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review
Pinta
Sublunar | Harald Voetmann
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Mehso-so

Tycho Brahe: glutton, tyrant, star gazer, genius, friend to alchemists & fortune tellers. Private island. Prosthetic nose. Weather. Lots of weather. Trans. 2023

20 “the most illustrious noseless man of our time.”

43 “I have discerned the secrets of the universe from this soup tureen of a country during the brief and rare moments when the lid was raised and heaven could be espied.”

104 “We are created from the same fire as these distant lights.”

review
Decalino
Spadework for a Palace | Lszl Krasznahorkai
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Pickpick

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.

review
AnneCecilie
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Pickpick

My Norwegian edition contains only The Old Child so I don‘t know what stories are included in the English edition

This is Erpenbeck‘s debut story from 1999 and it‘s considerably shorter than the other books I‘ve read by her

A girl is found on the street and no one knows who she is, so she‘s placed at an orphanage. She‘s an outsider there, and she‘s trying to figure out how things work

The ending was a little weird, so if anyone has read this,

AnneCecilie I would love to discuss that 2w
BarbaraBB I have to find this book. Have enjoyed Erpenbeck before. 2w
39 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
Graywacke
A Leopard-Skin Hat | Anne Serre
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Pickpick

Anne Serre‘s novel is partly a response to her sister‘s death. This is a character study that plays games with the narrator… or The Narrator. It‘s wonderful in language, but a little lacking in reader drive. I enjoyed it enough and… it completes my read through the 2025 International #Booker Longlist! #IB2025

I will add my personal ranking of all 13 books in the comments. But leave off my quirky reasoning. Feel free to ask questions, though.

Graywacke Personal IB Longlist ranking

1. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
2. On a Woman‘s Madness by Astrid Roemer
3. Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu
4. Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
5. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
6. There‘s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem
7. Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
4mo
Graywacke 8. Small Boat by Vincent Delecroix
9. A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre
10. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
11. Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
12. The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem
13. Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda
4mo
Graywacke I liked the list and yet also didn't completely fall in love with anything. The closest I came to true love was with On the Calculation of Volume I. I liked that book because if I were a writer, it's the kind of free creative setting and atmosphere I can imagine trying to create and work with. And that is very meaningful to me. But every book on this list was very good. 👇 (edited) 4mo
See All 14 Comments
Graywacke Nothing felt overly simple, or offensively poorly thought-out, or pointlessly eccentric or affected. There were a lot of human elements, things I can mentally link into. The weakest book to me included some exceptionally strong elements. So, for me, a solid list, if without a wow. I didn‘t actually give everything four stars - but I think of it as a four star list top to bottom. 4mo
Suet624 I‘m curious to read #2 and #5. I tried #1 and had to stop reading it. I wish I could have connected more with it. 4mo
Graywacke @Suet624 both are excellent. But #2 gets a lot of DNF comments. It‘s a little challenging to read. But it has so much energy. And i loved that aspect 4mo
Suet624 Thanks. Congrats on making it through the whole list. 4mo
Graywacke @Suet624 it feels good 🙂 4mo
Leniverse Well done on completing the whole list! (And just in time for the regular Booker too 😂) 4mo
Graywacke @Leniverse i know! But I‘m excited for the main Booker. 4mo
sarahbarnes Congrats! I‘m still waiting on copies of a few from the library, including the winner. I loved Volume as well and also read the second in the series. I‘d probably put Big Bird and Perfection on the list to round out my top three of the ones I‘ve read. 4mo
Graywacke @sarahbarnes i think Big Bird might be to taste. Not sure. Perfection was really well written. 4mo
48 likes14 comments
blurb
Graywacke
A Leopard-Skin Hat | Anne Serre
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Started this. And it will complete my reading through this year‘s International Booker longlist - the 1st i will have done this.

#booker #IB2025

BarbaraBB So good you read them all! 5mo
Graywacke @BarbaraBB I‘m really happy about this 5mo
BarbaraBB You should be! I loved this year‘s IB longlist. Now it‘s fingers crossed for the Booker one. Will you read that one as well? 5mo
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Graywacke @BarbaraBB definitely! And the options look amazing. I think they have an opportunity for an especially good longlist. Of course judges are weird. 😆 5mo
BarbaraBB I don‘t dare doing any predictions! Can‘t wait for the longlist! 5mo
Graywacke @BarbaraBB July 29 🥰 5mo
41 likes6 comments
blurb
Lands
A Leopard-Skin Hat | Anne Serre
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review
ChaoticMissAdventures
A Leopard-Skin Hat | Anne Serre
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Mehso-so

"Was it true? Was she making it up? It doesn't matter."

Small but mighty. This is not a tiny book you can race through. The language is gorgeous but incredibly dense, I often had to reread entire pages, I would get to the end and not remember what I had read. Possibly this was too smart for me.

But I still enjoyed it, the mystery of the relationships, the aspects of mental illness were done well, also love the cover.
3.75/5⭐

Ruthiella 😻😻😻 6mo
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 6mo
43 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
AnneCecilie
A Leopard-Skin Hat | Anne Serre
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Pickpick

A weak pick

Our Narrator is talking about his friendship with Fanny. & friendships are never easy, especially when you don‘t know which of you friend‘s personalities you‘re going to meet

I watched Jen Campbell‘s YouTube video where she read some of the longlisted International Booker books & one of several ideas she talked about was that the Narrator & Fanny where the same person, & the Narrator where Fanny looking at herself from a distance

AnneCecilie That had me rethinking the entire book. #DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks (edited) 6mo
ChaoticMissAdventures I am reading this now and as I read their relationship keeps going through my mind and then being the same person keeps popping up. It has been really interesting. 6mo
51 likes2 comments