La forma de las ruinas | 
pickNot a thriller, but an historical investigation into two of Colombia‘s most notorious assassinations. The author plays the part of the MC caught in other people‘s obsessions around the machete hacking death of General Rafael Uribe Uribe in 1914 and the shooting death of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in 1948. The book becomes a personal look at conspiracies and the way they give shape and order to the chaos of experience. #Readaroundtheworld #Colombia
1. The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez ?
2. I‘m with the crowd—black ?!
3. Broke a tooth ?, and it really hurts ?
4. Yes, loudly, and yes
5. Hello @Velvetfur — This is probably too late (I‘m always behind)—but I‘m really just saying, Hi, how are you? ? ♥ï¸
pick#Booked2019 #Summer #GenreBusting
This is such a gorgeous book, so well written—there were moments that brought tremendous feelings of nostalgia for me; there were moments of poetic beauty; but most of all, there were long passages about history. And it‘s strange, because even though Vásquez writes about the history of Bogotá, he writes about his own history as well. He writes of verifiable events at the same time as he writes of the inner ⬇ï¸
pick5 stars! Vasquez looks at conspiracy theories, focused on 2 assassinations in Colombia. He looks at how historical events continue to affect regular individuals even 100 years later. Long, complicated, intense, and masterfully done. On the Man Booker International shortlist. I need to read more by this author! #intranslation #colombianliterature #mbi2019 #manbookerinternational #5stars
so-soI liked the concept of this book but would have enjoyed it a lot more at 300 pages instead of 500! It dragged in a lot of places for me.
so-soSigh. For me this book just went round and around in circles and never stopped or got anywhere. Plus when that is the feeling you're getting, having it be the length of two books is especially tedious. I'm sure it's rather literary but the story wasn't compelling enough to hold my interest.
My personal shortlist for #MBIP2019 #ManBookerInternationalPrize
My opinion - interesting and diverse longlist, but unfortunately very weak. Worthy candidates for shortlist are only three books (Shape of the Ruins, Four Soldiers and The Years) ... the other three are interesting, worth reading, but not strong enough to be shortlisted.
panIt‘s too many damn pages for any man to understand!
I just couldn‘t get on with this one. I feel like a philistine but the politics was impenetrable and the characters didn‘t feel real enough to bear the weight of it. I spent most of it thinking about how much longer there was to go. #manbookerinternational2019
Weekend away is over so back to reading hardcore to catch up with the man booker international list on the plane!
Spanish tostadas are somehow 10000% better than any toast the uk has, I don‘t understand it but I want to eat 40 of them. Warm breezy morning in Alicante and I feel so relaxed and happy. Already planning more trips in Spain, I always adore it here.
He understood that terrible truth: that they were killed by the same people. Of course I‘m not talking about the same individuals with the same hands, no. I‘m talking about a monster, an immortal monster, the monster of many faces and many names who has so often killed and will kill again because nothing has changed here in centuries of existence and never will change, because this sad country of our relationship is like a mouse running on a wheel
Hi Litsy family! I‘m in a hostel in Alicante, and will be going to Madrid tomorrow so I‘ll probably barely be able to post. I‘m still trying to make headway with the shape of the ruins, which is a bit of a struggle but I‘m persevering.
Lunch date with the man booker shortlist. This book is pretty heavy and might require more Colombian history than I know. 3% in and I think this could be a long one
Few pages of my next #manbookerinternational2019 pick before I go to sleep. This one is Colombian. It looks very unusual, drawing two different political crimes together in a series of investigations, and I‘m a bit confused about how it will fit together as a novel. I‘m hoping to find it surprising and original but it might just be odd. I have to go in optimistically tho!
pickThe narrator of the story is the author himself, and who is very successful in weaving together Colombian socio-political situation from the past, with his personal, intimate moments from the present. Throughout the story runs several themes (parenthood, writing, violence...), which are background for one large topic - conspiracy theories. Interesting story, dynamic structure, but unfortunately in the middle parts the story starts to lose ... 👇
Almost in the middle of this amazing historical book. It narrates the conspiracy theories behind the death of Gaitán and it relationship with the Kennedy asesination. #spanish #espanol
I‘m trying to read, but I‘m having a heck of a time focusing today. Does anyone else struggle with that? Or reading too late and not being sure if your dreams were the book or just dreams. #readingbuddies
