This was just as good a follow up as I could have dreamed after Stories of Your Life. I loved the mix of longer novella-ish short stories and very short ones. I was scared they wouldn‘t feel as profound and effortless as his first book but I shouldn‘t have worried.

Working through my reading slump slowly but it‘s my worst for a while 😕 it‘s like it‘s suddenly become harder to find the time in my new flat. Hope it goes back to normal soon

#bfcr4 first week progress!

@wanderinglynn @Melmar @suzie.reads @LauraJ @jessinikkip

I‘m quite happy with this week! Im still settling into new routines in my new place and while it hasn‘t been perfect, I‘ve got my workouts in, managed 4 of my 5 a day most days, and there‘s time to work on meditation. Reading is slow because I‘m still reading Les Miserables veeeery slowly but I hope that will pick up!

Been a bit of an anxiety time of it again and slept appallingly, maybe I‘m getting ill 😟😟😟 but trying to focus on health and keeping it chill and good for me. Exhalation is just as astonishingly good as I was hoping so far! Excellent follow up to stories of your life and others when I was so scared it would fall flat

If I‘ve been quiet recently it‘s because Les Miserables is VERY long. My enjoyment of it is going up and down with the different subplots - I‘m here for long musings on the nature of redemption but less for blow by blow accounts of the battle of Waterloo. Evocative to listen to on the way home from work in a rainy city at night looking at the river... admittedly not Paris tho. Over half way through now!

One of the most valuable books I‘ve read in ages. It‘s so easy to forget about people with schizophrenia having voices and understanding to share about themselves rather than just be discussed by others, and I was astonished by how much there was to consider that I‘d never interacted with before. Such a rare, insightful voice sharing her life with psychosis.

Who is this alleged “person” who is a “person living with psychosis,” once the psychosis has set in to the point that there is nothing on the table save acceptance? When the self has been swallowed by illness, isn‘t it cruel to insist on a self that is not illness? Is this why so many people insist on believing in souls?

I hadn‘t heard of Handke at all this morning, I saw the news and posted about it cause I was happy for Olga and wanted to talk about them choosing European writers... totally forgot about it at work and then saw a comment about him being controversial and I‘m blown away. The Nobel committee took a year out to deal with controversies and then awarded a literal apologist for genocide? Just read two articles and his Wikipedia and I‘m just amazed.

Woooo Olga! Tagged book is so brilliant. I must admit I haven‘t heard of Peter Handke before but I guess I‘ll look into him now!

While I‘m sure these two are very deserving and it‘s great to see non English language lit be promoted (Olga certainly is and I‘ve got nothing against Peter), I‘m a bit disappointed not to see a non European author win either spot - Africa Asia and South America particularly get so little representation!

#bfcr4 @wanderinglynn @jessinikkip @LauraJ @Melmar @suzie.reads

Good morning (or whatever time zone you‘re in)! I‘m doing my best with fitness today, this will be my second day of walking to work rather than taking the bus. It‘s nearly an hour walk but with the time it takes to wait for the bus, slow for the bus being late etc. it‘s not really longer. It‘s nice to see London waking up in the morning! Reading is a bit slower as Les Mis is looong

After a big reading and anxiety slump I have managed to finish a book! So proud of myself, it‘s the longest I‘ve gone without reading this year and it was really affecting me. This was a beautiful and thought provoking book highlighting differences between eastern and western cultures that I would never have considered. I can‘t say I agree on everything, particularly his thoughts on women, but I‘m very glad I read and considered all of it.

Hello team! @jessinikkip @LauraJ @Melmar @suzie.reads

I think I already posted my goals but I‘m revising a bit. Just moved into a new flat and all my habits are changing in a big way so this is coming at the perfect time for me! I‘ve also been in a bit of a reading slump so I‘m looking forward to this getting me back on track.

#bfcr4 @wanderinglynn

Interesting article on the double Nobel prize! So many cool writers in the running and very exciting how few of them I‘ve read. It looks like I might be about to get some books added to my tbr. I‘ll add the link in comments.

I‘ve had a bit of a reading slump recently as I‘ve been so stressed moving and getting my flat sorted, it‘s been big and very anxious. I‘m trying to come back from it now but getting back in gear after a slump can be hard

Morning Litsy pals. I‘m still settling into my new place and sleeping pretty awfully while I get used to it - I was kinda expecting it as settling down somewhere new always makes me anxious but I‘m getting there! I haven‘t had much time to read recently as moving and getting sorted has taken so much out of me but it should improve now. Enjoying Eileen but I only have three days left with it from the library so it‘s a bit of a race

First book finished in my new flat!

This was so touching. It felt slightly smaller scale than Morrison‘s other novels I‘ve read but that might have been my mindset as I read it. The sibling relationship at the centre was so incredible, so warm at the same time as so many other things were so harrowing. No one writes like Toni Morrison just no one - heartbreaking but never saccharine, and hopeful through all that pain.

So I‘m moved into my first place in London (well with roommates so not just ours but still)! My bf unfortunately has flu so won‘t be able to join me today, it‘s just me for a bit😕 I‘ve spent the day getting everything sorted and here are all of the books I‘ve brought! It‘s a quite small room and I won‘t have a bookcase til next week so two piles on the desk is how I‘m getting started. It‘s all very new and exciting and a bit scary but here I am

Time to wrap up September! I read a lot in the first half of the month then almost nothing in the second - the last couple weeks has been very dominated by trying to find a flat in London, which messed with my anxiety and made me ill 😕 but I have FOUND ONE and will be moving to London TODAY whaaaat. I‘ve dreamed of this for so long, I‘m still kinda sick with whatever virus I got while freaking out but I am MOVING TO LONDON

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. Tagged book and Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

2. Bunny by Mona Awad somehow beat The Testaments my other fave. Bunny will be one of my top novels of all time I think!

3. East of Eden. Some backstory - it was the first book my bf got me as a gift 5 years ago, then I lost it for years and didn‘t read it, finally found it while sorting through books to take when I move in with him this week. Felt like time 💖

Great and horrible. A lot of books about climate change have made me angry and frustrated, but hearing so much detail about the early days of understanding global heating when so much could still have been saved and how close the US and other countries came to making meaningful change that early on broke my heart.

This was everything I want from a biography. I didn‘t know if it could be as perfect as Wild Swans, and I probably do prefer Wild Swans still, but this was 10/10 brilliant. Easy to follow but rigorously researched portrait of a fascinating, critically important woman that I‘d somehow never heard of. I desperately want to read more about her now

#bfcr4 signed up and already excited! Thank you SO much for doing this again @wanderinglynn I know how much work this is for you. The fitness challenge is so good for me, it‘s had such a positive impact on my life and I‘m so pleased it‘s back.

No pressure obviously but if anyone on my beloved #goteam from #bfcr3 wants to join again I‘d love to keep up with how you‘re all doing! The link to sign up is on Lynn‘s page

#friyayintro @howjessreads

1. Good overall but I‘ve been a fair bit slower this month as I‘ve had lots of stuff on

2. I once got dramatically kissed after a run through an airport just like in a film

3. 🤷‍♀️ pop probably im quite basic

4. October will be five years with my boyfriend

5. Will do!

A friend recommended this to me as ‘a very beautiful book about very lonely people‘ and he was absolutely right. This prose, the slow emotional shifts across minutely observed landscapes, was absolutely perfect and exactly what I needed in a bad anxiety time. I wasn‘t in much of a state to appreciate it on lots of levels but letting the writing and the characters wash over me was wonderful, a much needed respite for me.

My anxiety is double plus ungood atm 😬 I‘m really grateful for all my coping skills but it puts me in a weird position of spending five hours breathing very oddly while my brain goes ‘this is fine, I‘ve got through this before‘, I know it‘ll be okay but don‘t know how to get there. I‘m in a reading slump as it‘s so hard to concentrate rn. Flat hunting in London is a worse process than I thought and it‘s taken all of my energy and resilience

I loved the Underground Railroad but I think I preferred this one. It felt more cohesive, and I adored all of the characters and how well researched it was. It balanced historical accuracy with feeling like a human story rather than a history book SO well. It‘s rare to read a book that brings the past to life so well.

I didn‘t like this as much as I hoped but didn‘t hate it. I didn‘t have much of a problem understanding the ‘early modern‘ (ish) writing style but I felt like the writer was being purposefully obscure at times which gets a bit exhausting when you feel like someone‘s determined to work you that hard. I liked the plot and the ideas but wish it hadn‘t had to be so dense.

A Woman is a deep Ditch, said he, her House inclined to Death and her Paths unto the Devil.

...

This is my new 💯💯💯 fave description of what womanhood means. No assigning gender at birth here, you just need your house inclined to death and your paths leading to the devil.

Happy Friday! Reading on the train to a weekend on the coast with my whole extended family - it‘s a few family members‘ birthdays so I‘m hoping it‘ll be a lovely weekend. It‘s nice to get some time to read on the train after work as well 😊

A new favourite! I can imagine this being a bit love-or-hate but I thought it was perfect. A dreamy, darkly but genuinely funny, Mean Girls meets Donnie Darko magic realist portrait of life at an exclusive New England arts programme. Samantha was a perfect main character, the transfiguration was astonishing, the social commentary on point. This will be in all my end year lists

This was such a wonderful slow, meditative look at death, grief and recovery and I‘m so glad I read it now - I‘m very stressed in my life right now trying to move into my first flat and this was the prose I needed exactly. I loved the character, the ending and hearing it in the author‘s voice was really special. Can‘t believe it took me this long to read Eudora Welty

@Eggs #wondrouswednesday

1. 21 including the uk! Lots more to get to

2. Maybe mountains but I‘m not picky I love both

3. Japan

4. Maybe the American plains

#7days7covers #covercrush

I couldn‘t choose between these two by Marilynne Robinson so I went for both!

@KathyWheeler have you already been tagged to join in? 7 covers you love in 7 days no need to explain yourself

I could read Margaret Atwood for years without getting bored and I always love her short stories. Different from the novels I‘ve read, kind of starker and quieter, but she‘s an absolute short story master. I really recommend them if you haven‘t tried them!

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 4

@Weaponxgirl would you like to join in? Seven covers that speak to you in seven days and tag some folks, no need to explain your choices!

#7days7covers #covercrush day 3

@guinsgirlreads want to join in? 7 covers you love in 7 days no need to explain them!

@Hooked_on_books @moll @TheEllieMo

I‘d say this is essential reading for anyone living in the UK - dispels so many myths and illustrates so much we need to know about how our criminal legal system works differently than we think (not like American tv!) and the state of the legal profession today. I did jury service age 19 and was absolutely shocked by what I saw, and while I don‘t agree with every single opinion this barrister holds, I‘m so so glad this book has been written

Very happy with my local bookshop expanding the teen section moving it next to adult fiction and poetry, and expanding children‘s fiction to include the space teen fiction used to have! I remember feeling I had so little choice when I started reading YA and now there‘s been this massive renaissance in publishing amazing quality stuff for young adults in so many genres. Happy that young people in my town are gonna have the choice I wished for

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

1. Tagged book, The Enigma of Arrival by VS Naipaul and The Secret Barrister

2. Hmm probably The Testaments which I pre-ordered ages ago but I was charged for it this week but I‘m counting that!

3. Warm for September! Autumnal in colour but summery temperatures, I walked to the gym in just a sports bra and leggings

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 2

My pick for today is literally any blue Fitzcarraldo Edition 🥰🥰🥰

@TheEllieMo If you haven‘t already been tagged want to take part and show us your 7 cover picks??

@Hooked_on_books @moll

That‘s a wrap for #bfcr3 and thank you more than I can say to @wanderinglynn for all her hard work. Bfc has changed my life so much.

Books: 32/28
Steps: almost every day over 10k
Workouts: good amount of gym and yoga when I‘ve been in the country
No lifts and escalators: almost every day
Food: incredible profess, more fruit and vegetables than ever in my life

Thank you to my team who have supported me so much #goteam forever

Some oxford novels make me feel weird, even though Alderman went there lots rankled with me, yet more gorgeous aristocrats doing cocaine. The writing was good but James was whiny (his parents pay his bills but he has an existential crisis about not having a trust fund and having to work for his degree). For the author of The Power and Disobedience, I wish the women had had more to do, just being stoic and getting cheated on.

#7covers7days #covercrush

Day 1

Thank you for tagging me @Hooked_on_books I thought i‘d start with my current read which I find incredibly gorgeous! I love this wistful minimalist cover, I like white books a lot I‘ve realised thinking about this challenge.

@moll care to join? 7 covers you think are beautiful, one a day for 7 days 🥰

#friyayintro @howjessreads

1. Canada is one of my favourite places in the world!

2. It was a lovely crisp autumn day, medium cold and bright really perfect exactly what you picture from September.

3. I went on one where the other person‘s mum came by mistake and then we ran into our school librarian :/

4. Neither but I‘d love to get a pet!!

5. Will do!

I was worried it wouldn‘t live up to the hype, so I‘m so grateful it did! I don‘t wan to spoil but the worldbuilding was incredible, it tied into the Handmaids Tale so well without straightforwardly picking up where it finished, I adored Aunt Lydia (never thought I‘d say that) and Becka particularly so much. The ending had me tearing up. A book this powerful about hope, resistance and the idea of empires ending was so necessary an wonderful

A new fave Jeanette Winterson and one of my fave Hogarth Shakespeares! I loved the changes she made to make a very odd plot make sense in the modern day, Leontes and Polixenes‘ relationship, everything about Paulina (Paulina is one of my all time darlings), and everything she wrote about time. This did justice to one of the weirdest and best Shakespeares so well

One of my fave Murakamis. Often his relationships between men and women feel hollow but this had some lovely quite universal exploration of longing and emotion and wasn‘t just horny men focusing on their erections instead of the dreamy magic realism I want from murakami. Better than I expected, but unfortunately still murakami so it gets a soso not a pick for having so many strange awkward sex scenes and descriptions of penises I had to skip.

After all that hassle it‘s finally off! So pleased this got done after all those delays - better late than never. Once we got behind and then I was out of the country I was worried I‘d never catch up 😨 but we got there. Should be with you in a few days Jennifer! @jenniferw88 @Lel2403

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. Tagged!

2. Not so far. I travelled a whole lot in summer so I‘m happy just to be around England in autumn, I may take small trips to Cardiff or Cambridge to visit friends if I manage to organise it.

3. Nope, I‘m a ways off having kids! I have a few friends starting grad degrees this autumn tho

@jenniferw88 @Lel2403

Finally managed to finish annotating this one! So sorry it took me a million years, between being sick and being out of the country almost al the summer I was never able to read physical books really but better late than never and it‘ll be in the post tomorrow with Mango Street!

Strongly recommend this poetry collection! It did so well at being ‘very 2019‘ but also using the cultural references to go deep on some very timeless themes and issues, and while it was very playful and funny sometimes it also knew how to rip at your heart strings and make you angry. Never cliche or cheesy at all. Some of the best poetry I‘ve read this year for sure

It‘s here! So excited to read this, it feels like the whole bookish world has been buzzing since it was released. I haven‘t read the handmaid‘s tale for around ten years so im going to do a little revision and then dive in