Welcome to Litsy!

This just didn't really do it for me plot wise, but lots of the prose was gorgeous! Do look up the trigger warnings before you read this one (particularly suicide)

That's my #DoubleSpin read for this month too!

It was then that I first felt a deep curiosity about language, and understood it as a tool that encompasses both a single moment and eternity.

After 3 translators of a deceased author's final collection commit suicide after trying to translate the 98th story from English to Japanese, the new translator befriends the author's children and...strange stuff happens. Not the kind of strange I was expecting, but I liked it: a series of surreal situations and lots of descriptions about summer weather. Can't figure out why several editions have goldfish on the cover...maybe I missed something?

#bookhaul 2/2
A two-bookstore day is a rare treat and it led to these choices. Homes is the only author I've read before (May We Be Forgiven was one favorite from 2018). I've wanted to try Yoshimoto for awhile and can't resist a plot like N.P.' s. Bradbury is another long on my list, and I made sci-fi short stories a 2020 reading goal. Never heard of Ashour until a Book Riot list of top works by Egyptian authors, and the first page sold me.

This book is Buh-na-nuhs. It had all the makings of a Greek tragedy that swerves right before the end and turns into some crazy story about that one crazy summer you had where all those crazy things happened and you tell the story of that summer years later to a friend at a diner who sits there wide eyed at how beautifully, yet casual you recount such craziness. It was a pick for me, it just won‘t be for everyone. TW for incest and suicide.

So I‘m reading the tagged book and it makes mention of a Wyeth painting. It‘s not this one but this painting is called “Wyeth” because the painting in the painting is called “Self Portrait” by Andrew Wyeth. And the whole painting is by Karin Jurick. She did a study of paintings based on the Wyeth clan. How creepy though. I just wanna tell the little girl to get the hell outta there. Lol

A light afternoon read which was immersive and very beautiful. The language was so lovely and the emotional resonance was long lasting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am very interested in reading more by this author. While there wasn't a ton of action, it still captured my attention and was a beautiful read.

I can‘t quit Banana Yoshimoto lately.

A book about a writer who commits suicide before his last book can be translated and the book's ability to inflict grief and misery and eventually suicide to every translator there after.

Again, Banana Yoshimoto creates a story which fills the reader with suspense yet peace, grief and yet utter bliss. 5/5📖#np bananayoshimoto #banana #yoshimoto #fiction #japaneselit