Welcome to Litsy!

It's easy to forget how great the public library is! Printing, graphic novels & original fiction that I haven't heard of before. Excited to start on this haul....

I have a bit of a soft spot for books with elderly protagonists who are perfectly happy living their independent lives on their own terms, if it weren't for all these other people with their meddling. Funny, heartfelt, and unique story with some wonderful outsider characters who just want to live their own lives on their own terms. There is also the ghost of a rather pesky chicken. Thoroughly enjoyable!

“Nobody asks you whether you understand the things you are supposed to do. It gets really bad after marriage. Suddenly you are responsible not only for yourself but for others, and there are always more and more who wish to ride on your back. In your heart though, you are still the child you were and will remain for a long time. If you are lucky you'll be half-mature by the time you get old.“

Baba Dunja is such an endearing character. She is very happy to be back home (a village near Chernobyl) despite warnings about radiation. She gardens, writes letters to her daughter and interacts with the other eccentric elderly returnees. Great little book.

#Happy #MayMoms
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

What a wonderful surprise! I adored this funny little book and it‘s funny little characters!

@TheAromaofBooks this wasn‘t a #bookspin or #doublespin pick (I didn‘t want to read them!🤣) but it was one of my 20 books!

#BiblioMAYnia Day 15: This #EuropaEditions title definitely has an #UnusualNarrator, and one that I particularly enjoyed. @vivastory do consider having a book club version of #EuropaEditions titles once we have finished our #NYRBBookClub one. 🥰🧚🏼‍♀️📚

#BiblioMAYnia Day 8: Not sure if this qualifies as #BookishMerch but here are my #EuropaEditions to be read this month, paired with hazelnut affogato with caramel ice cream and crushed hazelnuts.

#MagicalMay Day 2: Here‘s my #MayTBR where old men and women seem to predominate. 🥰💕😭 except for the eternally youthful Dorian Gray which I am reading with my 18 year old daughter. She is finding Oscar Wilde to be a bit of a misogynist and slightly tedious. I remember loving this in my 20s, but now.. hmm.. I see why my daughter hates the characters so much.

Next up for #readgermanbooks2020 - a book from Alina Bronsky. Mel‘s Bookland Adventures on Youtube mentioning one of her other books, and it reminded me that I had bought this one as part of an ebook sale. Given that I love, love, love books about old women, I decided to read a bit this morning and cannot put it down. Wonderful so far!

A small gem. The characters sparkle - especially Baba Dunja, an old woman who has moved back to her home town (Tschernowo / Chernobyl). I loved their small community, daily struggles & Baba Dunja‘s frank assessment of her neighbours, told with dark humour. But it also made me think of ageing and how older people can be shunned or forgotten (in retirement homes for instance) - extreme here as they‘re ‘radioactive‘. Also one‘s connection to home.

Tagged book is my top pick for this month. Also a good month for graphic novels: five were 5-star reads.

The pull quote from Library Journal on the front cover is spot on: Baba Dunja is SUCH a memorable character! A tiny Russian Ukrainian in her 80s, first to move back to her home in Chernobyl‘s “dead zone” after the “nuclear incident.” I loved this short novel so much, for its heart and humour. It reminded me of Olga Tokarczuk‘s forthcoming Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. #translation from German by Tim Mohr.

The strawberries and huckleberries in our woods give off radiation too, as do the porcinis and the birch bolete mushrooms that we gather in autumn …

(Photo by Hiromi Goto. Follow her on Twitter to see “A little beauty, every day.”)

A biologist explained to me later that the stuff was stuck in my bones and gave off radiation around me so that I was myself like a little reactor.

(Internet photo)

But God was abolished from our land when I was little and I haven‘t managed to get him back.

“Do you know any languages other than Russian?”
“Surzhyk.”
“That‘s not a language, it‘s a dialect.”
_________
This exchange reminded me of a disagreement I had with my Slovakian cousin Valika who was certain there was no such thing as a Ukrainian language because what they spoke was a dialect of Russian. Later, she apologized and admitted her error. She may have been thinking of Surzhyk, a mixed Russian/Ukrainian dialect.

I ask Marja if she needs anything from the city, I ask Petrow, and think about asking Sidorow, too, but then I leave it be. […]
Petrow asks me for good news.
“Don‘t joke around,” I say. “I can bring you honey.”
“I don‘t want any honey,” he says. “I don‘t eat honey because it‘s made of bee vomit. Bring me good news.”
That‘s how he always is.

For being such a short book, this sure covers a lot: From living in the death zone around Tschernobyl, to aging, to family drama and murder... we are seeing all of this through the eyes of Baba Dunja. A most enjoyable read for sure!

So many tempting books (TLS advert)

Yeah. The story of Baba Dunja is a quick read. 135 pages of good characters and good description. Baba Dunja's reminiscences of her life and of her present life in the village of Tschernowo is a plain story, well told.

Current read. Just arrived in the mail yesterday. Short, quick reading. Warm and funny. So far.

Some of my favorites from this year. I absolutely adored Baba Dunja's Last Love and Milk and Honey, but the Neapolitan series was my favorite thing I read this year. It was hard to get into at first, but once I did I fell in love with it...and I was quite sad when it was all over! So glad I finally jumped on the Ferrante train, it was worth the hype.

Eines meiner liebsten Bücher im Jahr 2016.

Charming short read. Thank you NPR!! Great cast of characters and thoughtful story

Feeling good

I simply adored this book. It's beautiful, simple, kind, heartbreaking, and gentle all at the same time. Who would have thought a book about a mostly deserted town in Ukraine with high radiation levels would be so lovely?

Happy New Book Monday! I ❤️Europa Editions

After starting Voices From Chernobyl I couldn't resist this quirky novel about an older woman making a life in a post-meltdown town in Russia.

Found a rather Litsy-appropriate quote!

"You're really still a child, but everybody just sees you as an adult who is easier to step on than one who is older and more experienced."

"Back when I was a nurse's assistant nobody had depression and when people killed themselves you called them insane, unless it was out of love."