Welcome to Litsy!

Thought provoking, sometimes infuriating but always interesting. Three generations worth of stories that show the common thread of humanity and heartache. Outside my comfort zone of my usual reads, but worth the read!

..what else..

Well, this was definitely interesting. I can understand why it gets mixed reviews as my feelings about it were mixed! Each of the three parts has aspects of beauty, and there was a fair amount of magical realism and just plain incomprehensible parts. Nothing upsetting, thank goodness. The last part has a lot of untranslated Portuguese, which I happen to read... Not sure how others experience it.

I wandered through the house earlier and decided to try to tackle this one (gift from my sister). I know it got very mixed reviews but I don't recall allusions to anything weird or upsetting. As soon as he mentioned stuffed African animals, I started stressing. It brought back the trauma of Beatrice and Virgil, possibly the most distressing book I ever read. Crossing my fingers that nothing too awful is coming! 🤞😞

Took a trip to the Goodwill in the next town over (they have a bigger/better book selection) and found lots of goodies for under $20. I‘ll hold onto, and read, the 2 books to the left in the top picture, the rest are for the Little Free Libraries!

#happycanadaday

Thanks for the tag @BarbaraBB and for the chance to join in your fab giveaway @KVanRead !

1. Tagged book - I read this recently and really liked it.
2. LM Montgomery
3. None of it actually ‘Canadian‘ but we visited Vancouver in 1998 (honeymoon) and 2003 (5th anniversary) and came across so many foods that weren‘t yet popular in the UK.... blueberries, juicing, sandwich wraps, curly fries and Starbucks! 🤪😳

On paper, this isn‘t my kind of book, but I loved it. It includes a man who walks everywhere backwards, a rather disgustingly descriptive autopsy, an allegorical comparison of Agatha Christie‘s books to the bible and a man who adopts a chimpanzee. (Chimps are a bit of a theme...)

(I also tried to read The Life of Pi when it came out and hated it, so maybe it‘s time for a re-read?)

#readingeurope2020 #portugal

The most random book I've read in a long time 😂 It was split into 3 sections and they all eventually linked together because of an ape. I just didn't really see the point in it at all. At least Portugal is done!
#ReadingEurope2020 #Portugal 🇵🇹 (24th country)

Today has been a loooonnnng day in work! So glad I can finally chill and have a read 😍 Currently in Portugal 🇵🇹 #ReadingEurope2020
Getting me excited for our summer holiday in August ✈

A story is a wedding in which we listeners are the groom watching the bride coming up the aisle. It is together, in an act of imaginary consummation, that the story is born. This act wholly involves us, as any marriage would, and just as no marriage is exactly the same as another, so each of us interprets a story differently, feels for it differently. A story calls upon us...as individuals-and we like that. Stories benefit the human mind.

Read this for the only round of #lmpbc I took part in.

#Mountains #WanderingJune @BarbaraBB @Cinfhen

I listened to most of this book at 2x speed because I just wanted to get through it (last book club read of the year.) Otherwise I wouldn't have read it. Yann Martel writes in fable and allegory but in a way where you spend most of your time with ancient automobiles, cadavers, and chimpanzees and then wonder where your life has gone.

Spotted in the Miami airport.
#bookcam

Ready for take-off! Portugal here I come! ✈️

1. Jill Mansell. Also smut. The more my mental health is compromised, the more smut I read.
2. Finish reading The Immortalists.
3. It was so good
4. I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue, but only if it's really long. 😂
5. 👋
#friyayintro @howjessreads

My #januarywrapup comes in at a surprising 12 books! My monthly average last year was 4 books! Starting 2019 off strong in the reading department, and it feels nice.
Longest book: 656 pages (Lethal White)
Shortest: 72 pages (The Sleeper and the Spindle)
Average pages read: 340
Favorite: High Mountains of Portugal
Least Favorite: Frankenstein

Stack 8/12 for the #BlindDateWithABook Display @BookBabe and I are working on. 😁

Have you read any of these?!

#LitsyLovesLibraries #MrBooksDisplays

This book was as incredibly beautiful as it was incredibly unusual. Broken into three parts, with seemingly minimal to no connection at all and a broad, sweeping plot with no clear destination; it isn't likely to be everyone's cup of tea. But I found it to be entrancing and fascinating, one that isn't going to leave any of my headspace untouched. Definitely worthy of a reread and a special place on my new favorites list.

#quotsyjan19 #room @TK-421

I will read anything by Yann Martel. This book had some ups and downs and the pacing is off in the middle. But I love the animal symbolism and magical realism and the bursts of spiritual thought. I am looking forward to discussing it next week in my book club. #magicalrealism #bookclub

Successful library book sale!

#Aprella I can‘t believe it‘s the last day!!! This month flew!!!Thank you to my 3 wittiest cohosts for such an awesome month🙌🏻💗🔥 😜Yann Martel wrote one of my favorite novels, so I had high hopes for this one. Praying I #FeelItStill but alas this book was a total slog and big disappointment ☹️😩Three separate stories dealing with grief (and a chimpanzee) interconnect in the final section. Meh... the sum did not equal a whole photo: google

Finished The High Mountains of Portugal today and after risking abandonment it turned out an absolute thumbs up!

Will review it on my blog Graasland after #deweysreadathon

At the cafe waiting for my reading buddy @Muizz
#deweysreadathon @DeweysReadathon

#readathon time! Will be finishing this long-ago-started novel first!
#deweysreadathon #24hourreadathon @DeweysReadathon

It's back, ladies! I'm reading your thoughts right now - I'm very happy we all enjoyed this one more or less. Thanks @ju.ca.no for the lovely postcard as always and thank you all for a great #LMPBC round 001! @Simona @julesG

@suvata

This book is giving me a really hard time rating it... it is divided in three parts, part one is about a man who lost his home, part two about a man who searches it and part three about a man who found it. The stories are loosely connected, they all deal with grief, loss and a chimpanzee. The first one is boring, the second one strange and the last one is overwhelmingly beautiful! I‘m not sure if i can recommend it, but if you start- finish it!!

1. tonight I‘m inviting my parents and brother for dinner and I have promised a friend that I‘ll take photos of her and her baby, and we might do that on sunday😊
2. 5‘4ish
3. I still have two homes atm, I‘ve lived at my parents place for 20 years so far and in my flat in Vienna for 3 years... (but I will probably move out of both within the next 1-2 years)
4. tagged book for #LMPBC

#friyayintro @jesshowbooks

Day 20 for #readingresolutions @Jess7 #dogsorcats #LMPBC @ephemeralwaltz @julesG @Simona

Usually I post more cat pics than dogs, mainly because Merlin doesn‘t like to cuddle that much and a black dog is just horrible to picture properly in photographs 😂

#hallowhoareyou @Gyldholm
Thanks for the tag @ephemeralwaltz 😘
1. 25
2.younger brother
3.nope
4.the tagged book for #LMPBC
5.don‘t make me choose 😰
6. 😊😅😘
7. hmm... somnambulate 🤔
8. I am very ambitious yet lazy😅
9. animal lover😁
10. Tea! (Hot chocolate is also yum! I‘m not much of a coffee drinker though)
11. hmm the Sandman - as I would love to sleep right now instead of being at work😴😴
12. @maralinchen

#LMPBC Ladies - the final book has arrived😊 @ephemeralwaltz @julesG @Simona @suvata #groupU

This was an interesting book. A strange book of three stories that are connected.
The last story was the most interesting to me, especially its last few pages where everything came together.

Solely based on this last story, I give this book 4 stars.

If it wasn't for #LMPBC #GroupU I would not have read this book; which would have been a shame, since it spoke to me in the end.

@ju.ca.no @Simona @ephemeralwaltz

We have a few more minutes before we have to wake the next kid. The son is off already. (Why does school have to start at 7:50 a.m.?) The lucky daughter has another day off, it's teachers' development day today. (we're going to ransack Ikea after my physiotherapy)

I can finish the second part of the High Mountains.
#LMPBC #GroupU

If it wasn't for #LMPBC #GroupU, I would not read this book.

Sorry ladies, I'm bored. I have read the cat to sleep. 😜

@Simona @ephemeralwaltz @ju.ca.no

@suvata

Thanks for the tag @4thhouseontheleft

1) more clean eating, more fresh air, less stress
2) probably the next #LMPBC book (tagged)
3) start writing again
4) no swaps so far, Goodreads (150 books), #passportlitsy and #mounttbrchallenge
5) scarf/shawl/blanket, hot beverage and the cat
6) @buecherwurm @Mommamanzi @Ubookquitous

@Wbabdullah #2018Goals

@Simona @ju.ca.no @ephemeralwaltz

Look what just arrived.

#LMPBC #GroupU

Thank you Simona. What a lovely surprise.

#catsoflitsy

A playfully used parable in a quite sad story.

#quotsydec17 #letters

Interesting comparison ...
I absolutely agree with your review @ephemeralwaltz

#lmpbc #groupU

Frenzy night in my house - reading in bed, eating rice with milk and Nutella 🤤

@ephemeralwaltz Book arrived yesterday (but I wasn‘t at home), no damage on the package 👍 ...I‘m few pages in and I like it! Thank you for postcard, from now on it‘s my favorite bookmark 😘

#lmpbc #groupU

Just finished this. This is a wild, magical, spiritual ride but it definitely doesn't seem like a book for everyone. I don't want to spoil my review much for the ladies in my #LMPBC group. It wasn't my favorite but there are parts of this that I loved. Martel's writing is impeccable, though; I wasn't expecting anything less.

@Simona I'll be putting this in the mail for you next week so it doesn't get to you too late!

@suvata @ju.ca.no @julesG

Getting some reading done to put off studying for an exam just a little bit longer 😋🤓 #LMUPBC #LMPBC

Regarding my immediately-to-be-read books, Yann Martel just bumped up in line before Atonement! As it is a pick for #LMPBC I'm getting started on it 🙌

Hi ladies from my #LMPBC groupU! @ju.ca.no @julesG @Simona Have you NOT read any of these? These are some TBRs that I own at the moment. Atonement is going to be my next read anyways so I thought I'd include it, even though you've probably read it. I'd love to go with Yann Martel! It's 300p but seems like a fast read.
If neither of these work, I'll stop by the bookstore this week!😍
@suvata

I loved Life of Pi, and like that story this one was hard to get into. However, I did like this book more than Beatrice and Virgil. This novel is made up of 3 separate narratives, all of which are connected and come full circle in the last story. In true Martel fashion, the story has themes of love and loss, a strong animal presence, and almost a fable-like quality. His writing is beautiful, but at times too complex, especially in the beginning.

I loved this book! It has gotten mixed reviews on here and I think if you are expecting a plot you will be disappointed. :) It is more a meditation on life, death, and faith told through three interconnected stories. Despite these heavy themes, it is also one of the funniest books I have read in a while. There were many scenes that literally made me laugh out loud! :) Highly recommended!

This string of three similarly themed and ever so slightly connected short stories about grief, forced me to narrow my focus as the characters narrowed their focus. It uses allegory, absurdity, surrealism and yet really, with his wonderful writing, it really just wants you to 'be' with one's grief. However, as good a writer as Martel is, I just didn't think he really pulled it off. Maybe for others he touched grief's core, but not for me.