Welcome to Litsy!

Sofia is her mother‘s caretaker, a thankless job. Her mother says she can‘t feel her feet. They decide to go a clinic in Spain to determine what the medical issue is for her affliction. What follows is time spent following Sofia as she experiences the burgeoning awareness of sensuality, a meeting with an estranged father, and the suggestions of the clinic doctor as he explores how willpower and powerlessness impact us. An impactful read.

Dr. Gomez explaining to Sophia why the pharmaceutical rep wants to meet with her mother.

I realized halfway through I had already read my #doublespin, but I enjoy books about complicated parental relationships, so it was fine. 🙂

Sofia has traveled to Spain with her mom for her mom to seek treatment for a mysterious illness at an expensive private clinic. While there, Sofia navigates romantic entanglements, her estranged dad, and the doctor not being who he seemed. The setting in both Spain and Greece is gorgeous! A breath of summer!

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

Edgar is hunting the fly I let in while I read this morning. Should I be concerned about him leaping into the chandelier? 🙄

What an amazing read. Everyone is howling with rage and pain like the mad dog that Sophia our protagonist frees And everyone is trying to find themselves especially Sophia who has a half finished thesis and is unsure about love and her sexuality. Her relationships with her needy mother absent father and her lovers and would be lovers are difficult and difficult to understand. The writing is brilliant and elusive. I will read this again.

Just finished my current read so no better time to start my actual #BookSpin pick! And I‘m actually really excited for my #DoubleSpin pick because I feel like I‘ve almost started this book like twenty times, so this month is the month! Thank you @TheAromaofBooks for continuing this fun tradition month after month! 💕

Southern Spain sun with her Yorkshire Mom‘s mysterious numb feet to see a questionable specialist. The sun, the parched landscape, Medusa jellyfish and Greek mythology, and a newfound experimental inhibition…nothing is reliable here. It‘s all one step removed, dreamy, uncertain, and thought-provoking. This is my second terrific book by Levy. I really like how the atmosphere here has hung around beyond the few days it took to read.

'Sofia is a waitress, for the time being,' my father said in Greek.

I am other things, too.
I have a first-class degree and a master's.
I am pulsating with shifting sexualities.
I am sex on tanned legs in suede platform sandals.
I am urban and educated and currently godless.

Not, mind you, an ideal reading environment.

I seem to have read a few books with difficult/interesting mother & daughter relationship. This was one of them. Sofia and her mother Rose are in southern Spain to visit a clinic run by a man called Gómez. Rose has a strange affliction with her legs. Sofia finds is difficult to get her own life and feels bound to her mother. This is a strange one, while I didn't love it, it was certainly interesting. I do like stories about mothers and daughters.

One of my goals for 2021 is to buy a lot less and read what I have on my shelves. Have only read the first chapter on this one and already looks like something I will enjoy.

A perfect accompannying beverage. 👍🍶 So much, in such a compact book. Densely compressed with meaning, imagery and metaphor. I loved the scattered narration. Glimpses and fragments of a life. Repeated symbolism and revisited motifs. Changing perspectives and perception of people. An exploration of identity, maternal, paternal and romantic relationships. Role of language. A different and engaging read. Emotive yet unemotional. Many layers.

Beautiful and confounding novel about a complicated mother daughter relationship. 3 🌟

My second and last Hanukkah batch. 🙂 🕎

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

1. Tagged. Ethereal, dreamy and got under my skin💕
2. I don‘t bail, at least I can‘t remember the last time I did.... I have really good intuition about what books are going to be my jam....
3. Alan Hollinghurst... reading my second of his right now, and besotted by his writing 😍

#bookreport
A great week, I loved all three I read...😍

- My Dark Vanessa really was dark, but felt true and moved me in a real way, while touching a raw nerve.
- Hot milk was a fabulous audio-surreal, beautiful and meandering in a really good way.
- The Regrets was my most unique read this year... Odd, romantic, poignant and amusing.... I fell hard!

- just started 2 that have been in the #TBR forever, but I think they are both totally my jam!

Ethereal and dreamlike, at times unsettling, full of beautiful and strange details, surreal and sensuous. Through Sophia‘s inner world, the oppressive heat and foreignness of her surroundings are captured in each lovely sentence. Like waking up after an afternoon nap in a warm climate, her world feels disorientating yet familiar. Though the plot meanders, I was utterly absorbed.
I loved this audiobook so much! Romola Garai does a wonderful job🎧💕

This was my 2nd-ever audio book and, having struggled with the first, I loved it! It‘s quirky and unusual and I really felt like I knew the MC. Loved the narrator (Romola Garai).

I felt like I heard more than I would when reading, as I can‘t help speed-reading which means I miss stuff. I‘ve been #audiowalking, #audiocolouring and #audiobaking (Rolo brownies 😋) - I may just be a convert!

#readingeurope2020
#spain (would also work for #greece)

Recent(ish) novels where while on #holiday,
⛱️ A mother gets ill
⛱️ A doll goes missing
⛱️ A child goes missing
⛱️ A husband goes missing
Maybe it's not such a good idea to get away. 🤨
@cinfhen #MOvember

Waiting in the opticians ... reading!! Just started this book good few pages to start it ... looking forward to reading more 😊😊

A visit to Barter Books in Alnwick Northumberland, north east England ... in the snow .... and a fresh book haul ... excited!!!

🤔

Thanks @Caroline2 for the next #whodunituk and bonus #justbecause book - I'm looking forward to trying both!

A powerful short read which draws you in to it‘s dreamlike world. It‘s odd, but it‘s good. Deborah Levy‘s “Hot Milk” gets 4 stars from me.

My full review is up on my blog! 📚

Well this is a strange little book! A mother and daughter go to Spain to see an unorthodox doctor to try and cure the mother‘s mystery illness....! Beautiful writing and completely unpredictable, it made for a refreshingly unique summer read!

There is no certainty about anyone in this book - #BlurredLines everywhere. #HeatOfJuly

Completely enjoyable. The last two chapters made me think - may have to reread for clarity, but a recommended summer read about mothers, daughters, and finding one‘s self.

Possibly breaking record temps in the Northeast today with a high of 98 degrees. Finishing up this book by the pool with a beer or two - definitely no milk! 🤣Hot Milk is The Readers Podcast summer read.. Happy first day of July! 🌞 🏖

Winding down a Sunday with a thunderstorm and a glass of wine under the covered piazza. The wine is called Happy Sloth - which pretty much describes my afternoon of reading 😂😊🍷📚⛈

It‘s our first full day in Paris and we have been everywhere. Now it‘s time to settle down and enjoy the longer evening light, reading in the park next to Shakespeare and Company book store, gazing at Notre Dame. I picked up this book in advance of The Readers coming to SF shortly, since they will be talking about it when recording their podcast then. I don‘t know if I have ever enjoyed a reading spot more in my life!

My favorite time of day - 6AM with bulletproof coffee.

Any other Littens reading “Hot Milk” for The Readers Podcast summer read? I‘m 10% in and enjoying it!!

#TheReaders

I loved the dream-like quality of this book. It‘s a strange story, especially the bizarre dialogue that‘s as if every character is doped up on the same psychotropic drug 🤔 but if you can ride the wave, it‘s poetic and enlightening too.

Wow. The imagery in this is stunning. Took me a few pages to really get into it but then I was hooked! It‘s dreamy & introspective but kind of grounded at the same time. I related to Sofia in a way. Beautifully written and one I‘m sure will stick with me.

Just starting this one! It‘s been on my tbr for a while and I spotted it in the library a week or so ago so thought I‘d check it out.

Spent the afternoon at Politics & Prose in DC to celebrate #IndependentBookstoreDay. Loving today‘s #bookhaul. 💕

It was a depressing kind of read for me. I am totally in love with the narration and chracterization. I found many places where we had to dive in to find the actual intended meaning. It was a different type of read which I am not able to properly classify. I am neither happy nor upset that I picked it up! The reader has to be attentive to get the essence of it⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review is up in https://ovicandid.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/hot-milk-book-review/

“She has ripped my heart out with her monster claws”

Finished this here in Charlotte. I‘m not completely sure how I feel about this book. I read it because it‘s our next book club pick. I‘m going to read it again before we meet. It reminded me far too much of my mum and my relationship with her just before she died . I‘m still thinking about it all. @MrsMalaprop

How odd. Evocative. Strange. Beautiful. Haunting. Very well written. I think I liked it? Help!

Finally got to book shop here in Savannah. E.Shaver bookseller. One book for me , Hot Milk , next up on our book club. A t shirt also for me. Rest for granddaughter Annie. @TheKidUpstairs @MrsMalaprop

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This morning‘s reading spot 😍. #currentlyreading

“I confess that I am often lost in all the dimensions of time, that the past sometimes feels nearer than the present and I often fear the future has already happened.” - Deborah Levy, Hot Milk
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Sofia skips University to take care of her hypochondriac mother. They visit a well known "shaman" in Spain for the treatment. Series of events happens which makes Sofia learn more about herself. It is a beautifully written coming of age story that doesn't only portray love in family and relationships but also learning to identify oneself amidst the daily muddles of life. I had a good reading experience with this one.

This month‘s book club read. #currentlyreading @Jeg

Mini haul from Half Price Books last night! Went on a search for my swap gifts, found nothing for #theretellingbookswap but I did find two books for my #HalloweenGoesPostal match!!! Also ended up with these two for me!

I know this one has a lot of Litsy love, but it just wasn't for me. I struggle with strange books like this. Some parts of the story were intriguing, and I could see it was very well written, but I can't do books with this kind of dreamlike quality. I never feel inclined to invest in the extra thinking a book like this needs. I finished it, but if it had been longer I think I'd have bailed.

A local indie bookstore was having a 50th anniversary party. Everything was on sale. I went a little nuts, but all of this was under $30 total, so I don't feel too bad. I'm calling it a very early birthday present. I can definitely #blamelitsy for some of these. #bookhaul

This was a gift and I'm launching in knowing nothing about the book or the author. Have you read this or anything else by Deborah Levy?