life being controlled by the Memory Police.

On an island things are disappearing - birds, the ferry, music. When the things disappear, so do most people's memories of them. Some people retain the memories, but the Memory Police are looking for them.

Atmospheric, creepy tale that evokes a mood rather than tells a story.