Litsy

so-so

I loved the first third of this NBA longlister for Fiction in Translation.

Then it got VERY repetitive and long-winded.

The final third was more interesting but I‘d already guessed what was going to happen, although not the ultimate ending, so that lessened the impact a bit. That, and the fact that i5 was all rather depressing, kept this as a so-so..

BarbaraBB Kudos for finishing it. I haven‘t read it yet but read another one that I enjoyed a lot. 3w

Hooked_on_books Good job pushing to the end, though! I love the idea of this book but where was the editor?! 3w

58 likes2 comments

Octoberwoman

Fall of the Double Eagle: The Battle for Galicia and the Demise of Austria-Hungary | John R. Schindler

I‘m posting one book a day from my massive collection. No description, no reason for why I want to read it.

#ABookADay2025

6 likes

Hooked_on_books

The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje

so-so

This is a supremely frustrating book. The writing is great, but it is in desperate need of editing. It goes on and on in a way that just makes it a slog, then finally perks up in the last quarter. The only reason I stuck with it was that I was determined not to bail on two #NBAshortlist for translated lit books in a row. If you try to read it and get bogged down, I recommend skipping forward to chapter 11 and going from there.

BarbaraBB Thanks for the heads up. I want to read it too but it‘s such a chunkster. I now know what to expect. 2mo

squirrelbrain Gah! I was so looking forward to this one….. 2mo

dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2mo

43 likes3 comments

Maggie4483

Testament Of Youth: An Autobiographical Study Of The Years 1900-1925 | Vera Brittain

Deep sigh 😔

This was written in the 1930s - but switch out some of the words and it sounds remarkably similar to….well, you know.

Ruthiella 🙁🙁🙁 3mo

Dilara 100% agree! 😔 3mo

21 likes2 comments

squirrelbrain

The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje

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! 😬

Hooked_on_books

AnneCecilie The Sisters is amazing and worth its length 3mo

squirrelbrain I‘m quite a long way through it @annececilie and usually I don‘t mind a lot of detail but it‘s just starting to grate on me a little bit. 😬 3mo

AnneCecilie @squirrelbrain I love details and have also read several of his previous novels and enjoyed them. 3mo

See All 6 Comments

Hooked_on_books I‘m also listening to The Sisters on audio! I‘m at the 60% mark and so far I‘m a little underwhelmed. I really feel like the first half didn‘t know whether to center the narrator or the sisters and ended up a little disjointed. I don‘t know that I would have made it through in print. And I didn‘t know the tagged was so chunky, either! 😱 3mo

squirrelbrain I‘m probably around the same point as you @Hooked_on_books - I‘m struggling with knowing / understanding the timescales as it seems to jump about all over the place. Funnily enough a blurb on the bag of the tagged book says ‘not a moment too long‘ (or wtef)! 😜 3mo

BarbaraBB The Dutch one is a chunkster but she‘s such a good writer. You‘ll probably fly through it!

The Remembered Soldier

3mo

60 likes6 comments

Mattsbookaday

The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje

pick

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. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday I say patient because it‘s well over 500 pages long, and it employs long, run-on sentences and paragraphs. But the pay-off is beyond worth any annoyance. This will almost certainly be among my top reads of the year.

Bookish Pair: The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (2005, transl. 2009) 3mo

BarbaraBB Great review. I loved The Housekeeper and Daanjes other book (which hasn‘t been published in English yet) so this is a must read for me!

Song of Stork and Dromedary

(edited) 3mo

13 likes2 stack adds2 comments

Suzie

Loyal Creatures | Morris Gleitzman

Where I talk through the love/hate of Loyal Creatures by Morris Gleitzman
https://www.suzs-space.com/loyal-creatures-morris-gleitzman/

SaraBeagle

Fear: A Novel of World War I | Gabriel Chevallier

"The horror of war resides in this gnawing anxiety. It resides in the continuation, the incessant repetition of danger. War is permanent threat. 'We know not the place or the hour.' But we know the place exists and the hour will come. It is insane to hope that we will always escape."

12 likes1 stack add

Danay

The Brightwood Code | Monica Hesse

A little different. I enjoyed it. Flawed characters who were still likable.

4 likes

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