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#WeeklyFavorites

This is not a favorite but I didn‘t read much this past week (while being off work 🤨) so I had little choice! However, it is a #TOBlonglist book and many people DO like it.

What a fantastic start to my reading year! I absolutely loved this book. I was fully absorbed right away and never wanted to put it down. It‘s not what I would think of as a Booker nominee, but why not? I‘m so glad this was on the #TOBlonglist to insure that I read it.

Yet another book from the #TOBLonglist that I think should have been on the shortlist.

This was my first read of the year, and I loved it! It seemed so true to me- working a job with very little power doing what you can to create any change at all. Highly recommend.

Good month for #bookspin. I‘ve got a #toblonglist book and my choice from #botm. If my box were here now I‘ve grab the new Lisa Genova, but it‘s still in Illinois! 👎🏻

This wasn‘t what I expected, and definitely not a top pick for me from the #TOBlonglist. I liked the creepy nature of the dreams in the story and I appreciated reading about the Korean War, but much of the time I struggled to stay engaged in the story.

This thought-provoking book is a mix of unusual personal/family memoir and what feels like a NF version of Labatut‘s How We Cease to Understand the World. It ruminates on life, death, war, and more. I found it fascinating and I‘m glad it serves as my final completed book of 2024. #TOBlonglist

I am not a fan of child narrators and child neglect makes my blood boil, so this book shouldn‘t work for me at all. But the writing is magical and buoyant and that made all the difference—I really enjoyed it. I‘m glad it was on the #TOBlonglist to get me to read it. I‘ll be looking for more from this author.

Another one from the #ToBlonglist. I didn‘t enjoy Manhunt at all, but thought I‘d give this a go anyway and it was much better.

I actually don‘t mind the body horror - it doesn‘t gross me out at all but this was still rather OTT and overwrought for me. It‘s just one thing after another and all a bit much. Bury Your Gays from the longlist did a similar thing but in a subtler way, but maybe that‘s the whole point of this book?!

This book centering a comedy MFA program had a dynamite first chapter, looking like it‘s going to skewer academia and take on topical issues. But then it falls flat on its face with bad pacing, exploration of boring characters, and no apparent point. There are some funny lines scattered through, but I wanted to do anything else but read this. #TOBlonglist

Another #ToBlonglist book ticked off, although I‘ve been meaning to read this for some time.

If you like dysfunctional family stories where all of the characters are pretty awful, then this one‘s for you! Like many ‘family sagas‘, it worked well for me on audio as I think it may have been a touch too long / wordy in print and I would have been tempted to start skim-reading.

Whilst I liked Fleishman as well, this was better.