What Belongs to You: A Novel | 
so-soAn unnamed American teaching English in Sofia, Bulgaria, has an on-again off-again affair with a local rentboy, Mitko.
It's a not completely successful expansion from a novella. The novella itself was good but the rest of it was not well-integrated, which left me, at least, uncertain about what was going on for swathes of it.
pickThe narrator falls in love with Mitko, a young hustler. He both resists & succumbs to his own desires, & this battle within himself is masterfully controlled throughout the novel. The reasons for his self-denial, dating to childhood, are gradually revealed. Lyrical, propulsive sentences, the characters & setting feel real. Sensitively written, with heart-breaking truths about living in the margins of society.
Apparently it was my 3-year Litsyversary yesterday, so I bought the tagged book to celebrate
pickA chronicle of the MC‘s years long “relationship” with a hustler in #Bulgaria, I found this book affecting. It doesn‘t have much plot, which I usually hate, and it‘s oddly dense for a short book, but that served to slow me down in a way I liked. I can see why this book isn‘t for everyone, but I really liked it.
#ReadingEurope2020
bailedI just can‘t try to read this anymore. He can certainly write a pretty sentence, but the book seems too self-indulgent and has so much pointless filler. I wanted to read this before reading his latest book ‘Cleanness‘ but now I‘m not sure I want to read that one either.
panMaybe I should've read this book when I put it on my reader many years ago. But now my reading habits changed and I just couldn't understand what the narrator finds that fascinating about this Mitko guy. On the other hand I never was one for love stories so I might wouldn't have enjoyed it back then either. Who knows.
pick4.5 of 5. Gorgeous and devastating. (But could I have a few paragraph breaks please? 😂)
pickThis reminds me somewhat of Ishiguro, which I mean as a compliment since Ishiguro is one of my favorites. It is close throughout, intimate, yet somehow also reserved, though that reserve lies atop deep and complex and passionate emotion. In Ishiguro, that reserve feels very Japanese to me. Here, I‘m not sure what it feels like, but it is beautiful and perhaps familiar still. Quite a remarkable novel, I think.
Disorienting, dreamy, disquieting. Not a light summer read.
The run-on style of this book is kinda stressing me out. I‘m reading this on vacation but it‘s not relaxing.
pickDevastating short novel about a man who has moved to Bulgaria to start a new life, and becomes obsessed with a male prostitute named Mitko. The novel centers on the relationship between the two men over a two year span, and gives us some background on the unnamed narrators childhood and life. Beautiful writing that is easy to follow, this is a haunting story that doesn‘t give all the answers, but will stay with me for years. #pridemonth #pride
Has anyone read What Belongs to You? I was thinking about ordering it but I‘ve heard it‘s pretty bleak, and I‘m not sure I can take another dark book after #alittlelife 🤔 #litsywelcomewagon
@BookBabe you have such pretty handwriting. I saved my name from the bookmark I ordered from you and now it‘s in my planner!
pickI raced through this: an intense story of a gay man living out the consequences of a loveless childhood in a homophobic household and community. It left me feeling desperately sad.
While the language is beautiful this one is leaving me cold. Here's hoping I start connecting with it in Part 2. #BIRTHDAYSPACE
pickShort, dense, melancholy. One man's discovery that he doesn't understand much about love, or himself, or how to love, or how to love himself. One of the saddest books I've read in a while despite the eroticism, despite the approximations of affection. It's all very transactionary and paid for. And I get that life was shit growing up, but we make choices about our own lives which we must take responsibility for and, mostly, this book made me sad.
pickFinished this over breakfast this morning!
A well written and heart-wrenching (and at times quite filthy) look at being a (not very nice!) queer man in Sofia.
Recommend for a quick and different read!
#queerbooks
Nearing the end of my second book in one day in sunny sunny seattle. This place is awesome!
#bookmail today! Oh it makes me so happy!!
Squeezing one more short book in before the end of the month. Because priorities.
so-soI liked it but didn't love it. I think my expectations were too high because of the accolades.
#bulgaria #sexuality
I've wanted to read this for quite some time, and now I'm finally getting around to it 🙆 I have extremely high expectations for this one.
pickWhat a beautiful novel. Very short but packs quite a punch.
It is a surprisingly bitter cold weekend in Austin, Tx. Going to snuggle up and get some major reading done.
They finally arrived!!
Can't wait to get started, the only problem is, I don't know which one to read first 🤔
What would it mean to do enough, I wondered, as I had wondered before about that obligation to others that seems so clear and sometimes disappears altogether, so that now we owe nothing, anything we give is too much, and now our debt is beyond all counting.
This is my last book stacked. Had never heard of it until the Litsy reviews. I tend to hand write what I really want to read and use GR for my comprehensive tbr, but Litsy is great for finds I'd never come across on my own. #lastbookstacked #blameitonlitsy #seasonsreadings2016
Happy Holidays, Litsy folk! This is my Christmas Eve pick- I'm starting it tonight. I've spotted it on a few "Best of 2016" lists; apparently the prose is very beautiful. Have y'all read this one? ???
New Roxane Gay and Garth Greenwell ❤❤❤❤❤❤
*squeals* *runs around* *considers being sick tomorrow from work so I can read all day* #newbooks
pickGreenwell is a fantastic writer, no doubt. I will admit I struggled with the run-on sentences and paragraphs, but that might be because I had to read this in small chunks and this book doesn't really lend itself to that. It seems to be meant to be read in one long sitting. [3.5 stars]
pickI enjoy melancholic, interior novels about outsiders. This one fits that description perfectly: a gay American living in Bulgaria, struggling with dislocation and his desire for a street hustler. If that's the sort of thing you like, my guess is that you will like this audiobook very much. #queerbooks
A gay American teaching in Sofia is attracted to a Bulgarian hustler. I need to take breaks as I listen to this because I'm afraid it will end badly.
pickOne of the novels of the year for me. In elegant, composed prose Garth Greenwell paints a devastating portrait of longing and desire. This will haunt you long after you reach the final page. Highly recommended.
#booktober post--my four best reads of October were three that I read for the #2016nbaficlonglist challenge plus my #botm October choice! I had a terrific reading month, finished 15 books!! I suspect I won't be quite as productive come November... it's knitting time!! @RealLifeReading
pickBook six of my #2016nbaficlonglist reading challenge. I've already returned it to the library, so no picture. This book is raw, beautiful, heartbreaking. I loved Greenwell's writing style of long sentences and paragraphs which makes you feel as if you're immersed in the narrator's brain. It's about rejection and connection, and of feeling disconnected from those you love. Really effective.
"Making poems was a way of loving things, I had always thought, of preserving them...of bestowing on experience a richer meaning. But that wasn't what it felt like when I looked back at the boy... it felt like a loss. Whatever I could make of him would diminish him, and I wondered whether I wasn't really turning my back on things in making them into poems, whether instead of preserving the world I was taking refuge from it."
My library haul from the last month. Not pictured: half of the books I actually got from the library. See the entire list here http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2016/10/library-books-mid-october-2016.html #bookhaul #librarybooks
Just listened to a great interview with Garth Greenwell on Bookworm podcast. Worth a listen!!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/kcrws-bookworm/id73330484?mt=2&i=370019875
so-soI don't quite know how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the narration but I just didn't like the story line. Sorry guys!
pickI've been in the position of wanting to help someone with substance abuse issues who wasn't ready to help himself. It's so difficult to want to make a difference and know that you can't. This book really brought back that feeling of helplessness.
It is written in very long paragraphs, with more commas than usual. Beyond that, I thought it was well written. Difficult subject matter. 4 out of 5 stars for me.
