Welcome to Litsy!

The best book I've read all year. A second Book of Genesis cobbled together from scraps of Bible verse, western mythology, parables, art history, and pop culture left over after a nuclear holocaust sent human civilization back to the Stone Age some 2,400 years in the past. Profound, moving, funny, and utterly unique. I imagine I'll be re-reading this for years to come.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

1. There are so many ways to judge "creativity" that my list could go on forever. Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Leonora Carrington...lots of sci-fi/fantasy writers, like Tolkien, Gene Wolfe, Neil Gaiman. But I'm going to say Russell Hoban, just for Riddley Walker alone.

2. Tagged!

In case you haven't been tagged already (I know you have @RaeLovesToRead ?) @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @IuliaC @CBee

Classic post-apocalyptic novel set in a far distant "Inland" which has been bombed back to the Iron Age and narrated in its own distinctive, fractured English. A chilling and unsettling tale which resists easy interpretation yet seems to speak to both our present and, worryingly, our future. "O what we ben! And what we come to!" Wonderful.

Very, very overlooked. A genius work of linguistics and wordplay. A coming of age tale in post apocalyptic England. I've given away so many copies of this over the years. Some folks can't get past the language... Let it sing in your inner voice, i say. Like poetry.

" The littl shynin man, the Addom he runs in the wud."

Arghhhh bailed at page 3!!! Really annoying phonetic writing style then I hit this gem of a sentence: “they kilt the chyld and drunk it‘s blood and cut up the meat for cooking” 😱 I don‘t want to be reading about eating children thanks. 🤢

Eusa was angre he was in rayj & he kep pulin on the Littl Man the Addoms owt strecht arms.The Littl Man the Addom he begun tu cum a part he cryd, I wan tu go I wan tu stay. Eusa sed, tel mor. The Addom sed, I wan tu dark, I wan tu lyt, I wan tu day I wan tu nyt. Eusa sed, tel mor. The Addom sed, I wan tu woman, I wan tu man. Eusa sed, tel mor. The Addom sed, I wan tu plus I wan tu minus, I wan tu big, I wan tu littl, I wan tu aul, I wan tu nuthing

I started this book prepared for it to be difficult to get to grips with, because that's what most of the reviews say. The broken and twisted English, the mutated grammar and future-slang, all adding to the appeal of the story, but hard to wade through. That's not what I found, though.Maybe it's exposure to text-spelling, Twitter-speak and Facebook-English, but I found the language of the book fell into place fairly quickly and naturally. 👇🏻👇🏻

The author of the book Im reading looks remarkably like Michael Caine. 😁

So, I decided I needed a “brain break” from the difficult book I‘m reading and picked this up to read instead, and this is the first sentence. 🤦‍♀️ Supposed to be an amazing book (recommended by Margaret Atwood, no less!), but Im getting an ache in my lobes already.

So many books, so little time.

"Long after the end of our time, when killer dogs roam England and green rot grows on the rubble of Canterbury..." seems like a good book for cold, wet winter day.

Although you could only read this if you read English I don't think it's hard to argue it's #notinenglish

I read this in college at a dark time in my life and I don't think I finished it. It was amazing though, and the post-apocalyptic language was incredible. Some day I'll get back to it. I still can't wrap my brain around this coming from the author of "Bread and Jam for Francis."
#seasonsreadings2016

Once I had the language straight in my head, I really enjoyed this. It's a tough read, not least because of the dialect throughout. Life is hard in post-apocalyptic Inland (England). Riddley Walker is one admirable 12 year old!

Of course, having to start and finish my Patricia Briggs novel this weekend, means that I have to put Riddley Walker on hold. To be honest, even though I'm enjoying it, it's really hard work! I'm looking forward to the break!