Crossing | 
so-so3.5⭐️ Thought the book was ok. Felt that the story was really good in places, but in others I found it felt a bit flat. #2021 #bookreview #bookstagram #fiction #translation #historicalfiction #comingofage #contempoary #lgbt #litsyatoz2021 #c #readingeurope2021 #albania🇦🇱
pickThis intriguing novel tackles subjects such as gender, identity and immigration. Bujar is a young Albanian who doesn‘t want to be Albanian so reinvents himself and his history, again and again, in different countries.
It took me a few chapters to get into this, but I ended up loving it. I even liked the intertwined historical fables, which are not normally my thing.
#readingeurope2020
#albania
"To live so many lives, you have to cover up lies you've already told." #crossing #tiranansydän #mycatyugoslavia #pajtimstatovci
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1. Tagged, translated into English from Finnish.
2. Well, I've read some Beverly Cleary, Dr. Seuss, and Winnie-the-Pooh in Spanish, but those were written in English (my native language) and translated into Spanish (a language foreign to me). I've gotten myself confused about what the question means, so I'm not sure if this counts. I've not read non-English books in the original language.
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
1. Hiking and checking out all of the wildflowers.
2. Introvert.
3. Finished three, working on five others.
4. Hi, @Megabooks ! There's some #litsylove headed your way, but I think I forgot to mark the envelope #litsylove
@4thhouseontheleft @howjessreads #FriYAYIntro
pickBujar is aware and adept at recognizing motives, yet he seems unable to align his self-knowledge with his actions on a consistent basis and continually sabotages himself. Statovci parallels Bujar's reliance on personal mythology and Albania's reliance on national mythology and shows the inability of each to move past emotional adolescence despite great talent and intelligence. I wonder how the personal and national mirror each other in the US?
This part of the novel is set in 2003. I can't remember... when did people start texting? I got my first cell phone in late 2002, but I can't remember when I first sent/received texts. (Not that I'm a good technological benchmark, but mine is the history with which I'm most familiar.)
"When I think about my own death, the moment it happens is always the same."
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
pickMy last finish of 2019! This NBA Finalist for Translated Lit comes from Finland. The main character has fled Albania‘s stifling social mores and poor economy for a variety of countries, but he can‘t find what he‘s looking for. Good, but a bit confusing at times, read it to find out why! #lgbtq #intranslation
pickCrossing by Pajtim Statovci is a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature. It starts in Albania in the early 1990s and the two main characters travel through Kosovo, Italy, Germany, up to Finland (which is where the author relocated as a child in the same era.) I was a bit confused at times as to who was narrating, but more because the author is playing with ideas of identity and how much a place informs who you can be.
