😊
Went to a used book sale
These were my finds
Going to another one with a friend at the end of the month
When you consider how fascinating both the subject matter and the plot of this is, it's almost impossible to believe that this book would be boring. But it is.
This novel ticks all my boxes; it grapples with an historical event in a way that leans heavily on facts but is nonetheless fictionalised and uses this to explore questions about a moment in time, social structures and values. There is a passage about the line between the facts of historical events, the truth about people‘s lives, and imagined realities which really nails it. A challenging read, it is engaging, thoughtful, and interrogative.
My fourth go with Delillo, and definitely my favorite. This book was genuinely great! A meticulously written fictional autobiography/secret history speculation, Libra details the life of Lee Harvey Oswald and the events which put him on the fast track to infamy. Didn‘t expect Oswald to be such a sympathetic protagonist, but Delillo surprised me. The writing was great and there was an appropriate sense of tragedy. I prefer this over Underworld, tbh
1. A clever title can make me laugh and look, but I‘d read what it is about and then decide.
2. It‘s funny , though I read this long ago, it was the first one word title that popped into my head!Libra /Don DeLillo
I‘m late to the party , if you want to play , consider yourself tagged !
Thanks for the tag @Eggs #Two4Tuesday
Happy Birthday to Don DeLillo born November 20th 1936.
Today‘s poster is for Libra! ♎️
Any Libras out there that are excited to dig into their June #ReadYourSign TBR? I bet there are going to be some gorgeous book covers with roses on them. 🥀💙
Excited for this reading challenge in June! Some of the prompts are stumping me a little (planet and gem mainly), but I‘m excited to do some research to see what books I can come up with. Thanks for hosting a fun challenge, @Clwojick and @Meaw_catlady! #readyoursign #libra
See the prompts and sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfoKXiHqajTgfJtZynP_XXyqhH9U94IrXP36Tt0...
This absorbing novel imagines the swirling forces of coincidence and conspiracy that lead to the assassination of JFK. This is fiction, and DeLillo makes no claim to truth; instead, Libra examines the mind and motivations of an assassin, the men who want to use him for their own ends, and the analyst charged with sifting through the evidence to make sense of this tangled, tragic history. I've had this on the shelf forever--glad I finally read it.
Beautifully written novel from an inimitable stylist, true to DeLillo's stated aim to give readers "refuge" and a solid way of grasping on to the welter of truth around Lee Harvey Oswald. JFK theories are not my go to, but I've also read Charles McCarry's Tears of Autumn, and what strikes me is how DeLillo's work matches that stated aim whereas McCarry's is both more plausible and more necessarily baroque. Time well spent, at any rate.
I love starting a book knowing nothing about it and ending up with a solid pick. 🙌🏻
This book is about a lot of things, but mainly it‘s about Lee Oswald and the events leading up to the assassination of JFK. Great writing that seamlessly blends fact and fiction into a perfectly fascinating novel.
‘There's always more to it. This is what history consists of. It is the sum total of the things they aren't telling us.‘
#1001books
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
#NameChallenge
L-I-N-D-A
Thanks for the tag @Billypar
Has @vivastory or @batsy played yet?
A fascinating piece, if not aggressively entertaining. Delillo could have written this as a political thriller, a bit of otiose historical fiction, but instead he focused quite intimately with the supposed mind of America's most famous assasin (assuming he actually committed said assasination), making this book admittedly more dry but also more satisfying. Some books are entertaining in the moment and then forgotten. Libra is remembered.
Asa: "My dad has been telling me to read this book for a while. I don't know DeLillo, but I like similar authors, like Thomas Pynchon. My dad and I often talk about books. I trust his opinion. A lot of the books he read when he was younger, so we talk in broad strokes. I looked at White Noise and this one, Libra. The first paragraph drew me in. It's vague but I like the idea of this guy riding around on the train and getting lost in that."
I am pretty sure this my first DeLillo!
To The Red Pen Wielder,
I've been paging through this copy of "Libra" I found at a used book sale and I'll be honest, I was skeptical at first when I saw your footprints on the pages. Now, I think I'm in love. Sincerely, The Blue Pen Wielder
Epic in scope...the prose is electric, it crackles on the page.
DeLillo has become my favorite writer. His work is subtle, and designed to be explored beneath the surface. This is a writer for the future, living amongst us.
"Why do these photographs have a power to disturb him, make him sad? Flat, pale, washed in time ... Can a photograph be lonely?"
(DeLillo's prose does it for me.)