Welcome to Litsy!

#Backlistreadathon roundup

I chose an old favourite author of mine to kick-start my backlog.
Nutshell - 4⭐️ Very entertaining 🫣😅 account of a marriage breakdown & planned murder from the pov of the ex-couple's unborn baby.
The cockroach - 4 ⭐️ Scathing & satirical account of 'politics' when the PM is compromised & everyone goes along with it.
Tagged - 3.5 ⭐️ Outrageous, witty & precise short story on authorship.

@Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks

#AAMIME @Soubhiville
I read 5 McEwan in May. Not my favorite but there were some ‘picks‘
At 55 YTD
Thanks Soubhi❣️Hope you are well 😊

A clever, entertaining, and quick read!

#authoramonth @Soubhiville

30 minute audio story for my morning walk. It was fine to listen to although nothing really shocking or surprising about the turn of events. (Though I guess it wasn‘t actually meant to be as it was a “confession.”)

1. Only female character gets like 2 lines of description - she LIVES FOR being pregnant and depriving her husband of opportunities. Lol great insight Ian.
2. I bring leftovers for lunch mostly but some days I can‘t be arsed and go out for lunch
3. Being found drunk and naked in someone else‘s bathroom 😭😭
4. Vanilla tea
5. White Commendatore? I quite like that.

#friyayintro @howjessreads

What a wicked little short story.

Parker Sparrow did a bad, bad thing.

It‘s teeny tiny. Around 30 small pages. But those 30 pages have just enough bite to let you know you got bit.

We‘re visiting ground we‘ve covered before (in Amsterdam and in Amis‘s The Information), but it doesn‘t matter much. Happy belated 70th birthday Mr McEwan.

So McEwan I laughed. Idk if I need more books about men who dream of being great writers and use the words ‘Tolstoy-Ian‘, ‘modernist‘, ‘proustian‘ and ‘joycian‘ in one sentence. Loved the throwaway ref to the silent wife who lives for being pregnant and forces her prominent writer husband to move out of cool literary London. I know being pregnant and stealing men‘s freedom are my only hobbies and I‘m glad Ian‘s captured my feminine complexity.

A very entertaining short story. My Purple Scented Novel is classic McEwan; and unlikeable character, doing unlikeable things, who for some reason you don‘t end up hating, and at moments you even feel empathy for. McEwan is, in this way, the master of making his reader uncomfortable. This story is no exception.

Well that was a very quick read. But it shows the master. Even in 34 small pages McEwan is able to create a world, pull you into it and let you get acquainted with his main characters.
A smart read about writers and betrayal.

(Pic: View from my hotel room in Antwerp, Belgium)

A short story published for McEwan‘s 70th birthday...

I‘m not a huge Ian McEwan fan but I did enjoy this 48-page Vintage Short Story.

McEwan pens a wonderful short story about the perfect literary crime to celebrate his 70th birthday! Written as a confession from Parker Sparrow about his friendship and betrayal of celebrated novelist, Jocelyn Tarbet, this short story is riveting from the from the first line. He is so clever, McEwan actually makes you root for the narrator even though he has plagiarized his best friend. The writing is razor sharp, witty, and clever. Simply fab!