Welcome to Litsy!

Very exciting discoveries on my morning walk. The LFL I got them from has been renovated over our lockdown & now most of us 🇦🇺 are vaccinated x2 the launch party is tonight. I can‘t go as my 1st ballet exam in 24 years is tomorrow. Please send me some graceful & yet quick thinking vibes at 12 o‘clock tomorrow Australian Eastern Standard time. I‘m excited that it will finally be over and that Stew is taking me out to dinner & to see Dune after!

The perks of being driven. 😎
#currentlyreading

I really liked The Sandcastle and I want to finish all of Murdoch‘s books in the Penguin Vintage Classics series. The covers are gorgeous!

I can blame my mood, but this story where Jake loves Anna, Anna is in love with Hugo, Hugo loves Sadie, Sadie is of course in love with Jake ... has exhausted me. In addition to the main theme - unrequited love, through the story we also find philosophy, literature, a little bit of politics ... in short, very colorful events with diverse and interesting bohemian characters, but still - prose, the language in this story is too chatty for me ...👇🏻

I can‘t get into this one right now but bailing is no option with Iris Murdoch so into #hibernation it goes - for the time being.

Is it petty to admit that I chose to purchase this book due to the presence of cats on its cover?

I enjoy the occasional picaresque novel: the amusing or ridiculous adventures of buffoonish or slightly depraved characters. Jake Donaghue is neither. I thought he was quite boring and lazy and not at all amusing.

I‘ll admit this is a DNF for me, as I can‘t be arsed to finish unenjoyable books at the moment. I‘ll give Iris a try another day.

First Iris I‘ve read, her first book. Curious to read more. Anxious adventures in London and Paris, not many books have created such anxious feelings. Enjoyable, ended well but also sometimes felt a little like I just didn‘t like any of the characters.

Expecting to learn the story of a man‘s encounter with a philosopher, I read this book as a philosopher‘s memoire, where interpretation (or hermeneutics) is the common theme throughout the book. An odd story in an ordinary setting, that is when extraordinary events become so inviting to be part of.

I know what you mean, @Reviewsbylola ! Here are my choices for the #firstbook of 2018! All are related to prompts of various challenges and buddyreads. I am excited to read all of them but cannot decide which one is the best to kick off the new year. Any thoughts? 📚📚

Thanks @Brona I really enjoyed reading this. I don't remember Iris Murdoch being funny, but I got quite a few laughs here. Such a self involved narrator would have really annoyed me in less skilful hands but somehow she made Jake sympathetic character in spite of it. Loved the walks through the streets of London too.

Finally getting my Iris Murdoch reading challenge stated!
https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/the-great-iris-murdoch-readalong-november-20...

#litsyclassics #litsyclassicsmatches

@scripturient @Julsmarshall

If you're going to read Iris Murdock (and you should!), maybe start with her early novels. This was a highly entertaining and quick read, but lacks the depth and the wondrous strangeness of her later works.
#1001books

Made an unscheduled stop at Owl Books, a really cute and quite well stocked second hand bookstore on my way to the dairy where I pick up our milk. My haul is not very exciting, I could have walked out with R1000 of books... There was a Min Jin Lee that looked intriguing, but very thick. It'll probably still be there another time. Had to get the Iris for my collection! And I haven't read the Anne Tyler.

I hate solitude, but I'm afraid of intimacy. The substance of my life is a private conversation with myself which to turn into a dialogue would be equivalent to self-destruction. The company which I need is the company which a pub or a cafe will provide. I have never wanted a communion of souls. It's already hard enough to tell the truth to oneself.

"Why should life be made endurable? I know that nothing consoles and nothing justifies except a story but that doesn't stop all stories from being lies."

Iris Murdoch's 'first' novel is astounding. It barrels at a breakneck pace around hairpin turns until you're so turned around you can hardly tell which way is up, and you couldn't care less. Rollicking, irreverent, and hilarious. Every minute of it is marvelous. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Too hot to sleep, so I guess I'll read.

I hate solitude, but I am afraid of intimacy. The substance of my life is a private conversation with myself which to turn into a dialogue would be equivalent to self-destruction.

Not bad for July.

What did people have nightmares about before there were trains?