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The Wake
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
"A work that is as disturbing as it is empathetic, as beautiful as it is riveting." Eimear McBride, New StatesmanIn the aftermath of the Norman Invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror was uncompromising and brutal. English society was broken apart, its systems turned on their head. What is little known is that a fractured network of guerrilla fighters took up arms against the French occupiers. In The Wake, a postapocalyptic novel set a thousand years in the past, Paul Kingsnorth brings this dire scenario back to us through the eyes of the unforgettable Buccmaster, a proud landowner bearing witness to the end of his world. Accompanied by a band of like-minded men, Buccmaster is determined to seek revenge on the invaders. But as the men travel across the scorched English landscape, Buccmaster becomes increasingly unhinged by the immensity of his loss, and their path forward becomes increasingly unclear. Written in what the author describes as "a shadow tongue"a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable to the modern readerThe Wake renders the inner life of an Anglo-Saxon man with an accuracy and immediacy rare in historical fiction. To enter Buccmaster's world is to feel powerfully the sheer strangeness of the past. A tale of lost gods and haunted visions, The Wake is both a sensational, gripping story and a major literary achievement.
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LauraJ
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Leftcoastzen Love this cover , it‘s in the unread heap somewhere .😀 5y
LauraJ @Leftcoastzen that‘s where I found mine too. 5y
Ruthiella Great cover! 5y
batsy Fantastic cover! 5y
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Hamlet
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

Give Kingsnorth credit for his creativity with language. With the underlying premise that the Norman invasion of 1066 was the worst event to happen to England & the English language, the author creates a “shadow tongue,” a modified and accessible language that uses & invokes Old English. Reading it is a challenge at first, but a worthwhile one to convey Buccmaster‘s tale with the right feel & flavor: a disdain for the coming changes to his world.

Hamlet I‘d also add that setting a post-apocalyptic novel 1000 years in our past is a cool idea. 5y
charl08 I've got this on the kindle. One day I will read it! 5y
batsy The concept of his books intrigue me! This and Beast. Need to get around to them someday. 5y
Hamlet Great tip! I hadn‘t heard of his other book. Thanks! 5y
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toofondofbooks
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

From Goodreads: "Written in what the author describes as “a shadow tongue”—a version of Old English updated so as to be understandable to the modern reader—The Wake renders the inner life of an Anglo-Saxon man with an accuracy and immediacy rare in historical fiction."

I GREATLY RECOMMEND THE AUDIOBOOK NARRATED BY SIMON VANCE. IT IS SUPERB. I HAD NO TROUBLE WHATSOEVER UNDERSTANDING THE USE OF LANGUAGE. Excellent ?????

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quietlycuriouskate
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

What a strange and difficult book, and not because of the fake Old English it's written in! Billed as a "post-apocalyptic novel set a thousand years ago" I was struck by the grief and rage of a man whose world has ended. Yet Buccmaster himself is thin-skinned, delusional, self-aggrandising. He is a broken man: he is also a gobshite. Then not much happens and the book stops rather than concludes. I'm left confused as to the author's intentions. ?

quietlycuriouskate It's a pick because, despite my frustrations with it, it won't let go of me. I'll write a longer review on Goodreads when I've thought some more. 7y
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hiespin
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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As challenging as it was, I instantly fell in love with Paul Kingsnorth's first, The Wake. I have been waiting oh so patiently for Beast and am excited to jump into Kingsnorth's brilliant mind once again!

My tea is ready and so am I!
#TheWake #Beast #PaulKingsnorth

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Soubhiville
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Thank you @Graywolfpress and @24in48 for my readathon prize! I look forward to reading these!

24in48 is such a great event! I love having an entire weekend dedicated to nothing but reading! Thank you for your work putting it together!

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Yellowpigeon
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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A book, coffee and a bright spring day. Nothing better

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Somasis
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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The way this is written takes some serious getting used to, but it's a good story and #thistitleequalsgreatbandname #marchintoreading @RealLifeReading

RealLifeReading I can picture the band members with all their beards 😂 7y
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LauraJ
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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I've been bad. Amazon had a bunch of stuff that's been on my wishlist forever for $6. The bottom book is for book club next week. #bookhaul

zsuzsanna_reads It's called being sensible. Books you need at a good price 😊 7y
Reviewsbylola Great haul! 7y
LauraJ @zsuzsanna_reads Thank you for the enabling 💕 7y
54 likes3 comments
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Alicia
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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This is my haul from the VNSA book sale in Phoenix yesterday! Hooray for some great finds!

ReadingSusan Nice! 7y
saguarosally Where did you find My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry? I was looking for that but couldn't find it. 7y
Alicia @saguarosally it was in the current fiction!!! I was super surprised about finding it actually I practically squeaked! 7y
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Foxyfictionista
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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This is my tbr stack of library books going into February. So many good things! See anything you liked or would like to read?

Hestapleton I loved THE VEGETARIAN and I heard great things about DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING and THE OPPOSITE OF LONELINESS. 7y
Foxyfictionista @Hehaney I'm looking forward to all of them. I've heard good things. 7y
hlgreenfield I love The Bell Jar and Never Let me Go! Really good books. 7y
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Foxyfictionista @hlgreenfield I'm sort of dreading Never Let Me Go because I've heard about it but I'm also excited to read it. 🙃 7y
minkyb Girl at War is really good. I need to read The Vegetarian. 7y
CarolynOliver Oh my god, The Wake. Just. Well. It's an experience. 7y
Foxyfictionista @minkyb Girl at War had been in my radar for a while now. I'm glad I found it at the library! 7y
Foxyfictionista @CarolynOliver Oh wow. I'm intrigued now! 7y
Foxyfictionista @CarolynOliver Omg, I just opened this book and I see what you mean. Yikes. Can I do this? We'll see! 7y
CarolynOliver @Foxyfictionista It's amazing! And totally doable--just give yourself 20-30 pages to get into it. 7y
Suet624 That's a huge stack! 7y
Foxyfictionista @CarolynOliver Well I'll start it on Monday on my commute so we'll see how it goes. It looks interesting. 7y
Foxyfictionista @Suet624 I have zero self control. 😄 7y
ReadingEnvy I highly recommend listening even to the audio preview of The Wake to get you into the rhythm of the words. It can be pretty headache inducing 7y
ReadingEnvy I'd start with Kang, Kent, Fisher, or Thien. Is that helping haha. 7y
Foxyfictionista @ReadingEnvy That a great idea. I've read a couple of paragraphs and feel like I'll be able to get it. I wonder if it will get in my nerves though. I read pretty fast so I will probably have to slow down a bit for this one. 7y
Foxyfictionista @ReadingEnvy I'm pretty strict when it comes to reading order. I put all of my books in the order that I get them and then I read from the top down. It's very rare that I'll let books jump the queue. 😅 7y
ReadingEnvy @Foxyfictionista Really?! Amazing. If I did that I would have to immediately rebel against myself. 7y
Foxyfictionista @ReadingEnvy I don't want any of my books to feel neglected. 😆 7y
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Col
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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WordWaller
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Good moooooorning! I am exhausted but decided I don't care, I need to do this! Repost of my favorite book rainbow from last year @24in48 #24in48 #readathon #rainbowstack

BookishBlonde12 Pretty! 🌈✨ 7y
TrishTheBibliophile Beautiful! 7y
Megabooks Great stack! 7y
RealBooks4ever Been meaning to read 7y
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Liberty
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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#TBT to the time I was really excited to get this book. 💚

readinginthedark 😂👍🏻 7y
LittleBowBook 😂How long ago was this? I love the beard and shirt! 7y
Liberty @LittleBowBook July 2015. 7y
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Robothugs 😂😂 I love this! 7y
britt_brooke 💚 7y
[DELETED] 4184155464 Love the shirt! 😍😄 7y
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LectricSheep
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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thegirlwiththelibrarybag Brilliant! 😂 who knew you could so stylish with a green beard and red lipstick? 7y
JPeterson 😂😂 7y
DebinHawaii Love it! 📚😀👍 7y
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cathysaid ? "They're magically delicious!" ? 7y
AmandaL Ha!😂 7y
Bookzombie 😂😂😂This is great!! 7y
LindsayReads Love it!!!! 7y
RealLifeReading ❤️❤️❤️ 7y
MicheleinPhilly 😂😂😂😂😂😂 7y
vivastory Haha. I tried tackling this once & couldn't do it. Should try again. 7y
ChasingOm I think this is my favorite on this thread right now. 😂 7y
Laura317 Best one, yes!! 😂😂😂 7y
JenP Awesome! 7y
ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled Best. Ever. 😂😂😂 7y
Mommamanzi This is soooo funny. Love! Thank you for the giggle!!!!! 7y
Eyelit Love it 😂 7y
CherylDeFranceschi 💚💚💚 7y
readordierachel Ha! Fantastic. 7y
LeahBergen 😂😂😂 7y
Chessa So great! 😂 7y
117 likes21 comments
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LectricSheep
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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If you're interested in quirky games about language (so...most people on Litsy, I think), check out Dialect on Kickstarter. Today is its last day of crowdfunding! Its tag line: "A game about language and how it dies." ALL THE CHILLS. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thornygames/dialect-a-game-about-language-a... (The Wake, the book this is filed under, is written in a "shadow tongue"-- updated Old English dialect. Must. Read. Now.)

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Moray_Reads
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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To my shame I don't have any #notinenglish books, I don't know any other languages well enough ? The closest I have is this, written in Paul Kingsnorth's "shadow language", a mixture of Old English and modern. Haven't read it yet but it's on the tbr

rockpools Ooh! I so wanted to read this, but need to buy a copy cos it might take a while to read. It also introduced me to Unbound who are doing such cool things! 7y
LeahBergen I've been meaning to buy this! 👍🏼 7y
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Gpapp
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

Very strange, but riveting. Worth the effort it takes to learn to read the "shadow language" it's written in. Try reading it out loud, the rhythms are hypnotic and it makes it easier to understand.

anwade88 Why am I always interested in reading books with "made up" languages lol ... this sounds so interesting 7y
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AmyStewart
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Jeff at Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale AZ loves this book and wants to redeem it from its Litsy pans. It's told in its own "shadow language" from 1000 years ago. He confesses it took him 50 pages to get used to it, but then he loved it so much he only read 2 pages a night so it wouldn't end, because what do you read next after a book like that? He actually read a bit out loud to show how this shadow language works, and it was beautiful #getindie

LeahBergen I need to try this. I'm sure I will love it! 8y
tpixie Cool! 8y
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SusanInTiburon
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

Wow, I love this! I enjoy reading in dialects, and this is written in an invented "shadow tongue" of Old English. It works perfectly in service of the story -- an embittered, post apocalyptic memoir of the Norman invasion of England in 1066.

LeahBergen I've wanted to read this one. Does the reading of it become easier as you get into the flow of the language? 8y
Bibliotini Read this earlier this year and LOVED it. Unreliable narrators-my kind of people! 8y
SusanInTiburon @LeahBergen Yes, it took a few pages to warm up to the language, but became easy quite soon. The author includes a short note at the end about how he conceived the language, and that has some helpful reading tips. There's also a little glossary for some of the less obvious words. I found it quite readable, even after putting down and picking back up. 8y
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TeR Wow this sounds really good!!! 8y
TheLondonBookworm Sounds like my kinda book! 8y
GinaAnderson I bailed on this one earlier this year. I was disappointed because this kind of book is so right up my alley. The language wasn't the problem, the main character was. I found I just couldn't bear him. 8y
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Bibliotini
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

I feel superior to everyone who hasn't read this book. It's written in a shadow tongue, somewhere between old english and the English of today with a glossary for the author's created words. After the Norman invasion, our protagonist, Buccmaster seeks revenge. Who doesn't love a good revenge story?

ErickaS_Flyleafunfurled I've wanted to get my hands on this for a while! Sounds interesting! 8y
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megan_spiegel
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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"when i woc in the mergen all was black though the night had gan and all wolde be black after and for all time." Let's do this!

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Lee_RE
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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An early taste of the shadow tongue Kingsnorth crafted for his novel

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Lee_RE
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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This book this book this book.

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Stesha
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
Bailedbailed

I wanted to like this novel set during the Norman invasion of England. The author's dedication to creating a "shadow" of old English was intriguing, but I found it ultimately off putting.

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DrBird
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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Pickpick

An unbelievably engrossing novel about the end of the world, as far as the narrator, an Anglisc man, is concerned. Written in "shadow tongue," an accessible version of Old English, this book portrays a believable, messed up mind in an apocalypse.

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DrBird
The Wake: A Novel | Paul Kingsnorth
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none will loc but the wind will cum. the wind cares not for the hopes of men the times after will be for them who seen the cuman the times after will be for the waecend