Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m trying so hard to get through some kindle backlog in 2024! This was weird and while I usually love weird I don‘t know how on board I was for this. It‘s off the tbr though and I‘m proud I got to the end.

Today‘s morning read. I‘m so ready for this weekend.

#TBRPile 📚 “The war had not yet come to us. We lived in fear and hope and tried not to draw God‘s wrath upon our securely walled town, with its hundred and five houses and the church and the cemetery, where our ancestors waited for the Day of Resurrection.”

It‘s finally time

Thank you so much @vivastory for the copy of Tyll and the beautiful Tolstoy card! What a great way to end the day today. I‘m really excited to read this one!

Without a decent background of European history of the 17th century, this book just doesn't leave as much of an impression. At least that's how I felt.

This was an excellent audiobook. The narrator was very good and with an adorable German accent. The novel is more magic realism than historical fiction. The one criticism one can level is that the protagonist Tyll, does not change throughout the story. It reminds one of Tom Swayer in that regard, some people don‘t like that type of story because there is no “character growth “ so it is something to know before you start reading 😀

Giving myself a break and bailing, at least for now. The people that love this one, absolutely love it. I just don‘t ‘get‘ it. My ignorance of the Thirty Years War/European history could be an issue. The jumping timeline didn‘t help- whenever I think I‘m getting into the story, we flip & I just don‘t care all over again. There‘s history, folklore, philosophy- lots to get your teeth into. I think it‘s well done- I‘m just not that interested 🤷🏻‍♀️

Don‘t be fooled by the cool cover art.
Loosely-linked vignettes about Tyll, who‘s some kind of jester/folk figure, and his different adventures with historical figures you‘re supposed to recognize from the 30 Years War, of which I know very little. The timeline is erratic with satirical narrative, and I rarely knew where/when I was in the story.
It‘s mostly absurdist, and often Tyll isn‘t even around, but only vaguely mentioned. 🤷‍♀️

Remarkable novel, so very different from a straight historical novel. Stories of Till Eulenspiegel‘s merry pranks (to give him the better known name from the Strauss tone poem) are interleaved through a larger story about the 30 Years War—which is itself told in fragments. Funny thing: the setting brought me back to my college years, when I read Grass‘ Meeting at Telgte for a seminar on the works of Heinrich Schütz.

From the 2020 #manbookerinternationalprize shortlist is this novel about German folklore prankster Tyll. A bit of a bleak novel about life during the Middle Ages, specifically the 30 years war in Central Europe, I found this novel a bit difficult at times. The separate storylines didn‘t always seem to relate to each other or be necessary, and I had to look a lot of the historical events mentioned up. Overall it was an enjoyable read though.

I am switching to Libro.fm to try and help a bit my favorite Indy bookstore and Tyll is my first audiobook from the site. The first few minutes already made me sorry I can not speak German. It must be awesome in the original. 👍👍

The #bookerinternational2020 shortlist was announced earlier, & I‘m pleasantly surprised. It strikes me as a little less bleak than the longlist did. Having said that, I‘ve only read 2 so far.

Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree - Iranian history through magical realism.👍
Discomfort of Evening - Sad gross hugely uncomfortable, but good.
Memory Police - my 1 lockdown library book tbr.

Which should I read of Tyll, Hurricane Season & China Iron?

I loved this. Tyll was a prankster in German folklore; we see his devilish tricks, but Kehlmann by tracing his childhood portrays him as a survivor, independent thinker & fabulous (anti)hero. Set in the 30 Years War, the story is told episodically with figures from history (eg Elizabeth Stuart). Perfect sense of time & place, & the characters moved me. I loved the rich, imaginative prose, satire & the way he brings the era to life - relevant now.

Großartiger historischer Roman, sehr fesselnd geschrieben, so dass man gerne weiterliest und somit viel über Zeit und Menschen rund um den Dreizigjährigen Krieg erfährt. Die provozierende Leichtigkeit des Hauptdarstellers in jener schweren Zeit ist ein süffisanter Kontrast, der den Leser mitnimmt. Sehr empfehlenswert!

Great historical roman!

Usually not my genre at all; devoured within a week.

Library haul! So I paid my fines for the overdue books (still had to pay but they were sorry they didn‘t send out the regular reminder 🙄) and decide to take out these new German publications. Librarian: These can only be taken out for two weeks and they cannot be renewed. Are you sure you want to check out four at a time and read them all? Me: (with a raised eyebrow) Is that a rhetorical question?? 😂😂 #litsyloveslibraries #challengeaccepted