Welcome to Litsy!

A jewel-box of delights, and a coming together. Afterall, that's the function of Netsuke, to bring things together.

Birthday books from my hubby. 🥰 He knows me well.

#WeeklyForecast

I‘ve started the tagged book, it‘s very good ♥️
Also started the Celia Fremlin, also good 👍🏻

We are reading the Joseph OConnor for our next IRL Bookclub, I‘m looking forward to it.

Happy reading week everyone ♥️
Hi Cindy 😘

This book arrived today …. I‘m wondering @CarolynM if it‘s from you. ? It‘s a wonderful gift.

Tracing the itinerary of his great-grand uncle's fabulous collection of netsuke (small Japanese ivory and wood figurines), the author achieves a very dynamic and captivating fresca of the lives of his ancestors, the Ephrussis, a wealthy Jewish family rivaling the famous Rothschilds, spanning on three centuries, from Paris to Vienna, London, Tokyo and Odessa, throughout all major historical events and remarkable figures of the years 1871 to 2009.

Book 4 of the year, finished last week some time, audio.

Book 2 of my vow to do more Nonfiction. I liked this one pretty well, I guess I just need books with a narrative rather than ones that read like a text book.

Over all a So-So read, he didn't quite connect to the people who's story he was telling. But it did inspire me to go down my own research path of Netsuke, which are pretty awesome little Japanese carvings.

This was a fascinating story. The author is inspired to take a look into his family‘s history upon seeing the netsuke collection in his great-uncle‘s house. Acquired in 19th century France and later transferred to Vienna as a wedding gift. The author‘s extremely wealthy Jewish family is targeted by the Nazis in WWII and most of the family fortune is lost - except for the netsuke, which are saved by a maid and returned to them after the war. 4⭐️

I read this book a few years ago; absolutely fascinating true story of a exiled Jewish family and their netsuke collection. Now, Austria is allowing return of citizenship to wartime refugees. Timely during current refugee crisis and Brexit. Link to author interview: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/28/edmund-de-waal-nazis-banished-my-f...

Once the book got underway after a rather offputting prologue, I found it unexpectedly interesting describing the different milieux of the different branches of the family. Although I had expected before I started that the book was going to be focussed on the travails of the family under the Nazis, there wasn't all that much in the book, which was just as well because I found even the 40 pages or so that there was difficult reading.

#adventrecommends day 15

The author‘s family used to be rich. Going back to the 1870s, he is tracking how his family lost it all through two world wars because they were Jews.

De Waal seemed like he was trying to do too much with story and juggling storylines (family, art, political climate) that seemed to disappear and then suddenly reappear throughout the book. The multiple lines were not carried through well and ultimately left me feeling very disconnected and disinterested. #catsoflitsy #wishitwasbetter

It‘s a charity shop haul! I‘m thrilled to find the tagged book and a Fay Weldon (been meaning to revisit FW for ages). Any others here you‘ve read? The Obreht book is The Tigers Wife in case you can‘t see it.

#bookhaul
I don't like booksales in bookshops. ☺️

This was such a fascinating way to look at a family history. The netsuke that Edmund de Waal inherited had an amazing journey from Japan to Paris to Vienna and back to Japan again.

Everything I've seen about this book has been positive but I am embarrassed to say I am STRUGGLING. I am 177 pages in and it's just not clicking for me. It is taking forever to to make progress but I feel like I should see it through since I'm more than half way through? 🙈I hate not finishing books...

I love a book with a family tree almost as much as I love a book with a map :)

Found a few books with #colointhetitle 💚I've only read the tagged book and it was pretty fascinating, although it started to drag near the end 🐇#splashintosummerreads

A fascinating and moving biography of de Waal's Jewish family history, of antisemitism, and of our attachments to objects. #Audiobook narrated by Michael Maloney. I originally read this shortly after it came out. It was just as good (and sad!) the second time through.

De Waal's quote from Robert Musil, in regards to 19th century Vienna, made me stop to google an image (above) because I will be in Vienna and then Slovakia in 10 days: "Imagine them strolling along on our Ringstrasse, the only place in the world where you can see in the midst of western European elegance at its finest, a Mohammedan with his red fez, a Slovak in sheepskins, or a barelegged Tyrolean."

The gossip in Paris was that Charles was "entre deux lits" (bisexual).

[a euphemism I hadn't heard before]

#17BookLove #subjectILove HISTORY!!! I love discovering people's journeys and reading their stories. I tend to gravitate towards memoirs that include a Jewish connection since I enjoy gaining knowledge about my heritage. I would easily recommend each of these titles for any history buff. Tagging books below for those who might be curious.

I got some lovely hardcovers at the thrift store yesterday.

I read this book while I was living in Vienna and was inspired to see the city with different eyes through it. It really took me back, since most of the described buildings are still there. I had passed the former Palais Ephrussi so many times without being aware of its moving history.
#photoadaynov16 #inspiring #day3

When your carry-on is empty and you have to buy books. #bookhaul

This book is simply amazing. It s about family, about history, about life, about a collection and finally about us. I recommend highly this one

A story of family, war, art, and legacy. The netsuke hidden and stolen and the search for understanding among what remained. A beautiful written memoir that is both deeply personal and revealing of the secret lives of objects.

One of my favorites