Welcome to Litsy!

Is anyone else following the Women's World Cup? I took a break from reading the tagged book to watch Argentina's match. So excited for our girls just being there 💚
They have a very interesting fighting story and we're all supporting them here.

If someone knows all there is to know about you, isn‘t that a kind of forgiveness?

#quotsy

The world-building in this book is fascinating, and I am reading very slowly to get at the meaning of it all. A story of an alternate London where memory is forbidden and music has come to replace language in many ways, it was long listed for the Man Booker Prize.

Audiobook 👌

I liked the concept of this story but I think there are some plot lines that could have been filled in. I agree with some other reviews that the main character could be stronger/more involved.

There is a lot to like about this book but also a lot to dislike; after the disappointing ending Squidapus had to come down on the side of not caring for it much. The prose is gorgeous, and the world is interesting as everyone's daily life revolves around music; but in the end the main character doesn't actually do anything and instead watches others lead a more interesting story to a bad conclusion. The themes were good just not well executed.

Oh man, Squidapus is diving into his backlog to start The Chimes tonight. Let's see if we can...clean up this pile of books around my shelf...

#memory #readingresolutions
Memory loss is used as a form of control in this one.
Has great potential but peters out a bit at the end, but would read more by the author.

My final read of 2017, and it was...incredible. Challenging and frustrating in places, but bone-deep beautiful and inventive, too. The kind of book you need to surrender to, I think, rather fight against in a search for meaning.

My virtual 2017 bookends.

Above, my view of Toronto. Below, my plane read. Home, FINALLY.

#memoriestemain #90sinjuly
@Cinfhen @Robothugs

No one has any memories in this book and music controls day-to-day life.
Great ideas in the book, not quite all pulled together, but enough imagination and good writing to keep you interested. I would read another by the author as this was her first and showed great promise.

It is kind of an adventure that Simon and Lucien go through. England after Allbreaking is completely different, the music everywhere, the way things function make this a good fantasy novel.
I liked to read on, was anxious to find out what would happen to them and Chimes. A surprising read! #booker #manbooker

#marchintoreading I bought this book based almost solely on its cover (although the story was interesting as well).

The floor is smooth and cold and the nails' smooth heads touch like mouths on my bare feet.

I love a book about a world filled with music. Smaill even uses presto instead of fast 😄 but the story needs a little more detail and the main character is not really momerable. I loved the idea of it, but it felt a bit meh.

#LitsyAToZ book C

"Something strikingly new" -LitHub's 10 Overlooked Books by Women in 2016

Anna Smaill's THE CHIMES was chosen by Shelf Awareness as a Best Fiction Book of 2016!

I was a little disappointed by this World Fantasy Award winner. It had some nice touches and some great moments but the rather silly premise was heavy- handed, the characters 2-dimensional and the plot quickly wrapped up with what seemed to be minimal effort. Overall it lacked depth and offered little to intrigue or surprise, a shame because the writing was lovely in parts.

Civilian Reader interviewed World Fantasy Award winning author, Anna Smaill on THE CHIMES

It was serendipitous that I listened to Luke Dittrich's Patient H.M., which is about a research subject who led to many breakthroughs in the study of how memory works, directly after reading a dystopia where an entire society had impaired episodic memory. I'm still thinking about both books. They make a good pair.

That's my evening sorted. 😀📚😀 #VWF16

Memories have been eradicated and dwelling on the past forbidden in this dystopian novel set in London. Music controls people. Harmony is ignorance and forgetting. Discord is the pain of remembrance. Immersive worldbuilding through music-related language. #queerbooks Loved it! Looking forward to seeing this New Zealand author in Vancouver tomorrow night.

The noise hits as we enter. The frenzied din that is the opposite of the calm order of Chimes. A cloth seller sings, "Finecloth, roughcloth, wool, silk, linen," a flowing warp & weft of notes. Behind him, the potter sings of ochre & saltglaze, of platters & beermugs. Twisting between is the drawn-out, coaxing whistle of a vendor who crafts memories, good-quality, purpose-made, built to last.

Deep in the drilled-in mud of the fields behind me, our bulbs are wrapped in their brittle skins with their messages of colour stored inside.

"A swag man sings the there-and-back of his day's journey, a song whose cadence closes at our village square. All journeymen, lighting their way through near distance with a day's tune."

Beautiful language and storytelling.

I can't add anything. Great book.

"That is a rhythm you can see, not hear. Perhaps music happens elsewhere than in ears."

Aiming to finish this one today. With a little boost from my @musemonthly tea and mug. ❤️

I love how music is interwoven through this story.

"Stretches of empty skies and a bright rime of salt." Love this description of a singing voice.

I want to celebrate this first of many occasions: this is the first book I'm reading that I heard about via Litsy. 🍻 Raise a glass to readers!!!

Wow! I just finished this and I loved it. I was enthralled by this dystopian world where music has such incredible power and memories are so precious.

Alternate history, dystopian, set in England. Memory & the past are erased by the chimes rung twice a day. Enter an orphan who can remember & a cult leader with the gift of song. The power of the past, love, and freedom. This has potential.

Had great potential but fell a bit short. http://cannonballread.com/2016/05/unfinished-symphony/

colourful washi tapes for the melodic proses.

"It‘s been ages since I‘ve read such a gorgeous & thought-provoking story, & this one seemed to devour me a bit more with each chapter. Beautiful & romantic, while still challenging the reader to consider what truths are best left unknown, what memories you would fight to keep." - Jax

I must find this. SFF? Dystopia? Music themes? IT WILL BE MINE.

It‘s been ages since I‘ve read such a gorgeous and thought-provoking story, and this one seemed to devour me a bit more with each chapter. Excellent for fans of Station Eleven, or anyone looking for something that rings true.

Like THE BURIED GIANT meets CLOUD ATLAS, if that makes any sense. At the end of the world, everything happens again and again for a reason. I love it!