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?

#WeeklyForecast 15/25

It‘s #InternationalBooker week for me. Not on the photo 🤦🏻‍♀️ but the one I‘m reading is Under the Eye of the Big Bird. These three I hope to read this week, as many as possible before the announcement of the Shortlist!

#WeeklyFavorites

I enjoyed the tagged book much more than I expected to. It‘s a straightforward story about a Jewish girl living through most of the 20th century until old age in the 21th. Recommended.

#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!

#LitsyToB25 Our winner is Colored Television with 75% of the votes. That means Irena Rey still got quite a few votes among us.

In the #ToB25 Irena continues. This doesn‘t surprise me. It‘s a typical ToB book and I liked the judgment. Personally I am happy with this outcome because I liked it better than CT. What do you think?

A middle aged son drives his old and ill mother across Switzerland. They argue and confront the past. They‘re rich. Her father never stopped being an Nazi. The story is a mix of stream of consciousness, name dropping and little plot.
Not my favorite of the #InternationalBooker25 longlist but it has some good parts.

#ReadTheWorld2025 book 8 #Switzerland

Another convincing winner today in the #ToB25 as well as the #LitsyToB25. Orbital didn‘t stand a chance against The History of Sound, which is this year‘s favorite for many of us. Only Amy and Soscha voted for Orbital and so we see the winner of the #BookerPrize24 leave our tournament!

#LitsyToB25 We are in sync again with #ToB25 and we were almost unanimous on this prompt. Great Expectations was only voted for by Katherine and AnneCecilie.
So Beautyland is the big winner.
It‘s this year‘s favorite of Jen, Jill, Amy and Debra and I remember that Charity has discussed the book somewhere too? So let us know what you think of this outcome!

Great subject, great setting. The people of Movement (the ones who offload and unpack boxes) in a big store will get a new manager. Anyone has a say before Corporate decides and we learn a lot about the team members before they have their interview.
It took a bit too long to pickup pace but once it did it was a good read. Thanks for the recommendation Helen! #ToB25longlist

#LitsyToB25 Martyr! is our winner today. Only Tracy, Holly and Theresa voted for Rejection. Short stories and the tournament aren‘t always a good match.
And we do agree with the #ToB25 judgment today so in both tournaments we‘ll see Martyr! continue.

This is so not my kind of book but Meg convinced me with her review and I spent a lovely day with it. Shiloh and Carey were best friends in high school but love was always in the air - except that Shiloh didn‘t dare believing it. Years later they reconnect and pick up where they left it in their teens. A very convincing lovestory and great dialogues. For who wants a break from reality ❤️

#LitsyToB25
A new week with opening round matches!

Headshot versus The Book of Love is the prompt of which we were most divided. The Book of Love has won with just one vote more than Headshot.
In the #ToB25 Headshot did make it to the next round so all of us can be happy!

#WeeklyForecast 11/25

I am almost finished with Slow Dance, which is a cute romance and palette cleanser. I also started Help Wanted (#ToB25 longlist). Next will be the tagged (#InternationalBooker) and maybe Reward System (#Roll100). Lots of plans but less time!

Another unsurprising win in the first real bracket. In the #ToB as well as our #LitsyToB25. James it is.
The Book Censor was voted for by Meg, Holly, Jill & Kristy. Holly has been a big promotor of it on Litsy, she and Kristy even think it should win the tournament!
For now chances seem small, although the zombies can be surprising. James is this year‘s favorite for 5 of us: Shawna, Tammy, Katherine, Leslie and Cari. They‘re having a good day!

I‘d never thought I‘d bail on a Niall Williams but there you are. I am a hundred pages in and have read about dozens of people whose names and background I can‘t remember. The book is so slow, the sentences so long and the promised child hasn‘t even showed up yet! It‘s probably me but I feel too impatient to stick with it. #FoodAndLit 🇮🇪

#LitsyToB25 We have started and it won‘t come as a surprise that The Wedding People is our winner in the play-in round. There has been so much love for this book on Litsy!
Not in the real #ToB though, where Liars wins!
Among us Liars got only 4 votes (by Charity, Chelsea, Helen and Kristy) and is definitely out: it has no zombie votes.
All Fours got 4 votes too (by Sarah, Sue, AnneCecilie and Barbara), but will it be enough? We‘ll soon find out!