Welcome to Litsy!

#ItTakesAllKinds Day 29: This is a #BkMentionedInBk #BookMentionedInBook kind of novel that I absolutely adored. Took a photo of the page and edited using an app. See my full review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-i6R

This was a lovely book…I felt like I was having a private conversation with a friend where I learned about her life story. This is a simpler, quieter novel than Alameddine‘s The Hakawati, but it‘s a solid book in its own right. This will appeal especially to introverted literature lovers!

Props to @vivastory who have me the extra motivation to finally read this.

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

My last book for #Booked2021 for the Spring season (set in country w/ UN Peacekeepers) and my first completion for #JoysofJune.

I really liked this love letter to literature and to Beirut, narrated by a misanthropic old lady who translates books no one will ever read as a way to mark the time. Alienated from her family and neighbors, sorely missing the one friend she had and let slip away. It was touching, sometimes funny and provocative.

While I enjoyed the last 50 or so pages of the book the rest didn't come through for me. We were jumping all over the place so the story didn't have a good flow. It was written well in the sense that I felt like I was in a 70 year olds head and reading the ramblings that go on within. It seemed there were only a few pages that actually talked about the Lebanese Civil Wars and I didn't really see how it had shaped the main character.

It is an on and off rainy day here so I've setup the little guy with a movie, baby girl is napping and I'm going to enjoy a little bit of reading with some pumpkin tea. Perfect way to spend a Saturday morning. Although I can't say that I'm loving this book.

#morningreading #rainyday #tea

Started reading this book on another lovely day for outside reading. I'm having some trouble getting into it. It just seems like the main character is rambling and glossing over some of the interesting history (although sometimes tough) of Beirut. But I'm not many pages in yet so we'll see where it goes.

#Fiction #CurrentlyReading #OutsideReading

I came across this quote from Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes while reading the tagged book. It seems like it could have been written for or current times.

This was my #DoubleSpin pick and I really wanted to like it, but I just don‘t have enough focus right now. It‘s been on my TBR shelf for 4 years and it‘s time to move it to my give-away pile for someone else.

Hey #LMPBC #GroupX ladies! Can we just have a quick check in? I haven't yet received the tagged, which I think was sent a while ago? Katie, have you received The Water Dancer from me? I sent it just before the New Year...

@Read-y_Picker @KatieB @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego

@StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Just finished your #LMPBC pick this morning, in time to open the rest of your care package 🎁. Yes I waited and it was so lovely! Thanks for all the goodies. Also had to show off your Christmas wax stamp. So cute!
@TheKidUpstairs This book will be on its way to you shortly. Get your google machine ready. So many great references to dive into in this one!
#MerryChristmas #HappyHolidays #Festivusfortherestofus #GroupX

1. Tagged, A Christmas Carol, The Ice Princess
2. The Luminaries, Dante‘s Inferno and New Moon (which I‘m quite sure I never bought for myself. It seems a requisite fact that most libraries should contain more than one copy. )
3. Though the reflection in the pool
Often swims before your eyes:
Know the image.

#weekendreads

I ordered myself a few books for my birthday (because - why not?!) and they arrived today. I will hopefully find some time in 2021 to read these as they will represent 3 countries for #readingasia2021. My maternity leave is up in January so I doubt I'll get much reading done in 2021 but one can always dream 🙂.

The Rent Collector - Cambodia
Dear Leader - North Korea
An Unnecessary Woman - Jordan (where the author was born)

#currentlyreading #lmpbc

It is FREEZING in southern Idaho right now. We got so much snow last night that I was hoping for a snow day today, but nope. It almost almost melted by the morning. 😭

I'm starting this book today. I picked it up at a library sale a long time ago because of the cover, but I know nothing else about it. I'm excited to jump in. 🤓

Loved the writing.

This is the first book I have taken advantage of free Kindle through Amazon Prime. I just started it, but am completely hooked. It‘s so funny. The narrator‘s voice sounds how I want to be at 72( and is nearly how I sound now). That alternating mix of optimism and cynicism; of caring and not. I love it and I don‘t know anything yet but blue hair and red wine!

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who want to be desired, and people who want to be desired so much that they pretend they don‘t.”

we are constantly explaining and excusing ourselves; life itself, that inexplicable complex of being and feeling, demands explanations of us, those around us demand explanations, and in the end we ourselves demand explanations of ourselves, until in the end we succeed in annihilating everything around us, ourselves included, or in other words explain ourselves to death.

I long ago abandoned myself to a blind lust for the written word. Literature is my sandbox. In it I play, build my forts and castles, spend glorious time. It is the world outside that box that gives me trouble. I have adapted tamely, though not conventionally, to this visible world so I can retreat without much inconvenience into my inner world of books.

Currently reading

I‘m so glad that I picked up this book that gives a glimpse into the life of a well read woman looking back on her life in Beirut. Aaliya spends most of her time alone, translating great works of literature into Arabic. Although she has a quite solitary existence, her inner life is so rich that it really brings this quiet story to life. I highly recommend this, it was a great read and my U book for #LitsyAtoZ2019.

Aaliyah will stay with me for a long time. Although I read it quickly, this is not a “page-turner” kind of book. It‘s meditative and funny by turns, full of quotes and infinitely quotable, and a paean to literature. I highly recommend it!

“She began circling the top of narcissistic Everest at an early age, and later, after her husband died and her children grew, she floated above the entire Himalayas.”

“dancing the Beiruti Hustle to the other side.” 😆

@SharonGoforth Book synchronicity! “With this essential reliability, are Germans bored? Does that explain The Magic Mountain?” 🤣

“The hospital had to hire an in-house toilet calibrator.” 😂

I always seem to start a new book on the last day of the month. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Enjoying a thinner volume after the chunkster I just finished!

This was my #ReadAroundTheWorld challenge book for July - #Lebanon. It‘s a book lover‘s book, that‘s for sure- full of references across literature and a main character who comes fully to life here. The book is more of a character study in a lot of ways and I think would be perfect for book clubs or other discussion groups looking for a fresh voice. The audio version was great, too! The format worked really well- and not just for #AudioColoring!

Started this one last night for #readaroundtheworld #lebanon - think I‘m going to enjoy this story of an older lady living alone with her books. Opening line:

“You could say I was thinking of other things when I shampooed my hair blue, and two glasses of red wine didn‘t help my concentration”

Of foreign literature and translation. Discover Aaliya's life, between books, war in Beirut, and her family.

#foreignliterature #rabihalameddine #lebaneseauthors

This book isn't a bad book. I enjoyed so many things about this book. I enjoyed the character and her literary ability. At many points I felt this was an unnecessary book. But there was a lot of wisdom she has which was great to read. This book doesn't have a strong plot which I guess is given, and couldn't hold my attention for a greater period of time. It's a lazy book and wasn't particularly engaging at any instance

I liked a lot about this book! It brought me to a world I‘m not at all familiar with, the voice is great, and it‘s filled with literary references— deep cuts too. All of which make it a lot of fun. But the plot is lacking for me... major points felt schmaltzy and the plot lacked urgency. I‘m glad I read it, but I think it needs a reader who is in a brooding mood, who wants to pick up a million allusions and mull them over.

Reading this as well. Happy to be learning more about Lebanon and this account of a deep love for books.

This book took me very long to read, but then I don't really think it's the kind of book you rush through. Absolutely beautifully written. #passportlitsy

#FriyayIntro
🧚🏼‍♀️sunny yellow
🧚🏼‍♀️La Mante, the French crime series on Netflix. Loved it.
🧚🏼‍♀️tagged book has made me google soo many titles- full review just posted today here: https://gatheringbooks.org/2018/06/09/saturday-reads-40/
🧚🏼‍♀️ mayo, sometimes thousand island
🧚🏼‍♀️ read, blog, and watch two movies for the mexican film fest here in singapore tomorrow

#QuotsyJune18 Day 6: Here is what #Drive(s) the passion of Aaliya, the main character in the story, who translated favourite, obscure, award-winning international classics into Arabic. To have this kind of #Drive and passion for what one does is truly a gift, a sacred one. I lifted my self-imposed book-buying ban to purchase the books she mentioned here: Pessoa, Yourcenar, Lampedusa, Nooteboom, Molina, Duras, Javier Marias among others.

#AdelesMayMashUp Day 22: There is a #TakeItAll vibe to this quote that is pure surrender to art, when one is emptied out of one‘s self, as one pours one‘s self into simply being - there divinity is found. I feel sad that my book club members did not take to this as much as I did, except for one or two, but clearly this isn‘t a book for everyone. The voice remains masculine for me as if Alameddine was speaking thru Aaliya, but as a whole, I 💙 it.

#QuotsyMay18 Day 21: Very #Sage -like observations/ insights about people and the decisions we make/unmake/did not make - along the way.

72-year old Aaliya is looking back on a life lived through literature. After a failed marriage she has workshop in a bookshop, read, read, read and every year translated another work into Arabic. Now she faces a crisis and in book-filled flat in Beirut.
The story is well-told and the many book references are a joy to read.

#ReadingResolutions Day 16: I have just finished reading this exquisite novel, hence my #CurrentBookQuote. My TBR has just exploded exponentially, thanks to Alameddine. I have created a list of titles which I will be sharing in GatheringBooks a month from now.

I‘m finally back to reading this one! And a very early summer came upon us. REAL summer. I‘m sure it‘s the only one we‘ll get this year.

Sadly, most of my book club ppl didn‘t care much for this novel, they said they couldn‘t get the references and felt stuck. I totally get it since it‘s seemingly without plot, ruminative-to-a-fault, with a mastery in artful digressions. But there is something self-effacing yet sharp, vulnerable yet strong, sardonic and profoundly sad in the voice that spoke to me deeply. Plus, there is such book love that invites rather than excludes the reader.💙