#Hannukahchallenge 🕯️The stories are rather uneven but all make attempts to represent Israelis as very humane individuals, not some pieces of a monolithic nation providing news headlines.
The overall drawback for me is the writing style. It's not exactly pure realism because of the artistic freedom Friedlander uses, but it is not a mystical realism we're seeing in Edgar Keret's stories. It is more of some sort of an adolescent fantasy realism.

Fifth candle of the #Hanukkahchallenge: Two heroines move in some strange parallel four hundreds years apart and tell a story, reveal the history of people, history of Jews.
I cannot be objective judging these stories, because at some point of my life I have experienced some measure of it all: the awfulness of being addressed "you, the Jewess", the heated discussion of rabbis and the scorching sun at Masada. #reread #iamthatjew

Fourth candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge is a winter fairytale told in four different voices: the daughter of impoverished Jewish moneylender, a tzarina, her faithful servant and a peasant girl. The stories they tell bring to the forefront not the magic but the difficulties of women‘s lives in all walks of life. #reread #told_by_a_woman #iamthatjew

For the third candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge I #reread another book about a Jewish moneylender: a fascinating retelling of the life of Court Jew for one of German dukes in 17 century - Joseph Süß Oppenheimer. A fast and very dramatic story that describes court intrigues, financial schemes and personal life of the duke, his entourage and his personal Jew that ends in tragedy for all involved. Feuchtwanger is a master of storytelling
#iamthatjew

This is probably the most famous book about a Jew and recently it became rather controversial, so I had to pick it for my #Hanukkahchallenge.
Honestly, I don‘t even understand why it is considered a comedy: all the characters are unsympathetic and immoral, Shylock included. And this is a very antisemitic text: though Shylock is not a good person and not a good Jew, he‘s treated abominably, humiliated and robbed of possessions and faith #imthatjew

For the first candle of my #Hanukkahchallenge I‘ve picked a book that pushed me towards the idea of celebrating each Hanukkah day by writing about a book about a Jew or written by a Jew. I picked it because I hoped to find an answer to a question: why so many people tear down the portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza while respecting dead Holocaust victims. The book is well written, but I didn‘t like the answer #iamthatjew

Tomorrow my family will light a first Hanukkah 🕎 candle. For us it is a holiday of light, but also of self determination and the right to choose who we are. Strangely enough many people I meet don‘t really know who we, the Jews, are, even though we‘re featured in the news almost daily. So here‘s my personal #Hanukkahchallenge: for each Hanukkah candle I‘ll post about a book written by a Jew or about a Jew. Because what are books if not light?

This is a stand alone book in Leckie‘s Imperial Radch universe and it's possible to appreciate without reading her other books, though having the background helps.
I loved the characters, their development and the way that the questions of belonging to humans in general and to one's family are asked. I was very disappointed by the way the romantic line was resolved - it was both too adolescent and too forced. #told_by_a_woman, #bookclub

“The first time I entered Jerusalem‘s Old City, I walked down a flight of stairs that began on the current street level; at the bottom, I was stunned to step onto the paving stones from the street level during the Roman period, as though I had traveled through time instead of rock.”
Have you ever been there? Did you feel the time captured in stone? #told_by_a_woman #iamthatjew

#reread for #bookclub The book was a legend way before I read it for the first time, but now I believe I didn‘t appreciate the complexity and the clues between the lines, hidden from the Soviet censorship. The story is deep, dark, frightening and full of hate, but there are also sparkles of decency and love. The ending is somewhat hopeful, or at least open for interpretation

I'm not sure whether it's me not being focused enough on the audiobook or were there too many technical details that were unnecessary for the smooth plot development. Well, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the technicalities. But I loved the intrigue, the inner struggle of the protagonist and the hopeful ending - there is a very interesting future ahead for Murderbot and some other security units.
#told_by_a_woman

This short story is set a bit back in time with regards to book 5 in the series, when Murderbot was just starting his life on the Preservation Station. Though the plot is overcomplicated with too many twists for such a short story, the protagonist is there to bring the readers joy by showing his growing understanding of human character in general and becoming more attached to the humans surrounding him.
#told_by_a_woman

The cranky and cynical Murderbot is back and now it's for the full length novel. Wells is successfully keeping the light style of the narrative while building a wider narrative and allowing our hero to move into the bigger world, more exciting adventures, new humans to befriend and new character traits to develop
#told_by_a_woman

Loved this story, that actually is a stand-alone prequel for the series. Thomas Nightingale has a mystery to solve in New York of the Jazz Age. Aaronovich's light and fast-pacing story is not only entertaining, it also brings to the front the racism and the homophobia of not so distant past.

Disclaimer: this is not a happy book and I started reading it when the October war was raging for almost a year, making the sad narrative difficult to intake. I stopped reading and came back to it almost two months later, making a conscious effort to finish the book despite the narration going into the WWI and drawing uneasy associations for me. Maybe if I were to read this book in better times I would feel different about it.
#told_by_a_woman

Fast and somewhat funny read without much character development, very predictable plot and the characters I cannot like. #bookclub

This is a gothic story spaced with the language of magical realism and eerie, dark bits of old fairytales with a twofold narrative: that of a man, troubled by memories who married a mysterious young woman and another one of a girl, almost abandoning her family to live a magical life with a friend. My expectations for the ending vacillated from happy to tragic until the storylines met to find the end... There will be no spoilers..
#told_by_a_woman

It's nice how Kloos succeeds in keeping the overall level of worldbuilding and characters consistency. It might not be the highest level of the genre, but it is definitely a very solid writing.
So the intrigue both gets more complicated and more details are revealed to the reader: we see more people involved and more motives and actions revealed, but the overall picture is still unclear. Now waiting for the next installment
#SeriesLove2024

Bailed after 1/3 of the book: huge disappointment. There is an amazing world where words have power and translators are doing magic. But there is no action at all, the characters lack substance and the anti-colonial agenda is being pushed down the reader's throat with much force, but little understanding of nuances
#told_by_a_woman
#bookclub

With all the right premises of a secret wizarding society based in an antient library, the book turned to be a disappointment. Very little happens in terms of plot development, the characters are flat and the female ones are so stigmatic as if taken from some patriarchal encyclopedia of female heroines. And the sex scenes reek of dubious consent. Not sure I'm going to continue the series
#SeriesLove2024
#told_by_a_woman

This dystopia is a mix of ideas already seen elsewhere, beginning from Harry Potter and going through Hunger Games and Divergent. There are lots of logics and science gaps, not much in terms of character development, but the storytelling is fast pacing, angsty and full of drama. Don't think I'll continue with the series :(
#bookclub

This collection of short stories is very uneven: some stories are fascinating and engaging, and some are at the very least boring. I think the best part is the introduction, where Geiman discussed how the idea of trigger warning crossed from the Internet to the world of things and how that might change our approach to art #bookclub

Got my mail yesterday - I‘m not sure how slow snails 🐌 are supposed to be, but this one was not very fast at all. Now penning my response to @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @sleepwithbooks @Deblovestoread @dabbe @TieDyeDude @TheSpineView @readwithcori #litsylove

This is a rather unusual book: it has the coming-of-age material, and some love story, and there are aliens, and adventures, and diplomacy and war. But at the center of the story there is a language, an alien language that no single human can speak and special pairs of "ambassadors" are grown and trained to use it. I could never imagine, that Ferdinand de Saussure's linguistic theory can be turned into an interstellar adventure narrative #bookclub

It's wonderful how Wells continues to keep the tone and the plot development without loosing the quality of the storytelling ❤
#told_by_a_woman #serieslove2024

This is a very easy read (listen) with a Murderbot aka rogue security android becoming more and more a very decent human #told_by_a_woman #serieslove2024

Danny Conroy, the protagonist and the narrator, reminiscents about his childhood by saying: “Our father never met his own wife.“ The irony is poignant as he realizes much later that he too failed to truly know his wife. In some way he repeated not only his father's success but the failures as well. It's just that the cost of these failures was not as high.
Once again, Ann Patchett tells a very usual story in an amazing way
#told_by_a_woman

I know it's a genre classic and is appreciated by many. Despite its engaging language and pace, the narrative has numerous logical gaps, unresolved plot threads, and a murky ending. Though it explores intriguing concepts, none are fully developed. Furthermore, its misogyny, especially considering the era of its publication amidst second-wave feminism, is particularly jarring. One wonders if the author ever ventured beyond his hovel.
#bookclub

This book is a bit more meditative in nature compared to the first part. It's still full of humor and of an unexpected adventure, and lovely heroes - human and not. The ending is sort of obvious: even if you a Murderbot in a search of answers, finding them won't be any easy and you have to start looking from within.
#SeriesLove2024 #told_by_a_woman

When a security android slash synthetic slave goes rogue, it becomes a wild card in a sci-fi adventure. However, the best part of the book is the part of this android being very humane, shy, sarcastic and sacrifices himself to safe the humans who for the first time treat it decently.
Will go straight to the second book in the series
#SeriesLove2024 #told_by_a_woman

You could hardly err on a book about a book, or a library, or better yet both. And if it entertains the idea that manuscripts don't burn - you have it all. Though they do burn, or drown, or get eaten by mice. But stories survive and get retold. Bulgakov's Woland has more flair with that, but Doerr's Zeno Ninis feels closer to us, mere mortals, with his humility and humanity. And with his story

As I was very disappointed in the first book of the series, I only read this one for the book club discussion. It is dull (
#told_by_a_woman #bookclub

This book is often labeled cozy or literary embrace, but as it lacks a conflict or moral dilemma, it is simply dull. The worldbuilding is incomplete and unclear, and for me it hints at a population manipulated by a dictatorship maintaining specific social order #told_by_a_woman #bookclub

Facebook reminded me that today is the birthday of the last book in #TheWheelOfTime - my favorite series ever. Should I #reread again? 🤔

The book comes with all the tropes of the genre: slow suspense, a creepy house, lecherous men, and a female antagonist. It also connects to other books in the genre, creating a sense of camaraderie with likeminded readers. Deeper themes are subtly addressed: women's lack of independence, power abuse, social inequality. Though, character development falls short, as the protagonists remain almost unchanged #told_by_a_woman #womenwiters #moderngothic

It‘s a nice turn how a character that loved “Wuthering Heights” and “Jane Eyre” is now a subject of a gothic mystery herself. The main heroine and most of the other heroes bow to these two books here and there as well. #womenwiters #told_by_a_woman #moderngothic

A bit oversimplified, but still interesting in his analysis of ethics definitions.