Welcome to Litsy!

#wondrousWednesday

1) I picked a rather obvious name 😃

2) Drive, crafting, laundry, clean house, play solitaire, or cook (for easy but time-consuming meal).

3) Tagged.

Bailed after 1/3 of the book: huge disappointment. There is an amazing world where words have power and translators are doing magic. But there is no action at all, the characters lack substance and the anti-colonial agenda is being pushed down the reader's throat with much force, but little understanding of nuances
#told_by_a_woman
#bookclub

I loved Yellowface so not sure why I‘m surprised that I‘m enjoying this so much but, I‘m really enjoying this dark academia novel. The footnote reading in the audio version though, not so much.

#AuthorAMonth
@Soubhiville

Tbh this was a bit of a slog but I very much appreciated all of the linguistics involved. The author clearly did so much research.

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Ultimately enjoyable, though the pacing in the first half leaves a lot to be desired. Would round up to 4 out of 5 stars. If you can push through to when the real story starts in the back half, I‘d say it‘s worth it. #AuthorAMonth

Final 100 pages left! The back half was/is much more exciting. Wish this pacing was more prevalent throughout. #AuthorAMonth

Phew! Took me half the month but I finished! At the beginning, I really thought this book wasn‘t going to be for me. I don‘t care how words were created. 🤷🏻‍♀️. However, once it got going, it got pretty interesting. Especially towards the end!

It‘s been a while since I‘ve listened to such a long audiobook!

#authoramonth

A treatise on translations; that‘s what this book feels like and I especially enjoyed the story positing itself as an intellectual history. Translations drive this alternative historical world about the English empire, literally giving power to silver, which gives power to the empire—at the expense of the empire‘s colonies. Oxford, where the translators and silver form the Tower of Babel, foreign-born students realize their calling is to the ⬇️

As I approach halfway thru this tome, I keep asking, where is this actually going? Feels like a long walk. #AuthorAMonth

I liked parts of this #AuthorAMonth book a lot, but it dragged quite a bit.

The good: the friendship between the 4 scholars, the idea of magic coming from the deep meaning of words across languages, the worldbuilding and imagery.

What didn‘t work for me: too much deep dive into academic ideas of history, science, etymology. How long it took to get through many plot points.

The ideas/themes here were really interesting, mostly it felt too long.

Checking in! I‘m about a third into Babel for #AuthorAMonth - it‘s admittedly slow going especially compared to Yellowface which I sped through. I am enjoying it but I get the criticism too. 🤷🏻‍♀️🥈

I enjoyed this more than I initially thought I would. #authoramonth @Soubhiville

I‘m going to bail on this one for now. It‘s not bad. It just feels like more of a fall book and I can‘t face 7 more hours of it. Until we meet again Babel! I‘m going to try and hunt down something else for #AuthorAMonth and put this on hold for October.

#coverlove #black

I‘m listening to this audiobook now for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

#bookspin #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

What a lovely read “Babel” is! It is a fantastic vehicle for discussing colonialism, racism, misogyny, and inequality. Kuang is so thoughtful about her characters and the story. Couldn‘t recommend it enough 😊

I was intrigued by the idea of a dark academia story revolving around a group of friends studying translation. I wasn't so sure about the fantasy element because, well, I'm not a fantasy person.

It all worked beautifully, and I LOVED this book about friendship, where we place our loyalty and what we stand for.

I thought this was brilliant 👏🏻

I know im late to the party with this one but i finally got here. Ive rated it 5 stars because its completely unique, its masterfully done, and i feel like the last third took my head off! Its as if with Yellowface someone said to Kuang “write a 5 star contemporary novel about publishing that perfectly demonstrates appropriation” and on Babel “write a 5 star historical dark academia novel that demonstrates colonialism and capitalism” ⬇️

Downloaded this on a whim before my big travel day and am really enjoying it ☺️ ✈️

#SpringSkies
#FavBkOfMarch
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Babel by R.F Kuang. 9,6/10 rating.

I‘ll just join the chorus of millions singing the praises of this brilliant, brilliant book. What an absolute genius and true gift. R.F. Kuang is a marvel.

#2024Bracket
@Catsandbooks

BABEL again for the win! 🤩

#2024Bracket
#march
@CSeydel

BABEL for this month's win. 😃

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I think the first half could have been considerably shorter. You can tell Kuang is a huge etymology nerd, and I think people who have similar interest in language and its history will probably feel that it scratches that itch. For me, it was just too much. The story itself, though, was really good, and the final 1/4 of the book was much faster paced and more interesting to me personally.

I'm glad I stuck with it.

I'm really struggling with this one. It's not that it's not good. But it just feels so long. And normally I love long books, but for some reason I keep wanting to put this one down. Ever feel that say? What do you do? Push through? Set it aside for a bit? Ugh. I just kinda want to be done with it.

NGL, I'm still gathering my thoughts on this book. I really love that it's focused on linguistics and I need a physical copy! but it's also a story that takes a while to develop. That said, it's interesting from start to finish but I think that's my "problem" with it. It's just so...perfect? LOL. does that make sense? It's obv a 5/5 read but it doesn't *feel* like a 5/5 read. It feels more like a 3.5 read?? But it does have some powerful messages

I enjoyed this at times, got frustrated with it at times, but persevered to the end. Imaginative, but heavy handed at certain points.

#weeklyfavorites
@Read4Life

Definitely this one. 😃

#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView (thanks for the tag!) 😘

1. Sherlock Holmes, of course. I'd try to be his gal Watson. 😃
2. BABEL: talk about roommates! #sheesh

Play? @AmyG @IndoorDame @Cupcake12 @Catiewithac @Sleepswithbooks

STUNNING. Kuang's ode to Oxford is also a love-hate relationship––just like the two sides of the silver bars used magically in this novel to support England's Industrial Revolution in the 1830s as well as their arrogant pursuit of colonialism. Dark academia, meticulous etymology, bildungsroman, speculative fiction that reads like fiction and NF at the same time ... I am completely gobsmacked. I'll be reeling from this one for a long time.

I‘m really enjoying the book so far but want to know about the stylistic choices of the physical book! Someone who read the book, if you could please help me I‘d greatly appreciate it. In the audiobook, there will be pauses and then a different narrator will speak with more information on a point. Connected but not directly. Are there footnotes? Annotation? Brackets? Why does a woman narrator come in randomly? Haha I like it, just curious!

Audiobooks have been my savior this month. I‘ve been working long days with long commutes so listening on my drive and then when I get home to cook dinner has been the most reliable way to get any reading in. Though I have been keeping to lighter audiobooks, I think I‘m ready to attempt attacking this novel next with the new headphone my momma got me. Have seen tons of great reviews so I‘m excited!

Wow this was so good. I loved that the book was completely immersed in Etymology. The world building - taking such a familiar places and building it out with just a bit of magic was so well done. I listened and read this so that I could get a feeling for the sounds of the non-English words and names, highly recommend the story was a bit too complex for full audio but the narrator does an amazing job.
I will continue thinking about this one.

#WondrousWednesday
Thanks for the tag, @Eggs! 😘

1. Scarlett O'Hara from GONE WITH THE WIND. #tomorrowisanotherday
2. Joe Gargery from GREAT EXPECTATIONS. #everthebestoffriendspip
3. Tagged: BABEL.

Play? @Aimeesue @Read4life @BeeCurious @TieDyeDude @WildAlaskaBibliophile @JenReadAlot @The_Penniless_Author @Librarybelle ... if you've read this far, consider yourself also tagged! 🤩

A slow first half with strong world building and then an action packed final half/third.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (5/5)
I cannot stop thinking about this book. It was so ambitious, and RF Kuang executed every element to perfection. I was struck, of course, by the powerful statement it makes about colonialism, but it was the bits about the power and limits of translation that really tickled my brain. I'm simply in awe of this book.

#BookNotes
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#LitsyLoveReads

To go along with BABEL (the tagged book), how about “Land of Confusion“ by Genesis? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7FKO5DlV0

For those interested, here's a link to a Spotify playlist for all #booknotes tunes:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0BweE8nr34nXd8ooqLtjey

Care to play? @AnnR @Amieesue @AmyG @itchyfeetreader @Crazeedi @IndoorDame + any and all! 🤩

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

“By the time Professor Richard Lowell found his way through Canton's narrow alleys in the faded address in his diary, the boy was the only on in the house left alive.“

1. I‘m easy to please so no big deal for me, just feeling thought of is nice… even just a nice card will do. But I also love giving gifts to my hubby and our kids.

2. Tagged. The point of the book isn‘t about love, but the MC and his friends love each other dearly and connect on a deep level throughout all the chaos.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

This was almost a so-so for me because there were slow parts and some redundant/repetitive parts. I also wished we had seen more of the Hermes Society and more of the magic. But I loved the characters (except for one but I won‘t spoil it for anyone) and loved the historical/academic references. The narrator was great too. The overall theme calling out colonialism and all its trauma was a powerful and necessary one.

Today‘s haul from the New Orleans book crawl that my hubby organized for me 🥹🥹 we still have a few more to visit, probably tomorrow

I enjoyed this ambitious, sweeping novel — Oxford in the 1830‘s, a good cast of diverse characters and informed writing regarding language, history and culture. I only regret having had big expectations for magic, fantasy and world building. Instead, enchanted silver bars were mostly a stand in for the Industrial Revolution, leaving our reality relatively unchanged. However, as a fan of dark academia and historical fiction I found it quite good.

From HPB today for #authoramonth @Soubhiville

This is probably the most brilliant piece of historical fiction I have ever read and could very well be the best book I read this year. It‘s the first one.
There‘s too much to praise about this book for me to make a coherent statement. The characters, the plot, the setting, the depiction of friendships, the betrayals, the list goes on. It‘s so well written.
Let‘s just say it‘s been a while since a book has impacted me this much emotionally.
5⭐️

We‘re not the only ones.

She learned revolution is, in fact, always unimaginable. It shatters the world you know. The future is unwritten, brimming with potential.

“That‘s just what translation is, I think. That‘s all speaking is. Listening to the other and trying to see past your own biases to glimpse what they‘re trying to say. Showing yourself to the world, and hoping someone else understands.”

Language was just difference. A thousand different ways of seeing, of moving through the world. No; a thousand worlds within one.