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What an absolute gem of a book. It's been on my shelf for a while, and I thought it was a good time to pick it up as I await next week's Booker Longlist announcement.

Claudia is fiercely intelligent and independent, straining against the strict boundaries society places on women. But the interwar period and the dawning of WW2 allows ambitious women like Claudia a foothold to a different kind of life.

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This took a bit of effort to keep reading at first. It felt too worthy!
I enjoyed the Cairo aspect the most, and her relationship with Tom. Claudia is not a likeable character but you do get a sense of her frustration and her self awareness.
I'm glad I learned what moon tiger is!

I almost put this back on the shelf after the first chapter but I‘m so pleased I didn‘t. This book is wonderfully atmospheric and brings beauty to the most tragic of times. Claudia Hampton is not a heroine I should like but I loved her. Her harsh outer edges softened by the tragic loss of love. This historical novel tells the lesser known parts of WW2 and beyond through carefully recalled memories. It feels like so much more than it‘s 200 pages.

For prompt 12 of the #hauntedshelf book cover scavenger hunt we have my very favourite book with moon in the title!

#skeletoncrew

I really wanted to like this book, but this is now the second book by Penelope Lively that I've bailed on. This seems to be an esteemed book, but it just wasn't for me.
#ReadOrDonate @julieclair

I picked this book for our book club because a lot of it is set in Egypt and I am going there in a month‘s time for a holiday! Everyone gave it 3 stars or above.
Most people will not like Claudia, who is on her death bed, reminiscing the past. I‘m ok with unlikeable narrators. Claudia was way ahead of her time in so many ways. All the things that made her unlikeable as a woman, would be overlooked if she were a man. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book club pick. I really enjoyed this short novel. Claudia lies dying in hospital. She is plotting her last novel “a history of the world.” She meshes this with anecdotes from her personal life. Beautifully written.

I am so glad to have finally read this beautiful book. Such an expertly crafted story of public and private histories. The pieces of the story retold in succession from slightly different perspectives is genius. And the passages of Claudia‘s thoughts vs. what others in the room can see are sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious. And that ending. ♥️ Thank you so much @BarbaraBB for this lovely gift!

My pick for April is this classic by Penelope Lively. What she manages to pack into this tight novel is impressive.
I read it around the same time as The Shell Seekers (another favourite) and the parallels were striking. Both examine the long shadow of WW2 on women's lives in the UK.
#12daysofChristmas
@Andrew65

I‘ve tried to read this book three times, and on the third I finally did finish. I should have accepted it just wasn‘t for me. I love the other books by Lively that I‘ve read, but this one just wouldn‘t stick in my head. Go figure this is the one that won her a Pulitzer.

What a wonderful surprise to come home to on a Monday @BarbaraBB!! Thank you so much for all of the lovely gifts! I‘m so excited to have these books from my TBR. ♥️ I love Atwood and have been wanting to read Lively for a long time. And thank you for the fun treats and socks - so perfect for this time of year! Thank you so much, friend! 😊 #BBgiveaway

I finally finished this. It is a light pick for me. It took 3 tries and I needed to get 1/3 in of a short book but then it clicked...and sticked : )

September flew!! October #bookspin time😊

@TheAromaofBooks

Claudia, an elderly woman that was once a writer and somewhat prickly intellectual with an unconventional lifestyle, is now in hospital care. Her story (shifting between then and now) is told from her POV as well as other characters and third person omniscient. This surprisingly complex novel took a bit for me to get into it but the language, the feeling and the romance were worth it. @thearomaofbooks #septemberbookspin #tbr

September #bookspin time!

@TheAromaofBooks

Vacation starts Aug 3rd and I'm hoping for a trade paper #bookspin pick to take on the plane and beach!

@TheAromaofBooks

July #bookspin ready to go!

@TheAromaofBooks

There were passages I found beautiful or profound and I enjoyed the unlike ability of all the characters in this older and therefore fresher way. But I didn‘t find the structure of the book graceful. I had a hard time caring each time there was a shift. Had I read it in 1987 when it came out, I might have felt differently because of the not yet overdone format and for who I was as an 18 year old. #192025

June #bookspin list complete❣️

@TheAromaofBooks

April flew! May #bookspin is ready!!

@TheAromaofBooks

Oh Claudia, you had me gripped from the start with your history of the world which was also a history of "a myriad of Claudias." Such breadth and depth all rendered in a tight little masterpiece.
Finished in the Toronto airport. Paris in the morning!
#192025 @Librarybelle

It's a two-kitty, stay in bed, and read a fabulous book kind of day.

Still working on March but April #bookspin is ready to go!

@TheAromaofBooks

I can't believe how fast Feb went! March #bookspin list is in❣️

@TheAromaofBooks

February #bookspin. So many goodies!

@TheAromaofBooks

I opened up this book I got at a charity shop last year, and this paper fell out. A newspaper clipping from 1987. I assume someone clipped this to bring to a bookshop to get the book, and then popped it in the back. And there it's been ever since. So cool.

2023 #bookspin already. Wow! Here is January...

@TheAromaofBooks

Timing really is everything. I've started this one at least half a dozen times in the past and never made it further than chapter two. But today it just clicked and I pretty much read it straight through, save for a few prosaic stops for things like washing dishes and going to the grocery store. And I'm pretty sure it's brilliant.

December #bookspin

Almost a full year of spinning as I only joined Litsy in 2022 and missed January. This group of book lovers is awesome and these lists are so much fun!!

@TheAromaofBooks

November #bookspin time already!

@TheAromaofBooks

All set for October #bookspin!

@TheAromaofBooks

September #bookspin time!!

@TheAromaofBooks

This is how August #bookspin looks when you realize you've already read one. That kind of week!🤪🤣

@TheAromaofBooks

July #bookspin is in😀

@TheAromaofBooks

June #bookspin is in!!

@TheAromaofBooks

May #Bookspin

I love making these lists😁

@TheAromaofBooks

#bookly a great reading 📖 tool app 🤓problem is after reading two great books 📖 struggling to get into my new picks off the TBR 😏

4.5 🌟 wonderful writing worthy of the Booker prize , my first read by lively and not my last, making a life so engrossing , the chance meetings the time and place . Best parts for me were from Claudias time in ww2 in Egypt with the love of her life , and her time afterwards. The disastrous relationship with her daughter the strange relationship with her brother all brilliant. The sudden ending and the slow beginning don‘t make it a 5star

Picked this one after a recent discussion about past Booker prize winners (1987 winner). I loved it. Claudia probably won't appeal to everyone but she was a fantastic character with a great story. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

#Bookspin April 2022

April is here!! Can't wait to see what gets picked. March was so so and Feb may be DNF😁

@TheAromaofBooks

Charity shop book haul with a distinctly 80s vibe. 😍

A little crooked but posted 😜 mrp27

My very first #Bookspin February 2022!

@TheAromaofBooks

#12Booksof2021
#July

July was not near as good a June, but i did stumble across this audiobook and loved everything about it. I think this book was my favorite for all of 2021.

#gratefulharvest #moon #day5

This book sits on a TBR shelf, forlorn. Love the cover. #toomanybookstoolittletime
Outside my window is a waxing crescent moon.

This was a such wonderful surprise. I had Lively as an author to check out and I needed an audiobook and found this. Claudia constructs everything with words, and she does it so elegantly she seems to almost separate herself from the world with them, brazenly. Of course she must confront what can not be captured with any words. There is a lot time in 1942 war time Cairo, with details pulled from PL‘s own childhood. Yeah, wonderful. 👇👇

Looking for an audiobook last night and being indecisive I stumbled across Penelope Lively‘s name on my random lists of authors to check out. Then the audible sample starts out, roughly, “My John Aubrey is not your John Aubrey”. It‘s the 1987 Booker Prize winner, but sold me on that line. Started this morning.