Welcome to Litsy!

No thank you.
I was barely tolerating a less than stimulating, somewhat standoffish protagonist for the sake of Cole's ability to turn a phrase, but then he decided to throw in a despicable act near the end, perhaps recognizing that his work was lacking a little spice, and then left it unacknowledged for the remainder of the text. I'm sure some literary glitterati view it as a 'stylistic choice' but I just found it underhanded and distasteful.

DNFing at 72pgs. Our main character walking around NYC thinking about his life is not doing it for me.

Julius, a nigerian/German newly qualified Dr reflects on life by wandering the streets of NY + Brussels (holiday) encountering +sharing the lives of diverse individuals he meets including immigrant in holding prison ,cafe owner, post office clerk, + marathon runner. His reflections on culture as well as the stream of consciousness make for a slow read altho the penultimate chapter changed my thoughts on him with a dramatic reveal. V interesting

This article (shared by Bookriot) came up in my Facebook memories feed from 2014. https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5242399?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000031

At the time I hadn‘t read any of the books. Since then I‘ve read Open City and didn‘t especially care for it...

I wasn't crazy about Open City. It felt like a series of non-fiction essays forced into the mold of fiction. It's full of interesting observations about the world, but I found it hard to care about the protagonist.

The great flaneur novel of our era so far, brainy, introspective, and sometimes surprising.

Loving the peripatetic braininess and subtle reflections of this novel. #currrentlyreading

Only halfway so far but pretty good. Very much a book written through the thoughts and musings of the main character; an African/German living in NYC of about 40 years of age.

“That is a tree of heaven,” he said. “Botanists call it an invasive species, but aren‘t we all?”

(Internet image: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/tree-heaven )

For most of this philosophical novel, I thought I was listening to a memoir (‘Julius‘ being plausible as Teju‘s original given name) and I wondered how Cole could remember all the details of long conversations that he had with strangers he encountered on his meandering walks. Then there was a revelation that made me go 😳 and check the book description. It makes sense as a novel. #Audiobook narration by Kevin Mambo pulled me through slow parts.

It is dangerous to live in a secure world.

To be alive, it seemed to me, as I stood there in all kinds of sorrow, was to be both original and reflection, and to be dead was to be split off, to be reflection alone.

We experience life as a continuity, and only after it falls away, after it becomes the past, do we see its discontinuities. The past, if there is such a thing, is mostly empty space, great expanses of nothing, in which significant persons and events float.

I really wanted to toss it outside after a point. Beautiful writing but the struggle to keep on reading was just unbearable.

Comforting and philosophical read. About a man pondering his childhood, culture and race. 4.5/5📖#fiction #tejucole #opencity

Can anyone help @Lise ? I feel like I should be able to think of loads, but I'm stumped!

Hi guys! I'm looking for books (but also poems/short stories/films) for my dissertation on movement through cities and emotion. Ideally with a bit of activism involved (focus on marginalised groups/written by non-white or non-male persons), but this isn't necessary. Focusing on the contemporary period, but earlier examples will be good too. Any ideas? Will be eternally grateful!

A review on Goodreads describes this as a "plotless novel with a plot twist" and it really hinges on the #unreliablenarrator. This book gets a lot of mixed reviews but I found it quite chilling in depicting a straight male character's capacity for self-deception, even while being an intelligent, well-mannered, well-travelled aesthete. (Or maybe because of that.) #maybookflowers @RealLifeReading

Todays #booknlunch is Open City by Teju Cole. If you love to roam the city, you will love it!

Who else is squinting at all these #Shelfie pictures trying to read all the book spines? #riotgrams

Teju Cole says smart things about marathoners. Real recognize real.

"...it is an act of extreme human endurance, still remarkable no matter how many people now do it."

Thanks, Teju Cole!

"And so when I began to go on evening walks last fall, I found Morningside Heights an easy place from which to set out into the city." #firstlines #walking #history #urbanlife #debut #heritage #contemplation #psychology

#breaktimereading

Wonderful book, beautifully written!

So happy to find books of every colour! #bookrainbow #somethingforsept @RealLifeReading

The descriptions of NYC were incredible & made me want to go back to my - sort of - second home immediately ?
Apart from that, I'm not sure I got much out of this read. Some chapters were interesting, others were exciting, & others in turn felt rather bland. All in all, I didn't really find a common thread. But that's okay, not every book can be outstanding.

PS: I'm back in beautiful Tübingen, reading by the Neckar river (with hot dog legs) ??

I'm back from my vacation on Rügen and unfortunately read so much less than I had planned and hoped ? I did spend quality time with my sister though and I took lots of pictures (follow me on Instagram @ traveling_bibliophile ?), but I didn't read as much as I usually do on vacation.
I start my first job in nine days (holy cow, single digits!) and will hopefully get a few more books in before then! I just started reading Open City by Teju Cole ?

Loaded Kindle, check. Reading material for when the airline doesn't get that airplane mode on the Kindle is ok, check. Pre-flight cocktail, check. #essentials