A woman was born in a country when it was still #Latvia, her daughter is born there too but now it is the USSR. The mother isn‘t able to build a life without freedom and becomes depressed, the daughter is optimistic and takes care of her mother.

Perestrojka, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War are on their way but they don‘t know it.

A beautiful book. Thanks for recommending it, Helen!

#ReadingEurope2020 🇱🇻 #Tearjerker

#WeeklyForecast 09/20

Lots of books on the planning for the coming week because I have only two more days to work and afterwards will leave for a week long vacation with my son 🌴🌞

I am almost finished with the lovely Soviet Milk for #ReadingEurope2020. Another current read is Agnes Grey. Next will be The Rehearsal which I have high expectations of because Catton‘s The Luminaries is one of my all time favorites.

I am reading this sad book about a woman with depression (Soviet Milk) and am adding it to #JennyIs30 (chronic illness) to complete my first row! #BINGO

#BookReport 08/20

I had a very productive reading week with Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead as an absolute favorite 💕.
Two more #ToB books (Mary Toft is one of a kind 🐰), two #1001books and two I could use for #ReadingEurope2020.
How satisfying multitasking is 😂😉

I loved everything about this book. Its setting in an isolated village in a bleak #Polish midwinter, the plot of hunters being murdered, the concerns about nature and the impact humans have on it, and above all the narrator. Tokarczuk is a fantastic portraitist and her prose is witty as well as melancholic. Highly recommended.

#ReadingEurope2020 🇵🇱
(Pic: My Saturday morning ritual)

For the #classicschallenge2020 I started another @SerialReader . Anne is the only Brontë sister I haven‘t read yet so it‘s about time.

A book I should read before I die? Not at all. It may have had significance for literature development in the early 20th century but it has totally lost its relevance for today‘s readers. So as long as you‘re not interested in literature history, don‘t bother reading this ridiculous gothic book with its hallucinatory plot and swine-things 😱.

#1001books #classicschallenge2020 #serialreader

Between a pick and a so-so. This one didn‘t really work for me even though I am a sucker for books about art. Most of the stories felt a bit too aloof.

The stories I did like were the ones that felt more personal: Separate Ways, Lightning at Sea and the one about Rothko and the prostitute in the hospital. Those made me lose myself googling the artists and their works. I love it when that happens

#ATY2020 Set in Southern Hemisphere #ToB2020

Congratulations Liz with your impressive achievement ❤️🎈
Thanks for lots of inspiring posts and this great #Lizpixies3x3giveaway ‼️

My three favourite genres are:
📍Literary fiction
📍Travel journalism
📍Cooking

Above you can see a favorite book in each genre!

This book takes place in a #Croatian town during the interbellum. The main character belongs to the local elite as a legal adviser. When he makes a “morally insane” at a party, it becomes clear to him how petty and horrible that elite really is. This discovery means the start of a lonely resistance. Despite a general boycott, he doesn‘t take back his statement. This leads ultimately inevitably to his downfall. #ReadingEurope2020 🇭🇷 #1001books

#WeeklyForecast 08/20

I have started The House on the Borderland on audio and am reading On the Edge of Reason for
#ReadingEurope2020. Next will be Optic Nerve (another #ToB read) and I hope to get to Drive Your Plow as well: reviews about it have made me very curious!

A book like this is why I love the #ToB so much. I never would have read this if it weren‘t for the tournament. And how glad I am I did. The tale of Mary, giving birth to rabbits, is storytelling at its best. I loved every page of it. It‘s mostly about (the ego‘s of) the surgeons and their apprentices surrounding her but in the end the story becomes hers.

#Booked2020 #Headcovering #ToB2020

#BookReport 07/20

I finished two books this week of which I loved the tagged one. Highly recommend it!

I had hoped to finish another #ToB finalist by now too (Mary Toft) but I am only in the middle of that one. Way too little time to read!

Marie is a black American woman and a spy. In the 80s she got an assignment regarding Burkina Faso‘s leader Thomas Sankara. He brought the country much good but he was a communist and the US wanted him gone. The consequences of her time as a spy have a big impact on Marie‘s life today. Especially the part of the book regarding her past were very interesting, gripping and well written. Recommended!

#ATY2020 week 6 #pop20

I am really digging this one 🖤. I was born during the Cold War and was in university very much interested in US politics regarding communist leaders or groups in Latin America. I didn‘t know much about US politics in Africa so I am learning (and recognizing) a lot. Plus Wilkinson writes a gripping story!

@nomadreader I am reading this for #ATY2020 - book with a mode of transport on the cover. Which book have you chosen for this prompt?

This is such a difficult book. I don‘t know what to think of it.
The first part is an adolescent love story with lots of drama, the second part is a metafictional commentary on the first. The main character regards the first part as a bad novel.

⬇️⬇️⬇️ #ToB2020

#WeeklyForecast 07/20

I started the tagged book and have no idea what it is about or what Choi is trying to do. I hope you‘ll get to it soon, Cindy, so we can discuss wtf is happening!

Two more books I hope to get to this week are American Spy for #ATY2020 and Mary Toft for the #ToB2020.

#BookReport 06/20

I read two books this past week, one travel journal about Armenia for #ReadingEurope2020 and a #ToB2020 book. Nothing special.

#JanuaryStats #JanuaryWrapUp

In January I read 15 books, which is very good for me. I made a good start with the challenges too.
One five stars read (the tagged one), two four stars.

All the others were 3,5 stars at the most, so here‘s to quality instead of quantity for February!

The subject of this book (the LA riots in the 90s and the damaging of Korean shops in its aftermath) is interesting and promising. The main characters in the story however feel a bit flat, and the plot lacks depth. I think Cha could have done better, I am interested though in what she will write next. #ToB2020

In the first month of the year I think I made a pretty good start with #ReadingEurope2020.
These are the five countries I can tick off:

🍀 Russia - Dead Souls
🍀 UK - Case Histories
🍀 Estonia - Professor Martens‘ Departure
🍀 Armenia - An Armenian Sketchbook
🍀 Germany - Oval

Earlier today @AceOnRoam mentioned they would be announced this week and here they are, the brackets for the #TOB2020. Check out https://themorningnews.org/p/here-are-your-2020-tournament-of-books-brackets

Normal People vs Fleishman, Girl Woman Other vs Nothing to See Here, pfff! Exciting times ahead from March 6!

And now I want to visit #Armenia...! I found myself googling all the time when reading this ‘Armenian Sketchbook‘ which it really is. Vasily Grossman travels through the country and shares little details with us. About Armenian people, their culture, their food and their country, filled with stones and beauty. Fascinating.

#ReadingEurope2020 🇦🇲 #pop20

#WeeklyForecast 06/20

I am still working my way to the #ToB shortlist, and hope to read another two this week.
My current read is for #ReadingEurope2020, it is obviously about Armenia and I am almost finished with it.

#BookReport 05/20

I finished Virginia Woolf this week, that I started a few weeks ago.
Furthermore I read and loved both Ways to Hide in Winter and Golden State this week.
The last one was Oval, a weird but enjoyable book.

This book is a disaster story waiting to happen. Set in Berlin in a very near future, where people live their life and are suffering of FOMO, where companies pretend to be all focussed on an eco-friendly world. Where artists are consultants, where the streets are filled with the homeless. The Oval pill is just another innovation, another drug, another nothing. This is the story of Anja and it‘s a good one. #ToB2020
⬇️⬇️

This stream-of-consciousness novel started out good, with the young Rachel on a boat to South America with her aunt and uncle. She meets many people (among whom Mrs. Dalloway!!) and has interesting conversations. When they arrive on a fictional South American island a new crew of people makes its entrance and with them more conversations and relations. A bit messy, this novel, Woolf‘s first one, but with the promise of what was yet to come. ⬇️

I enjoyed this book a lot. It‘s about a dystopian world where lying is the ultimate crime and a whole society is build on protecting the truth. Beside dystopian the book is a thriller in which two detectives (‘speculators‘) are hunting for the ultimate truth to protect their golden state.
The question is: what is true? I loved this premise and its execution despite it feeling a bit rushed in the end.

#ToB2020 #ATY20 week 4 #pop20
#JennyIs30

This book made me hold my breath from the first til the last page. I felt like I was there, in snowy Pennsylvania, with the two wounded people who are the main characters in this book. Because of what they both went through they are able to not judge but to listen to one another and give eachother space.
A beautiful and sad book 🤍🤍, highly recommended.

#Booked2020 finish in a day

We‘ve got a winner for the #MAYbeNoW #buddyread! From May 15-17 we will celebrate the 2010s in our signature party style with music, food, clothes etc. and we‘ll be discussing the tagged book on Sunday 17. Thank you for voting and please join @Cinfhen and me in May for the weekend and/or the #buddyread.

We‘re looking forward to it! 🍀💚🧚👒🐸🍏 #Readalong2020

#WeeklyForecast 05/20

I am currently reading and loving Ways to Hide in Winter. I‘ll finish it soon I guess, not able to do much more until I know how it ends.
Then it‘s on with the #ToB2020 shortlist, hoping to tick off some prompts for the challenges as well.

#BookReport 04/20

I read and enjoyed Kaddish and The House and its Head. Unforgettable I couldn‘t keep track of what happened in Overthrow and I bailed on that one even though it is short for the #ToB2020.

In continuation of my last post, in which I mentioned Felix Valloton, whose work is to be seen on the cover of Overthrow, I am sharing some of his gorgeous paintings of reading women. He is one of my favorite 19th century painters.

I bailed. I am really not in the mood for this struggle from page to page.
It is just not the right book at the right moment. I did like the writing style but found myself not interested in the plot.
Most of all I liked the cover, because I love the painter Valloton 💜. This is however one of his lesser works - I think. You should check him out, he has painted reading women in a fantastic way. Wait, I‘ll show you in my next post! #ToB2020

Sometimes it seemed as if I was reading a Shakespeare play. The story largely consists of (often very funny and sarcastic) drawing room dialogues, in which a chorus of supporting roles comment on what‘s happening in the Edgeworth family.
And a lot IS happening in this family, where no one is what he appears to be. Except maybe for the father. Well done, but a hundred or so pages too long for me.

#NYRBBookClub #ATY2020 week 3

#BelowZer00s #buddyread, question 5/5

#BelowZer00s #buddyread, question 4/5

#BelowZer00s #buddyread, question 3/5

#BelowZer00s #buddyread, question 2/5

#BelowZer00s #buddyread is starting right now. This is question 1 of 5!

I have tagged some people who were interested in the book, but of course all are welcome to participate.

Jewish law requires to pray Kaddish for the 11 months following a parent‘s death, in order to elevate the deceased‘s soul. That‘s a problem for Larry, the secular son. Fortunately there is Kaddish.com, where you can hire someone else to perform Kaddish for you. Years later, Larry (now Reb Shuli) travels to Israel to meet the man who did Kaddish for him.

To be continued ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

#WeeklyForecast 04/20

Lined up for this week are Kaddish.com (almost finished actually), followed by this month‘s #NYRBBookClub choice and the next one for the #ToB.

Let‘s hope this week brings a bit more time to read than last week did 🤞

#BookReport 02/20

Back to work, back to reality. Case Histories was a pageturner which left me a bit disappointed, The Coffee was perfect for me and then I have been fighting with Professor Martens for the rest of the week. An okay result I think.

Professor Martens was a member of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the second half of the 19th century. During a train journey from his home town of Pärnu in #Estonia to Russia he recalls many events of his life and meetings with important people.

Martens did in fact exist but I didn‘t know him before, nor his important friends. And to be honest, I didn‘t care.

#ReadingEurope2020 ?? #ATY2020 week 2 #1001books

I love this typical Japanese way of writing, the sparce words, the need to read between the lines. This one is a little gem.
It‘s about a cafe where people can travel in time but when they come back, the present is unchanged. So what is the point of visiting the past? And yet it does make sense. Wow!

Thanks again Carolyn for sending me this one❤️. As promised it‘s coming your way now Cindy!

#pop20 #jennyis30

This was an enjoyable read and yet I am not sure what to think of it. Was it a thriller? Or the personal drama of a detective, with some ‘case histories‘ to spice up the story?
Or doesn‘t it matter what it is? Doesn‘t it matter that I guessed all outcomes long before they were explained, except for the one that came out of nowhere?

Can‘t wait to discuss this book during #BelowZer00s buddy read!

#JennyIs30 #detective
#ReadingEurope2020 #UK 🇬🇧

#WeeklyForecast 02/20

My current reads are Case Histories for the #BelowZer00s buddy read next weekend and The Voyage Out. Both I am enjoying a lot.

Next will be Before the Coffee gets Cold, gifted by my dear friend @CarolynM 💕, and the tagged book, for #Estonia in #ReadingEurope2020.

Let‘s see how far I get this week, with work starting again tomorrow 🤦🏻‍♀️

Love this comparison 💕

#serialreader #1001books

#BookReport 1/20

Four books this week, so a solid kicking-off 2020.

I was a bit disappointed by The Water Dancer, but enjoyed Saudade (both for #ToB2020).

Modern Lovers was an easy read and perfect for a hungover January 1st.

Dead Souls I had been reading and listening to for a few weeks. I often like my Russians but this one didn‘t live up to my expectations.

In short chapters a girl tells in a lyrical way about growing up in Angola while it still is a Portugese colony. The tension grows while she comes of age like any other girl; the Angolan population wants independence, her father is pro Portugal, her boyfriend a communist. In between all of this and all of them she feels saudade: “a lostness, a feeling of not having a place in the world.”

#ToB2020 #Booked2020 #LiveAndLearn #Pop20