Welcome to Litsy!

Been excited to start this for several months. My Christmas night reading!

Weird and enjoyable.

This collection of stories is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of stories I loved. Overall, it's a pick for me, but I feel the first part few stories are probably the best in the collection.

I love how Schwelin pushes the boundaries and ventures into strange, unusual, and slightly uncomfortable topics with these stories though.

Had some wild vivid dreams after reading this collection. Also woke up in the middle of the night and thought of the perfect way to describe how reading made me feel, which obviously I now cannot the remember. The best I‘ve got is: unsettled, a little confused and in awe.

I read this book for both Reading Women and The Story Graph Translation Challenge for book by a South American Author in Translation.

February wrap up. Had really great reads this month, highly rate all of these (except the Bridgerton ones - they‘re very average)

Short stories. Translated.

These stories are so strange, and most of them creepy in the way I love - vague, psychological, things left unsaid. There were some I liked better than others, but overall this was a pick.

I‘m torn, some of these were great and they were all super weird, but there was one with some gratuitous violence towards a dog. That does not sit well with me at all.

Just having a lazy book reading weekend and continuing to work my way through my #bookspinbingo card. No bingos yet, but 5 books down.

We're wrapping up our Lite Reads selection Toward Happy Civilization by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell! Link below for the full review. I personally really enjoyed this story, nearly as much as I've enjoyed reading Fever Dream. It perfectly encompasses terror rather than horror & has a fantastic atmosphere. Let me know in the comments what you thought of this one!

https://wp.me/p9KSXu-Ba

#womenintranslationmonth

Our new #LiteReads selection is Toward Happy Civilization by Samanta Schweblin, and translated from Spanish to English by Megan McDowell. This creepy story was chosen with Women in Translation Month in mind, and you can find links to read it (visual and audio) in my full intro post, linked below. Be sure to let me know in the comments what you think of it!

https://wp.me/p9KSXu-Av

#womenintranslationmonth

Using this for the for my #readyoursign spirit color prompt ♋ My color (violet) is actually on the naked spine...but I had to show off this cover!

Some of these stories were just plain odd (actually, who am I kidding... all of them were), but I will admit there was a small handful of stories during which I found myself saying, "Wow.... I ''get' it." Just for those few that spoke loudly to me, this was worth it.

@Clwojick @Meaw_catlady

Flipping through an old magazine and found a short story by a favorite author. This makes me want to revisit that book. But I have no time right now.

Bizarre book of short stories. I did enjoy this quote. It hit home as my son is graduating high school this year.

Clever, dark, taut surrealist stories by the author of FEVER DREAM, translated by Megan McDowell. Fertility, parenthood, violence and art. “Mouthful of Birds” (teen behavior), “The Test” (mercy, test of violence for mobster), “On the Steppe” (fertility, competition), “Heavy Suitcase of Benavides” (art & violence, guilt) were favs, big stakes. Others felt unfinished, or rewrites on same theme. Too easy for surreal to just feel odd & unraveled. 2019

When she reaches the road, Felicity understands her fate.

Amazing collection of dark strange short stories; daily life mixed with magic realism and twisted deep Twilight Zone vibe. Imagination in overdrive, certain stories unforgettable. Beautiful understated style doubles the impact. Fantastic job by the translator, Megan McDowell!

"It was fairly violent, the way she stuffed the paper into his fist, like cramming an oversize letter into the mouth of a too-soft mailbox."
-"A Great Effort"

I do not think I was smart enough for this book. Was just confusing.

I always feel weird when I don‘t love books that other people love so this one feels weird. I didn‘t hate it, finished it quick, the translation was great and the short stories were a great break from novels. But magical realism is just not my thing and I think I need to accept that. But objectively, Schweblin is a spectacular storyteller, just not my cup of tea.

An unnerving collection of eerie and absurd short stories, some fantastically ambiguous to the very last word. But the overall quality is uneven, and, by the end, such a curated tone of creepiness grows monotonous.

Perfect library pickup for Women in Translation month. Plus, frozen waffles because sometimes you just need to please your inner child. #womenintranslation

Twenty strange and quirky short stories from the author of Fever Dream. Much like Fever Dream, I found this book hard to put down.

I enjoyed Fever Dream more than this collection. Though, there were a handful of standouts: My favorite was “Headlights,“ followed by “Olingiris,“ “The Size of Things,“ and “On the Steppe“ (all 3 of which I also wanted more of), then finally “Toward Happy Civilization.“ Parenthood, fertility, childhood baggage, and art were prevalent themes.

I enjoyed these odd little stories! The opening one was especially strong. Many of the tales in this collection feel a bit unresolved, but I kind of appreciated that. They felt more haunting that way, as if the larger horror (and in many of these, we‘ve already been faced with the unsettling) is just around the corner.

I didn‘t realize when I borrowed this that it was a short story collection. We‘ll see if it keeps me interested.

Snuck in TV time in between #24B4Monday and I am emotionally spent watching episode 3 of GoT. Wrapping up my time at 17:18:29. Mouthful of Birds is finished and Dread Nation has 7 chapters left to be read.

@TheReadingMermaid @Andrew65

Happy #IndieBookStoreDay! Here‘s my haul from Astoria Bookshop in Queens, NY.

This was an odd one. I enjoyed some of the stories (Headlights, Preserves, and the title story), but others were a bit too odd. I did read the book all in one go, and I think it would have perhaps been better if I‘d dipped in and out.

Without doubt, Schweblin‘s stories are inventive, strange, dark and disturbing. And while some will stay with me (whether I want them to or not - looking at you, title story!), others felt like an idea that never quite took off, or that I‘m just not ‘getting‘. I haven‘t read Fever Dream - I might yet - but I suspect it‘s well-named.

And some seriously weird short-story reading from earlier today. I haven‘t quite decided what to make of this yet. It‘s dark, disturbing and very strange. Some of the stories may hang around my brain for quite some time. Yet to decide if this is a good thing!

But that cover! 😍

While I liked the taut, evocative writing and the gorgeous cover, the stories themselves often felt empty to me. These stories are absurd and sometimes horrific, but horror and absurdity alone are not enough for me. There are some really great stories here, but not enough to make up for the more so-so ones. 3⭐️ #manbookerinternational2019 #mbi2019

Dark and disturbing short story collection - some are excellent and some aren‘t so good. I liked unusual, eerie elements in them, but sometimes they felt too strange, just in purpose to unsettling the reader and to shocked them. While I do think that this is an interesting collection, with very intense, and at same time very calming prose, I don‘t think that this collection is award winning material ... but I recommend it 👇

“In the flat darkness of the countryside, there is only disappointment, a wedding dress, and a bathroom she shouldn‘t have taken so long in.” That is the first line of Samantha Schweblin‘s new short story collection and I am ALL IN.

#Butterflies
#LiteraryLuck

Fever Dream was my favorite book of 2017. I tell everyone about it. I still think about it often. I was so excited to see Samanta Schweblin had a collection of short stories being published in English. They‘ve got the same feeling as Fever Dream, but they‘re so much more fleeting. It makes for a disorienting reading experience - I‘d expect nothing less.

Dark, clever little stories. I adore Fever Dream, and I loved this latest one from Ms Schweblin.

Short story collection from the author of Fever Dream. As strange, odd and eerie as that novel. The first half of the stories were more powerful but overall excellent writing.

Schweblin‘s Fever Dream was great. This collection of short stories is hit and miss, with some incredible entries. Favorites are:
•HEADLIGHTS
•SANTA CLAUS SLEEPS AT OUR HOUSE
•THE SIZE OF THINGS
•A GREAT EFFORT
•THE HEAVY SUITCASE OF BENAVIDES

I went to the B&N book haul sale but didn't find anything I wanted. So I went to #ForbiddenPlanet and #TheStrand - I got these two books and an interesting #Tardis latte mug.

Weird and unsettling, the stories in this collection often set the scene and then leave the reader to fill in the blanks.

Wow. Just wow. Every last story in this book was a punch in the gut. An incredible collection.

Can you really take "too many baths"? ?? #bookandbath #bathtimereads

Today was a much needed day filled with reading. Car won't start due to the cold, everything is closed... But hey, I finished a full book and am on to the next! 🎉

I love surreal things and strange happenings, so I'm psyched

3/5🦅. I liked a few of the stories but the ones I didn‘t like outweighed the ones I did like. The title story was the best out of the plethora of stories. I would read more of her work.

The cover on this book is gorgeous