pickA soft pick. @Jari-chan did warn me!
This reads a little like a novella length fairy tale for adults.
Diane is born to a mother who is incapable of loving her. Despite receiving love and affection from her grandparents, father, & siblings this lack cripples her emotionally and establishes her overachieving adult trajectory. Only through a violent tragedy is she able to close the circle by connecting another victim of the same trauma.
#Roll100
Another 4 books on the National Book Awards longlist. I had no idea the tagged book was such a chunkster until it arrived!
I also have 2 on order from eBay but they‘re not arriving for a few weeks yet.
I‘m reading The Antidote in print - it‘s too early to say what I think yet. I‘m also listening to The Sisters on audio and, goodness me, it‘s long! 😬
pickHertman's Ghent house,where he lived for 20 years,is a metaphor for Belgium's history after World War I.The family that lived there represents the divided society during Nazi occupation: collaborators&opponents as the family is divided within the house-the father,Willem Verhulst,who wears an SS uniform,is an informer&Nazi,while the mother,Mientje,is a liberal,art lover,&religious woman. Hertmans combines his own memories of the house
pickThe Remembered Soldier, by Anjet Daanje (2019, transl. 2025)
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Premise: A former soldier experiencing severe amnesia and PTSD struggles to recover his memories and life after he is brought home from an asylum by a woman who identifies him as her husband.
Review: This is a stunning, deeply moving literary love story that will reward patient readers. ⬇️
pickThe narrator,telling his grandfather‘s story,is present throughout almost the entire book.The narrative is interspersed with photos of places the narrator visits or masterpieces that influenced his grandfather or that his grandfather painted himself.In the second chapter,the first person narrator is no longer the grandson but it switches into the grandfathers point of view.We follow him into World War I trenches and combat.That makes it difficult
so-so
Losing steam on this book, but there‘s a week left of #summerjob anyways. #summerreading #queer #horror
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
This short dystopian novel has left me dumbfounded, centred around a young women who is initially imprisoned with 39 strangers, it raises more questions than answers. There were moments I had to ask myself whether I truly understood the book or was it actually as simple as the author's writing portrays it to be. It leaves one thinking what it means to be truly human, to be loved, and to be understood.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
