Welcome to Litsy!

I identified strongly with the young woman in this quiet debut novel: fearful of the world, socially awkward, walking the streets of Paris as a way to sort out her grief and feelings about her past. The ways we create memory, identity and our connections with others is the major focus. It‘s lovely.

I‘m trying to say that I‘ve tried to tell a story about her many times. But none have resembled my mother.

Stories have their own logic. For one thing, a story can only be told once it has an ending. For another, it builds, and then unravels. Each element of a story is essential; its time will come and it will ultimately mean something. In this way, stories are accountable, because they look you in the eye.

I talk about 6 Canadian books & 1 Turkish book in this latest batch of recent reads on booktube
#LGBTQ #GGAwards 🇨🇦

https://youtu.be/lDadbbPxVog

Set mainly in Paris and Istanbul, several pasts and present, the narrator a young woman remembers her friendship with a famous writer but also her relationship with her family, in particular her mother. Central are also walks through both cities, food and drink, and then there is London and the ex boyfriend Luke. Poetic, beautiful writing, but a real story is missing.

I so wanted to love this book (I adored her other novel) but this just didn‘t capture me. The writing is wonderful but the story …meh.

This is a really quick read. Something about it reminded me of Second Place but I found it much more enjoyable. A young Turkish woman befriends an older British writer living in Paris. But the story is really about the narrator's relationship with her mother.

Started and finished this on audio today - was sad to see so few ratings on Goodreads. Stylistically, it reminded me a lot of What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons. It's very short - less than four hours on audio - would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys books about peoples' interior lives.

My June books. All solid reads but the only 5� was A Midsummer Night's Dream. 🧚�♂�

This is a meandering, poignant meditation on memory, stories, loss, and loneliness amidst changing cities. Nunu describes walking in Paris with her writer friend M; her childhood in Istanbul; her time in England. Places, pieces, people are loosely intertwined creating not so much a story as a story-in-the-making. The writing is gentle, wispy, diffuse which fits the themes, but also makes me wonder how long the not-quite story will stay with me.

Starting a new book while a kid does swim lessons.

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Also, I had a great time last night learning more about a much-anticipated book, Walking on the Ceiling, a sort of flaneur novel, written by the very smart & sweet Aysegul Savas. It was a bonus that Helen Phillips (author of the upcoming The Need!!) was asking all of the insightful questions. 💕