I admit I am already a fan of Rushdie, having been strongly impacted by reading Midnight‘s Children twenty years ago. I saw Rushdie speak in 2017 at the National Cathedral for the Pen first Eudora Welty lecture and was intrigued. But this Memoir brings the beauty and insight of his more complicated works to the telling and reckoning with the attack. I was astounded to be just as moved in this genre. The man is brilliant.

I would answer violence with art

We would not be who we are today without the calamities of our yesterdays.

The future came rushing toward him while he slept.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html

Link for the graphic is at the end of The NY Times article after you mark your choices.

New shareable monthly reading stats graphic released in StoryGraph with or without your ratings.

April-June picks are not anywhere near as lived as Jan-March (which also stole my 2 wild cards). Hopefully the second half of the year will be better. Lots of personal growth non-fiction books (which I don‘t include here) and guilty pleasure reads to balance those out. It‘s not a bad reading year so far at all, just front loaded the ringers I guess. I have James, Knife, and Trust on deck so that bodes well. #bookbracket24 #camplitsy

This was a good palate cleanser for me. I bought it several years ago from a list of the best time travel novels. The concept is interesting enough to keep the pages turning and I cared about the 3 main characters. Not fabulous prose, but I needed a break from slow going wonderful books that make you work for it This is how you win the time wars was from that same article and better.

I seem to be in the minority here. The book is well written and moves fast. I just found it so darned depressing. I will be a pass on the sequel. Stories of Quiet lives well lived, or of hardships encountered realistically I like, lives of quiet desperation not so much. #europacollective

Finally finished this book! I can‘t believe it took me 8 months, not do I know why I kept abandoning it. It‘s gorgeous and thought provoking.

9th I have read on “tookies short perfect novels” this is beautifully written and terribly sad. is that not true of all great Russian literature. Interesting too in its structure of a retelling among friends over drinks. It‘s out of print and hard to find, took months to get from the library. Worth the wait and search. Wish I had a hard copy to keep. Maybe someday on travels I will stumble across a copy. It would be fitting.

I am feeling hopeful that this will be an engrossing read for #europacollective I have been struggling through a serious of beautiful but slow going books recently and these two phrases just from the prologue have me invested: “Inhale the smell-wood pulp and spruce sap and pine resin. Taste it in your mouth; feel the sawdust coat your teeth.” And “stretch your legs, feel your tired spine crack and settle into its familiar ache”

Through reciprocity the gift is replenished. All of our flourishing is mutual.

This one is not my favorite of “Tookies short perfect novels” that I have read so far, but I do see why it‘s on the list. The end did quite literally take my breath away.

When we let ourselves feel, our inner self transforms.

#readingbracket2024 #bookbracket2024 I didn‘t know how to choose between this and the Postcard, but then I saw I rated this a rare 5 on StoryGraph. I wonder if this is the year all my favorites will involve stories of differing perspectives.

Heart breaking. Absolutely adds significantly to cannon of holocaust literature. Astoundingly personal. Should be required reading to understand life and the human heart. Potent in the writing. The names, the names - the pull of generations in our lives. So relevant to today. Emotional dna. #europacollective is the cover photo Noemi?

Sometimes all you can do is listen to the echoes of the silence.

I have been saving this #europacollective March selection for my long drive to Ohio. I am about a third in and haven‘t gotten to anything about the postcard, but I am engrossed in the background of the family members. What a stunning portrayal of the collective and individual denial of the world in the early days of the holocaust.

I debated reading this book, each time I read the description I had a different reaction as to if I thought it had merit beyond another WWII novel. I loved this book. Its overt story is mildly interesting, but the existential questions it poses are the really beauty. Ideas of existence and meaning and identity explored in a fresh and poignant way.

Revenge is a story that begins with more promises than its ending can keep.

This book was everywhere a few years ago and I thought I would like it but it never seemed the right time. I just finished on audio and it was nothing like I expected. Yes, I cried hard. Yes I laughed too. But it was very present for me. As different as my life as an only daughter has been, so many painful truths resonated. Some end of life wishes became very clear to me while listening on audio.

Weekend reading is to make progress on working my way through the character Tookie‘s “short perfect novels” list in Erdrich‘s The Sentence. This will be #8 of 12.

It was a hard choice between Our Fathers and Amina. So different but both so good. Just like last year, my first two picks of the year came from #auldlangspine match

This book was perfect for me at this moment in time.

Hubby detested the stream of consciousness authors voice when we were trying a read aloud, but I am finding the mood oddly comforting. The view and Texas sun is providing nice counterbalance. I am sure this will be a high pick in general. Maybe not my favorite pandemic novel, only time will tell as The sentence is the only other novel set in 2020 I have read and I doubt much can beat that. Also, I may not move from this spot all day.

Bought the tagged book by a local author at this indie bookstore in Port Isabel. Lovely owner who shared island history and tips with us. #unrulycactus

Winter Beach reading.

Road trip today with hubby. Tagged book is our chosen audio to accompany us.

Clever format. Read in an afternoon.

I love Books beautifully written, with evocative characters, which move me or teach me something. It strikes me now that my reading loves have morphed through life stages. As a teen and in my 20s, I was drawn to coming of age novels and generational family sagas. In my 30s the dynamics of marriage and children. In my 40s I loved novels of travel and history of countries yet unexplored. Now it‘s the interior life that draws me in. #dogsoflitsy

Littens, I would like to give a mentor a book of poetry as a thank you. I don‘t know what all he has, but from the poetry he has shared with me I know he likes Rumí, Mary Oliver, and Toni Morrison. He likes religious themes of divine love and personal growth/journey themes but not overly ornate forms. Any recommendations of the more obscure type so I might give him something he had not already encountered?

What an astounding book. I am so grateful to have encountered it. An amazing end to a Sunday evening with tea and 🥐
#auldlangspine #europacollective #192025 Litsy has made my reading life so much richer and I love you all for it.

Oh my ghosts, my lovely ghosts. Come with me.

This is my current audiobook. Adventures stories are not my typical genre, but a bunch of kittens recommended it a couple years ago so I bought it. I am so caught up with it. I love the characters and all the mythology. It truly is a swashbuckler. It‘s fun to get used to the names from a region of the world I rarely read about and even more fun when I recognize cross religious stories. Halfway through and still being surprised and carried along.

No surprises here. Although I am glad I did not finish Our Fathers this month. That would be a hard call, both from #auldlangspine2024. #readingbracket2024 if you are the person who created this graphic, please remind me so I can tag you. I know I stole it from someone.

Here is my #readyourkindle list. Numbered in order left to right. Thanks for the challenge @CBee

90 pages in and this book is nothing like what I had thought it would be when I missed reading it with #europacollective last summer. I am so glad it was on the @TheKidUpstairs #auldlangspine2024 list to prompt me to return to it. It‘s gorgeous and atmospheric despite the gruesome subject. And I am hooked to find the secrets to be revealed.

My #bookerdozen 6 are winners, 6 were shortlisted. Tagged is my favorite of all 12, although Midnights Children and The Bone People are only a hairs breath in difference of love (and those two won), followed by The Trees. What are yours?

I had seen this book so many times, I thought I owned it. I decided to read it for January #Ghana for #foodandlit. It was amazing. Heartbreaking stories that make the evil humans do to other humans so in your face real. I wept at times. I liked how he brought all the lineage and stories together at the end. The audio definitely added to this one for me. No time to cook, but if I did it would be Yams as they are mentioned in nearly every story.

This book is brilliant and poignant and beautifully written. I don‘t know how it‘s not on the “best of 23 lists”. It captures the rich and complex interior lives of ordinary people by showing us a brother and sister. Each POV is startling in its clarity, but then you see shards through the other‘s perspective and it makes it even more insightful. This author seems to understand modern humanity and a way to express it plainly. #auldlangspine2024

A long day travelling to DC and back again today. This title from my #auldlangspine2024 is coming with!

These books always feel like a guilty pleasure, and the detective stories sometimes drag - but I love Robin and Strike and how they each experience the world they live in. The author really captured how cults use and twist tenets of various world religions to draw people in to things that feel familiar and have supporters and detractors to make the control and abuse seem normal. It was ínstense in this one.

“These things that men obsess over when they hate what they desire, and desire what they cannot possess!”

Wow, what a way to start.

Hubby and I exchange books for Christmas. Here is this year‘s selections.

I think these are the titles I am most excited about on my #auldlangspine2024 list from @TheKidUpstairs So much new to explore on this great list