All That Man Is | 
#Goodbye2020 @ShyBookOwl great prompt!
Tagged book was an interesting exploration of man, specifically white men in Europe. It was well written and I thought it hugely improved in the last few chapters.
Last book of 2020 was Artificial Silk Girl,the diary of a girl on the fringes of society in Weimar German, trying to get by.Gut punch of a book.
I've started 2021 with Lavondyss, the sequel to Mythago Wood!Hope to get through the series this month!
pickI had to force myself to pick this up, as it didn‘t appeal, but it was the only book I had for #Hungary. Objectively, there‘s so much I can point to that I don‘t like about it, yet I found it oddly compelling, well-written, and didn‘t want to put it down. I love an unusual response to a book, so there you go.
#ReadingEurope2020 (1 to go!)
pickWhy did it take me so long to read this? I bought it back in 2016 when it made the Booker Longlist. I remember there was some controversy around that since not everyone agreed that this was a novel.
We meet nine men, each get their own section in the book, and they never meet. Everyone is traveling and we met them away from home. These men are in different stages of their lives and is trying to figure out life and what is the right decision.
#BookReport
📚Finished Queenie
🎧 Finished the fourth Department Q book
📚 Read A Room of One‘s Own
📚 Doing #PotterADay
📚 Read a poem or more a day from Why God is a Woman
📚 Read a short story by Munro a day
📚 Hope to finish tagged book later today
🎧 Started the fifth Department Q book
I must admit that I never thought there would be a Harry Potter reference in this book. And apparently the book is just alright
His father, in a vest, is drinking a beer. He has, within the last half-hour, returned from work. He is short, blond, with a moustache - Asterix, basically.
Woohoo 🙌🏻 🥳Look what came today @BarbaraBB I‘m SO excited ❣️❣️❣️I‘m dying to read this one ~ you‘re amazing. Thanks so much for thinking of me 😘#LittensAreTheBest #BookMail
pickDa leggere perché... #OltreAllaCopertina c‘è di più e, se tutti quest‘anno lo hanno letto, vuol dire che stiamo investendo bene il nostro tempo. Nove meridiani su un unico parallelo antropologico.
In Episode 7 of Books On The Go we discuss All That Man Is. Is it a novel? Amanda tries to convince me to like it more. Will she succeed? Take a listen! 🎧
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/books-on-the-go/id1391038223?mt=2hickleberry...
so-soA collection of stories on the theme of masculinity. I did not enjoy it. Ther protagonists are straight white men who judge women on their looks & lack curiosity or intelligence, apart from an interest in money. This is all too real & tiresome. It may be the state of men today, but nothing in the writing or characters made me empathise with these men or see their problems through new eyes. Cynical humour, well observed but not to my taste. 😐
so-soYou only get glimpses of the 9 unconnected characters—all experiencing a crisis while traveling in Europe. Szalay moves on just before each man's fate is determined, making every chapter just “a moment‘s immersion in the texture of existence." Each story blends into one common experience: of being disoriented, unfulfilled, cast away. What is "all that man is" exactly? Perhaps alone — that is, until all of the stories of the lost come together.
#TBRtemptation post 4! 9 men, each at a difference life-stage, away from home, striving to understand what it means to be alive. Prague, an Alpine village, a Belgian motorway, a Cyprus hotel, etc. The seemingly separate narratives are an aggregate of a single shared experience. Considered a new kind of novel, this tense, comical, deep resonates with a fresh and unique kind of narrative power. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎
pickI liked this book a lot. It consists of 9 stories of 9 men in different phases of their lives. All are travelling through Europe, one way or another.
David Szalay is still young, but I am surprised at how well he can relate to men of all ages. Some stories are better than others, probably because I can relate more to some of them, but overall I was pleasantly surprised. #booker #manbooker
Deeply caught up in this enthralling and intriguing novel, and still can't predict how all the strands will be resolved.
so-soI feel like this quote sums up my feelings about the book pretty well. It is fantastically well-written by an undeniably talented author, but it's left me feeling kind of sad and hopeless about life in general 😳
Time to move on to something a little more lightweight and life-affirming...
There is a strange sense of loss, a sense of loss without an obvious object.
pan
Why pick it up? To get involved in the “Is this a novel”-debate. Good writing.
What‘s not to like? I did not see the interesting approach on masculinity/ men and/ or Europe, instead I found the characters rather similar from their social positions (white, hetero, European passports) and a lot of clichés. Women are never anywhere are almost exclusively described in relation to their (not) being seen as attractive by the protagonist.
bailedWow, I kinda can't believe I'm bailing on this. I love existential crises. I love unlikable characters. I love books about the male psyche. I just really, really, REALLY can't get into Szalay's writing.
Hot apple cider, seasonal local chocolate and a new book. 🍎🍫📖
I finally got this one and I'm excited to start it tonight! Confession: I love books about the male psyche. It's something that fascinates me. After recently reading (and loving) The Throwback Special, another shortlisted book about the male psyche, I'm eager to see what this one has to offer. (Though admittedly wary of the apparent lack of diversity I've heard people mention.)
pickLeaving aside Szalay's silly insistence that this is a novel, what All That Man Is is, is (see what I did there?) an incredible collection of short stories that explores the empty lives of inarticulate, lonely men of all ages, each away from home and pathetically adrift in present-day Europe. It is a singular achievement that Szalay narrates all this meaninglessness without judgment, and without depressing the hell out of the reader.
This #Thanksgiving weekend I'm thankful for leisurely Sunday morning reads. I'm on #3 of the Booker shortlist and this is my favourite to win by a country mile
Not sure how excited I am about this #textonlycover but so far it's my favourite of the #manbooker shortlist #booktober
That feeling you get when you start a new book
Which book on the Man Booker shortlist are you excited about? After reading the first pages of Szalay and Beatty, I want to read both! Oops. And I haven't even checked out the others.
pickThe stories in this book were well-crafted glimpses into toxic forms of masculinity. Although thematically linked, I have a hard time seeing the whole as a novel, rather than a short story collection.
"Now he thinks about it"?? That seems like a grammatical error to me. Is there any national or regional exception to the fact that it absolutely must be "Now THAT he thinks about it"? I checked and double-checked the text, and that's what they wrote. Anyway… still like this quote.
