Welcome to Litsy!

I haven‘t #DNF a book in a long time but this one just isn‘t for me. I loved The Dinner and have had this one on my summer list for years. But I‘m 80 pages in and I‘m not enjoying it so on to something else.

#SummerSpecial #Swim

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The beach, swimming pool, paperbacks & overseas travel would be my four #thoughtfulthursday @MoonWitch94 bit late but thanks for the tag.

Quite the interesting read. Initially, it seemed to drag a bit as I was introduced to the MC, Dr. Marc, a general practitioner to celebrities. The pace of the story and my interest quickly picked up when time reversed to one year ago when Marc and family take a summer vacation and stay with Ralph, a famous actor and patient, and his family. A tragic event completely shifts the story and changes the dynamics of these relationships. #MountTBR

Some of the summer-y books I‘m hoping to get to in July. #JulyTBR #JulyJourneys

10/27/2020 My sister recommended this author. I was intrigued while reading this book and I enjoyed the suspense. Ultimately, I was disappointed by the ending because it was underwhelming. After all the build-up, there just wasn‘t a payoff.

I'm Dutch, so sometimes i'm gonna do a review of a Dutch writer and sometimes the books won't be translated to English. Luckily this one was. I really liked this. The confusion and uneasy feeling you have while reading is probably exactly what the writer was going for. I only wished the end had been different but he probably was going for realistic and not happily-ever-after.

Artwork by: https://www.deviantart.com/divsm-stock

More #buzzwords from my TBR! #buzzwordbookathon

#GratefulReads #characteryoulovetohate
I won‘t go so far as to say I ‘hate‘ but the protagonist, Dr Marc Schlosser, is truly a disgusting and detestable character. If you‘ve read the book, you‘ll know what I mean. If you haven‘t, read it and perhaps you‘ll grow to hate him.

The (very little)good, the bad, and the perverted. Herman Koch knows how to create characters that are easy to despise. Once again he explores the darkest underbelly on human nature from the perspective of a self-absorbed male narrator who fails to consider the consequences of his actions on the people he “loves.” However, as unpalatable as the story lines are, Koch has a great eye for a story and writes with fluidity. I‘m really torn!

#tbt to last weekend in the Hamptons with my #beachread (kind of?) ☀️

I'm not entirely sure how to review this book but I was never able to fully get into the writing style. Much more sinister than I expected... I was picturing the narrator as creepy Kevin Spacey a la American Beauty. If you enjoy summer family vacay drama involving a slew of shitty people, dig in!

#booked2018

Today‘s reading location is 👌🏻

I only read this one because I had a copy and I needed a book for the #beachread prompt.
And I was right in dreading it, Koch creates some characters again that I really despise. Maybe that means he‘s a good writer but to me it is too much of a trick.
This trick, the sexism and the too graphic descriptions of sexual organs made me really dislike the book. And yet I finished it in one read. That‘s what I hate most about it 😀. #Dutch

Die Inhaltsangabe trifft eher die Rahmenhandlung als den Kern der Geschichte. Das kann zu falschen Erwartungen führen. Hält man jedoch trotzdem durch, entwickelt die Geschichte in der zweiten Hälfte eine ganz eigene Dynamik und wird zu einem typischen Herman Koch, in der er seine hervorragende Beobachtungsgabe des menschlichen Verhaltens brillant unter Beweis stellt.

Zu viele Lese-oder Hör-Pausen sollte man allerdings nicht einlegen.

‪Mein Plan war ja, zum Lesen ins Bett zu gehen und mit dem #Buchclub-Buch „Wunder“ anzufangen, das ich gestern entleihen durfte. ? (Yeah‼️??)‬
‪Aber der Tag heute war anstrengend. Also höre ich statt zu lesen im Bett halt „Sommerhaus mit Swimmingpool“ weiter.‬
‪
Ich sag schonmal ?. ‬

Kopfweh-Therapie: Hörbuch anmachen.

Zweimal die gleiche halbe Stunde gehört. Ich weiß immer noch nicht, was darin passiert. ??‍♀️?

Heut scheint wieder internationaler Kopfweh-Tag zu sein. Deswegen geht es mit „Sommerhaus mit Swimmingpool“ weiter bis es meinem Kopf besser geht.

Oder bis das Hörbuch zu Ende ist. ??‍♀️

Ja, das ist schon teilweise so bissig wie gedacht. Die Beobachtungen menschlichen und männlichen Verhaltens sind mitunter so realistisch, dass ich stellenweise nicht weiß, ob ich das bewundern oder die handelnde Figur für ein Arschloch halten soll.

Allerdings ist die Handlung anders als erwartet. Bisher (etwa Stunde zwei) konzentriert sie sich eher auf familiäre als auf ärztlich-medizinische Hintergründe.

Super, das Herunterladen hat schon mal geklappt, obwohl die Onleihe meldet, dass es bei Hörbüchern (mit mehreren Titeln) beim Herunterladen Probleme geben kann.

Das trifft auf mich offenkundig nicht zu.
Jetzt freue ich mich fast noch ein bisschen mehr auf die Fahrt morgen. Bei etwa siebeneinhalb Stunden Gesamtspielzeit kann ich ja sogar den Arbeitsweg ins Hörvergnügen miteinbeziehen.
Hach ?, das wird so toll. ??

Moby Dick muss ich mir noch mal ausleihen. Typisch ich. Ich bin nicht dazu gekommen, ihn (den Moby Dick) zu Ende zu hören.

Da ich morgen aber eine längere Autofahrt vor mir habe, habe ich den heißen, freien Nachmittag genutzt, um mir dafür ein Hörbuch runterzuladen. Von Herman Koch habe ich schon „Angerichtet“ gelesen und war total begeistert. Obwohl man sich als „Mittelschichtler“ manchmal auch ertappt fühlt. Hiervon erhoffe ich mir ähnliches.

Lazy Saturday swimming with the kiddos. Today is a scorcher 112 degrees. 😥🌵🌞🏊

I like dark, disturbing characters, and I like stories where author is playing with readers mind, questioning their moral, ethics and choices in the way Koch does. Without his intentional impact on the reader he just throw some provocative thoughts, and leaves decision/reaction about what is wrong/right to the reader ...

#backpackEurope
Status: packing for next location - Belgium 🇧🇪, Brussels
Currently reading: A.Nothomb, Fear and Trembling

One of these days I will get around to reading this book.

#readingresolutions
@jess7

#backpackEurope

I just arrived at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and I‘m waiting for @BarbaraBB to pick me to do some sightseeing ... but first coffee and few pages.

Fun summer reading challenge #backpackEurope

Simona‘s EU route
Starting location: Slovenija
Traveling to: Amsterdam airport
Status: Ready to go

Rules:
https://thereadersroom.org/2018/06/18/summer-reading-challenge-backpack-through-...

This is one of those books that should have worked for me. Great cover, A+ title. Engaging and well executed plot. But the writing style left me cold. There is a detached manner about Koch‘s writing that put me off of this. 50% through, I had trouble caring about the characters or what was happening. The ending semi made up for it but by then it was a case of too little, too late. #friendship (with friends like these . . . 😂) #booked2018

@Mdargusch is our bartender tonight so I‘m enjoying my Blueberry Bella and my book. 💁🏼‍♀️ 🍋

Not many liked this book but I enjoyed reading the loathsome characters, the awful and complex unreliable narrator, kept me in suspense till the end.
#marchinbooks #seasoninthetitle

Great book. Loved it. It's a bit slow in the first pages but then the rythim is perfect. I'll definetly look at doctors in a different way from now on. #Sha2018

#NuYear I usually enjoy a story where the characters and plot involve #moral ambiguity 😈Herman Koch writes really unlikeable and deplorable characters...I liked Summer House but hated The Dinner....however both books have plenty to discuss. Has anyone read Dear Mr. M?!?!

Dr Schlosser and his family stay at his client‘s (a celebrity) summer house in the Mediterranean. The guests at the Summer House have their days filled with swimming in the pool, table tennis, trips to the beach and BBQs, but there are undercurrents and things begin to fall apart. Detestable characters but this book kept me in suspense right through to the end.
#scenesfromabook #swimmingpool

Oh, my... what a nasty group of characters. I can‘t remember the last time I read a book so full of unlikeable characters.
Yet somehow, I still liked the book. It‘s compelling, even as you sink deeper into the muck of their lives. You know nothing good is going to come of this. But still, Koch makes sure you WANT to know all the sordid details.

Very much like The Dinner, this one has loathsome characters..a more awful and complex unreliable narrator who has a calculating mind. There're cruel jokes and things that make you squirm; the dark and unimaginable thoughts we keep within ourselves. It questions our ideas about guilt, blame and responsibility. Koch seems to be very good in stories that challenge our moral stand; unsettling stories with much ambiguity that appall or even offend us.

#firstlineofcurrentread #anditsaugust
A dark tale of a summer holiday gone wrong. The protagonist is a complex unreliable narrator. #currentread

#riotgrams #summerreads

Koch has such a weird, warped mind (and I mean that in the best possible way). His books always linger for me. ☀️

One of many on the #TBR. #seasoninthetitle #marchintoreading

@Liberty Here are three books I read and enjoyed with a season in the title 🌸🌼🌺Summer House is dark& disturbing, Fall of Marigolds is dual narrative/timeline and Winter of the World is a behemoth novel , starting after WWI continuing through the mid 1950's tracing 5 family dynasties. All good reads! #SPRINGCLEANING

#17rainbowbooks #redspines books from my shelves.
Have you read any of these?
@jess.how

#17booklove Some of my #redbooks on my shelf. All to be read. 😅 Which one do you reckon I start first?
@jess.how

Whoa! This book was effed up! Truly despicable characters with so much moral ambiguity. This would make for excellent book club discussion. Obligation to patients/family, Trust/ honor , victim or villain??? So many questions
This book was dark and disturbing. Total creep! Filled a few of my challenges too. #LRC15 #translatedbook #popsugar #bookwithseasonintitle @BetterWorldBooks #translatedbook

Read & TBR #publishedin2000s #readjanuary

I'm at the half way point and completely hooked! The narrator is a total d🖕🏼ck, and I know something terrible is about to happen but I can't turn away. The equivalent to rubbernecking on the highway 😱

To all the Littens who stacked Prague Winter....you may want to rethink that one....it kept getting drier and drier until I couldn't take it a minute longer...Just started Summer House with Swimming Pool, completely different from Madeleine Albright but works for the #popsugarchallenge ~ book with one of the four seasons 😉It is also a translated novel which fills #LRC15 and @BetterWorldBooks reading challenge 🤓

I love the summer months and I'm always looking forward to their return. These two novels remind me that warm weather is just around the corner! ☀️ #day6 #dreamingofawarmerclimate #readjanuary

Downloaded the ebook from the library the found it on audible for 3.95!!! I'm so pumped!

I loved The Dinner so much I had to get this❤️👍🏻 his sarcasm has me wrapped around his finger 😀

Saw this post by Grammarly on FB and I had to share. 📚❤️😍📖