#AboutABook Day 29: This #EuropaCollective title last December 2023 is #SetInBookshop. Read it while I was in Manila last December and paired it with bibingka and a delicious coffee banana rhum cocktail that was delicious.
#AboutABook Day 29: This #EuropaCollective title last December 2023 is #SetInBookshop. Read it while I was in Manila last December and paired it with bibingka and a delicious coffee banana rhum cocktail that was delicious.
I found this pretty dull, unfortunately. It began well, with a series of mysterious, menacing acts. The bulk of the story concerns the events leading up to the attacks: the birth of the bookstore and a tepid love triangle.
I didn‘t mind the slow build, but it frustrated me that the book never grapples directly with its central question: why are popular books not necessarily quality books? Can there be an objective definition of “a good novel”?
70+ pages in, we're finally getting to the bookstore, and it's all wrong. Unless the French book industry is drastically different from the American one, bookstores aren't getting boxes of books automatically from publishers. What publishers are indifferent to sales? And what rare books are even still in print that the publisher is who you'd call? This was 2001, so he should've been looking online.
I'm going to bail if this doesn't get better.
#europacollective
I read it in French, not in English. Now, I have a reading list of mostly French books to read, yeah! Did the translator chose mostly English books? I see myself borrowing the book at my local library just to get the list of books, haha.
Loved the questions this book is asking: how would you curate your ideal bookstore? What constitutes a good book?
A mystery involving a bookstore that sells only good novels
I loved the setting, some characters more than others and the fact that Colleen Hoover would never be sold in The Good Novel 🤣🤣 but neither would a lot more of what I read 🤷🏻♀️
I loved parts of this a lot, the ending seemed odd and heartbreaking. I bet this would be amazing as a movie ( get rid of some of the blah, blah, blah 🤣) #europacollective
Finally got time to catch up with reviews from the past few weeks….
#europacollective
I liked, but didn‘t love this one. It was really hard to get into with trying to understand the seemingly random characters, but once the main players were established and they started to tell their story to the gendarme then I became more interested.
I also found the ending a bit weak, so still a pick but not a strong one.
#DecemberDreams Day 21: #WinterSolstice in our part of the world in Manila is often marked by Simbang Gabi or Midnight Mass (Misa de Aguinaldo) - a 9-day Novena leading up to Christmas Eve. It is typically paired with native delicacies such as puto bumbong (in the photo) and bibingka (in a different photo that is forthcoming) and native hot chocolate. 💕 Also paired with the #EuropaCollective pick for December. Nearly done with the book! 💕
To bail or not to bail?
Parts in enjoying, but others are really not working for me. I've made it over half way, is it worth sticking with it?
I find I enjoy the parts about the committee members, but I find Van completely insufferable. And I really don't like his obsession/relationship with Anis.
But so far it's at 100% on Litsy! It's there something in the second half that's worth sticking around for? Anyone else having similar thoughts?
#DecemberDreams Day 16: There is an #Angel benefactor in this #EuropaCollective December title in the form of a wealthy Italian heiress whose bookish heart is patterned after my own heart. Tagging our #EuropaCollective folks as well. 💕💕
"You have almost no chance."
"It's the almost that fascinates us."
I've got guests for tonight's #HyggeHour - they're sweet and cuddly and, thankfully, QUIET 🤫
#NaturaLitsy #MidwinterSolace @AllDebooks
A bookstore that only sells “good novels,” selected by a secret roster of authors who are even unknown to each other.
I should‘ve been way more interested in this than I was, but honestly, I find it hard to care what “good” literature is, and found the whole conceit snobby, and just . . .why?? Who cares what other people read? And to harrass & assault people over it? I found the whole conflict odd. Pick, but a low one.
#EuropaCollective
“At The Good Novel, we sell good novels, nothing else.”
It took me a good fifty pages or so to really get into this, but once I did I enjoyed it immensely. The mystery was fun, but it was the intriguing and passionate endeavor to open this special bookstore that captivated me. All the details, discussions, debates - I couldn‘t get enough!
#EuropaCollective
#CloakandDaggerChristmas Prompt: Feliz Navidad - read a mystery in translation
“You‘ve just chosen the three finest novels in the store.”
“I‘m willing to believe that,” she said with a smile.
She had just read his first two, All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing, and was eager to read the third one and then share the trilogy with the people around her. She blessed the sky that augured bad weather: by this evening she‘d have finished Cities of the Plain. She knew she was about to spend an unforgettable day.
#EuropaCollective
A book about book snobbery? Not everything worked for me, but it was still “good” literary fun!
The question I have is whether any of the Committee members would have selected this work for The Good Novel. 😉
#Europacollective @jlhammar
Nothing cozier than reading by the Christmas Tree lights, with a warm fire in the background!
#HyggeHour is such a lovely way to end the weekend, and get ready for the next week with calm, peaceful, cozy energy!
#MidwinterSolace @AllDebooks
Today I‘m going to properly luxuriate in this novel. (Says I now - hopefully nobody else has plans for me.) #Europacollective
“Don‘t you think that in France, at every meal, in every restaurant, there is at least one table where people are talking about literature?” #europacollective
#HumbleHarvest Day 30: Started slowly #FallingInLove with our #EuropaCollective pick for December which I began reading while in Bologna last week. It is a slow burn and I struggled with the first few pages. Paired tagged book with al dente pasta from Italia. Yum. Chilly dining outdoors but the tobacco smoke was what really got to me way more than the chill. 🥶🚬
Getting a jump on and digging in to my December read on my work trip to Philadelphia this week. #Europacollective
#EuropaCollective ✨December 2023✨ REMINDER
Bonjour Collective!
Our next pick takes us to a bookstore in the City of Light. “A Europa classic about love, deceit, Paris, and books!”
Read the book sometime in December, post your review &/or any thoughts along the way and be sure to tag the group.
All are welcome!
Picked up December's #EuropaCollective book today! So excited for this one!!!
repost for @jlhammar:
Our first six reads for #EuropaCollective! Thanks to everyone who helped with the selection process this week. It was so fun and I can‘t wait to read all of these with you!
SEPT23 Our Fathers - R. Wait
DEC23 A Novel Bookstore - L. Cossé
MAR24 The Postcard - A. Berest
JUN24 The Road to Dalton - S. Bowring
SEPT24 A Long Way From Verona - J. Gardam
DEC24 Belle Greene - A. Lapierre
I‘ll post reminders. All are welcome.
repost for @Aimeesue:
December picks for the #EuropaCollective. Links to descriptions in comments. Go vote!
All are welcome to join in! Let me know if you‘d like to be tagged.
#Buddyread
vote on the original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2585627
"She had discovered this through experience: the moment she climbed in behind the wheel, provided she was alone, and did not have any children to pick up at the other end of the ride, she broke off with life, with its obligations, its ties. Ideas came to her. She had an urgent desire to write. Nothing else mattered but that desire. Anne-Marie parked her car wherever she could-- (continued in comments)
Absolutely a perfect book about a perfect bookstore. The whole novel is beautifully written and the story is amazing. Perfect for anyone who loves GOOD books.
Several hours later: tired feet, aching shoulders, empty wallet and a deep craving for uncrowded spaces, BUT there are books. Yay!
I never came across an Independent Bookstore Tote Bag.🙁 I really wanted one of those.😞 It was neat to see so many people hanging out in their favorite bookstores. Every spot was wall-to-wall folks. I feel like I saw a gazillion people today. Readers were out en masse representing an undying passion. Hooray for us!
🎶Just got paid, Friday night
‘At the bookstore,‘ Place is right
‘Books on shelves,‘ all around
‘Spendin‘ dollars,‘ gettin' down🎶
Updated lyrics for this occasion.
I‘m in my happy place!
This photo is from a few weeks ago. The Poppy War released in paperback this week and that is the book that I came to purchase. Since tomorrow is Independent Bookstore Day, I am desperately trying not to spend any more money at B&N tonight. Still having fun!
This book has such an interesting concept—two bibliophiles create a bookshop in Paris that only includes “good novels.” There‘s a secret committee of writers who are behind the lists of books included that are eventually targeted and even hurt. The story focuses on trying to find out who is behind these attacks. An interesting concept but I felt the ending was a little weak. Great book for bibliophiles!
I finally made it into the library near Grand Central and a visit to The Strand bookstore yesterday. These are my purchases! NYC
The guys are away on a Boy Scouts trip this weekend 😊. Stopped at the library and the 4 books on left were on the resale shelf. And I couldn‘t say no to Girl Scouts cookies! 📚 🍺 🍪
#QuotsyDec18 #shopping @TK-421
It‘s cold, & overcast today, so hot drinks & a fat book are in order. At one of the bookstores we visited recently, I stumbled across the pictured book. It was a staff recommendation, which I always like to glance at. This one, appears to revolve around a mystery, as well as the idea of what classifies as literature & what it means to be a literary connoisseur, & the trouble this may cause when one is a book snob. Intriguing don‘t you think?
Went antique shopping and stumbled upon a beautiful bookstore inside one of the shops.
To buy or not to buy? That is the question.
Congratulations @vivastory and thanks for hosting such a wonderful #vivabookstore giveaway!!!
For used books, I ❤️ McKay‘s in Nashville!
Right around the corner is Ulysses Rare Books which has a first edition of Ulysses right in the window. I had a really beautiful edition of Bleak House in my hand that could have been mine for only €250 but with Christmas shopping only barely begun I couldn‘t let myself do it (even without Christmas coming I wouldn‘t do it but it is fun to think I might). I did take a book mark with their website just in case my fortunes change.
My last day in Dublin and I took @BookishTrish ‘s wise advice and visited Hodges Figgis. Limited myself to one book because of packing limitations but i had a great time browsing.
I can get into a lot of trouble while here in Dublin.