Welcome to Litsy!

#IdiomInsight Day 11: This series seems like the perfect example for living life #InTheFastLane. I have got to start reading these novels from France soonest. 💕

I don‘t normally like books of the genre I call ‘down and out kinda guy isn‘t up to much‘ but this one, despite fitting into that genre perfectly, did win me over. Vernon is unemployed and spends time in different acquaintances‘ flats in Paris after being evicted. It‘s not very me on paper but the prose and the translation were top notch. That long final paragraph really hit me in the stomach.

I 🖤 everything about this book! What makes this story are the characters, and I loved the juxtaposition of how each person saw themselves vs how others saw them. Raw, human, and sad, this also has some really hilarious moments. My favorite #blameitonlitsy purchase so far.

“He has a sneaking admiration for rockers, the way they manage to go from juvenile to senile without pausing at mature.”
😆

This fantastic series about Vernon is mostly set in #Paris

I can‘t wait to visit my favorite city again

#LitsySpringBreak

I wanted to read this in a grungy bar in Paris. Vernon, who used to own a record store in Paris and hang out with a cool rocker crowd, is now facing financial ruin. As he bounces from friend‘s couch to friend‘s couch, sleeping with an impressive number of female acquaintances, several shady characters are trying to track him down because he has the last known recordings of a famous musician friend who recently died.

A little bit of color coordination between shirt and book cover — accidental, of course.

#humpdaypost @MinDea

1. Caramel chocolate chip cookies that I made ?
2. Vernon Subutex, by Virginie Despentes à French author that I haven‘t read yet ,
3. I studied in the us and visited 5 states while there
4. I just began collecting Astérix album comics, they remind me of my childhood ?
5. I‘m currently traveling internationally, I‘m from Morocco ??and on holidays in France ?? . And I plan on traveling again!

I loved this. Should be read in a grungy bar in Paris with a whiskey & cigarette. It‘s infused with the sexy, druggy subculture of the entertainment industry. Vivid scenes & crass, unhinged but perversely likeable characters, maybe drawn from Despentes‘ experiences. Great writing, propulsive and forthright, sometimes poetic, with some memorable scenes. Explores loneliness & how to move on from your glory years. Beautiful & very rock n roll.

This is a city book - I‘d love to read it in a bar in Paris, but I can‘t complain about my reading spot today! ☀️😎

Starting this! It‘s a chilly Sunday morning - warming up with sun on the balcony & v important coffee. 📖☕️

Starting this! It‘s a chilly Sunday morning - warming up with sun on the balcony & v important coffee. 📖☕️

Reading this for #witmonth #womenintranslation. It's anarchic and crass and immensely readable

On the last couple of chapters of Circe and look what just turned up. 👏👏❤️❤️👏👏❤️❤️👏👏❤️❤️

WOW!!! This novel! This was not what I was expecting, but then again I don't know what I expected. The novel is about Vernon and the different friends he's staying with when he gets homeless, and his friends are an interesting group of people. I will definitely read the second book in this trilogy, if it get translated. And how cool is the cover?

Thanks for the tag @Bookishgal71 and thanks for the very generous giveaway @Mommamanzi ! I‘ve read some good ones this year, but so far Vernon Subutex is my favorite! I‘ll tag @JenlovesJT47

"Vernon was well placed to understand the threat posed by the tsunami that was Napster"

Those were they days ??????

My three favourite books for the year so far! ❤️❤️❤️

Oh how I loved this book! I spent the early 2000's reading every Irvine Welsh novel that I could get my hands on, trying to recreate my first experience reading Trainspotting. It didn't work until all of these years later when I met Vernon Subutex. As caustic and bitter as this novel often is, it isn't without moments of tenderness that broke my heart and made me cry with sympathy and understanding.

Whenever I read a novel that has been translated from another language, I wonder if the translator has managed to capture the style, the skill, the “feel” of the book, that the original author has strived for. I can‘t read French so I will never know, what I do know is that this translation is cutting edge, contemporary fiction at it‘s best. 😊

@MeikeReads @Redheadrambles This just arrived! Yabba Dabba Doo! 😊

What are the odds? Just started reading this and the protagonist lives in a part of Paris that I know. The firm I'm working for used to have an apartment in a parallel street to Avenue des Gobelins, so I've been there several times.

How cool is my #Subutex tee?!?! I love it, and I love this book about a former record store owner who turns into a very special kind of philosopher - read it, people, now!!!!! #whoisvernonsubutex

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

There is no getting around that this book is written to be provocative, to emerge you in mindsets of marginalised lifestyles you may be not want to inhabit. I did struggle with this in the opening chapters - a kind of culture shock of drug-taking, and indiscriminate sex.

Despentes write astonishingly well about people most of us would consider loathsome giving them a voice that is always believable and nuanced.
Loved this one.

“A guy with a baby is a guy with no future” oh I am loving this. Despentes is so so caustic and yet funny. I don‘t think there is a slice of French society she hasn‘t hit yet ..

This quote is the essence of the story ... and I really looking forward for the second part❣️

#quotsyMay18

A roller-coaster ride through the streets of Paris with a 50 year old ex record shop owner evicted from his home. Vernon is a remarkable hero and as he journeys from sofa to sofa of old friends until he ends up on the street we visit the stories of a diverse and brilliant set of characters. A unique book and i can't wait to read the next in the trilogy and immerse myself in the life of Vernon subutex and his city.

Two library holds have come in from the international booker list. So far I've read chapter one of the named book and love the cover, reserving judgement on the story which so far seems intriguing but i definitely want to get to frankenstein in Baghdad.

Some provocative thoughts for today‘s #quotsyMarch18 #sudden 😘

I couldn‘t stop reading this book once I started.... I‘m not even sure why. The honesty of how anyone can become homeless... it‘s not just for “certain people” to become homeless- life is more complicated than that , I love the truth of this , The reality of her writing..... ❤️ looking forward to Bye Bye Blondie.

Vernon Subutex , V Despentes.
This is a good one
-first book to transfer & read ( @batsy 🙏🏻) on my brand new Kindle Oasis- wooooohoooo 🎉early birthday present..... never had a fancy kindle before .... will take some time to get to know it.
Kindle Oasis arrived today. It‘s lovely 😊 very excited 🎉

Next up for me ! I started it last night. A recommendation from @batsy ..... I can‘t put it down, the writing is that engaging 👍🏻thankyou my literary friend ❤️
#blameitonlitsy

Had to be prudent 💸 These are the books that came home with me. Virginie Despentes has become an auto-buy for me and she's on the #MBI2018 longlist. I was also waiting for an affordable paperback of the Zinzi Clemmons and was very pleased to see this 😍

Story is a densely net, built on characters, each with their own lives and status but with junction in Vernon, who becomes homeless. The story expose many topics, without moralizing, just as mere facts, which are a reflection of the present time. The structure of the narrative is simple and complex, and the story itself is pledged very ambitious, but the author managed to keep all the threads in the hands (at least in this 1st part of the trilogy)

From my current read - thought about battlefield on internet ...

#war #readingresolutions

After work - chill out time with the new book, #pears and creamy peanut butter ... I share with Vernon the same morning cravings 🙄

#marchMunchies

I've been disappointed by some of the Despentes book I've read after Bye Bye Blondie, but this one does NOT disappoint. Despentes is an absolute genius when it comes to characters and representing different points of vue. This book features enough characters to merit an index, yet they are all distinct and get their own voice. Never mind the plot, this is all about perception, inner monologues/rants and an incredible amount of brilliant passages.

I love my new magnetic bookmark! It's from a painting by Charlotte Brontë ❤️ #secretsummersanta #summersolsticebookexchange

This feels like reading Bye Bye Blondie (also by Despentes) again, one of my absolute favorites. She's just so brilliant.

You know when you've read a couple of mediocre books lately and fall back upon a well-loved genius? I just hope this one doesn't disappoint.