Welcome to Litsy!

#SchoolSpirit Day 14: Only six days after our #Homecoming from Paris - now traveling again in a few hours to Moominland. Naturally, I brought these books with me.

This was a odd book to listen to šŸ˜³šŸ™Š

3.75/5

Read for reading challenges.

Starting off my day with reading at a Scooter‘s coffee shop.

This is a translated book from Finnish by Lola M. Rogers.

It‘s not quite my book type, but I‘m determined to finish it.

@ReadingEnvy you may like this book.

#coffeeshopreads #literature

Such a weird little book; I wasn‘t sure what to think, but then the ending made me smile. A perfect finish.

Nine hours down, now I catch up on my daily reading and see if I can stay up to start another book.

#bookspin #24in48

I‘m a little late in posting this, but here‘s my #bookspin and #bookspinbingo! I got a little extra excited with the whole valentine theme. Looks like I‘m diving into The Rabbit Back Literature Society this month! šŸ’•

Bad writing. Bad translation. Bad descriptions of female bodies. Bad sex scenes. And then a bad ending to boot!
I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened, and then there were no answers! Waste of time!! šŸ˜ 

Redundant much? (6 'challanges' in one paragraph is probably at least 3 too many.)
The writing in this book is really not good. And I finally googled the author to check if he is a man, which he is. I figured as much since he has noted the curve of a female character's lip more than once.
But the plot is so weird I am interested to see where it goes, in spite of myself

This is my current cant-sleep-in-the-middle-of-the-night Kindle book. AND IT IS BONKERS! And maybe poorly written? And poorly translated? But it's just so weird, I can't give up on it yet.

I certainly tried. I read half of it but I just don‘t care. This book about a secret writers‘ society centered around Laura Witte (a kind of JK Rowling, writing about #Finnish mythological characters) keeps getting weirder and weirder - I can‘t connect to the writers anymore nor The Game they play. A game that isn‘t so exciting as the blurb suggests by the way. So... no. #toomanybookstoolittletime

#ReadingEurope2020 šŸ‡«šŸ‡®

(Pic: Ithaca, Greece)

#WeeklyForecast 31/20

I am looking forward to all of these! Two are for #ReadingEurope2020 (the tagged one and Three Summers, out #NYRBBookClub choice for August), the other two were highly recommended by @vivastory (Memory Police) and @KarenUK (Writers & Lovers). That last one is #CampToB choice as well.

I struggled in the beginning with this book. But once it started going, it really picked up and I was enthralled. The characters were very unique and solid. You can imagine them as your neighbors or coworkers. ā€œThe Gameā€ played amongst the society was intriguing. I think that‘s what first drew me in. There‘s honestly so many interesting and quirky little details to talk about that actually talking about them would give the book away.

Loved this. So unique and weird and fun. Lots of literary reference and strong use of magical realism. A not so secret society with weird rules and members and a bit of a mystery. This truly wraps up some of my favorite plots all in one. It‘s a bit abstract if you can get past that. Otherwise, this is just truly art.

Pretty good read for a chilly night šŸ’™

"I was trying to climb up to a magpie's nest and a limb cut my throat"

The concept of 'The Game' was great

This book was not what I expected, although I‘m not entirely sure what I expected. It was very twisty, but very well told and very interesting as a concept. It pulls you in very well. Good book.

Everybody knows that no healthy person would take up writing novels. Healthy people do healthy things. All this darned hoopla and hot air about literature--what is it really but mental derangement run through a printing press? #ReadingAroundTheWorld #Finland #WritersofLitsy

She said that a writer should know how to think about everything there is to think about, even when everyone else is thinking only about the possible, or the probable. That was damn good advice. #ReadingAroundTheWorld #Finland #WritersofLitsy

This is the author's first novel, and it reads as such. It is like a salad of ideas with a heavy sprinkling of symbolism, a first draft waiting to be shaped into a cohesive novel. The author explains his seemingly sexist description of the MC on his site Rabbitbackliterature.com. Self-objectification? I'm curious to read the author's later works, as he has lots of wild & interesting ideas. #Finland #ReadingAroundTheWorld

Cheap books just arrived at the house! Hooray for Better World Books!

Taking a small break from a stressful week. My husband is back in the hospital after having a long seizure in the middle of the night. We don‘t know why it happened, but I‘m worried it might be stroke-related since he‘s had a few. šŸ˜” Good vibes and prayers of any denomination appreciated! @shendrix413 and @leslieseidel - I haven‘t forgotten your #bookmarkswap - but they may be late ā¤ļø

So excited to read this! It sounds fantastic.

#jingleshelves / #decktheshelves #day4 - #onyourshelfallyear / #setinwinter

The first book I read this year: a nice tone setter and certainly one of my favorite covers.

What on earth did I just read? I don't even know how to rate it.

My first gasp of post-wedding reading! At the laundromat. These newlyweds could use some fresh socks and stuff. It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks! But boy, am I happy.

My sister just sent me this pic of a book she came across in the library where she works in Seattle. Sounds brilliantly bonkers!

A weird but cool premise - the newest member of a closed society of Finnish writers is trying to uncover their secrets after their famed children's book author leader disappears in an indoor snowstorm - that ultimately dissolved into a whole lot of nothing.

Points for the spooky vibe and the originality but someone really needs to teach Pasi here how to describe female main characters without fixating on their lips or ovaries šŸ™„

This one barely gets a pick from me. There were parts that I loved (like learning the background of all the characters) but I felt like if it was going to have magical realism in it, it needed a bit more. It felt like the beginning, one character, and one little element had a sprinkling of it and the rest of the story was just normal. But I enjoyed the characters and the narrator, Kate Rawson, did a very good job.

2 1/2 weeks until my Scandinavian vacation. Time to get cracking on some authors from the neighborhood. #scandinavianliterature

Getting back in the rhythm after a nap with an audiobook #24in48

#junetunz day 8 - #joiningafanclub

Really like the framing device this book uses to get the titular club's members to tell their stories; it plays into the central mystery while keeping the prose engaging with multiple voices.

#TBTā€” it's almost been a year since our first author interview episode! Pasi is a super interesting guy, and in this episode we got to learn more about him and his book The Rabbit Back Literature Society! Listen at eclecticreaders.fireside.fm/16
šŸ“š
#EclecticReaders #Podcast #AuthorInterview

#maybookflowers day 6 - #supernaturalmysteries

Wasn't quite expecting the fantastical element of this story when I first picked it up, but it certainly added another layer of intrigue to the proceedings.

It may be that something was lost in the translation, but something about this book feels a bit unhinged, as if it weren't fully grounded in either the story or its characters. That said, while I'd objectively give it a So-So, subjectively I enjoyed it enough to give it a solid Pick. Not for everyone, but if you like Secret History or Twin Peaks, you might really enjoy Rabbit Back's subtle, sinister weirdness.

Having a weirdly complicated reaction to this so far - it's kind of a beautiful mess. I'm curious to see where it's going. Cat is equally curious.

Here's a little #TBT for your ears šŸ˜ This was one of our favorite #EclecticReaders picks last year, and you can listen to the #podcast episode on iTunes or at eclecticreaders.fireside.fm/14

I am loving this book!

An odd book. A really interesting story and plot - a circle of writers hand-picked by a celebrated children's author play a rather vicious game designed to elicit story fodder mixed with mythological elements and ghost stories - that was hard to predict. But there is a very stiff quality to the translation - plus the use of some English cliches that seemed to clash with the Finnish setting - that made the actual work of reading less enjoyable.

I'm trying to finish my book and this sweet face is here for his evening snuggle. šŸ˜»#catsoflitsy

About 2/3 of the way through The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jasskelainen, a Finnish author. It follows a young woman who is trying to learn more about an elusive group of authors and the secrets they have. A sense of unease permeates this book as I'm reading it...

It was interesting. I wasn't invested. No fault of the author but of my own. I was leaning on pick but there were times I legitimately didn't care. The main character was likable enough. I think because it's a translation I had a harder time

We were so excited to hear Rabbit Back mentioned on @bookriot 's reading recommendation #podcast Get Booked earlier this month! It was one of the #EclecticReaders favorite reads of 2016! You can listen to our discussion of the book at sunriserobot.net/eclecticreaders/14 and a special interview with the author at sunriserobot.net/eclecticreaders/16

I get in a bad habit of reading several books at once. Sheesh!! Anyhoo .. starting this delectable story todayā€¼ļø #Andawaytheygo āœŒļøšŸ“š

Love mysteries that aren't that concerned with being mysteries. Still a lot left open at the end, and the final reveal, while somewhat anticipated, still carried the weight that you'd want of it. A little awkward at times to consider that a man wrote this very specific female protagonist, but nonsexual subjects are fairly unproblematic. Glad to start the year on a brisk and beguiling read.

Follow my reading on youtube here: http://bit.ly/2iBzRGQ

Been experimenting with the streaming of my reading sessions this year, starting with this inaugural novel. You can follow my progress on my Youtube channel here:

http://bit.ly/2iBzRGQ

Happy early Christmas to me! I had a Barnes and Noble coupon, so I bought myself a present šŸ˜¬. This was my favorite #EclecticReaders pick of the year, and the story is too good- and the cover too pretty- to only be on my kindle! #EclecticPick

One of my favorite #translatedbooks, I read this one for a summer reading challenge last year, "a book originally written in another language" and fell in love with it! #somethingforsept #septphotochallenge