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Sopinka's novel is a slow burn with lyrical prose. She uses her words as a form of art in this solid debut. It is an emotionally charged novel that reflects a love of language with each beautifully written chapter named after an animal. I struggled with the omission of the quotations around the dialogue. Why would someone willingly choose to confuse the reader. This is distracting and it detracted from what could have been an amazing story.

The title intrigued me, so I had high hopes. I never felt I could sink my teeth into it, and was happy to be done. #ToB

An interesting match today, I think. Both books have got mixed reviews, as far as I‘ve read them and they‘re no favorite for The Rooster. But you never know in the #ToB2019, especially not since Milkman was sent away yesterday!
However, I really liked both books, especially The Golden State, so my vote goes to Lydia Kiesling. How about yours?

I was immediately captivated by the beautiful writing and I‘m a sucker for anything set in Paris so this hooked me in quickly. It took awhile before I really connected with the protagonist but I ended up relating to her in so many ways. A beautiful novel and one I doubt I would have read had it not been for #tob2019. Also, I am officially a shortlist completist!

It was hard to connect to this book at first, not in the least by its lyrical prose and the lack of quotation marks. The story meanders between the young Ivory, living the bohemian life in Paris between the wars, and the old one, struggling in Canada with her dictionary of animal languages and her memories of things gone by. But when I got the hang of it, I enjoyed it very much. And oh, that love story 💕

#Tob2019 15/18

Starting my final book of the #tob2019 shortlist! Just in the nick of time!

March TBR. I get stress just looking at is. So many pages! A bit too ambitious probably...

I love this. #tob2019

I‘m about halfway through this book and although I should be eating it up, I‘m just finding it fine. I don‘t dislike it, but I‘m not excited to pick it up. I do like the parts set in Paris in the 1930s, where Ivory, the main character, hangs out with artists and has a lover who is just the worst.

Went to the big city to sell some books and get some new ones. The tagged book and So Lucky are the only two I need for #TOB2019 that I cannot get from the library. Fire Sermon is not TOB related but equally unavailable for free and I REALLY want to read it! 😀

Of the 95 books I read this year, only one (The Dictionary of Animal Languages) received a one-star rating, while the rest of the pictured books received two-star ratings. For one reason or another, these books were my most disappointing reads of 2018.

#mostdisappointingof2018 #unpopularopinion

Solid three stars. There is nothing really special here, but I enjoyed spending time with these characters. #TOB2019

I‘m really surprised that this book has such a low rating here on Litsy! The writing is gorgeous, but it is a bit winding and the pace is slow, but even. My library only had this available as an audiobook, so I‘ve ordered a hard copy so I can read it in print. It is a fascinating story about a female artist turned scientist and her love affair with a Russian painter in pre-WW2 Paris. #TOB #Hoopla

I was trying to do holiday cards and listen to an audiobook but my brain can't. Ha!

This book currently has a 0% approval rating on Litsy. 😯 So I might be looking at a quick bail. #tob.

I hate to do an unremittingly negative review but this might be one of the worst books I‘ve ever read and there‘s just nothing good to say about it. Every paragraph was pretentious, the plot was meandering without being insightful, the protagonist was awful but never in an interesting way. Have some quotes:

“[she walked] like clipped wings against the bitten moon”

“Each breath is the dark corner of an echo”

I just have nothing to say.

#bookmail Today's book mail! I was intrigued by the synopsis and hope it lives up to it. The cover leaves a little to be desired.

I‘m less than halfway through this book still and trying to keep an open mind but it‘s not everything I hoped and I‘m kind of struggling to enjoy it. The characters and plot are super interesting and have potential but one of my biggest pet peeves is when every paragraph of a book shouts ‘look at me I‘m saying something profound about humanity‘. I find it fake and overwritten in q a few places which is a pity cause it has some amazing ideas.

"I wonder if because I had only brothers I have never really understood why people choose to determine women by their outsides, and not by their brains or hearts. I don't want to be admired like Ulyana. I want to be given space so that I can paint and record and unfold into what I'm making." Heidi Sopinka will be at #emwf18 to read from her novel of love, longing, and art set in interwar Paris. bit.ly/2tlgoAw @PenguinRandomCa #canlit

I‘m 58% through this book, but I can‘t find any desire to continue. I find the story very slow moving and a bit confusing due to the lack of quotation marks around dialogue and the various points in time that it jumps between. And the part of the description that hooked me into reading it has barely been mentioned. Such a beautiful cover (and an intriguing description), but this book is officially my first DNF of 2018.

Both my boyfriend and myself have the day off, which is a rare occurrence. I‘m starting it by reading while waiting for him to get ready, then we‘re going for breakfast. We don‘t have any solid plans for the rest of the day, but we might go canoeing later! Enjoy your day Littens, the weekend is almost here 😊☀️

I gave up on this book having found myself completely lost and I don't feel that I've missed out in doing so. It's 1 star for "The Dictionary of Animal Languages"

My full (but very short) review is now up on my blog ? #thedictionaryofanimallanguages #heidisopinka

Oh dear, oh dear another Pan. 😭😭😭😭 This is not At All what I expected when I started The Dictionary of Animal Languages. It sounded like it was going to be so wonderful. Instead it was too deep inside its own head despite many moments of beautiful and lyrical language. But that wasn‘t enough to get me through this rather dry book. 🙁🙁

Started this one last night to push aside The Black Painting for the time being.

The writing keeps sucking me out of the story... #goodreadsgiveaway #tobailornottobail

Morning reading view #sickkid edition

I love days when I wake up a #winner #goodreadsgiveaway