Welcome to Litsy!

The Author Spotlight reading group started the Eileen Chang month. First up is her story collection Love in a Fallen City.

The Author Spotlight series is organized and hosted by @HardcoverHearts

Sitting on the back deck of our new place with my « on deck » book pile for the weekend! I am quite pleased with this group, and am very curious about Solenoid. Happy weekend, all!

#SpringSkies Day 19: #Fall in title. My handwritten book log for our #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 reading theme. There were striking themes that fit into the decolonize nature of our reading theme, especially the portrayal of biracial characters who do not seem to fit in anywhere, forever outsiders across their two cultural backgrounds. Full review here: https://wp.me/pDlzr-ofx

Occasional Weekly Report:

Finally finished the Rushdie. Excellent, wordy and I should have read it during a vacation. Also read Ivory Pearl which was delightful until it abruptly stops because the author never finished it. And read, start to finish, very quickly the love letter to NYC that is The World We Made.

Always reading Clarissa and about to start Love in a Fallen City and/or The Great Believes.

#ItHadToBeYou Day 19: dark #chocolate covered macadamia. 💕🍫

I live for cheese! 💕 More Valentine Shenanigans. 💕

Valentine dinner with my Valentine of 31 years. 💕🥰📚💐

#ItHadToBeYou Day 15: chocolate covered macadamia is my #Candy. 💕 Reading this book for Valentine‘s and #DecolonizeBookshelves2022.

#ItHadToBeYou Day 10: I am sure there is #LoveLost in this potential #NYRBBookClub title and also part of our #DecolonizeBookshelves2022 reading theme.

Here is the result of the library book sale this morning. I think we knew not buying anything was not going to happen. The tagged book was a NYRB title already on my#TBR. Score! Queen Hildegarde appears to be a YA story from 1889. And it's a series! Looking forward to checking that one out. A couple of books about books and a couple of classics. Pleased with this stack overall! #bookhaul

These stories were all beautifully written and translated. They have a sense of melancholy & almost a nostalgic type of feel to them. A lot of the characters were ‘unlikeable‘ but in a love to read about them way. I really enjoyed them all besides one (the one translated by Chang herself). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can see why these short stories are an acquired taste but I really liked them. A mix of post revolution China and Hong Kong and almost Edwardian-English sort of manners, this wasn‘t quite like anything I‘ve ever read before. It seemed to have a different rhythm from anything else Chinese or English. I see why people found it too slow or over-mannered but I really loved it.

Happy Sunday! Well, happy Sunday from your furloughed friend who hasn‘t known what day it is for several months. Today I‘m reading this which has been on my shelf forever and I‘m finally getting around to reading it. Such a striking cover, i can see why I had to buy it at the time lol.

I‘m tired & mentally exhausted from a long & busy work week so 1) I don‘t have much to express about this book, and 2) admittedly that might have affected my reading experience. But basically this mostly didn‘t work for me. The writing (or perhaps translation) was kind of odd & stilted but also emotions/reactions were often over the top. The characters were largely flat or clichéd. There was some good commentary but it just didn‘t grab me. 2/5 ⭐️

But how sweet a fruit the “suppose” must be, that people will sup and sup on it! A juicy fruit, like a lychee but without the pit, sparkling and light green; a fruit that hides the tart within the sweet.

One of my favorite Booktubers (Claire Reads Books—not sure if she‘s on here, there‘s someone with a similar username but it‘s not her) raved about Eileen Chang, and what she said about this collection in particular really got me intrigued. Plus, it was first published in 1943 so it‘ll work for one of the @thereadingwomen challenge prompts! #nowreading

This was a fascinating read. We only looked at 4 of her stories for my Non-Western Lit class, but they were otherworldly. We‘ve been reading books that seem to have an old-world-clashing-with-new-world theme. They were brilliant, poignant, moving, and painful. I‘ll be returning to this again once the semester‘s over. “Between memory and reality, there are awkward discrepancies.”

Short stories by Eileen Chang, about love, longing, family;finding ways to bridge traditional and modern society. Sexual politics, patriarchy clash.Elegant, incisive, lyrical description of a world now gone. Translated from the Chinese by Karen Kingsbury.

#recommendsday everything and anything by the late Eileen Chang. Her stories are usually of troubled relationships, with beautiful cinematic writing, and such attention to detail.