Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve seen mixed reviews on this one but I have to say I loved it. Reseng is an assassin who changes a job which leads to consequences he could never have imagined. The story is populated with people who make a living killing often without knowing why someone needs to die. It‘s darkly comedic & human at the same time as secrets & motivations are revealed. The translation is excellent, the premise odd & intriguing & I loved the main character.

Assassins and the masterminds behind them for today‘s reading.

Also, thank you Jessie for the "just because" gift! The picture doesn't capture the black sprayed edges and it's very cool ❤️?

You're too good ? Happy Holidays to you and your family and I hope you have a lovely time ? @erzascarletbookgasm

I really enjoyed the opening section of this novel. The language was poetic with an intriguing almost mythic quality. But then ... I really didn't enjoy the rest of it. It seemed all set-up and little pay-off. The blurbed action didn't really kick off till the 60% mark by which time my attention had waned. The motivations of the main characters were unclear & it was just a little gory/violent for my liking. The ending did nothing for me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I really liked this book about assassins in South Korea and the plotters- the people who assign who takes out whom. I feel like this would make an excellent movie! I also loved that main character, Reseng, grew up in and self taught himself inside of a bookstore/library, and that he had 2 cats named Desk and Lampshade. Cats are the obvious pet choice for assassins. 😻

My dog is very grumpy over how close the cat's butt is to her face, and she's over National Puppy Day. #dogsoflitsy

Just starting this one! #audiobook #bookclub

Feeling kinda slumpy right now. This is my next up to read - with thanks to #netgalley for this book - but I'm considering having a little break to recharge my enthusiasm.

So there was a book sale in the American Bookstore.... Each book for $2.5 dollars. Except the outsider. That was 5. I think that I bought a bit too many books... I am a bookaholic!

“Any life spent not asking yourself what you truly loved was a cowardly one.”

This world isn‘t a mess because people are evil. It‘s because everyone has their own stories and excuses for doing bad things.

(Photo: My cat doing something bad.)

“The most dangerous adversary was a pazzo, a madman. A person who thought they had nothing to lose, who wanted nothing from others and asked nothing of him- or herself, who behaved in ways that defied common sense, who quietly followed her or his own strange principles and stubborn convictions, which were both inconceivable and unbelievable.”

Loved this thriller translated from Korean. I was very investeded in the main character, Reseng. Beautiful writing. Highly recommend!!

Seeing the covers all laid out is a nice way of looking back on my reading. It‘s too bad they are so tiny & blurry. (It‘s a screenshot from Goodreads.) Let me know if you spot any of your own favourites!

Any life not spent asking yourself what you truly loved was a cowardly one.

They all believed their injuries justified their actions. But did they? What a load of crap, Reseng thought, then said to himself, And you‘re as big a prick as the rest of them.

From the tale-within-a-tale of whale hunting, to a welcome deus ex machina, to a crosseyed knitting librarian, all elements in this surreal crime novel are carefully plotted. I loved the turns of phrase, #translated from Korean by Sora Kim-Russell, and was charmed by the MC, an assassin with a conscience. Reseng—his name means Next Life— is just one of many memorable characters in this violent, hopeful, and surprising existential masterpiece.

When their time came, Old Racoon placed a black strip of paper around the discards. It was his own special form of sentencing, a funeral procedure for books that had reached the end of their life.

Old Racoon was hardly the type to raise dogs in a library. He‘d named his library “The Doghouse” to make fun of people who made a big show of frequenting libraries but never opened any actual books, or possibly made fun of himself for having spent a good sixty years of his life looking after a library that sat empty of people most of the time.

(Internet photo)

Reseng pictured his darkened apartment, the two Siamese yowling in hunger. Desk and Lampshade. Crazily enough, they were starting to take after their names. Desk liked to hunch over into a square, like a slice of bread, and stare quietly at a scrap of paper on the floor, while Lampshade liked to crane her neck and stare out of the window.

It was April. Cherry trees were in bloom all down the street. He hadn‘t realized until that moment that they were cherry trees. Not that it mattered. ‘Sakura, the flower that wilts the moment it blooms.‘ For some reason, that line of poetry he‘d read somewhere was stuck in his head.

(Internet photo)

You might not think of beer as a breakfast drink, but in fact it‘s perfect. If knocking back a can of beer after a hard day‘s work makes you feel refreshed, rewarded and relaxed, then a can of beer in the morning is about feeling melancholic, fuzzy-headed, improper, and refusing to act like a responsible adult just because the sun‘s come up.

(Internet photo. Oatmeal is a breakfast food, right?)

Old Racoon had long ago stopped stocking his personal shelves with anything that wasn‘t a dictionary or an encyclopedia. As far as Reseng could remember, he‘d refused to read anything else for the last ten years. “Dictionaries are great,” he‘d explained. “No mushiness, no bitching, no preachiness, and, best of all, none of the high-and-mighty crap that writers try to pull.”

Had Reseng continued to grow up in the orphanage, where divine blessings showered down like spring sunshine and kindly nuns devoted themselves to the careful raising of orphans, his life might have turned out very differently. Instead, he grew up in a library crawling with assassins, hired guns and bounty hunters. Just as a plant grows wherever it sets down roots, so all your life‘s tragedies spring from wherever you first set your feet.

“Black tea is steeped in imperialism. That‘s what gives it its flavour. Anything this flavourful has to be hiding an incredible amount of carnage.”

Got a couple of bonus days in NYC due to travel delays. Went book shopping and started The Plotters this morning. I am hopeful that we will sleep in our own bed tonight!!

Today‘s lunch is brought to you by all things Orange. Did you know that before the English-speaking world was introduced to the fruit, the colour was known as “red-yellow” or “yellow-red”? The earliest recorded use was in the 13th century and referred to the fruit.
Hope you enjoyed this random fact like I‘m enjoying my yellow-red meal of lobster bisque, carrots and The Plotters
🍊

Fireside reading 🔥

I had this book along with me to my dentist appointment this morning and was asked about it by my dentist and her assistant and really it‘s kinda hard to describe. I said it‘s weird, a bit dark and funny, and its main character is an assassin who may be having a change of heart. Would that interest you in the book?

Who‘d chosen this place from which to orchestrate such abominable acts? It was madness. It would have made more sense to set up camp in the office of the National Dry Cleaners Union, or the office of the Organizing Committee to Revitalize Poultry Farming. Why pick a library? Libraries were quiet, book-filled places. What had they ever done to hurt anyone?

4/5🌟 A Entertaining and Gripping Read!
I dont read books like this very often. Honestly I dont know if I have ever read one quite like this before. And I hardly ever read translated books but I felt this one was excellently done! With alluring prose this book flowed nicely and was a quick read for me. I enjoyed the story line and characters quite a bit. It could have almost been a bit longer so we get to see more of the characters.
#bookreview

Picked this up from the library but haven‘t gotten to it yet. But one of my bffs saw it on my shelf last weekend and ended up buying it today, and we might nominate it for our next book club read tomorrow.

Very excited to start this Korean noir today.

New book day for me. Assassins and free will...what could go wrong??

Picked up my library hold today. Now I have to decide whether to finish the book I‘ve already started or dive right into this one. Based on the blurb, it‘s either going to be awful or awesome. 😂

I don't read a lot of thrillers or whodunits because I get distracted by how the writer is #buildingamystery. Which is why I stacked this meta Korean noir novel. It sounds a bit like the Truman Show where an assassin realizes his hits have been 'plotted.'
#timbittunes @cinfhen @TheKidUpstairs
Sarah McLaughlin is from Halifax, NS and her career was taking off when I got there for undergrad. Needless to say, we listened to her a lot. ♥️

#BookHaul #LibraryHaul

Just in from the library!!! 📚

#BookMail Pt3 Last up is the Goldsboro BOTM for January. This is a South Korean author with the story set in Seoul, it‘s been described as Kill Bill meets Murikami. Reseng has been raised by The Godfather Of Korean crime, in the Library Of Dogs which is a front for Seoul‘s underworld. Destined to be a master assassin, until he breaks the rules & ends up on the run with a convenience store worker, her wheelchair bound sister & a cross eyed knitter.

I was curious about this award-winning crime story translated from Korean. I bailed on about page 80. It was weird in a good way, but I just haven‘t felt compelled to pick it up again. I‘m officially abandoning it.

Now that Christmas is over, I have no reason to leave the house, or any work to do, until January 2nd. I‘m going to read books so fast, it will affect the tides and change the weather. 🤘🏻📚🏆

This is a first for me, a South Korean literary crime thriller.