Grey Bees | 
#12booksof2024 @Andrew65
My April reading was reduced as I started the books of jacob which was ridiculously big. This was a Christmas present and a brilliant story of a beekeeper in a Ukraine town bombed to the extent that only he, a personal riva, and his bees remain. I had only read death and the penguin before so I definitely need to read more kurkov soon.
pickIn a small town in the Donbas, 2 remaining residents, Sergeyich + Pashka,frenemies, live a codependent life as bombing between russia + ukraine rains over them.Summer arrives + S drives his beehive south to find somewhere for his bees to pollinate, with curious encounters along the way. Set after 2014, this is a gentle but darkly profound bk given the current war. Sergeyich is a remarkable character+his response to life make a compelling story⬇️
https://youtu.be/ls3icK3Tdy0?si=Ub673ySxTyE9ZAEA
Intro
A special guest
Weekly Highlights
Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark by Cecelia Watson
Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov, Boris Dralyuk (Translator)
Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard
My Ántonia by Willa Cather
Now and Then by William Corlett
#wondrouswednesday @Eggs
1. Tagged
2. I bought the Count of Monte Cristo roughly 20 years ago and would estimate I'm on page seven, so I think that will end up winning no matter how the rest of my life goes.
3. Becoming a published author. I was going to say "becoming a parent", but I spend too much time worrying over whether I'm doing it right to be proud. (Then again, I do the same thing with writing. ?)
Tag @RaeLovesToRead
pickThis was quiet but stark lit fic about a man living in the grey zone of Ukraine and his journey to find a place for his bees to pollinate. It reminded me of Fredrik Backman‘s writing. I really loved the MC Sergey Sergeyich for his soft and observant soul. We see how Sergeyich reckons with the war in his relationships with his frenemy neighbor Pashka, the Ukrainian soldier Petro, his ex-wife, the Tatars he meets in Crimea, and his beloved bees 🐝💛
pickOh my God, I finished a book! One of the downsides of writing is never having time to read anything but your own stupid manuscript, and one of the great joys of finishing a first draft is setting it aside and focusing on someone else's words for a change. Published (and set) during the middle of Russia's shadow war in eastern Ukraine, the story follows a beekeeper and resident of Donbas turned nomad as he searches for peace and tranquility.
pickWow. This is a quiet, unassuming force to be reckoned with. I highly recommend!
“But bees don‘t understand what war is. Bees can‘t switch from peace to war and back again, as people do…That‘s why he had to drive them out to where it was quiet, where the air was…filling with the sweetness of blossoming herbs, where the choir of these herbs would soon be supported by the choir of flowering cherry, apple, apricot, and acacia trees.” —Andrey Kurkov, Grey Bees
