Welcome to Litsy!

#readaroundtheworld #libya Bookwormy has exited Litsy. I will miss her. This book is both a memoir of the author‘s search for his father who had been kidnapped by Qaddafi, but also a careful look at the politics surrounding Libya‘s historical revolutions, and finally how one grieves when one can not be sure of the death of the person you mourn. Slightly chronologically confusing but otherwise well written.

This book was a rather odd but delightful journey around Finland. I was by turns baffled by the main character Vatanen‘s choices and amused by the resulting events. Compared to much of my reading it was a generally lighter and entertaining read, although Vatanen does make some choices that get him into a some serious scrapes.

#ReadAroundTheWorld #ReadTheWorld #Finland #1001books #audiobook #translated

Where to begin?

This was some trip.

It starts off as a farcical fishing trip to put a curse on pause, and turns into… something else. Something with a whole lot of heart and supernatural folkloric beings. And witches. And mosquitoes.

Give it a go if you‘re up for a dose of Finnish weird. I liked this a lot. Whatever it was.

#readaroundtheworld #finland

#readaroundtheworld #finland Published in the 1950‘s, but set during the WWII when Finland found itself trapped between Russia and Germany. Their stories are told from the point of view of the common soldiers who were undisciplined, starving and wearing rags while their German partners had nice uniforms, were very disciplined but nevertheless considered fools. Each war story is a kind of folktale and all are chilling in an off center way.

I am SO out of practice with reviews. Time to snap out of it!

I really enjoyed this. It‘s your favourite @BookwormM - interconnected short stories 😁 - this time set in a Ukrainian apartment building before/after the fall of the USSR. I would say it‘s at the novel end of the ISS genre - we get to revisit the main characters, and grow to really feel for some of them - even the awful ones have heart. From a young orphan making her

#readaroundtheworld #ukraine I love Bulgakov‘s The Master and Margarita and this is not quite up to that. The novel reads almost like a cinematic script with the city of Kiev playing a leading role. It is 1918 and there are White Russians, Red Bolshevik's, Ukrainian national socialists, Germans and our title group; the White Guard who are Ukrainians loyal to the memory of the tsar. A flowing easy read and a wonderful history lesson.

This book is an interesting mix of an older parent trying to find new happiness in the face of loss, family dynamics, immigration (to England), and Ukrainian history. It‘s definitely got some dark humor while also delving into realistic family issues. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

#1001books #Ukraine #ReadAroundTheWorld #ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld