I recently decided to stop reading dystopian novels for a while and yet I read this. I should have stuck to my decision. One can only deal with so much post apocalypse in this crazy world. So it is partly me but then again, the story is definitely not as good as Tender in the Flesh, the reason why I picked it up.
It‘s at least as gory in its details but that‘s about it. Too bad 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is the follow-up to The Road to Dalton that we read in the #EuropaCollective reading group on Litsy.

This second installment is just as good and it‘s a pleasure to spend some more time with the inhabitants of Dalton, Maine. Five years after Bridget‘s death, her absence is still palpable in the community.

I am looking forward to what will happen next with some of the characters.

This is my #Roll100 read!

#WeeklyForecast 17/25

Back home after spending Easter at the coast. My plans are to finish Where the Forest Meets the River and the tagged book. If possible I‘d like to make a start in a #NYRB classic: The Mangan Inheritance.

The narrator is hospitalized with a rare vascular condition. For days he‘s at ICU, not really knowing what‘s happening, though he knows it‘s serious.
Each medical detail is described, as is the narrator‘s view on life, his past and future.
And it‘s 2020 and COVID is everywhere. In the hospital, in people‘s attitude, in the protests in the streets. It took me back to those days and although it frightened me I loved this about the book. Very good!

#WeeklyFavorites

I just posted my review of the tagged book and it‘s definitely my favorite of this week and of the month so far too. Heartbreaking 💔

Wow this was a very touching book about the boys (so young) who went to war in 1914. Those stories about the trenches always are so devastating. 60,000 men dying in the Somme offensive… in just one day. This book covers it all - and the lovestory between two elite boarding school boys, so English. A great read.

Two middle-aged (I hate that expression) men fall in love on a date. This book is about their growing closer, each with a life and a big love behind him. It‘s a very tender book despite all graphic descriptions of smells - the author must be an expert on bodily smells 😉. Thanks for sending me this Carolyn, you were right that I‘d like it!

#FictionalTraveler #Island 🇦🇺

The book I read is not in the database but it is by the same author. It‘s a Dutch novella, one you received for free when buying books during our yearly national Dutch books promotion week.
I collect them and they are mostly decent. This one is good too, about a brother and a sister, taking their kid brother, who seems depressed and is obsessed by astronomy, to visit a place in Germany, once hit by a meteorite.

Almost twenty years ago Kathleen and Yannick have lost their daughter Una. She went missing on the other side of Canada. Their marriage stranded and they haven‘t seen each other for years. Now there‘s a body found and together they drive all across the country, covering kilometers and time lost forever.

The characters, their grief, the roadtrip: it‘s all done so well. Recommended.

📷 Knokke, Belgium

#WeeklyForecast 16/25

I don‘t want to get too crazy yet about all CampLitsy nominations that are calling my name, and stick to my plan! I‘ll read the tagged one, by a favorite author, gifted to me by the wonderful @CarolynM . Where the Forest Meets the River is my #Roll100 book and Small Rain is the last one I wanted to read from the #ToB25 longlist.

But first I have to finish Moon Road that‘s not in the photo but that I am reading now.

I‘ve seen so many books already that I‘d love to read at #CampLitsy25! Adding some more, here are my nominations (tags below)!

For many of us these are not the best of times so we are excited to offer some distraction by announcing #CampLitsy25 🏕️ 📚
Nominations for the longlist are open now. We invite you all to suggest 4 books to read this summer. The books need to be published in 2025 and by mid June so we all can procure the final choices.
Post your choices with #CampLitsy25 and tag @Megabooks, @squirrelbrain & me.
Nominations are open until 26 April ⬇️⬇️

“Every 2 hours and 25 minutes, a woman in #Mexico is strangled, raped, dismembered, burned alive, mutilated, beaten to pulp, and left with bruises and broken bones.”

Combine these gruesome facts on femicide with living the high life of drugs, money, cosmetic surgery and Instagram followers and you probably have the span of Mexican society and of this #InternationalBooker collection of short stories. A good one.

#ReadingTheWorld2025

Thank you #ToB25Longlist and @Megabooks for bringing this book to my attention.
It‘s a dark, unsettling story of childhood trauma in a haunted house.
The siblings Ezri, Eve & Emannuelle have escaped their childhood home but return when their parents go missing. Finally they uncover the truth about their home and their youth.

I had no idea where the book was heading but I loved it despite the sadness and darkness.

I am a few days in our cabin at the coast and thought I needed a break from all the longlists I‘ve been following lately. No better comfort read than a thriller and I ended up reading all day and finishing this second book in the DCI Matilda Darke series.
The plot is good but the atmosphere and the main characters really stand out.

At first I didn‘t know what to make of this book. Were it loosely connected stories, all set in a fantasy setting? YA maybe? And then I got it and I got the message. A book that packs a punch in a quite unexpected way(to me) and well deserves its place on the #InternationalBooker shortlist!

A Dutch book that‘s been nominated for some literary prize. I usually love this author but was a bit disappointed by this one. It‘s about a women who gets a bit obsessed about a neighbor and finds a way to get into his house when he‘s out. She knows a lot about him when she coincidentally comes across him on Tinder and they start dating. A light pick.

The #InternationalBooker shortlist will be announced tomorrow. So far I have read 5 books. Favorites are Perfection and Hunchback but I also liked Eurotrash and Calculation of Volume. I am now reading Under the Eye of the Big Bird and liking that one too. Oh and I have Reservoir Bitches, On a Woman‘s Madness and The Book of Disappearance to be read and I want to read Small Boat too. The shortlist is coming too soon! Any thoughts on the longlist?

#InternationalBooker

This was good and frightening. A woman gets caught up in the 18th of November. Every morning she wakes up to the same day. She thinks of ways to escape and get on with her life. It is a quiet book, and somehow it felt believable. I do want to read part II!

I very much enjoyed this #WP25 longlist book. It‘s a quiet story about Rosa‘s life. Born in Poland wheee she witnesses the pogrom in which her family is killed. She somehow arrives in Scotland where she is adopted and lives her life. She goes through all the stages a woman goes, she‘s happy and sad, with friends and family or lonely. And yet in the back of her mind there‘s always her family, brutally murdered.

I added all my unread books to the #ISpy overview in Storygraph. In the bingo you see the ones that fit a March prompt of which I actually read just one 🤦🏻‍♀️ I hope and expect to tick off some more books during the year!

A decent thriller about a serial killer, his copycat and the cops chasing him. This may sound pretty standard for this kind of book, but it has a lot of suspects and twists and make sure for a few hours well spent!

Now back to the #InternationalBooker!

I am okay with this #WP25 shortlist. I didn‘t read Good Girl, all others I liked except for The Persians. I am rooting for The Safekeep to win the prize.
What are your thoughts on the shortlist?

Here is my #WP25 shortlist.
It‘s just 5 because the other 3 I read (Nesting, Persians and Dream Hotel) for me were just not good enough. I loved Strout, July and Van der Wouden but they do feel a bit “last year”, I read them that long ago.
I did enjoy Fundamentally and am now reading and liking Somewhere Else.
In general I am underwhelmed by the longlist and I am not even sure if I‘ll read the shortlist. Curious which books it will be though!

#MarchStats

5⭐️
Wild dark shore
3,75 ⭐️
Perfection
Reward system
Hunchback
3,5⭐️
Road ends
Slow dance
Fundamentally
3,25⭐️
Help wanted
Broken country
3⭐️
Eurotrash
The dream hotel
The Persians
2,5⭐️
A leopard-skin hat
Nesting
DNF
Time of the child

#ToB25 and #LitsyToB25 have taken very different roads this year (which makes it so fun!) but in the end we all agree (at least a majority does 😉) on James as the winner of both tournaments. Percival Everett finally takes away the 🐓!

Thank you all for participating in this year‘s LitsyToB and I hope to see you next year. But before that, it won‘t be long until we‘ll be back with #CampLitsy25! Meg, Helen and I hope you‘ll join us there!

#WeeklyForecast 14/25

I am about to start Somewhere Else of the #WP25 longlist. After that, I‘ll wait what books will be shortlisted and decide which ones to read. So far I am preferring the #InternationalBooker longlist over the #WP25 so I am having two more of that list lined up for this week!

Another so-so #WP25 book. What could have been an interesting story fell short imo. I learned little about Iran after the revolution and the Persian family members living in the US didn‘t really came to life. Shirin became a caricature towards the end of the story, Seema‘s role was unclear to me. Bita and Niaz could have been more interesting and I wonder why Shirin even had a son - Mo didn‘t add a thing. The longlist is a bit disappointing.

#WeeklyFavorites

The Hunchback is still lingering in my mind. That‘s why it has to be this week‘s favorite book!
March‘s favorite is Wild Dark Shore.

It was to be expected that The Book Censor‘s Library didn‘t stand a chance against The Wedding People. So we‘re left with two very popular books left in the #LitsyToB25: TWP and James (James is a finalist in #ToB25 too).

Please vote one more time for your favorite and I‘ll see you on Monday for the final match! Have a good weekend. https://forms.gle/QksJX14ZcJMmmYij7

We have our first #LitsyToB25 finalist. The History of Sound didn‘t really stand a chance against James.
I personally am disappointed, I rooted so hard for THoS 🤷🏻‍♀️
In the #ToB25 we‘ll see tomorrow if James there too advances to the finals. Today Martyr! beat Margo in the first ToB Zombie round.

Tomorrow we‘ll have the second Zombie match: The Book Censor‘s Library vs The Wedding People.

That‘s a promising first sentence! This might be exactly the kind of book I‘ve been looking for after way too much (and too realistic) dystopian novels. #WP25

This is a novella about an disabled woman who can‘t go outside the home she lives in. She connects with the world by writing erotica and tweeting obscene things.
Ichikawa describes what it means to live with a severe handicap in an in-your-face way. You can‘t look away. Extreme and graphic, so well done. Yet I am in need of an explanation of the ending. #InternationalBooker25

🧟 Here are our zombies! 🧟‍♀️

The Wedding People earned the most zombie votes ever (14) but doesn‘t need them. The History of Sound follows with 9 votes and will return as a zombie. Third is, surprisingly, The Book Censor‘s Library (6 votes)!
🚨Please vote for them today🚨: https://forms.gle/T1ZzTU9Fw5ESNUEcA

Happy birthday Jen 🎈!

Another very hard choice in the #LitsyToB25: The History of Sound vs The Wedding People, two absolute favorites. An almost equal score, but The Wedding People has won in the end.
It's not the end though, for The History of Sound. It will return as a zombie!
I'll annouce both 🧟 🧟‍♀️ shortly - along with another GForm for you to vote.
In the #ToB25 we were facing Irena vs Margo and again Irena wins. What‘s happening?

Ciara tried to escape from her emotional abusive husband, with her small kids in tow. That‘s about it. Unpopular opinion but I found it a bit repetitive. I never really felt drawn into the story but that may be caused by the audiobook, in which the children‘s voices were extremely annoying (and not just when the kids were annoying themselves!). Definitely not my favorite on the #WP25.

In the #ToB25 it's James against Martyr!, in the #LitsyTOB25 it's James against Beautyland.
That turned out to be one of the hardest choices for many of us but in the end James won, while in the real tournament Martyr! has grown into a serious contender for the Rooster!
We‘re sorry to see Beautyland go. The question is: can Percival Everett be stopped?! Tomorrow we'll know which Zombie he'll be up against!

I think I‘ve been reading too much dystopian fiction lately, while living in a more dystopian world each day. This #WP25 book about women being detained because of their dreams, ruled by angry white men, feels utterly improbable but I thought the same of what‘s happening right now in the US. It can‘t be? Yes it can 😬
I normally love dystopian books but this one is just okay for me. I blame current politics, not Laila Lalami.

Today we had another obvious winner: The Wedding People. It is remarkable popular on Litsy and it's the #LitsyToB25 favorite of Myra, Care & Theresa. However, many will be sad to see Margo go (Chelsea & Carolyn's favorite book).
Fortunately, Margo advances in the #ToB25 where it knocked-out Liars.

🚨It is time to vote for the Semi Finals! 🚨Please fill in the form today as the tournament continues tomorrow! https://forms.gle/crtE6SZcqVW1fkid9

#WeeklyForecast 13/25

It‘s all about the #WP25 and the #InternationalBooker25 these days. I am reading The Dream Hotel (WP). Next will be the tagged (IB). The Persians is WP again, as is Nesting that I am listening to.

A narrator introduces a Narrator who introduces Fanny, who struggles with mental health and hides a girl with a leopard-skin hat inside her. That‘s what her best friend, the Narrator says. But we‘re warned by the narrator that this is just the Narrator‘s side of the story. So Fanny remains quite mysterious.
It‘s a weird, very French book, I think half of what Anne Serre means with it went over my head 🤷🏻‍♀️

#InternationalBooker25 longlist

I am in shock that the today‘s #ToB25 judge favored Irena above The History of Sound…. Fortunately it is today's winner, in #LitsyToB25. It was up against Colored Television, Traceys favorite book on the shortlist. Unfortunately 6 votes for the book weren't enough against the very popular History of Sound. We'll be back after the weekend, with one more Quarter Final, directly followed by the Semi Finals, so be prepared to vote again on monday!

This is a good book of interconnected short stories. The first one is about Julia becoming a sous chef in a fancy restaurant (I liked that one a lot), the last one is Julia FaceTiming with her ex during lockdown. In between are stories about them and their friends. It‘s all very millennial, our smartphones might be the main character throughout the book, and I liked it a lot.

#Roll100

This is interesting. In today‘s bracket Martyr! beats Beautyland in the #ToB25 while in the #LitsyToB25 Beautyland advances. The book is this year's favorite for five of us, while Martyr! is just two people's favorite: Sue and Anne Cecilie‘s Zombies are approaching quickly so we'll soon know if Martyr! wil be able to return from the grave!

Our first #LitsyToB25 quarter final is James against The Book of Love. A nobrainer. Even though not everyone has voted yet: it is 17 votes for James against 0 for TBoL.
In the #ToB25 James was up to Headschot and there too, it came out as a winner loud and clear.
Tomorrow will be more exciting I suppose. In both tournaments it is Martyr! against Beautyland. If you haven't voted yet please do so: https://forms.gle/wLZ3vkQuYwU77wom6

So much love for this book but I can‘t see why. Too sweet, too polished, too cheesy. Lost love, grief, children, secrets: all ingredients are there for an emotional lovestory and it is. How convenient.
I enjoyed it but it felt as if the writer dictated some characteristics and ChatGPT came up with the story.

I am a snob, I know, this book is promoted everywhere, and that‘s mostly a reason for me to not read it. That would have been better.

#LitsyToB25 We mostly were in agreement again. Jill, Katherine and Myra voted for Someone Like us but couldn‘t prevent Margot winning with a large majority. Chelsea and Carolyn are even rooting for Margo to win this year‘s tournament! In the #ToB25 too Margo in the end stole the heart of the judge.
So we‘re all set for the Quarterfinals, starting tomorrow!

🚨 Please vote today for your favorites:
https://forms.gle/wLZ3vkQuYwU77wom6 🚨

Thanks to @Bookwormjillk George got a vote, the rest of us, without knowing which book it would be, all voted for the winner of the Play In round. Three strong containers and yes, many of us despised George. So we‘ll see The Wedding People again in the next round of the #LitsyToB25. George leaves our tournament because he didn't get any Zombie votes.
In the #ToB25 too the play-in winner advances, which means Liars in their case!

⬇️read further⬇️

#WP25 Book 4

This was a delightful read despite the heavy subject: the rehabilitation of ISIS women in a camp in Iraq.
It‘s a perfect job for Nadia, who‘s escaping a life of partying hard in London. She used to be Muslim but doesn‘t believe any longer. She feels like she should safe Sara, one of the ISIS brides, and needs the help of her UN colleagues. I can‘t really explain what makes this book funny yet poignant but it certainly is.

#WeeklyForecast 12/25

I am reading the tagged book (not that impressed yet) and Fundamentally.The latter is my first #WP25 read since the longlist was announced and I am enjoying it a lot. Next will be A Leopard-Skin Hat from the #InternationalBooker longlist (can you feel the stress with all those longlists?!) and I also haven‘t got to my #Roll100 read, Reward System!