The Shadow Land: A Novel | 
pickIf you had told me that I would become engrossed, entranced, in a book about the rise and fall of communism in Bulgaria, I would not have believed you. But here I am, left in that after-space of a riveting story, not sure how to go on with my day. Elizabeth Kostova has such a lovely way with storytelling, both delicate and impactful, and her characters live and breathe and demand your attention and empathy. Stoyan will stay with me for long time.
A bit of a TBR deep dive, but I have high hopes — I love this author and her engrossing way of spinning a tale. Just read a little over lunch and I am already hooked!
This excellent ebook set in Bulgaria is on sale on Amazon
And the TBR Jar was born. (Empty coffee jars were made for these things, I swear. 😂) 📚📚📚
Thank you @MaGoose for these great choices! Can‘t wait to get to them this Winter! #LitsyLoveFallSwap #LLFS
panUsing this for a #readyoursign challenge prompt, with my "number" (4) in the page count ♋
I feel like there was a great story buried in here somewhere, but it just got lost in the (multiple) meandering narratives. Really felt more like a first draft than a finished product! Full review on GR: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3204530115
@Clwojick @Meaw_catlady
so-soThis book took me a good amount of time to get into the story but once up and running I couldn‘t stop. If you need a look into a place most of us know very little about, Bulgaria, take the time to get immersed into this story.
pickThis is a beautiful and sad story of Bulgaria, the tragedy of Soviet occupation and its aftermath. I felt like I took a tour of the country with 2 likeable characters (and a dog) trying to return an urn of ashes to its family, slowly learning the deceased‘s story and being chased by danger across the countryside. Told in Kostova‘s distinct style, a travelogue and epistolary. #readingeurope2020 #Bulgaria
#quarantinereadschallenge
1. Shadow Land, Taking of K-129, Darkwater Bride
2. The Black Rose
3. HPB, The Strand, Barnes & Noble & hopefully soon Jenny Lawson‘s bookstore
4. See 2 above, The Historian, Dracula
5. The Hobbit trilogy
6. Up next: Age of Innocence
7. The Shire
8. Giants in the Earth, not in a good way
9. #readingeurope2020, #litsyAtoZ, #authoramonth, #readwithmrbook
10. Lakehouse reading corner
11. Rebecca
12. Anyone who wants to play
I‘m about halfway through this novel and I‘m really enjoying it. I feel like I‘m taking a tour through #Bulgaria, a country I know nothing about. It‘s both a geographic tour and a history lesson done beautifully well. It‘s not as propulsive as Kostova‘s brilliant The Historian, but it‘s really a gorgeous and detailed novel. #readingeurope2020
It‘s a beautiful and quiet day. Reading a chapter from the tagged book, doing a chore or two, taking a walk around the neighborhood (these are from our yard), read a chapter, drink some tea, throw in a load of laundry. Hopefully it will be peaceful like this all day. Wishing the same to you all!
One of those sentences that nowadays makes you think: don‘t get so close to the man! Social distancing you fools!
“Alexandra brooded over her one image of them, her head close to Bobby‘s.”
Next #readingeurope2020 for #Bulgaria. By author of one of the best books ever, The Historian, but also one of the most boring, The Swan Thieves. So very very nervous and excited about this one.
pickI think this might be the only book I‘ve ever read that takes place in #Bulgaria.
I think I‘d classify this as Literary Fiction, although it almost has a bit of a thriller vibe too. I enjoyed it overall, although I had an issue with the MC, a single woman traveling alone in a strange country, immediately trusting the cab driver she just met to drive her all over the country. I did love that there is a dog who is important to the story 🐕❤️
Great day for a B&N #bookhaul 😊 Some great buy one, get one deals at my local branch. Perfect opportunity to expand my small nonfiction repertoire, try out Roxanne Gay's writing, and grab the most recent Elizabeth Kostova (the cashier told me she devoured it, so let's see what I think!).
Book suggestions for #readingeurope2020 #bulgaria. Fortunately I already own the tagged book and haven‘t read it yet. Or, I could reread one of my fave books of all times: The Historian.
I went on a blind date with a book at my favorite bookstore, Tombolo and got this. Definitely not a book I would have gotten on my own, but entertaining all the same. Nothing like a local indie book shop.
pickAnother stellar book by Elizabeth Kostova! This one hit me in all the feels!
Audio-braiding. This girl has so much hair! 👩🏾🦱 oh and this book just took such an emotional turn !
pickI was really into this book for the first three hundred pages but the pacing really bogged me down after that. The story itself was really interesting and it was a rich and detailed portrait of Bulgaria. The writing was lovely and very poetic. But I found that the ending felt rushed in comparison to some of the meandering passages in this book. I utterly adore this authors book The Historian, and her later books have never lived up to that one.
panOne of my favourite authors, but this novel is incredibly boring. The story drags itself along, the characters are superficial. What a pity, since this novel's theme is a very relevant one ...
Lunch, tea and reading time
pickThis was beautifully written, the characters and locales were so well done. Though I didn't like it as much as, The Historian, it was better than, The Swan Thieves.
pickI read this enthused as I'd really devoured her other two.
I did find it rather too coincidental at times, and the plot was loosely intertwined. However, I still give it a thumbs up as sometimes that style is what I need!
Ohhh, I've been resisting buying this for about a year... and lo and behold, it was in the library!
I adored The Historian and have high hopes for this one :)
pickThis is a slow moving, albeit beautiful, story. It's so slow moving that for a long time I wasn't sure what story was even being told. The tale we eventually get is heart breaking, difficult to read in places, but the writing is lovely and the characters who contribute information to our MC are all interesting. I think Bobby deserves a book of his own...I adored him.
Home again. Unpacked suitcase in background, new book in hand, tea by my side. #happyplace 😊
pickBulgarian mystery, set in present day and post-war period. I didn‘t know anything about Bulgarian politics and history, but I gained an appreciation for both through this novel. The American protagonist arrives in Sofia to teach English and becomes embroiled in a dangerous multigenerational secret.
panOh, I don‘t know what to say about this book. As an exploration of Bulgaria, now and in the communist era, it is interesting with lovely writing. As a narrative story, it is a mess with too many coincidences that hangs on a completely unrealistic relationship that I couldn‘t buy into. I think there‘s a great book buried in here, but this just isn‘t it.
so-so“From her plane window, Alexandra has seen a city cradled in mountains and flanked by towering apartment buildings like tombstones.”
My time in beautiful Bulgaria featured quite the road trip, involving an urn of ashes and a dangerous story. It was fascinating to learn pieces of recent Bulgarian history, but overall, the book was much longer than it really needed to be.
#BackpackEurope: Bulgaria ✔️
pick#backpackEurope travelogue *fictional*
Country 16: Bulgaria is lovely. Beautiful Roman ruins, Black Sea beaches, monasteries, old streets. They're preparing for the Apollonia Arts Festival right now.
Another Kostova book - this again tells multiple stories across past and present and involves a mystery, albeit not as scary as Dracula's tomb. It's like a tour of Bulgaria with a story, though the history of gulags is a sad one. Scenic writing. 4/5
#TBRtemptation post 4! Young American Alexandra Boyd travels to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping to heal from the loss of her brother. Whole settling in, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi and accidentally keeps a bag containing a box with an urn. Setting out to return it, she'll uncover secrets about an oppressed musician, secrets tinged with their own danger. Be prepared to be immersed in Bulgaria! #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😁
pickBeautiful, heartbreaking and mending. Set in Bulgaria- a place I didn‘t realize I wanted to know better. Read it!!!!
I love Elizabeth Kostova, and saw this on sale today!!
so-soAlexandra helps an elderly couple get into a cab, accidentally taking one of their bags, in which cremated ashes reside. What follows is her attempt, with assistance from a taxi driver, to return the ashes. How could she know the past horrors or perils yet to befall its existence?
Had this been about 200 pages of descriptions less than its 477, it would have been marvelous. Still, I applaud her for this novel that will remain in my own memories
pickKostova does it again. I will read anything this woman writes! She has a way of taking you with her to exotic lands, weaving her stories in such a way that you feel like you‘ve truly met her characters. I loved this one!
Selfie with insomnia and audiobook.
pickI loved this book. It‘s a mystery set in modern Bulgaria, that winds back through the Communist era, including the concentration camps for enemies of the state, which I knew little about. Interspersed throughout are beautifully written descriptions of the country that make me want to travel there immediately. As an American who grew up in the 1970s-80s, I know little about the countries behind the Iron Curtain, so I learned a lot and enjoyed it.
I am loving this book. It makes me want to visit Bulgaria. The descriptions are beautiful.
And apparently it is acceptable in Bulgaria to breakfast on bread, cheese and salami. My kind of people.
My library hold came in last week, but I was trying to finish The Queen of the Night, so I‘m just now starting it. I‘ve got seven days left on the lending period. It‘s already sucked me in, so we‘re off to a good start!
pickI loved this book. This book takes place in Bulgaria. It has a mystery, a little romance, and a lot of history. I really enjoyed the characters and the writing. This was a lovely read that kept me guessing.
pickElizabeth Kostova is an excellent writer, although if I knew what the subject matter would be here I doubt I would of read this one. I add books to my TBR list and download any when they are available, so sometimes I start a book rather blindly. I just know they are recommended.
The pure brutality and evilness that exists in some human beings is shocking. It makes me hurt. I can't grasp why or how these people come to be. 😥
