A wonderful and sad debut about a 23 year old girl returning to her Irish hometown after a breakup in London. Going home is returning to less than ideal childhood memories. Fighting depression and trying to find a way to come to terms with the past and the present, Saoirse embarks on nights of drinking and doing drugs, but also finds love and friendship. I will keep thinking about her and the plot for some time to come. Highly recommended!

#ToB26

I wonder why this book is shortlisted. It‘s about an unlikable girl creating a man out of a blob she finds in an alleyway.
Also, there is a some symbolism and self-discovery but it is all so obvious. Is it a YA book? It might be. And that‘s why I wonder why it‘s on the list. Enjoyable but forgettable.

#ToB26

I really tried but at 22% I call it quits. It‘s so much longer and I am not that invested in the story so far. Too many books, too little time 🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I never reread a book but now I did (because I host the discussion on this one during #WintercampLitsy) and wow, was it rewarding. The second time around I loved Sybil just as much. And I also love how ingeniously Virginia Evans brought all storylines together, just by those letters. An amazing book that left me in tears again. I can‘t recommend it enough!

I look forward to discussing the book on the 17th en 24th.

#WeeklyForecast

I am rereading The Correspondent for #WintercampLitsy and am loving it again. Next will be either Blob or Katabasis for #ToB26 and I also want to pick up Banana Yoshimoto‘s short stories. This might be a bit ambitious because it‘s back to work again tomorrow, but we‘ll see.

Rosa is independent, confident, pragmatic, judging and funny. Most of all, she‘s one of the most unreliable narrators I‘ve ever met! It would have been a totally different story from the POV of her daughter or granddaughter.
The book is about life in the USSR, leaving the country for Germany, trying to make the most of it under all circumstances.
It‘s quite unique and I can‘t wait to discuss it with the #EuropaCollective.

I love Storygraph for several reasons:

🔸I keep track of my reading and could quit GR
🔸I keep track of the challenges over there
🔸There are some very nice people behind it making it all possible
🔸I like it when I plan to read a book and see automatically who of my contacts has interacted with it and what they thought.

So let‘s connect over there too! My name is barbarabarbara

🏕️ #WintercampLitsy is about to start! We hope you‘ve got your copy of The Correspondent.

On Saturday Jan 17, we‘ll discuss the first half of the book (until an email from Sybil to James, dated December 28, 2015 - page 141 in my edition) We‘ll post 3 questions and will tag you. You can join in whenever you like.

On Jan 24 we‘ll discuss the whole book. Helen, Holly and I will meet you there and make sure the campfire is lit and cozy 🏕️🔥 📚

A couple revisits Niagara Falls, where they honeymooned long ago and where they plan to visit the casino. It‘s an all or nothing weekend: their marriage and their financial situation are on the brink of collapse.

Now it seems as if there‘s a lot of plot but the book is actually much more character driven: husband and wife circling around eachother, thinking for one another, and reliving their shared years. Very subtle, very good.

We‘ll kick off 2026 with our next #EuropaCollective buddyread. If you want to join, read the book in your own pace, share your thoughts at Litsy with the above hashtag and join @Lesliereadsalot and me on January 25 when we will discuss the book on this thread. Looking forward to it!

After a long New Year‘s Eve with family and friends, too much food and too many drinks, this was the perfect book to curl up with today. As always with Marrs, the book reads like a rollercoaster, winding its way through many twists. This one is about three extremely unlikable (though funny) women, who are neighbors and pretend to be friends. Literally nothing is what it seems.

Happy new year from Amsterdam! Here‘s to a year of respect for the world and each other ❤️

#WeeklyFavorites

Who would‘ve thought, a seasonal read as my weekly favorite? It‘s dark though 😉

Thanks for organizing @Read4life 💕

#DecemberStats

4⭐️
If You Love It, Let It Kill You
The Ten Year Affair
Brightly Shining
3.75⭐️
Forbidden Notebook
The Sitter
The Garden
The Burning Heart of the World
3.5⭐️
The Passenger Seat
Palaver
The Mind Reels
3.25⭐️
Waterline
Dream Count
3⭐️
Among Friends
Underspin
Stolen Children

#Top25Of25 Part 4 of 4

These last days of the year I have been sharing my 25 favorite books of the year.

Today I share my ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ books, reads that I suppose will be all-time favorites.

Scroll down on my feed to see the rest of my #Top25Of25.

#ToB26

Such a bleak and depressing read. But a good one. Alice becomes mentally ill during her first year at college and it changes her and her life forever: the meds, the frustration, the shame, the friends who can‘t stay, the shattered dreams. I didn‘t always like DeBoer‘s lack of emotion in his writing but it might be the best and most respectful way to share Alice‘s story.

#Top25Of25 Part 3 of 4

These last days of the year I am@sharing my 25 favorite books of the year.

Today I share the 4 books I rated with 4.75 ⭐️

Yesterday and the day before I showed my 4.5⭐️ and 4.25⭐️ rated books.
Tomorrow I‘ll share the four 5⭐️ books I read in 2025.

I heard about this book in Dua Lipa‘s bookclub. If you don‘t know it, check it out. Her talks with authors are very refreshing and excellent.

So I thought I should read her December choice, a dark Norwegian Christmas read. Two young sisters are selling Christmas trees to gain the money their father spends on booze. Life is hard but many people are kind and caring and offer them some hope. I loved the narrator, the youngest sister. Recommended!

#WeeklyForecast 52/25

To end the year in style I have started Brightly Shining. Next will be another #ToB26 read (the tagged book) and I want to read our #EuropaCollective January book (in Dutch though, couldn‘t find an English copy where I live).

#Top25Of25 Part 2 of 4

These last days of the year I‘ll be sharing my 25 favorite books of the year, arranged by the stars I gave them.

Today I share the 7 books I rated with 4.5 ⭐️

Yesterday I showed my 4.25⭐️ rated books.
Tomorrow i‘ll share four 4.75⭐️ books followed by four 5⭐️ reads.

#ToB26 #25

A son has been living in Tokyo for twelve years when his mother suddenly comes visiting him from the US, after they‘ve been estranged for all those years. Their relationship is a complicated one, their conversations always cut short. Their past is filled with unsolved business, their current lives a search for meaning I think. The Tokyo setting is what I loved most about the book. A light pick.

📸 Chatel, France

#Top25Of25 Part 1 of 4

For the next four days I‘ll be sharing my 25 favorite books of the year, arranged by the stars I gave them.

These 10 are the books I rated with 4.25⭐️
Tomorrow I‘ll share my seven 4.5⭐️ books, followed by four 4.75⭐️ books and four 5⭐️ reads.

The #ISpy bingo cards for September, October, November and December. Filled with lots of unread books but many ✅ too!

Looking forward to #ISpy26! Thanks @TheAromaofBooks

Comfort reading at the ski piste on Christmas morning. Each installment in this series is good but this time I have been a bit annoyed by how much time DCI Matilda Darke spends on looking away from the case at hand. This was a gruesome one and like you Trish I guessed the killer early on as well!

📸 Chatel, France

Finishing #ReadTheWorld2025 with 6 more countries: #Spain, #India, #Brazil, #Armenia, #Nigeria and #Lebanon. I managed to read from/about 37 countries and will definitely continue reading from around the world. Thanks for hosting Myra!

#ToB26 #24

Vera‘s grandparents left Armenia after the massacre and started anew in Lebanon. Years later Vera and her parents leave for the US when the situation in Lebanon becomes too dangerous.
9/11 brings back memories of a family leaving so much behind, not just danger and war, but also family, friends and happy memories. A thought provoking book.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #Lebanon

📸 Chatel, France

#ToB26 #23

This is a very atmospheric and disturbing dystopian book about two sisters, living an isolated life in what mostly is a walled garden and what used to be the kitchen of the mansion they lived in before. A mansion that has been shut down for years because their mother wanted that. I was never quite sure of what happened, what was true and what not. The ending is vague too yet it was a very satisfying read for me.

📸 Chatel, France

The Sitter unfolds in a Paris hotel during lockdown, where a writer tries to shape Hortens Cezanne‘s story as the wife and muse of painter Paul Cezanne.

Instead, Hortense seizes the narrative, watching, questioning, and turning the gaze back on the author. Their entwined lives, losses, and parallels emerge in layered fragments. A beautiful written novel. Thanks so much Carolyn, for sending me this book!

📸 Chatel, France

#WeeklyForecast 51/25

I will hopefully read these three books during the holidays. Still a lot of #ToB26 to be read but also another installment in the Matilda Darke series, which I have been enjoying a lot.

#ToB26 #22

Yes it‘s a book about a ten year affair but it‘s also not. And it is certainly not as predictable as you might suspect. To me it is much more a book about growing up and becoming a mother and leave the city where you were young and all seemed possible. I really liked it.

📸 Lausanne, Switzerland

#ToB26 #21

Of course Adichie is a wonderful writer, especially of characters. In this book there are four women, whose lives we follow during the pandemic and who are spread across the world. I liked the characters and the strength of these women but the story felt a bit loose although the author‘s afterword explained a lot. Not as good as Americanah, a light pick. And the audiobook was good.

📸 Koblenz, Germany

#WintercampLitsy tent 🏕️

We have our winners: The Correspondent, Cursed Daughters and So Far Gone!

Hopefully we‘re in time for you to add them to your X-mas wishlist!

We‘ll read them in the above order, with the 1sr#t discussion on Jan 17. More details about the discussion of each book will follow separately.

For now we hope you‘re happy with the outcome. Helen, Holly and I are looking forward to our first wintercamp with you all! 🤍❄️

#ToB26 #20

Mari is a young woman whose death has a profound impact on her family: her parents but also her uncle, aunt and their kids. It‘s a hot long summer in Michigan, in which each family member deals with their loss in their own way but at the bottom is always their shared ancestry in Armenia. A light pick, a bit less interesting than I expected.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #35 #Armenia

#WeeklyForecast 50/25

#ToB26 fever! I am reading and enjoying the longlisted Waterline. Lined up are The Sitter (a gift by @CarolynM ), that looks so appealing, and the tagged book, that is shortlisted for the Tournament.

#tob26 #19

A writer/teacher lives with her lover and his daughter in Kentucky. All of her family suddenly moves there too and lives within a mile of each other. Then there‘s her ex-husband, also a writer and writing about her, a cat, a student, an Irishman and a best friend.

It‘s a very witty and comic kind of autofiction about her dealing with all these people and situations. Dialogues are fabulous, spot-on and funny.

Recommended!

#ToB26 Shortlist is here!
I am moderately happy with it. I have read 3, am in the middle of one, and have another 6 on my shelves. About the others I am not sure yet. Bunny again? Don‘t think so. Also I have never heard of some! Anyhow, excited for the #ToB and for #WintercampLitsy, where we will read three not-nominated books!

#Tob26 #18

Underspin traces the life of table-tennis prodigy Ryan Lo, whose early death is pieced together through the voices of those who knew him. The shifting perspectives reveal the pressure, isolation, and mystery surrounding his talent. A sharp, haunting novel that lingers precisely because it refuses easy answers. That‘s probably what makes the book good but I longed for some answers.

Now the waiting for the shortlist starts!

#ToB26 #17

Adam and Teddy embark on a roadtrip, a bit impulsive, but never mind. They‘re boys, almost men, they are friends and they are fed up with school and family.

The trip soon spins out of control: testosterone, indifference, too much confidence and some darker motives take over. In a dense story the book shows the darker side of male friendship.

#WeeklyForecast 49/25

It‘s going to be a #TOB26 week. I want to tread as many longlisted books as possible before the shortlist will be announced. So. I am reading The Passenger Seat, a tense read. Next will be the tagged and if time allows, I‘ll also make a start with If You Love It, Let It Kill You.

It‘s the 1950s in Italy, a country recovering from WWII. Valeria is 43, her children are grown up and she works and takes care of the family. Then she buys a notebook and from the moment she starts writing in it, she starts questioning everything in her life. Her marriage, motherhood, the expectations she had of her life. Is this all? The unrest grows along with her entries in her forbidden notebook.

#ToB26 #16

Two men have become friends at college. Turning 50, they still are. And so are their wives and daughters. During a weekend that the two families spend together something happens that changes everything. All of them have to decide what‘s true and what isn‘t and how to go on from here.

An interesting premise but the author needs way too many words to tell the story. That makes it
an okayish read but not a ToB-worthy one.

#NovemberStats

4.75⭐️
Sad tiger
Heart the lover
4.5⭐️
The river is waiting
Fault lines
4⭐️
How to sleep at night
A guardian and a thief
3.75⭐️
Immaculate conception
After Annie
Lion
3.5⭐️
Ms Ice Sandwich
The rest of our lives
Whistle in the dark
Sleep
On earth as it is beneath
3.25⭐️
Sympathy tower Tokyo
3⭐️
Strange houses
A necessary end
Killing Stella
Swallows
2.75⭐️
The invisible guardian

DNF
The emperor of Gladness

#ToB26 #15

I hadn‘t expect to bail on this one since I enjoyed Vuongs debut novel, but there‘s that. This one too is well written but to me it was rather boring. Drugs and poverty are often a recipe for a repetitive story and unfortunately this story is no exception. I didn‘t care enough to finish it. I have to admit audio didn‘t help either, my mind kept drifting off.

#ToB26 #14

This book is a monument to the father who the author kept hanging on to no matter what. He was a man at loss, being with her and leaving her, loving her and neglecting her.
In this book she comes to terms with who he was and who she has become, being his daughter. A very generous and wise woman.

#WeeklyForecast 48/25

A #ToB26 week! I am reading and enjoying Lion and listening to Emperor of Gladness, which I am not enjoying at all. Next will be the tagged book, that everyone seems to hate but I already bought it and am curious to see what I‘ll think.
Forbidden Notebook (in Dutch) is my choice for #FoodAndLit (Italy).

#ToB26 #13

This short, brutal novel hit me harder than I expected. Set in Brazil, in a remote penal colony where prisoners are released only to be hunted, it‘s stark and unsentimental, yet gripping. Maia writes violence without glorifying it. The bleakness is heavy, but the sharp writing kept me fully absorbed. So I am with you, Helen and Sarah!

#ReadTheWorld2025 #34 #Brazil

#WeeklyFavorites

With Sleep as my final addition to November‘s weekly favorites, I am having one of my best reading months.

#ToB26 #12

This book is completely different from Out, that I loved. I was a bit disappointed by the story about a surrogate mother and all persons involved in the pregnancy and the circumstances surrounding it.
It‘s a story about women‘s choices in how to live their life, I can imagine it being a big theme in today‘s Japan. But to me it felt like a story I‘ve read before.

In the first part of the book Margaret grows up in a dysfunctional family. In the second part she‘s a mother herself, navigating between her kids, her ex, her new lover and, still, her family. Her dominant and depressed mother is always there, in the back of her mind or in real life.

I liked it but I just read a few books that were so much better that it‘s just a light pick for me.

📸 Tokyo, Japan

I had no real expectations of this book, which had been sitting on my shelves for years.
After being missed for 4 days a 15 yr old girl returns to her despairing parents. She claims to remember nothing about what happened. The pov is that of the mother, who tries to find out what happens. I really enjoyed the dynamics of the family and the witty dialogues. The plot didn‘t matter that much to be honest. A light pick.

📸 Ryokan in Matsumoto, Japan