The Life to Come | 
pickI really enjoyed this book! Although I don‘t know how to review it! There isn‘t much of a plot. It is more a book about some characters that are loosely connected. Beautiful writing and wonderful descriptions of places and people. A friend recommended this author to me and I will definitely be reading more.
pickIt has taken me a while to get through this book. My concentration and not finding time to sit and read. However managed to finish this cold, wet and windy day. This book reminded me very much of Elizabeth Strouds Olive books. Just with an Australian setting. Similar set up of chapters and writing that is a pleasure to read.
#2020joybooks
@MrsMalaprop
I gave it a try. I had to DNF. I think I needed more insider Australian information to get it in most places. 🤷
Sitting outside on this nice and breezy although kind of humid day! Have a new bookmark brought home by my hubbie and son who were in the Czech Republic for the last couple of weeks.
pickI have mixed feelings about this novel. The writing is exquisite and the characters and setting are so precisely observed. All things that would usually make me love a book. But I really didn‘t like the MC and there was not nearly enough narrative to hold the story together. It read more like disparate stories with only the loosest connections. Even so I give it a pick, but only just.
I‘ve had this on my TBR for quite a while and then it turned up on my audiobook app. I have to admit, though, that I‘m struggling to follow it. Too many characters to get my head around. It might have been better in hard copy as the writing is lovely.
pickI found this book terrific and a little unusual. Not much happens, but it is more a critique of modern society, revealing the absurdity and negativity of casual racism, social media, and the primacy of appearances with moments of laugh out loud humor. It weaves various characters in and out throughout. It left me with a lot of food for thought.
pickI really enjoyed this book. It's entertaining and witty as well as moving. I couldn't put it down and when I did I was always thinking about it.
Me: I really must concentrate on reading the books on my shelf.
Also me: borrows and reserves a bunch of library books.
🙄
Hmm. I was all buoyed up to start this but 43 pages in and I'm just not getting into it :/
It's rare that I don't keep going but might have to put it yo one side for now...
pickOk, so I really wanted to like this. It recently won the Miles Franklin award. The author follows me on Instagram & ‘likes‘ my posts - so, conflict of interest? 😬
I did like it - phew. The prose is exceptionally good. However I felt the interlocking stories across multiple countries didn‘t ‘come together‘ as well as they could have. Still, a great exploration of the lives of disparate characters. Astute observations too.
#ozfiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
“...Celeste had fled barbecued chops and an abomination called salad cream. She had fled the AMP building, the hot, flat streets, the catastrophic light.”
In describing where I live in Perth Western Australia, De Kretser got the “hot flat streets, the catastrophic light” right, but “salad cream”? Was this a thing in Perth 30 years ago? I moved here from Melbourne about that time. I‘ve never had salad cream and think of it as a British thing. 🤔
Winner! Winner! Of the 2018 #MilesFranklinAward 🇦🇺📚👍. Have it on my #tbr bedside table. Need to bump it up the list. #ozfiction
#QuoteOfTheDay
I‘m about 15 pages in, and LITERALLY every paragraph I‘ve read so far has been joyfully, ridiculously quotable. The writing has mesmerized me, swept me off my feet.
so-soThis started off so well, then it just fizzled out for me. I can see why this was shortlisted for the Stella prize, but I just found it a bit boring. Maybe a case of wrong time, but it was just mhew for me. 😕
#aussiesrule2018
Add a dash of sarcasm, a hint of snark, and beautiful prose = a happy Jenny!
Thanks to @Catapult @CatapultStory for mailing me this beautiful new hardcover of Michelle De Kretser‘s latest book! It‘s up for the Stella Prize this year. I can‘t wait to read it after loving her novella Springtime a couple years ago. It‘s out in the US on March 13. ☀️
