Welcome to Litsy!

Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.
Reading those opening lines in the book store, I imagined they were spoken by a cheerful alien rather than a suicidal teenager. But their immediacy struck me, and Nao's narrative has an urgency that compels us, just as it does for the fictional Ruth Ozeki who reads it. Magical in spite of large helpings of death and misery.

A Tale For The Time Being would be a great pick for fans of Mieko Kawakami, though Ozeki‘s prose is a little more smooth and inviting, a little less edgy and devastating. I was so thrilled to discover that the story lived up to the high, high expectations the blurb had set. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/a-tale-for-the-time-being-ruth-ozeki/

Don't think I'm going to complete any more books this month, so here's my #readingbracket2022 for June. May's book won overall as I know I'm going to read more in the series but am unsure whether I'll reread the tagged.

5 ⭐

#pop22 #parallelreality @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @Kalalalatja @Cortg @Megabooks @Laughterhp @KarenUK @RaeLovesToRead @squirrelbrain

#other #magicalrealism #52bookclubssummergenrechallenge @BarbaraBB

Slow starting, but really enjoying this one. Anyone else read it and have some non-spoiler thoughts? 😊

“We‘re nothing,” she said, wiping her eyes. “We‘re barely here at all.”

“Yes,” Oliver said. “Isn‘t it great?”
🌊
#Bookstagram #CurrentlyReading #ATaleForTheTimeBeing #RuthOzeki #SummerRead #Fiction #ExistentialCrisis

I‘m an Ozeki believer! While I‘m not a fan of world building, I‘ve been enjoying magical realism lately. She writes characters you want to invest in that are grounded in our world.

Ruth lives in a remote town on Vancouver Island. She finds a plastic bag washed up on shore that contains Japanese teenager‘s diary plus old papers in Japanese and French. As she reads them, Ruth becomes invested in Nao‘s diary and problems. Both Ruth and Nao narrate.

The cover does not match the book!

This was extremely hard going and upsetting at times; one of the lead characters goes through an awful lot including explicitly described horrific bullying.

The ending is also quite confusing and ambiguous.

It is beautifully written and an interesting premise and construction but not what I would call an ‘enjoyable‘ read.

Oh how I enjoyed this book. I started it yesterday while doing laundry. I stayed up way later than I should‘ve as I couldn‘t put it down this is my first time reading this author and it won‘t be my last. This made me laugh, smile and tear up. So very good. #readinchallenge2022

I tried o get into this a few times before and finally this time it stuck. I go so invested, and now I want to go back and read the physical copy.

My April Bingo! High hopes for this month! Maybe I can accomplish it!

Such a strange, whimsical, thoughtful, meditation in book form. Written from two perspectives, a teen living in Japan and an author living on a remote Canadian island a decade-ish apart, this exploration of time and space is a bit woo-woo at times but interesting and highly readable. I‘ve had this on my bookshelf for years and am so happy to have finally read it. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #Roll100 @PuddleJumper #19822022 #2013

Looks like a good list from the Atlantic. I'll have to check some more of these out! Have read two, so a few more to read! https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/01/critically-acclaimed-books-atw...

Feeling better but still not great, on my 8th (or is it 9th?! 🤔) day of covid. With a few more restful days (and lots of tea, books, and kitty cuddles!) I can see myself being ready to face the world again hopefully by Monday. Been reading the tagged book (which was a gift from @DaveGreen7777 ! Thanks Dave!) and I have to say that Ruth Ozeki is quickly becoming a much beloved author for me. This book is wonderful. 💕📚 #catsoflitsy #rumpel

#12booksof2021

I started keeping track of my read books and TBR in high school and, as a result, I have a very long TBR list on GR. Midyear, I began sorting that list by highest GR rating to help me uncover some hidden gems and, in #July, I discovered this one. I had forgotten how much I love epistolary works. I learned so much about Japanese culture, Buddhism, quantum physics. A very ambitious novel that very nearly pulls it all off

@Andrew65

I think the most important thing to decide when going on a trip is what books to pack! 💕📚 I'm leaving tomorrow to head to NJ to visit family for Christmas (and also to get married!) so I need some new friends as well as a few comfort reads; Neverwhere, Jade City, Aristotle & Dante, Eon, No Gods No Monsters, and the tagged book! Rumpel helped me pick them out! 😹 I also brought my Jolabokaflod packages to open on Xmas eve! 🎁 #catsoflitsy #rumpel

Just incase you‘re in need of a source of even more fab books to fill your life with !

https://ideas.ted.com/your-holiday-reading-list-58-books-recommended-by-ted-spea...

Beautifully written, thought provoking book. Dual stories that ultimately connect. A Japanese family leaves California after the father loses his job in the tech industry and moves to Tokyo.The 16 year old daughter, Nao, is bullied and hangs out in a French Maid cafe. Ruth, a writer living on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest finds a journal which connects her to Nao. Human connections, Zen Buddhism, and quantum mechanics,Japanese culture.

I'm definitely late to the party, finally reading this now. It's hard to think of what to say about this book that so seamlessly entangles fiction and nonfiction, philosophy and physics, life and death. This was a book so unlike anything I've read before. It was challenging and enchanting.I'm not sure I've encountered a book that has such beautiful moments set against such disturbing descriptions of bullying and suicide.

New audiobook. I watched an online authors‘ talk, and Ruth Ozeki was on the panel. She read from her new book, and I was transported. I remembered that I had this earlier book on my TBR shelves. Her gentle voice influenced me to move it up on my list. I am alternating between the physical book and the audio.

I was so excited when I checked my mail this morning! Thank you so much for the birthday package @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego
I am always thankful for your letters and your thoughtful gifts! I can‘t wait to get started on this book and enjoy some chocolate 😁☺️

This is a reread for me, for the summer Tournament of Favorites for the Tournament of Books. I originally read this as an egalley in May 2013, for the ToB that year, and rated it pretty low. I thought the author was trying to throw too much into the book, and it included one of my pet peeves - literary fiction attempting to use big ideas from quantum physics.↘️

I read this book a few years ago and didn‘t love it. I don‘t know if it‘s because I‘ve recently rewatched the Back to the Future series or because I‘ve studied literature since then, but this book BLEW ME AWAY on my second reading.

There is a self awareness and reflexivity in the novel that encourage certain feelings (motherly feelings, engagement with the characters, falling into the world of the main characters). A top notch novel!

I baked chocolate buns while I finished rereading A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING. It‘s a glorious, sometimes cruel blend of daily struggles, Buddhism, and quantum physics, and I‘m so damned glad I revisited it.

I‘m glad I went for the audio this time, too. Ozeki narrates it herself, and as she points out, her interpretation of the characters and the audiobook‘s lack of notes and illustrations highlight different dimensions of the story. #audiobaking

I started rereading A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING on an 8-mile #audiowalk that took me to some new parts of the Rapid Transit path. I forgot how much I love this book.

Next eBook and next up for #TOBfavorites #ToBToF2021

The time being is deep time, as opposed to linear, chronological time. It‘s a kind of eternal present. A time being is also a being who lives in time, who is alive, and will therefore die. 
This leads to different storylines, and a mix of history, contemporary fiction and magical realism. It could have been too much but Ozeki knows how to bring it all together into a wonderful story of coming of age, love, and war in Japan.

A wonderful gift! ❤️

“Sometimes when she told stories about the past her eyes would get teary from all the memories she had, but they weren't tears. She wasn't crying. They were just the memories, leaking out.”

1. Played track and cross country high school-college, coached at various levels. Also, grew up in a 🏈 football town... Green Bay! Now my sons are my favorite athletes.
2. It‘s almost the weekend and I‘m early voting soon 🗳😇

#ThankfulThursday
Who‘d like to join in this week?

Hi #GroupO! Here are 3 books I‘ve been meaning to read. I‘m tagging them so you can see the descriptions. If none of these spark your interest, there are certainly others! 😋

My last read for September. Definitely a book you savour, and not rush through.

Thank you so much for the lovely gift Katie! @youneverarrived I love the sparkly card too!

You really didn‘t need to think of me when you‘ve got so much going on but I‘m so grateful that you did.

I shall send you a little note soon - how is the bubba doing? He must be getting big now!

#3books that gave me a book hangover

I‘m actually not confident that I‘ve ever had a book hangover, but I think these three got me pretty close to one.

This was a fantastic story about a teenage girls diary from Japan washing up on a Canadian island and being found by a writer. Other characters are a 104 yr old Zen Buddhist nun and a kamikaze pilot from WW2. Who doesn‘t love the intrigue of a story like a message in a bottle?
#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I adored this story of a couple in Canada that finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on shore. Inside is the journal of a teenager from Japan. The perspective alternates between the couple and the teenager, and both perspectives are riveting. I also loved that the couples‘ cat gets the attention that pets in stories deserve.

Finally read A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This has been on my TBR since 2016 😂 (is it just me or am I normal). Unfortunately, this was just an okay read for me - I gave it a 3 star on goodreads. This book is a historical/contemporary fiction I would say. I love reading Nao‘s diary. The writing and description is wonderful, I‘m truly devastated with what she has been through. However, Ruth part is just boring and monotonous.

#friyayintro @4thhouseontheleft @howjessreads

1. Too Damn Hot. We are significantly over the melting temperature of English people

2. My parents hate camping so I‘ve never really done it in my life at all. I‘d be up for giving it a go! One of my bucket list dreams is to stay in a cabin in a US national park and see stars, trees, mountains and (from a safe distance) bears.

3. I keep going on about this book but I‘m so obsessed!

⏬

That‘s me done for #booked2020 spring! I enjoyed reading all these books and got an incredible range in there I think.

Makes you lol: Ayoade on Ayoade
Parent & child memoir: In Pieces
Tartan noir: Knots and Crosses
About Genocide: Superior: The Return of Race Science
Pan Asian author: A Tale for the Time Being
Animal on cover: Rabbits for Food

@Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Welcome to #integrateyourshelf! We‘re rly excited to start together! For Week 1 we‘re reflecting on what we‘ve read so far this year. No judgement at all - my stats are definitely not exemplary.

So far in 2020 I‘ve read 167 books

25 Black authors (15%)
2 indigenous authors (1%)
17 NBPOC authors (10%)
14 LGBTQIA+ authors (8%)

Lots of work for me to do clearly and I‘m excited to get started.

Tag me and @ChasingOm in your posts!

This was just immediately one of the best novels I‘ve ever read. Meaningful, quirky, unexpected but never pretentious. I fell in love with every character. It‘s pretty incredible when a book can be this meta but never confuse me. I‘m pretty breathless and overwhelmed with how flawless it was. Just wow, please read this while I go out and get everything else shes ever written.

Here‘s what I managed for yesterday‘s #joysofjune readathon! I think that‘s my best total so far. I listened to a lot of Stamped From The Beginning yesterday but didn‘t quite manage to finish it, I should manage today! @Andrew65

Yay!!! My local bookstore is open again and I got new books🤗 I have read ARCs of two already, A Tale For The Time Being, and, This Is Chance. The rest were from my overwhelming TBR list.

Last week‘s #BookHunt #ScavengerSaturday! I guess I missed it 😁 this book is set in Japan and west Canada. I would love to visit many Asian countries, and Japan just seems like it would be amazing. Especially some of the mountains and jungles in this story. Canadian wilderness sounds relaxing, too, would love to go there as well 💚

As someone who struggled with suicide, I hold this book very close to my heart.

Annie and I reveal our top 6 isolation reading recommendations in the latest episode of Books On The Go - up now. 📚🎧

Staying home for the time being. Staying sane for the time being. Loving this book for all time!

#stayhome #shelterinplace #quarantinereads

Te Araroa kilometers tramped: 2935.5 of 3005.3

Days on trail: 126

Books completed on trail: 51

I first listened to this audiobook in 2017. I remember thoroughly enjoying it so I listened again. It‘s a multifaceted story within a story type book. A teen girl from Japan, a woman on an island off Canada‘s pacific coast, and the Japanese girl‘s 104 year old great grandmother who is a nun are some of the characters. #hoopla #reread

Congratulations, @Lizpixie 🎉!
The Litsy community is so warm & generous. I love these Litfluence giveaways because they showcase that spirit from every angle.

Your #Lizpixies3x3giveaway prompt was tough! For my favorite genres/titles, I chose:

💘Literary Fiction: A Tale for the Time Being
💘Children‘s Literature: Bridge to Terabithia
💘Memoir: Priestdaddy

(I almost went with Fantasy but the competition between book titles was too fierce 🐲!)