Welcome to Litsy!

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
April's #aam, and it took until June to finish. So deep and heart-wrenching in parts, I couldn't fly through it. Nao, the Japanese girl who is the main narrator of her own diary, is a character who will stay with me. I just felt at times that the author tried to do too much, and I could have stayed with Nao and her story more than Ruth's, the woman who finds her diary. The writing itself was magnificent.

#weeklyfavorites
@Read4Life

Took me a while to read, but it was worth it. 💚

I loved this book for the most part. Naoko‘s story is heartbreaking & her family history is so beautifully portrayed.

I found Ruth & Oliver‘s story to be a tad pretentious; although covering some very important environmental themes.

But the ending which involved a magical realism time travel, a strange dream sequence & quantum physics just threw me off and ruined the entire experience.

I still like this book, but it could have been better.

Finished last month for #AuthorAMonth
This was so enthralling, I couldn't stop listening. I loved the interconnected stories of Ruth & Nao and the subtle magical realism throughout. The characters were so well crafted and the story slow & gentle yet compelling. 5⭐
@Soubhiville

My April #WorstRead2024 just wasn‘t for me. On the plus side, it was the only book I didn‘t like last month. 26 good (some great) reads in a month are #bookproblems I can handle. 🤓

Bracket by @CSeydel 💙

I read and enjoyed these books for March and April‘s #aam picks.
The Harper was a solid thriller but I don‘t know that I‘ll seek out more of hers.
I had tried Ozeki before and been lukewarm, but was happy I tried again with her Booker-winner. The parts I was most engaged with were the ones set in the monastery.
Yay for a challenge I‘m doing well at! (not that finding new authors is a hardship 😜)

Another hard/dark story. Hard to read because story has various triggers which were so descriptive.. I‘m not a fan of magical realism but author used it amazingly. Two characters connected in two time lines? Maybe...story use the concept of quantum multiverse. The ending was expected to me as I have seen in novels read using this concept. Beautiful and thoughtful lines even in those dark parts. Brilliant. Amazing narration by author. 4/4.5⭐️

I didn‘t dislike this book despite the bail. It was more of being unable to stay engaged in the story. I could feel it weaving it‘s way to a poignant ending, but I‘m not really in the mood for such a slow read right now. Maybe another time I will pick it up again.

#authoramonth

This book has traveled from the US to the UK to Bulgaria! I‘m done! My head aches! This was so much and so good! #authoramonth @Soubhiville

#AwesomeApril
#AwesomeAprilReadathon
@Andrew65

Hoping to start and finish A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING for #AuthorAMonth by the end of April. #fingerscrossed

I started this yesterday for #authoramonth with @Soubhiville

Oh man, I feel like I need more days to digest this book. This is my first Ruth Ozeki book and it won't be the last. Usually, I am not a big fan of authors doing their own book narrations, but Ruth did a fantastic job. She sure is a wonderful storyteller!

The themes of bullying and suicide were very prominent, so there are definitely trigger warnings. However, I felt I learned so much about Japanese culture and I found it fascinating how ⬇️

This book is due back in two days, and I don‘t want to renew it. I‘m not hating it, but I don‘t feel like spending seven more hours with it. Even though it‘s an #awardwinner and an #authoramonth selection, I‘m bailing. #springskies

Listened to this on audio, narrated by the author, and I just didn‘t love it. I feel like this is a book that I might like the movie version better of.

@Soubhiville #AuthorAMonth

It's rare when I take a day off but my body needs rest. Good thing I have audiobooks to keep me company.

Ruth, living on an island in Canada, discovers a diary (written by Nau who lives in Japan), letters from WWII, and a watch inside a Hello Kitty lunchbox on the beach. They presumably made the Pacific crossing from Japan‘s massive tsunami. Ruth, who is half Japanese is able to read the diary but not the letters. The diary, though, leads her to believe Nau and her father are intent on committing suicide. Ruth illogically thinks she can save them ⬇️

All #authoramonth edition of #wondrouswednesday
1. What‘s happening here?
2. The Lola Quartet
3. Tana French

#AuthorAMonth I had a difficult time when Nao was being abused by her classmates but when she started abusing someone else, I couldn‘t listen to the book any longer. I know that‘s usually the way things work but I hated it.

Starting this one for #authoramonth for April! Thanks Soubhi, for hosting this each year. I haven‘t been doing well on any of my challenges this year so far, but hoping to pick that back up. #AAM

I started this ebook/audiobook tonight. #authoramonth @Soubhiville

This is a new author for me, and it was a pretty fascinating read. The story starts as a random encounter of two lives which slowly converge without ever really touching. Lots of beauty but also ugliness, peace and horror, pain and love. Just like life, I guess. The author is zen priest so the influences were very interesting. I will need to digest this book for a while.

My January 2023 favorite was this gem of a book ♥️ @Sapphire you encouraged me to read it, so thank you! I still need to read Book of Form and Emptiness 🤦‍♀️ #12Booksof2023 @Andrew65 Happy Christmas, Andrew 🎄♥️🎄

I really liked the format the author used for this story. It was very clever. The story contained a dual timeline with a twist. It was humorous at times, and very sad at others. It certainly made it clear that things are not always as they seem. I loved the character, Nao. She has to overcome so much. I read this book as a recommendation, and I am so glad that I did. What a good story!! I love the way it ended.

My current reads!

For some reason I‘ve never felt drawn to read A Tale for the Time Being but it is a current pick for my IRL book club and I‘m really enjoying it.

Also, this month‘s #PersephoneClub. 👍

“Needless to say, technology design is not value-neutral, and military contractors and weapons developers do not want these kinds of questions raised, never mind built into their controllers.” Wow. I‘m a decade late to this, but so far it‘s the best novel I‘ve read this year, and remains timely, considering the AI debate. Sadness and beauty, quantum mechanics, Proust, Japanese history, and meta. Truly everything, everywhere, all at once. 5 stars.

This author came to me through a friend, who shared that Ozeki - an author who is also a Zen priest! - is a new favorite of hers. I'm so glad to have picked this up on her rec, this author's perspective is fresh and welcome. She manages to be funny and sad and hopeful at the same time, and the story is both philosophically Buddhist in its big questions and deeply personal to the characters. (cont...)

Since I was blathering on about this in book club, thought I'd share with you @trishb @jenniferw88 @scripturient @julesG @Leniverse @Susanita @RaeLovesToRead
Look at that spine. And that's a sticker making the Japanese flag, there's an image of a girl underneath (or is there? I'll never know for sure)

I have never felt drawn to this book and then suddenly I was 🤷‍♀️ It‘s sad and really pulls at your heart strings but I thought it was a brilliant piece of writing.
Like @CBee I‘m using for #booked2023 #setin2+timeperiods

#motherdaughterread
Mine‘s the one on the right 😁

Really hard to choose between this one and The Sentence, but ultimately this absolute beauty of a book won 😊 #readingbracket2023 @chasjjlee thanks for another awesome template 😘

#Pantone2023 #electricbluelemonade @Clwojick
@AmyG you were right, this is fun 😊

BRILLIANT. Absolutely brilliant. My thoughts and feelings are all over the place after reading this. I‘ve ventured down various rabbit holes and learned about Zen Buddhism, quantum mechanics (way over my head, my brain doesn‘t bend that way 😂), gobs of new words and terms I‘d never heard before. I‘m blown away and can‘t wait to read more Ozeki. WOW. @Sapphire @monalyisha

This book is incredible. ♥️ @Sapphire
@AmyG I think you‘d enjoy this, have you read it?

I don‘t know specifically why this quote struck me - I think partly because I‘ve tried (and failed) a handful of times to blog. There is this fantasy that everyone will read what you write and it will matter, but in reality, like Nao says - nobody gives a shit 😂 (edited to add - no offense to those Littens who blog, it just isn‘t for me apparently 🤔🤷‍♀️)

#12booksof2022 @Andrew65 June #litsylovereads

@jitteryjane724 I got the name of my collage app wrong, I use Incollage pro, not Piccollage.

Really want to read more Ruth, I think she might become an auto-buy author for me.

#auldlangspine list (2023) from @Billypar I have read the tagged book many years ago. These are some of the books that have peaked my interest. So you want to talk about race & You‘ll Never believe have been on my radar but I haven‘t read them yet but ones I have wanted to. I‘m definitely interested in reading some of these other ones that I would have never thought of. Thank you for the selection & thank you @monalyisha for organizing

I liked this! It's not super plot-driven and I thought it might be a bit too slow-paced for me at first...but then I started to really appreciate it for that and got sucked in. It's left me with a lot to think about

(Note that it's also pretty heavy at points if you're thinking about reading it)

Off to a great start with September #BFC22! Yesterday I completed my workout and got to page 250 of A Tale For The Time Being!

I have a fairly long train ride this evening so I plan to read more then and I'll fit my workout in on my lunch😊

#BFC22 goals for September! @wanderinglynn

- Daily workout following the Blogilates calendar
- Finish A Tale For The Time Being and finish 2 more books
- Compile a Scarathlon reading list & order a spooky paint by numbers!

Another book from long ago that stuck with me! #alphabetgame #LetterT @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Hi! My name is Nao, and I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.
Reading those opening lines in the book store, I imagined they were spoken by a cheerful alien rather than a suicidal teenager. But their immediacy struck me, and Nao's narrative has an urgency that compels us, just as it does for the fictional Ruth Ozeki who reads it. Magical in spite of large helpings of death and misery.

A Tale For The Time Being would be a great pick for fans of Mieko Kawakami, though Ozeki‘s prose is a little more smooth and inviting, a little less edgy and devastating. I was so thrilled to discover that the story lived up to the high, high expectations the blurb had set. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/a-tale-for-the-time-being-ruth-ozeki/

Don't think I'm going to complete any more books this month, so here's my #readingbracket2022 for June. May's book won overall as I know I'm going to read more in the series but am unsure whether I'll reread the tagged.

5 ⭐

#pop22 #parallelreality @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @Kalalalatja @Cortg @Megabooks @Laughterhp @KarenUK @RaeLovesToRead @squirrelbrain

#other #magicalrealism #52bookclubssummergenrechallenge @BarbaraBB

Slow starting, but really enjoying this one. Anyone else read it and have some non-spoiler thoughts? 😊

“We‘re nothing,” she said, wiping her eyes. “We‘re barely here at all.”

“Yes,” Oliver said. “Isn‘t it great?”
🌊
#Bookstagram #CurrentlyReading #ATaleForTheTimeBeing #RuthOzeki #SummerRead #Fiction #ExistentialCrisis

I‘m an Ozeki believer! While I‘m not a fan of world building, I‘ve been enjoying magical realism lately. She writes characters you want to invest in that are grounded in our world.

Ruth lives in a remote town on Vancouver Island. She finds a plastic bag washed up on shore that contains Japanese teenager‘s diary plus old papers in Japanese and French. As she reads them, Ruth becomes invested in Nao‘s diary and problems. Both Ruth and Nao narrate.

The cover does not match the book!

This was extremely hard going and upsetting at times; one of the lead characters goes through an awful lot including explicitly described horrific bullying.

The ending is also quite confusing and ambiguous.

It is beautifully written and an interesting premise and construction but not what I would call an ‘enjoyable‘ read.