Welcome to Litsy!

Some reading and tea on the porch before I start working.

Such nice gifts this year!

This 1993 novel was rejuvenated when Müller won the Nobel Prize. It is powerful, but tough going and I struggled through (but felt it!). A series of sketches of life as a college-educated political dissident under CeauÈ™escu, with constant harassment, abuse, economic strain and suicides. Relentlessly bleak.

Trying to get into this view of Romania under CeauÈ™escu. Normally I easily embrace these impressionistic sketches. But I‘ve been reading fun stuff lately, including a lot of Chaucer, and I think I‘m struggling a bit to be a properly horrified mindset. 🙂 Anyway, getting going.

This psychological and metaphysical prose was published in the 1930s. It feels like a confession, where the outside world is perceived as too common, boring and useless and the narrator struggles to escape it by hiding in his inner world, where anxiety, unrest and morbid thoughts torture him.

Whilst I liked the premise...I wasn't thrilled with the the execution and for me the story fell flat. I prefer a character driven read and this one was just a little too much world building and too little character growth.

This is one of the only history books that I truly enjoyed, Kaplan's writing style is so full of life, it makes you feel as if you know the people present in the story. A journalistic/travelling way of explaining major events is so enjoyable! Definitely a worthy read, even for people that aren't interested in history

It‘s ok to bail when a character makes you so annoyed you want to smack them, right?

I Hve tried to start this one a few times over the last year. Let‘s try this again!

#MayMontage Day 26: A Picasso-like #FaceOnCover. Reader in Romania overlooking the famous Bridge of Lies in Sibiu.