Welcome to Litsy!

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! 😬

Hertman'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

The 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. ⬇️

The 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

This never really came together for me. It was well-written, but I didn‘t feel like the ultimate threat really carried the story. I almost #dnf. #queer #horror

Losing steam on this book, but there‘s a week left of #summerjob anyways. #summerreading #queer #horror

Today‘s #summerreading #summerjob #queer #horror

#queer #spooky #summerreading #summerjob

I avoided this one when the buzz started but all of the Litsy reviews wore me down and I am glad they did. Such a wonderfully unusual book that sort of makes space in your brain and won‘t let you stop thinking about jr. A girl raised in a bunker with 39 other women. Why are they there? What was her life before? How does this impact every aspect of her being? You don‘t get all the answers you want but you do get a lot to mull over.