Welcome to Litsy!

5⭐️ I expected Germinal to be crazy, but I didn‘t expect it to be THIS crazy. Zola went all out. His graphic descriptions could be horrific at times, and he pulled his readers to experience it along with the characters. Coal mining is a messy business, and working as a coal miner is basically living in hell. Pour in the disparity and conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the workers, and you‘d get an unforgettable read.

I‘d never thought about how coal mining works until now. It‘s extremely hard work, dangerous, and harmful to the body. To think that they used child labour for this is mind-boggling!

Have you watched The Empress on Netflix? It‘s about Empress Sisi of Austria. Part of Season 2 is about the revolution in Lombardy-Venetia. It‘s nice when my book and my Netflix connect 💕

My next read 😅 My book buddy said to me, “Germinal for Christmas! Only you would put yourself through this kind of torture.” I‘m so looking forward to this, though. The ultimate Zola unhinged 🔥

Putting “Cujo” on the back burner for a while. I want to finish Emile Zola‘s Rougon-Macquart series. “Germinal”. #Ètienne_Lantier #miners #exploitation #outrage #strike

“Blow the candle out, I don't need to see what my thoughts look like.”

This is the first novel by Zola that I‘ve read, and it completely pulled me into the story of these coal miners. It is an incredibly grim story but so well told. I truly felt that I got to know the characters and understand their motivations.

#1001books #audiobook
#ReadingEurope2020 #France #translated

#BookReport #DaiseysReadingWeek
📚 I finished an interesting selection of books this week, including a few I‘ve been reading for a while.

#CurrentlyReading
📖 Magician of Lublin - still a few pages at a time at school
🎧 The Odyssey
🎧 Germinal - wasn‘t in the mood for audio today but should finish this in the next day or 2
📖 Locke & Key Volume 3

#WeeklyForecast
📚 Continue current reads and hopefully move on to a couple new ones.

One of my cousins gave me a Spice Breeze subscription for Christmas, so I‘ve been enjoying some different recipes than I normally make. Today it‘s this French beef stew while I listen to Germinal. I just finished one French novel, The Red and the Black, which I didn‘t particularly enjoy, so I wasn‘t sure about starting another. However, I‘m appreciating this one more so far, although it may be early to say.

#1001books #Reading1001 #audiobook

A lot of misery and suffering, but I have to agree that this is Zola's best novel. The novel rises above melodrama in order to speak more deeply about the human condition. The last part of the novel is like a real punch of horror.

It is worth noting that the same kind of coal mining still goes on in parts of the world today and 15 Indian miners died recently in a mine disaster:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-46734451

This one was a struggle for me... excellent writing and an interesting story of the working class people in 1860s France, both of which kept me reading; but it was too gritty and boring in parts. Just when I thought I had heard enough about older women‘s tired breasts...bam! The manhood of a dead guy is ripped off and paraded around on a stick. 😬

There is really much more to this book, but I‘m just over it, so...🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️

#1001books

Starting this one today... I guess Les Mis wasn‘t enough French misery for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Getting back into reading. Today I've read a few chapters of Germinal, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, and A History of Russia and Its Empire by Kees Bloterbloem. Also Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as I actually have never read the books or seen the movies before now 😃. I'm so loving everything I'm reading!!! Woohoo!

#litsyclassics #litsyclassicsmatches

@LaLecture @sprainedbrain

13th in the Rougon-Macquart series, this novel follows Etienne Lantier down the pit as he labors in an 1880s coal mine. Angered by the incessant reduction of the miners' starvation wages, he leads a strike intended to better the lives of the Maheu family (with whom he lives) and the other colliers who work the Voreux. His socialism may bring down the whole mine. Grim, detailed, compelling.

Le petit dejeuner avec un Zola. Mais c'est parfait! 😍

One of the greatest novels I've read! 😌❤

2/3rds of my books packed up! #booknerdsbelike

I'm telling you, Germinal is a top election year read. #riotriotriot #crushthe1percent

Hands down my favorite book of September! Thanks so much @Avidreader25 and @BkClubCare for hosting #GerminalAlong. Wrap-up on the blog today.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐ ️#somethingforsept @RealLifeReading

#septphotochallenge #somethingforsept #bestreadsofseptember
Thoroughly enjoyed the #GerminalAlong and always a pleasure assisting @Avidreader25 with #readalongs

It's been a good reading month. I wrapped up the Selection series, co-hosted a #Germinalalong with @BkClubCare and read the final book for my fiction Reading the States challenge!

currently reading ... and figuring out Litsy!

The intro! The introduction warns the reader to maybe wait to read til finished... Wow. Such good history and context and questions... and so relevant? I did not get a lot of world history as a US young person and it seems likely I did not get much labor history (unless you consider the good conservatives telling me that "unions are bad") so wow. ARE WE GETTING SOMEWHERE OR GOING NOWHERE?

Just started Part 4 of Germinal and Do You Hear the People Sing has been running in my mind on loop. Singing the song of angry men! #germinalalong

Today's #septphotochallenge #somethingforsept is focusing on #booksintranslation. Thus, I must share my current read being #readalong with @Avidreader25 @Lakesidemusing and @TriniCapini - am I missing any other Littens? My ebook is the Roger Pearson translation and my audiobook SADLY discloses NO information that I could find on who might have translated! But Leighton Pugh narrates... Does anyone know how to find? I checked production website.

"Everyone would end up at the Jolly Fellow... run by Widow Desire, a stout matron of fifty who was as round as a barrel but still so full of energy that she had six lovers, one for each day of the week, she used to say all six at once on Sundays!"
Ooooh, that Widow Desire!?. Thanks @BkClubCare #GerminalAlong

Just started Part 5. I'm amazed by how readable and fascinating this one is. #GerminalAlong

Friday, at last! #GerminalAlong

I am not at home to pull blue books off my shelves so wasn't sure what I could post today. But then I see the color of my shorts matches color of the Litsy tool bar, I have to take this shot. #somethingforsept #bluebooks #septphotochallenge #imonaboat #germinalalong

Coffee + books = my kind of Sunday morning
☕️ + 📚 = 💖
#GerminalAlong

Zola postcard from the amazing @BkClubCare 😃 #GerminalAlong

A few minutes of reading, then we're off to the train station with Daughter #1. #GerminalAong

"Beneath the blazing of the sun, in that morning of new growth, the countryside rang with song, as its belly swelled with a black and avenging army of men, germinating slowly in its furrows, growing upwards in readiness for harvests to come, until one day soon their ripening would burst open the earth itself."

In honour of labour day weekend my favourite book about workers rights. If you haven't read any Zola yet...he's amazing.

I am not very far into Germinal yet but it is on my mind. As is pie. I changed the tag line on my blog to "I like my literature with a slice of pie." Ya like? ? #septphotochallenge #readandeat why is everyone hashtagging #somethingforsept ? @RealLifeReading

"And Le Voreux, crouching like some evil beast at the bottom of its lair, seemed to hunker down even further, puffing and panting in increasingly slow, deep bursts, as if it were struggling to digest its meal of human flesh."

Yikes! I think @BkClubCare is right... this may qualify for #RIPXI ? #GerminalAlong

So it looks like I'll be reading the intro AFTER the novel! Thanks for the warning @penguinusa 😊 #GerminalAlong @BkClubCare @Avidreader25

Ready guys? #GerminalAlong starts today! Anyone is welcome to join in the fun! @BkClubCare @TriniCapini @Lakesidemusing

It's French! It's 19th Century Lit!! It's . . . ZOLA

September readalong #GerminalAlong