Welcome to Litsy!

I wanted to finish this book before the end of 2025, and I almost made it - finished yesterday. I really admire K‘s writing and have come to love his style of storytelling. It takes focus to follow the thread of his long sentences, but it‘s worth it. He has a gift for capturing mundane details about his characters that make them feel so human. His novels are dark and a bit apocalyptic, and this one was no exception.

Skylark was the best read in January, well-written, with a bittersweet and unexpected ending. However, I must mention the most harrowing book I read, that I still occasionally think about - The Discomfort of Evening.

#12booksof2025

I dipped my toe into our latest Nobel winner. Yeah, long sentences with no clear purpose until later. This is a short playful one on the anxiety of fleeing. Just fleeing. No cause, no identity other than Croatian ports. No explanation until the very end. I struggled a little. I was entertained. I‘m a little intimidated about reading more by him. This one is a collaboration with illustrator and a musician.

This brief, surreal novella consists mostly of a few extraordinarily long run-on sentences, which makes for a strangely propulsive galloping pace. The narrator is a librarian named "herman melvill," obsessed with the author of the same name, as well as author Malcolm Lowry and architect Lebbeus Woods, and the idea of a Permanently Closed Library. His descent into madness is strangely compelling, although I couldn't tell you what it means.

I was excited to see that Krasznahorkai won this year‘s Nobel Prize in literature. I really like his writing. These are the books of his I‘ve appreciated reading, and this is the motivation I need to finish the one on top of the pile this year. Very good, and very long.

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to László Krasznahorkai. I've only read the tagged book by him and I have to admit I didn't love it. I might try another work, just in case.
#NobelPrize

My husband and I have made it to Budapest on our trek through Eastern Europe. I‘ve tried to pick up a book in each country (but I missed out in Bulgaria and Croatia—not enough time to track down bookstores in the towns where we were that sell English editions). Anyway, I couldn‘t decide between a nonfiction and a fiction for Hungary —so I got them both. 😀 My carry-on is bursting at the seams now. Good thing we‘re heading home this weekend! 😬

5-/5 ⭐️
Un romanzo struggente in cui non si capisce cosa sia realtà e cosa immaginazione
Una lettura che ti trasporta e ti lascia senza fiato

🙄 December 😆

After seeing a review of her trilogy of novels recently, I became curious about Kristóf‘s writing. I was not able to find the novels at my library but found her memoir.

This is a very short read, but spoke to me in so many levels. In this book, and through short vignettes, she talks about what it felt like to emigrate to Switzerland as a refugee, learning French and publishing all her work in a language she had to learn from scratch.

Loved!