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A Line Made by Walking
A Line Made by Walking | Sara Baume
The author of the award-winning Spill Simmer Falter Wither returns with a stunning new novel about a young artist's search for meaning and healing in rural Ireland. Struggling to cope with urban life-and life in general-Frankie, a twenty-something artist, retreats to her family's rural house on "turbine hill," vacant since her grandmother's death three years earlier. It is in this space, surrounded by countryside and wild creatures, that she can finally grapple with the chain of events that led her here-her shaky mental health, her difficult time in art school-and maybe, just maybe, regain her footing in art and life. As Frankie picks up photography once more, closely examining the natural world around her, she reconsiders seminal works of art and their relevance. With "prose that makes sure we look and listen,"* Sara Baume has written an elegant novel that is as much an exploration of wildness, the art world, mental illness, and community as it is a profoundly beautiful and powerful meditation on life. *Atlantic
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jimfields3
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Pickpick

Baume is such an exquisite writer, I saved 16 quotes and could have easily saved at least a dozen more. It‘s a semi-autobiographical book about life with depression, but Baume “didn‘t intend to start a conversation about mental illness.”

If, like me, your mood is affected while reading it I suggest pushing through. The end is a hopeful one.

I‘d definitely reread this book, a rare verdict from me. May #bookspin completed, @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 2y
17 likes1 stack add1 comment
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jimfields3
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So far this #BookSpin book is delightful in its prose and profound in its insights. I feel like I could have shared at least one quote per page.

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jimfields3
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My #bookspin and #doublespin selections for May

Thanks to @TheAromaofBooks for hosting. These monthly challenges have helped me leave the reading slump I was in for far too long.

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
11 likes1 comment
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jhod
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Thanks @Buechersuechtling for the tag! Sorry its Wednesday @TheSpineView

1 I mostly read one off books so it's hard to name one. Perhaps Mrs Coulter in His Dark Materials.

2 Definitely characters, if the writing is great then plot doesn't matter. If it isn't, then its everything! See Sara Baume, Jon McGregor, Sarah Moss

eraderneely I thought I needed plot to enjoy a book, but Jon McGregor and Sarah Moss are proving me wrong 3y
TheSpineView No worries! Any day works. Thanks for playing! 🤩📖📚 3y
39 likes2 comments
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Niso
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I started this book two months ago, and I am just 80 pages in.
What to do when you can‘t get through a book but you can see that it is actually a beautiful and poignant read 🤔

#readerpropblems #currentlyreading

andrew61 Id recommend perservering as i loved it although i suspect it may not be for everyone, although i did spend a lot of time googling all the artists mentioned. 5y
Niso @andrew61 I am preserving and finally making good progress. I think the issue, and also the main point of interest, is the depiction of depression. It feels so personal to me and I believe that's why I found it immensely difficult/painful/triggering to lose myself in the book. 5y
57 likes2 comments
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ephemeralwaltz
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Beautiful! But how is it August already? 😱

PurpleyPumpkin I have been asking myself the same question all day! Honestly, I don't know where the year has gone so far.😳 5y
Tanisha_A I know. 😱😭 5y
50 likes2 comments
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Oryx
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Thank you so much @jhod - a lovely gift to come home to. I actually think I stacked this based in your review a while ago, so I'm really excited to read it. #jbuk

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quietlycuriouskate
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Pickpick

I requested this one from the library in the hope of reassurance, I think, that I am not the only one perpetually at odds with life and currently feeling like a complete fuck-up on every front. It turns out I've got twenty years' headstart on young Frankie: her breakdown and subsequent attempts to create a liveable meaning were horribly familiar. It's very well written, but probably wasn't the wisest thing for me to have chosen to read just now.

MommyWantsToReadHerBook 😢 Sounds like you're pretty hard on yourself (I do that too) 5y
LauraBeth ❤️❤️ 5y
48 likes2 comments
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booksandsympathy
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This is only $2.99 today on Kindle! Sounds like a great book.

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suvata
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Pickpick

Sad and dark, this book describes a woman slowly going mad (or should I say madder) as she lives a solitary life in her deceased grandmother‘s cottage on an Irish hillside. She is obsessed with art and dead things. Strangely intoxicating and worth a future second read.

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suvata
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I first heard of this book on The Readers Podcast Episode 177. http://bookbasedbanter.co.uk/thereaders/2017/11/09/ep-177-a-catch-up-reading-hor...

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jhod
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Pickpick

I think this might be my book of the year so far...

Reminded me a little of Reservoir 13, a little of Dept of Speculation, about art, depression, loneliness, nature, death. Fabulous and fitting to have read on my first outdoor reading day of the year.

Mitch Oh wow - book of the year so far! I have it on my shelf so might try to get to it sooner! 6y
LauraBeth Oh this sounds like my type of book! 📚 6y
TrishB Lovely review ❤️ 6y
See All 6 Comments
Cathythoughts Book of the year so far ... stacked 👍🏻❤️ 6y
kezzlou85 Love the picture. 6y
BarbaraBB Loved the ones this book reminds you of so I‘ll stack it! 6y
102 likes6 stack adds6 comments
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mr_annie
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Pickpick

Funny, inventive and reflective, A Line Made by Walking is the story of a young artist‘s gradual return to the world following a period of mental ill-health.

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mr_annie
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My mother knows everything. I used to think all mothers did but in recent years I‘ve come to realise it‘s just mine. My mother alone knows that, in point of fact, nothing is extraordinary.

Wife Welcome to Litsy!🌹 6y
mrp27 Welcome to Litsy! 6y
asiriusreader Welcome to Litsy!! 6y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Welcome to Litsy!! 🎊🎉🙌🏻 6y
13 likes4 comments
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andrew61
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#newtoyoufavoriteauthors #allthebooksof2017
I've read some wonderful books this year and many of them authors new to me so here are 4 - sara baume, aa dhand, yaa gyassi and jacob ross-

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jhod
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Lady luck is shining on me today!
On one of Virgin's #trains to Leeds, starting my book and there is a perfect quote about #plans

"I decide I will take a photograph of this robin. The first in a series, perhaps.
A series about how everything is being slowly killed."

#quotsynov17 #quotsy
#noteworthynovember
@TK-421 @Jess7

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RobinGustafson
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SavidgeReads
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Pickpick

Just finished Sara Baume‘s incredible A Line Made By Walking. A novel that tells of a woman‘s delayed reaction/resistance to adulthood and the time when everything changes after the death of her grandmother, with art, death and nature guiding her way sometimes obviously sometimes subconsciously. Quirky. Brilliant. I am pretty sure will be one of my books of the year.

Reviewsbylola Your sheets are awesome! 🦊 7y
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valeriegeary
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6 books, 3 weeks. Challenge accepted. #libraryhaul #librarylove #tbr #someonestopme

Suet624 You've got this. 7y
Reagan You can do it! 7y
merelybookish Where to start? 7y
valeriegeary @merelybookish the eternal question! 7y
mrozzz You WILL do it 😉 7y
64 likes5 comments
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kerry
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Pickpick

This quiet, introspective novel explores mental illness, art, and a search for meaning through the lens of one young woman's breakdown and subsequent recovery in her grandmother's cabin in the country. I found this a moving depiction of our sometimes desperate need to find a purpose for our lives. More: http://www.entomologyofabookworm.com/2017/08/review-line-made-by-walking-by-sara... (PS I finally blogged a thing!)

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MrBook
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#TBRtemptation post 7! Follow a young artist's search for meaning & healing in rural Ireland. Frankie leaves the city for her family's vacant rural home. She'll grapple with her mental health, her difficult time in art school, and seminal works of art. She picks up photography again, examining the natural world. Sounds a bit along the lines of "Walden" for modern times, no? I'm keen on reading this one! #blameLitsy #blameMrBook ?

andrew61 I really liked this book and i heard about it when the author was interviewed on literary friction podcast it also had me repeatedly viewing the artwork mentioned - id recommend 7y
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Lacythebookworm
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My current audiobook is a beautiful fictional meditation on the life of a young artist finding her way. 👍

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killamkath
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Pickpick

Beautiful

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andrew61
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Pickpick

A young woman dealing with depression by moving into her deceased grandmothers home in rural Ireland where as an art piece she photographs dead animals. Doesn't sound uplifting but it was, beautiful prose which + uses nature wonderfully as so many women writers are doing brilliantly at moment. The use of art references is unique and had me absorbed - this is 'a line made by walking ' by richard long. I loved it.

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andrew61
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Unfortunately im spending more time today googling art than reading- so far in this novel I've found The clock by Christian marclay which had me on you tube, I've discovered gillian wearing, and this image by jo spence which i really like. There is a appendix with all the art featured- i do like a book that transcends art forms.

saresmoore My favorite kind of book! 7y
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andrew61
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I heard the author on a podcast i listen to and was so interested i hurried of to the library to find the book. It took me a while to adjust to the style and prose style being similar to the nature memoirs such as H is for hawk and The outrun as the heroine manages her depression but im now loving it. + it has me appreciating conceptual art with constant references to pieces having me googling works, the cynic in me is evaporating through context

shawnmooney I can't wait to read this! 7y
BookHermit Intriguing! Which podcast was it? 7y
andrew61 @BookHermit 'literary friction' ,hope that helps. 7y
4 likes4 comments
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kerry
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added twinkle lights to my book nook tonight, and now I'm never leaving (this book is pretty good motivation to stay still and read, too) // #whereiread #booknook

cathysaid It appears the puppy ain't leaving either! 💕🐶 7y
Ljmuldoon Book nook! What a great idea! 7y
Bookworm83 This looks so cozy! 7y
35 likes3 comments
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kerry
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When your book matches your coffee, in both color scheme and existential themes.

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kerry
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with credit to @StephanieY's book club for reminding me to read slowly enough to appreciate passages like these

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kerry
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So far, this book is bleak and lovely.

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kerry
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got through my company's two-day board retreat, and I've got two hours checkout time at this farmland delight, and it's warm enough to read outside in February

8little_paws Nice!! Looks relaxing 7y
StephanieY 👌 7y
25 likes2 comments
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shawnmooney
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I blurbed about this serene Irish countryside novel several weeks ago. I couldn't resist buying it. Here it is!

saresmoore Have you read anything else from her? I just acquired 7y
shawnmooney @saresmoore Nothing. But I heard that one is supposed to be really great too! 7y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders Ahhhh. Book Depository. I just made a purchase for a pile of books from there! I have another list growing - seems like this should be added? 😁 7y
batsy Got a copy via NetGalley and cannot wait to get to it! 7y
andrew61 So far shawn i heartily recommend it. It even has me appreciating conceptual art! 7y
39 likes1 stack add5 comments
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Onioons
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I'm back studying and have struggled to find as much time for reading and Litsy lately. But I still can't resist buying fabulous books when I see them! Very excited for both of these 🤗

TrishB I've just started the John Boyne one - I'm hoping to get signed this week as I'm going to see him give a talk on it 😀 7y
Onioons @TrishB wow, it'd be really interesting to hear him talk about it. I loved The Absolutist! 7y
TrishB @Onioons oh I loved that one too. So amazing and so sad!! I am trying to catch up on his back catalogue, I hadn't realised he'd written so many! 7y
46 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Amandalovesbooks
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Embarking on another Irish novel!

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shawnmooney
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I don't know about you, but I am emotionally and politically depleted after you-know-what, today. I think this forthcoming (in April) novel about an artist seeking rejuvenation in the Irish countryside might be just what the doctor ordered, if I can wait that long.

saresmoore I can't decide which I find more appealing: this book or the idea of escaping to the Irish countryside. Who am I kidding? It's definitely the latter. 7y
41 likes3 stack adds1 comment