💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
So many characters!!!! 😅
💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
So many characters!!!! 😅
I must thank this lady Mil Nicholson for her brilliant reading of Bleak House. When I was in the first chapter I knew that I wouldn‘t survive reading this book if without the help of an audiobook. I searched online and my local library to find the voice that I like. I‘m lucky to find one https://youtu.be/uXt5OlPkAos?si=cljPizg3PBQE5BvQ Two days in, and I‘m already at 22%. That‘s pretty amazing, thanks to Mil.
Just started this chunkster. I forgot how verbose Dickens is; he wrote one lengthy paragraph about the fog 😑😑😑 Luckily, I found an audiobook on youtube https://youtu.be/uXt5OlPkAos?si=bF0lunVhndkEEWxB Reading/listening combo works best for me
4⭐️ Another enjoyable read from Mary Lawson. I like how the three characters are connected, how they are actually reflections of one another. There‘s something about her writing that I really like… simple, engaging, and addictive 😍
4⭐️ What a gem of a novel! 😍 Macaulay follows the fortunes of the Garden family and life in England from 1879 to 1923. I like the emphasis that nothing changes in human life. Look at us! Here we are in year 2024 but we behave the same as those before us. It‘s true that history repeats itself.
I‘m loving this story! My first Rose Macaulay and I think I will be hunting for all her books. Have you read any by her?
The movie adaptation 😻 with Audrey Hepburn.
I found the full movie on youtube. Lucky me!
https://youtu.be/yOzGfSFTmuE?si=vKB3pJOJPjayiNvE
3⭐️ Ariane is a young girl who‘s had many lovers but eventually finds herself stuck in a relationship with one Grand Prince. I enjoyed the first half of the book where the focus was on Ariane and all the men captured in her web (a new guy introduced in almost every chapter 😂). She‘s quite a character! Unfortunately, I got bored in the second half where the two lovebirds tried so hard fighting their own feelings 😑
3⭐️ This novel really invited me to experience the hell parents have to go through when their child disappears without a trace. The story was set in the 80s and the reference to drugs and homophobia feels like a time travel to that era. #persephoneclub
Littens, I have turned into a British aunt! I‘m eyeing this tea set now 😝, thanks to Kevin Lee Jacobs‘ youtube channel. I usually use my Japanese teapot and cups, but I think it‘s time to switch 😅
https://youtu.be/8LCHP2pQdv8?si=z_IK45HsPZdXXSB4
4⭐️ Mary is a clever girl starting her way in the world but she also thinks that her mother hates her. While she struggles finding her actual self and her happiness, her dysfunctional family limits her freedom. This autobiographical novel is not for those wanting a cheerful read but it‘s beautifully written. I love how Mary‘s voice matures as she ages.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0YcQ58I3FJ5xaNNCLdZ0Bu?si=jHFAV2aeTWu2zbjRwFOhb...
Otw to my hometown for Chinese New Year celebration 🎉
In today‘s Straits Times 😄
My Silent Book Club is in the paper 😀
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/introvert-happy-hour-silent-book-clubs-a-...
Jerry Saltz‘ apartment 😍 I want one for myself.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2h5GOJLqDc/?igsh=cG0wcTFvbHNpNnA1
5⭐️ Wow! I‘m glad that I decided to give this book a try. What a captivating story! I love how she uses dual-timeline and that she brings in another individual as a close observer of an intense sibling rivalry. Mary Lawson is a wonderful story-teller I want to read her other books now
I need a good afternoon tea session one of these days 😃 For those in NYC, have you been to Tea & Sympathy? It looks good!!!
https://www.instagram.com/teaandsympathynyc?igsh=MXVlMWk0YTh5MjBtbw==
Planning ahead for my Chinese New Year holiday 😄 I will be visiting my hometown for 18 days in February. First is to decide what books to bring with me 🤪
Spending 1 hour on a treadmill is a chore so I have been listening to podcasts while struggling with my run/walk. And I came across this episode discussing Mary Lawson. Never heard of her, never read her books… but the interview intrigued me and Libby has the tagged book. Hurrah! I started it and kinda like her writing… it‘s engaging, too!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5zIVqLotaPk38aDqpKaPg6?si=te1orrVXSRy-CdZbTsRv4...
Forgot to post this. Books (from my shelves) I read in 2023 🥳 Meanwhile, I bought more than these in 2023 🙈
4⭐️ I don‘t hate this book but I don‘t love it, either. The writing is wonderful eventhough the tone and theme is soooo depressing I don‘t know why I chose this to start the new year. She probably wrote this to cope with her mental issues. I‘d love to know if she wrote it to let the world know how bad her husband had been to her.
Starting this novel today… first title in 2024 for NYRB Classics Reading Society 🥳 I didn‘t expect this IRL bookclub to last so long (since Sep 2018). To make things easier, I rule it with dictatorship and choose all the titles 🙊
4⭐️ Cozy spinster lit, best read on a rainy day 😃 Don‘t forget a large pot of tea with cakes etc because tea is mentioned zillion times in this book and it will make you crave for it. I didn‘t have any cake but leftover Lebkuchen worked. I like this better than her first book Some Tame Gazelle.
So I went back for the new year celebration and reunited with Melon 🍈 I bribed her with toys and it worked 😆
Wishing you stacks of Christmas joy🎄
3⭐️ This is not as a simple coming-of-age story as I expected. Growing up is not a simple process, especially if it‘s in Les Oeillets, with chatacters like Elliot, Zizi, etc. I would‘ve enjoyed it more if there were not too many French sentences.
Almost Christmas
4⭐️ I reread this with my IRL bookclub and I loved it the same. My favorite character is Mrs. Cullen 😍 I can see myself in her 🤭 but not with a hawk. A raven is more likely 🐦⬛
There‘s a chapter where Zola brought the reader to the Louvre. I enjoyed the mini tour so much I spent a lot of time googling the mentioned artworks
4⭐️ My first Victor Serge and I loved it! This is also my first spy thriller. My fav part is when he told the story about Germany‘s side after losing the WWII, which I‘ve never found in the books I‘ve read so far. I guess I need to read #PersephoneClub book (On the Other Side) to understand more.
Thank you for the birthday wishes @robinb @squirrelbrain @CarolynM @julesG @JessClark78 @Librarybelle @Jas16 @Bookzombie @Chelleo 😘 Here‘s a photo of the hotel that Spirited Away movie is based on. It‘s at Shima Onsen, Gunma prefecture, Japan. I‘m here for the autumn break 🤓 and also birthday celebration 😀
St. Marc Cafe at Jimbocho, Tokyo. Trying to finish this book for this Sunday‘s bookclub meeting 😅
Saw this on Instagram, and it got me thinking…. Why can‘t give Zola less than 4⭐️? I love Zola but I hated this book (It was 1⭐️ for me).
4⭐️ I usually dislike a novel with infidelity, but I tolerated this one so much even though the affair is rather annoying. And then I realized that I can only tolerate Penelope Lively for such theme because she‘s so good in applying all the fine nuances. Moon Tiger is a love story (another theme I don‘t fancy) but it‘s one of my favs. I‘d read anything written by her, really!
Lawrence Durrell reminds me of my uni classmate Peter. We were assigned to partner in a group assignment, and he‘s very controlling. While reviewing our work, he read my part of the essay and looked very annoyed. “Come on, Sisilia. You can‘t use “to solve the problem” for such serious paper. Change it to… *thinking for a few minutes*… “to decipher the enigma”. You need to work on your writing skill!” 🤪
I decided to cut my losses at p.70/877. I think Durrell worked hard to impress his readers by putting a lot of acrobatics. I appreciate good writings but this one is full of words jumbled up together and yet I was left asking “wth are you trying to say?” I posted those paragraphs that caught my attention and made me feel 🤢 My last draw was this: “..love, as a sort of masturbation, took on all the colours of neurasthenia.” Pfftt 🙅🏻♀️
Starting my journey with this tetralogy
3⭐️ Not my favorite Szabo 😑 I didn‘t enjoy the jumping around bits. It‘s an inner monologue addressed to the narrator‘s dead lover. The narrator is Eszter Enczy, an actress who really dislikes her friend Angela she‘s practically consumed by hatred 🔥 It took me a while to connect with Eszter although her bitterness tired me down. An interesting way of story-telling but not so much on the reading enjoyment