Welcome to Litsy!

Thanks to @Cathythoughts for her review, I was reminded to look for this book at the library. At 400+ pages, very small type, long sentences and very few paragraphs, it would seem to be a challenge to get through. Yet I was enthralled even when I wanted Mauvignier to get to the point. The suspense builds throughout as three men invade a household during a birthday celebration. It has a series of terrific character studies that will stay with me.

I knew from the start I was going to love this , and I did. It‘s dense and brilliant, I also knew I‘d read it faster than any other book I‘ve read for a long time. I was absorbed in the story and the writing quickly carried me on. A literary psychological thriller , set in a hamlet in France , where the four main characters live. It felt real and often familiar to enter the minds of these people. I loved the writing , the book 👌🏻 See comments

The birthday fairies are thrilled to be wishing @SconsinBookyBadger a very happy birthday today! We hope your day is extra special!

🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁🎁📚📚📚📚📚📚

These were the two #litsyToB24 books that were left over when our matching fairy (aka Meg!) had finished her magic. Therefore we don‘t have a common theme for these two - unless anyone has any bright ideas?! 💡

Also, we had another draw today, with 7 votes each. (The lowest voter turnout of any bracket!)

This time, we chose The Birthday Party to continue on because it gained more Zombie votes than Julia. Do you agree with our decision?

🎵 Look what you just made me do, Look what you made me do 🎶

Total #BlameItOnLitsy stack from the bookstore today!

Oh how I struggled with my final #LitsyToB24 book!! The type was too small, the book was too stiff, the plot was too slow, the overly descriptive writing was annoying, and the twist was obvious. Hard pass!! Only because I‘m a completist and I‘m in charge of this event did I finish this. Yuck!! 😡🙄

Note: this is definitely an #unpopularopinion!

Wow, this is the book that never ends, though the action takes place over the course of just 36 hours, in a French hamlet, focusing on the inner lives of the four people who live side by side, down a country road. This story and the characters‘ backgrounds are presented in such an interesting way, switching perspectives quickly and taking readers into their innermost thoughts. Such a different take on a “thriller”. #litsyToB24

Tonight‘s #hyggehour features a cozy night candle, my favorite wine from upstate New York, and the tagged book. What better book to start on your birthday than one of that title? It was absolutely lovely. Except now, the jets keep coming on every 10 minutes and I can‘t figure out how to turn them off 🤦🏻‍♀️

I finally got to go to the library!!!! After staying away all December due to my poinsettia allergy, it was SO GOOD to be back!! I checked out the seven horizontal books that are on my up next shelf. 📚

My #bookspin will complete the #LitsyToB24 shortlist for me when I finish it. My #doublespin Hot Milk was a used bookstore find that just spoke to me.

My pick for February (and one of my top books of 2023) is Laurent Mauvignier's The Birthday Party. I listened to it on the indie audio platform Spiracle. And it was FABULOUS. It's a master class in building suspense.
#12daysof2023
@Andrew65

This is one hell of a birthday party! 🎈🎁

What amazing literary suspense writing. It was maddening, infuriating, and enthralling. The narrative has shifting interior and exterior voices that tell the story in absolute slow motion at times. In the end I could only read a few pages at a time it‘s so dense.

I‘ve had a banner year for excellent reads and this is one of them. Yay!

I honestly wanted to bail in the beginning. The overly detailed writing style was just not doing it for me but the Litsy praise made me persevere. The writing never got less verbose but there was no way I could have bailed once the birthday party planning took a turn. I needed to know who the unexpected attendees were and what their plan was. This book does such a great job amping up your anxiety. #litsytob24

The suspense building is agonizingly slow. It‘s nearly maddening!
😅🥹😳

Eschewing the typical fast pace of a thriller, this book takes its time setting the scene and letting us know some of the characters, then moves the action forward with the creeping dread and the agonizing slowness one would feel in this actual situation. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. #LitsyTOB24

Looking like a deeeeelightful Saturday morning. 😁

Despite the fact the weather is more akin to rainy April. Crazy!

I tried this a few months ago and couldn‘t get past the first few pages, as the first sentence was as long as the first page!

It still took me a while to get into and was quite slow to start with, but once the action started…phew, it left me breathless.

A very unusual style, with lots of different perspectives and a fractured timeline, but often only jumping about by a few minutes each time.

In the end, I really liked it.

#ToB

Happy Mail! 😄 I‘m in the mood for suspense.

Repost for @TheAromaofBooks

My birthday is tomorrow, and even though this weekend is looking a little crazy, I'm still hoping to read a bunch!!! Feel free to tag me this weekend for my spontaneous #BirthdayBashReadathon It can be extra Scarathlon points, but you don't have to be participating in Scarathlon to join me!!

See the original post at https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2652190

My birthday is tomorrow, and even though this weekend is looking a little crazy, I'm still hoping to read a bunch!!! Feel free to tag me this weekend for my spontaneous #BirthdayBashReadathon It can be extra Scarathlon points, but you don't have to be participating in Scarathlon to join me!!

I really want to finish at least two books this weekend. I just started The Book of Cold Cases and I already don't want to do anything but read it! 😂

I can‘t find the time to make a collage of my favorite summer reads @Cinfhen but here is a list! My favorite is tagged along with one of my favorite photos of the summer. 😊

The Birthday Party - Mauvignier
Cassandra at the Wedding - Baker
Malice - Higashino
Mrs. S - Patrick
Yellowface - Kuang
August Blue - Levy

#BookReport 27/23

It took me almost all week to read The Birthday Party but it was definitely worth it! The. I read the Moore in a day but I was underwhelmed!

I had no idea what I was getting into when starting this book about 4 people living in an isolated French hamlet, each preparing the birthday of one of them in their own way.
But then two visitors arrive and the novel turns dark and tense. So well written, page-turning even, yet I didn‘t want to get to the end and find out how that would be. I will be thinking of this for a while! Thanks for the encouragement Sarah!
#CampToB #InternationalBooker

This book is SO GOOD. I was on the edge of my seat until the last sentence. Mauvignier does a phenomenal job of slowly revealing the background details of the characters to build the tension of the story and the events unfold with excruciating slowness. The psychological terror builds to a pressure cooker ending. One of the best books I‘ve read this year.

Pretty jazzed about this stack from the library. One more I want to read from the Booker shortlist and two from the TOB camp list. Plus a new Lennon recommended by @vivastory . The Adult was in the weekly Bookshop.org email, which never fails to add to my TBR.

I bought this book on a whim. I was curious about the audiobook platform Spiracle & an upcoming trip to Paris has me into French lit.
Then I saw it was psychological thriller/crime/horror & it's 14 hours long. I thought, oh shit.
But it's fantastic.
Marion is turning 40. Her farmer husband Patrice & daughter Ida have planned a party. Neighbor Christine is baking a cake. And then some unexpected visitors show up to their isolated rural home. 👇

Trying out Spiracle Audiobooks for the first time, and chose on impulse to start with this French thriller from Fitzcarraldo Books. So far, so good!
Anyone else use Spiracle? Good books (all from indie publishers) but actual player seems clunky compared with more mainstream platforms.