Welcome to Litsy!

Starting this one today. Not really sure I'm feeling emotionally secure enough for "sad, but beautiful" in my current perimenopausal state, but hey-ho...

Under the Eye of the Little Bird, by Hiromi Kawakami (2016, transl. 2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A novel in linked short stories about the distant fate of humanity.

Review: This will no doubt work for a lot of readers, but despite the fact that I can recognize that it‘s very well done, it was not for me. Told in short stories, all at different moments in the future,, this is meant to keep the reader off guard. Cont.

Incredible.

An atmospheric imagining of the world, say, 10,000 years or so from now.

At first you will be completely baffled, but I dare you not to get drawn in.

This is a majestic parade of ideas told with such gorgeous simplicity and yet never failing to be entirely compelling.

Cast a spell on me.

Read it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Plan to film a spoiler-free review shortly. Subscribe to the channel or check back if you want to watch!)

I think I am going to bail on this for now. I have read 30 pages and it isn't pulling me in. I know so many enjoyed it, but it is due back at the library tomorrow and so many people are waiting. There is no way I am going to push through it all today. And obviously I have plenty to read from the library.

At first I didn‘t know what to make of this book. Were it loosely connected stories, all set in a fantasy setting? YA maybe? And then I got it and I got the message. A book that packs a punch in a quite unexpected way(to me) and well deserves its place on the #InternationalBooker shortlist!

Well, I‘ve only read the tagged from the Booker Intl shortlist so far although I‘m on the list at the library for the others except for Small Boat, which isn‘t available.

Dystopian feel, with pared down prose and a lot mystery. Eventually we figure out we're in some future with a much smaller population of humanity. And we're within an unnatural system where no one seems to understand the controls. [The Giver] was always on my mind. This is is a bit of a puzzle to put together.

I liked it. I liked the pared down prose and curiosity build-up.

#booker #IB2025 No. 3

Working ok this one. #booker #IB2025

I really liked this book; it reminded me of science fiction in the style of Ishiguro‘s books. It‘s a clever and powerful statement on human nature and our undying capacity to work against ourselves in the name of self-interest. A line that feels especially poignant right now: “Oh you…dear humans…won‘t you find some way to help one another?” 💔

Happy Saturday! Really enjoying this first read from the Booker International longlist. Lucky for me to have two works of Japanese fiction on the list this year. 😀

Thank you @BarbaraBB! I LOVE a quiz. I am super excited my results of the first Booker International I should read I already have a hold on at the library. I am #3 of 5 copies so hopefully soon!

So many books, so little time.

If you too want to take the booker quiz you can @ https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/quiz-which-book-from-the...

Thanks to @BarbaraBB for this link - this is fun! Going to check out this for sure.

https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/quiz-which-book-from-the...

https://youtu.be/Yp4nmwyEP5k?feature=shared

Made a video about the International Booker Prize Longlist which was announced yesterday.

The two books I'm most excited to read are Hunchback and Solenoid, but there are so many books on this list that have intrigued me!

Check it out 😊

This didn't feel especially like a Hiromi Kawakami book to me. I wonder if she has more like it that haven't been translated to English yet. I wish I'd read it all in one go, but instead I read a bit here and there and I think my opinion of the book suffered as a result. I ended up liking it, so maybe sometime I'll reread it under better circumstances.