Euphoria | 
2/1 I understood my first joke today. I was observing the weaving of mosquito bags in the 2nd women's house. I sat next to a woman called Tadi and I asked her what she would do with the shells she earned and she said her husband would use them to buy another wife. 'I cannot make this bag fast enough,' she said. We all fell over laughing.
pick⭐⭐⭐⭐ As other Littens have commented, the connection with Margaret Mead makes it fascinating and makes me want to read some of her books. The writing is beautiful and excellent and I'm a sucker for a relatable love story. The 1930s attitudes to the people they lived with didn't bother me, because it WAS the 1930s. Recommended!
So far I'm enjoying this completely random find on Libby. I'm hoping it continues strong!
I know a lot of books have similar covers, and even the same images sometimes get recycled, but if I were Lily King or her publisher, I don‘t think I‘d be too happy about this “coincidence.”
panI chose this novel because I liked King's Writers and Lovers. This one I did not care for. The white characters were selfish and it felt like cultural misappropriation. I did finish the novel hoping it might get better, but didn't find it redeeming, even after reading it was loosely based on Margaret Mead.
From Charles King to Lily King. From a nonfiction about Margaret Mead (among others) to a fiction inspired by her fieldwork, romance, and madness in Papua New Guinea!
While reading Gods of the Upper Air, I stumbled upon Euphoria by accident and knew it had to come next - TBR pile be damned!
You don‘t realize how language actually interferes with communication until you don‘t have it. You have to pay much more attention to everything else when you can‘t understand words. Once comprehension comes, so much else falls away. You then rely on their words, and words aren‘t always the most reliable 🗣
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Despite everything, I believed somehow there was time. Love‘s first mistake. Perhaps love‘s only mistake 🖤⏳
Hi litsy!! Its been a minute. But I'm here! Just started this book today and it's really intriguing and so well done. Funny, bc i didn't like writers and lovers much at all!
I hope you're all doing well! We are enjoying our summer and looking forward to a fun filled fall.
pickHow I LOVE Lily King ❤️❤️ this book packs a powerful punch!! It‘s uncomfortable and full of foreboding. I could never be an anthropologist but reading about these fictional ones is fascinating
pickWhy is it that I usually only “Blurb” my Litsy posts and rarely review? Fear.
Ok. I really liked this. I had to read a few reviews (Thanks @Ruthiella !) to find out who this was based on: Margaret Mead. Now I want to read (an extremely short) essay on Mead, I love this kind of historical fiction. Imaginary lives of real people.
But, to be totally honest, I loved the narration and I loved the passion. The passion of the Bankson character for 1/2
Latest #audiobook, started on my Friday am drive from KCMO to Wichita. So good! I know nothing. Bought on idea that I need to try Lily King. Liking her writing very much. A good follow up to Vesper Flights (anthropology theme)
Up next on audio...it was a suggestion for “A Book Set on an Island” for the Reading Around The World Challenge. #bookspinbingo #bookvoyage
so-soFor MBH bookclub, good - not great. Two narrators on audio, which I liked, but I was sad not to hear the woman‘s voice more. Story felt predictable.
#euphoric #springsentiments #day1
When I first started this book a couple of years ago, I put it down, not sure how I felt about it. I picked it up again many months later& that turned out to be the perfect time. For whatever reason I was ready to embrace the novel.
Today Some teacher friends & I left work at 12:30 pm, feeling #euphoric. We had a ling weekend ahead with some sunshine predicted! Spring just might show up with sun shining!
So, yesterday I had lunch with a friend whom I have not seen in over a year. We swapped some books. I gave her these - all of which I enjoyed, by the way! #bookswap
pickI loved this story of 3 anthropologists in new guinea in the 1930's. The complicated inter relationship of american's nell stone her husband fen and englishman andrew bankson is told with passion as the married couple battle for academic fame while bankson looks on and falls in love. The landscape and people of the remote islands also create a fascinating narrative and I was completely absorbed.
pickI think I liked it? Honestly, I‘m still processing it. It took me a while to find my footing in this book, but it‘s so short that, by the time I figured out what was going on it was almost over. But it‘s beautifully written and the 2 narrators did a great job for the audiobook.
Today‘s #alphastack brought to you by the #LetterE
Had a lot more great ‘E‘ books on my shelf than I thought! 🤷♀️📚💕
pickLoved this story about anthropology in the 1930s when it was a “new” science. You follow the three way love interest as the scientists learn about the tribes in New Guinea. Sounds boring but I loved this story and the writing. Great insight into how other cultures react and how western culture is not always the only way to live as a society.
pickThis book made me think how fantastic it is to be able to join a group of anthropologists studying tribes in New Guinea in the 1930s 🙂 Even more interesting to learn it was loosely based on the lives of real people! ⭐⭐⭐.5 stars 😊
pick"I loved that Amy Lowell poem when I first read it, how her lover was like red wine at the beginning and then became bread. But that has not happened to me. My loves remain wine to me, yet I become too quickly bread to them."
Such a beautiful book! I dove into this one with no prior knowledge or background about the theme of this book. Angsty, tragic and extremely beautiful!
“You don‘t realise how language actually interferes with communication until you don‘t have it, how it gets in the way like an overdominant sense.”
so-soThe prose is really lovely, but I didn‘t particularly enjoy the story itself. I would‘ve liked a lot more critique of white western anthropology and it‘s role in the perpetuation of white supremacy and colonization. All the characters were horrible and selfish, albeit to different degrees. Ultimately the book focused way too much on a love triangle I didn‘t care about. Definitely not my favorite.
1. 👆
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3. Reading& writing 📖🖋💙
4. Milk (white chocolate is a close second) 😋
#friyayintro @4thhouseontheleft @howjessreads
Bedtime reading with Velvet. Good-night.
pickWow! Just wow! I never read a book in one sitting and King pulled me in and I could not or wanted to escape. Anthropology always interested me and learning about Aboriginal tribes at the same time becoming attached to Bankson and Nell was just the topping on the cake. Wow!
Papua New Guinea
#Booked20 #LiveandLearn
#PopSugar20 author w/ Flora in name
#ReadHarder20 place in rural setting
#ReadwithMrBook @MrBook
pickJust finished this book for the #ozpostalmarkup thanks Allissa @LapReader 😍 I thought it was great..the story of 3 anthropologists in the wilds of New Guinea..based on real people..fascinating descriptions of the lives of the tribes..hints of a love story..I will get it off to you soon @thegreensofa xxxxx
Back from my travels...jet lagged ..straight into my next book for our #litsypostalmarkup Euphoria by Lily King. Hoping to get it read over the weekend and sent off early next week! @LapReader @CarolynM @thegreensofa
#7days7covers #covercrush
Tagging @kaysworld1 if you want to join in? 7 of your favourite covers each day for a week, no explanation needed. Tag a litten each day to join in.
panSeriously wondering if the author paid for all the gushing blurbs on this book because wtf did I even read. Only slightly good thing was the imagery. I saw no critique of white Western anthropological practices, & instead a lot of othering, infantilizing, & navel-gazing of the most tedious kind. Main characters are flat & dreary, not to mention huge jerks, love triangle is absurd, and just....no. Didn‘t like, don‘t get the hype. Trash. Bye. 1/5 ⭐️
This is.........ugh. I know others have said we‘re supposed to take this book as a critique of this field, but I‘m sure not seeing that. We get garbage like this with no challenge to it.
Most women like to fuss around a wound of your past, pick at the thin scab, comfort you after they‘d made it sting. Not Nell.
[Ooooh, is she...........NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS?! dun dun duuuuunnnn!! Ugh. Douche.]
I‘ve been told that this book is meant to be taken somewhat as a critique of the concept of “white people studying people of color” and I hope that‘s true, but even so........not going into it with super high hopes. The cover is pretty, though! I do love me a birb. #nowreading
pickThis is a story (based on a true one, apparently) of 3 anthropologists, Nell Stone, her husband Fen, and joined by Andrew Bankson, working in the field in Australia in 1933. I didn‘t feel like the plot had a lot of meaty drive to, and even the love story fell a bit flat for me. But Nell‘s character is so intriguing and her perspective of love is beautiful. It‘s a quick read/listen, and I‘m glad I picked it up.
pickI went into this book knowing nothing about it and was pleasantly surprised. Inspired by the true story of Margaret Mead and her work in New Guinea with her 2nd husband and the man who became her 3rd husband, I found the anthropological details and discussions as interesting as the love triangle. The relationships and characters (even the truly awful Australian husband - based on a Kiwi I might add) all felt authentic.
#LPMBC #GroupZ
#AyupAugust #crymeariver
Based loosely on real people and events, set in the 1930's, 3 anthropologists are thrown together as they travel the river through New Guinea studying the tribes. I found their different approaches to this field of study so fascinating. Yet it is the intellectual and emotional love triangle that develops between these flawed characters, that was so captivating. Gorgeous prose, well-drawn characters and a compelling story.
pickHappy Sat morning in Australia. How cool are my new pjs? A cold wind is blowing straight off the ocean and onto my apartment this morning so I am in bed with organic earl grey tea with milk, under 3 doonas getting a head start on my next #LMPBC. Might have a spa and sauna before yoga then a catch up with friends before a walk and some cooking, eating and drinking and perhaps movie watching. #lifeistoughformargaretmeadnotme #bfc2hasntevenstartedyet
This is not my favorite story, but enough story to finish it.
so-soAlthough this tragedy is well written, I didn‘t like it. I did not like the self-centered characters. Still, I had to read it to the end. I don‘t know if I was seeking a better story or if I was hoping it would not come to the end I foresaw. A love triangle among anthropologists. You will like the natives better.
So happy to be back out on my porch on a gorgeous, sunny day reading this vibrant book — a story inspired by events in the life of Margaret Mead. The writing is just as beautiful as the cover! (Note: I found the receipt in the book from when I originally bought it — it‘s only been sitting on my shelves for 4 years...🤪)
Of course I had to pay a visit to an indie bookstore while visiting DC. Due to time constraints, I only got to visit one - Kramerbooks & afterwords cafe (bookstore & cafe in one) was the closest, and I was immediately smitten! Such a lovely bookstore and great staff too! Pictured are my purchases: a tote, a book and a notebook.
#smittenlove #literarylove @vkois88 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
