Welcome to Litsy!

What a well written and constructed novel. Both aspects were interesting and came together well. No saccharine sweetness, and a thoughtful ending.

This is good so far.
Interested to see how the two will merge, and how they'll get on.
I like the 60s era although the toxicity of relationships is vile!

Sad and lonely 😢 are the main lessons you get from this book. Yuki is a multi faceted character and eventually just wants to be. But that means leaving her husband and young son behind. The story then brings mother and son together in later years.
Beautiful writing, but not a glimmer of hope until the end.

#weeklyforecast may/will involve some or all of these 😁 happy reading Litsy land.

#readingresolutions #bookishmountain
Running out of shelf space, the floor is just as good. 😬

The library that I‘m staying in for the weekend runs a writer in residence programme. Part of this book was written here when the author was in residency! So brought my copy back to its birthplace ! #onlyafellowbooknerdwouldunderstand

So much to think about: identity and choice, marriage,and dreams, the passion to create art. Got me thinking about my mother, her struggle to balance motherhood and art; what if she had made different choices?

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/05/18/the-library-of-books-and-bombs/

When the Harmless Like You was about to be published, the author was freaking out a little (paraphrasing slightly)! So she did what we all do in these situations- took herself off to the library. The linked article tells how she became curious by the library's history as an asylum, and threw herself into researching it. #MrAsylum #TuneintoNovember @Robothugs @Cinfhen

What a unique story of a young womans sense of displacement im a rapidly changing society. Born an only child a Japanese family located in new York in the 1960's Yuki falls under the spell of fascinating odile the school outsider. What follows is the story of her life which proves to be hypnotic yet very sad. A bk i enjoyed, is very readable yet will stay with me for a while.A string of photos from my lbrary will follow on returning my latest rds

I've got a day off today and plan to catch up on my posts on litsy but am already distracted by rugby on tv at 11 o'clock in the morning. This has been the theme of the last couple of weeks when i had a bit of a reading slump due to a busy time of work so ended up binge watching wolf hall which id had stored for 2 years. Anyway hopefully ill catch up a bit now.

I absolutely loved this book; it just aches with sadness and loneliness. As vivid as the colours that are described at the beginning of each chapter, Yuki is such a compelling character. I could have read about her for many, many more pages.

Absolutely loved this book - was hard to put down (even when it made me cry in public!). Really felt a connection with the characters and an understanding of their thoughts and feelings as they're trying to find themselves. Highly recommended!

Been reading a lot of non fiction recently so looking forward to getting into a good novel! Not heard of the author before but book sounds really interesting - exploring identity, art, love, families to name a few things the book's about #busreads

I fell head over heart for the beautiful ache of this novel. Difficult subjects and not much plot line, but the emotional truths and the intense beauty of the writing spoke to my soul. Loved it.

Next up in the TBR. Picking up after The Dark Prophecy.

An essay in the latest Paris Review by this novelist whose debut novel Harmless Like You has left a marvelous aftertaste.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/05/18/the-library-of-books-and-bombs/

Hmmmm 🤔

I heard that this is a good one

What a satisfying book to read ❤️ I found myself stopping regularly to savor the writing. The lead protagonist struggles with trying to become an artist in 60s America; Asian artists are mostly overlooked. It was so striking to see how that results in her depression and hacks away at her relationships. I have some issues with the book, but overall this was an amazing debut that I loved reading, especially for the multiracial aspects.

A powerful debut, the story of Yuki, an aspiring artist, a teenager in late-60s NYC without her Japanese parents. She struggles to make art and relationships; decades later, her abandoned son tracks her down in Germany. The earlier narrative was spellbinding: Yuki vividly, lovingly alive on the page; the adult son's character, however, never rang true, rendering that third of the tale less compelling. I loved Yuki; loved most of this novel a lot!

#bookmail Here's the rest of the day's book mail. I can't believe they all came on the same day!

The last chapters made the build up worth it for me. This is a mother/son tale; one that is gutting and might bring feelings of disgust or anger. If you liked The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (I LOVED it), pick this one up. Explorations of belonging, what it means to be an artist, motherhood, abuse, & abandonment are all at play here.

There's also a cat/human relationship that is so nuanced and tender that it made me want to become a cat person.

Sunday 📚

An extraordinary passage, even though, if you haven't read the entire novel up to this point, you won't catch the resonance of L's strange gift. The writing is just blowing me away! 💜

I've been reading rave reviews about this debut novel