Welcome to Litsy!

This was a remarkably layered story. Centering the relationship of three children who are now adults and have become mostly estranged, but still get pulled towards each other due to the fierce love of growing up together and the history they have with each other. Most of the twists I saw coming but it did not dampen my interest in the story. There was one reveal about the narrator that I am struggling a bit with But overall Perrin does it again.

#TuesdayTunes. @TieDyeDude

I have been listening to a lot of French singers lately. They go well with reading Valérie Perrin.

Always my favorite French singers are Stromae, GIMS, Barbara Pravi, Indila, and I am super excited that Eurovision '25 introduced me to Claude from the Netherlands but who mainly sings in French.

August #TBR

I am half into the tree in the front, and goodness the library holds are out of control. I have three more to pick up this weekend!

What I am going to try to read for Women In Translation month
We'll Rx You A Cat - Japan
Minor Detail - Palestine
Three - France (already started!)
People In The Room - Argentina
The Books Of Jacob - Poland (and giant, it is almost 1,000 pages, I have grabbed the audio to help me along with this one)

I had to post this photo for the gardeners out there - i dont often see a cactus flowering - so i grabbed a sneaky pic of someone else‘s garden 😉

I am probably the last on Litsy to read this book! My second by Valerie Perrin and i thoroughly enjoyed it, got very wrapped up in the “who done it” aspect and read way past my bedtime 😆 Definitely will be reading more Valerie Perrin!

I really loved this book and Perrin‘s talent for slowly revealing a story and its characters layer by layer. There was no way for this to top Fresh Water for Flowers, but it was very very good.

I did enjoy Fresh Water, and I enjoyed this one too. The lives of three childhood friends as they move into their fates and fortunes. Good storytelling , it was a page turner for me , until about two thirds of the way …. Then I got impatient to know what would happen and I was ready to finish the story. I can‘t fault it otherwise, maybe just a bit too long. But I loved the mystery and the surprises along the way.

I loved living in the lives of Adrien, Etienne and Nina. It spans over decades from the time they meet at school to their present day. One of my favourites of the year so far.

This is as close to perfection as you can get. I can feel a book hangover on the way. I started on Friday, ignored other reads (apologies Denise, @dabbe reading Sherlock today 🤦‍♀️) and finished it this morning.
“We think we know everything about our friends when we really know nothing” and that‘s basically what this whole book is about. Even the secrets have secrets.

I love this idea 😁

1. Alfie‘s happiness on his birthday in Legoland 🩵
2. Getting to visit Oxford 😍
3. Coffee and reading time in my local library cafe ☕️
4. Singing in the car with the kids on our long journey 🎶
5. Starting the tagged book - one of those books you instantly know you‘re going to like 🤍

A bit too long but nicely written story of three inseparable childhood friends. The novel has it all: mystery, plot twists, dual timelines, beautifully built characters and the complexity of a lifelong friendship.

I enjoyed "Fresh Water for Flowers" more for its emotional impact, but this one is a page turner as well and has its heartwrenching moments.

#12Bookof2023 February

I loved this book about three friends from they meet in school and well into adulthood, and how friendships change over time

Her debut novel is out early January in Norway, so I know what I will be reading at the beginning of the year

Intricately plotted - must pay close attention to this one! Thoroughly enjoyed the story of three childhood friends who each in their own way struggle to be seen & loved for their authentic selves.

I will admit it could have been pared down. It‘s unnecessarily long.

Now I have the fun of picking my next read! 🎉

This one by comparison (Learned by Heart), just keeps getting better as Perrin doles out bits & pieces I keep trying to fit into the puzzle of exactly what happened to the trio of friends. The dual timeline is working and I love she doesn‘t spell everything out so it‘s a bit fuzzy on both ends. 😊

Waterstones has double points this weekend... first part of the #bookhaul done in person. About to go online and order more 😂

@BarbaraBB Three is your fault 😂😁

A soft pick for this quick read chunkster.

Finally the physical copy of Three I ordered arrived at my Indie. Then the shop owner casually asked if I wanted to read the new Verghese and what other response would you expect from me? “YES PLEASE.” 🤩

repost for @jlhammar:

✨COMING SOON✨ #EuropaCollective ✨SEPT✨

@Aimeesue and I were chatting about our love for Europa Editions and a new bookclub was born. Pictured are some that I‘ve already read and loved. We‘ve all got a lot on our readerly plates so planning on one low-key Europa group read every few months. Care to join us?

I‘ll post two options for Sep. voting once we know who is interested. Aimee will do the same for Dec. All are welcome!

🤔 I think I need to try this in print. For some reason the narration is slightly grating (don‘t know why), which is impacting my enjoyment of the text.

My lucky day! I wasn‘t expecting this hold to come in so quickly. 👏🏾

It's official. There's a book hangover taking place. This is quite different from my most loved and revered book by this same author, Fresh Water for Flowers, but it is a rich, slightly mysterious, deeply drawn character study that will stay with me. Perrin takes the time with the story and its length allows you to fully invest in the characters.

Guess what, Barbara! It‘s time! I‘m going in.

Her books are SO LONG! How does she get away with it? Intricacy of plotting is remarkable, even if some threads are mush and melodrama. Nails the dynamics & intensity of a friendship of three. Frequent narrator & time shifts, but somehow it works. Virginie reveal—should have seen it coming. Her easygoing prose sweeps you along, but like with “Fleurs,” TOO MUCH muchness. Tho I suppose the overly lengthy immersion is the point? 2021

Well I loved it. Every page of it. Again Valérie Perrin creates such fantastic characters. In this book we follow three best friends in different phases of their lives. I loved all three of them and I loved the various storylines. 550 pages and I turned them all eagerly and full of anticipation about what would happen next. All the stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#Roll100 #52booksclub #BookEveryoneHasRead #pop23 #BookIWishICouldReadForTheFirstTimeAgain

I don‘t want to get up and work. I want to keep on reading. I am loving this book more than I dared to hope!

#WeeklyForecast 15/23

I am in the midst of Ben, thanks to @vivastory who I miss terribly on Litsy. It is a worthy sequel to The Fifth Child so far. Next will be the tagged. I am a bit anxious to read it because I loved Fresh Water for Flowers so much. So it‘s gonna be an exciting week!

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! Just translated from the French, by Valerie Perrin, author of Fresh Water for Flowers. Two boys and a girl meet each other when they‘re children and become lifelong friends who you will never forget. And what lives they live! This book is 550 pages of extraordinary writing, plot twists and memorable characters, one after another.

I wanted to love this book. But it seemed to drag on forever. The narrative has an awkward flow to it as well, and may have benefited from a heavier editorial hand. But hey, at least it checked off one of the #ChunksterChallenge2023 levels.

An early #BookReport from me this week. I‘ll soon off to the hairdresser.

I‘m almost done with All That She Carried #SheSaid and will be finished before tomorrow‘s weekly forecast.

I read Tree.
I‘ve just started Road Ends. This is the last book by Lawson that I haven‘t read.

All the love for this one and don‘t get me started on the tension

1986: 10 yr olds Adrien, Etienne and Nina end up in the same class at school. So begins a beautiful friendship

2017: A car is found in the lake, but more than that this is the story about Nina and the mysterious narrator

While reading you know that somewhere along the way, the trio stopped talking and I couldn‘t wait to find out if it had anything to do with the found car.

#BookReport

I kept up with All That She Carried #SheSaid

Yesterday I felt like reading all the short books I have out from the library, so I did: The Lost Thing, Story of Babar: The Little Elephant and The Young Man.

I started The Marriage Portrait and I‘m thinking about DNFing. So I started an other book, Three and I‘m already really enjoying it.

This is a literary mystery within a well written story of friendship, loyalty, betrayal, the past and the present. It is a quiet, long, slow novel, thoroughly engrossing and occasionally surprising. It follows three children from their meeting to their middle age in a slow and thoughtful epic of a story. Full review at http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2022/10/review-three-by-valerie-perrin.html?m=0

Forgot to review this. #pop22 #setinthe80s
Love this author! Gorgeous writing, the characters written with such empathy and depth, and a compelling plot, full of love, betrayals, tragedy and secrets. It‘s a story of 3 friends, inseparable in childhood, separated by a series of events in their teens, as the narrative moves back and forth in time. Ultimately this is about friendship in all its complexities, evolutions and endurance. Just fantastic.

📚 Tagged, Ten Steps to Nanette, The Time Traveler‘s Wife
🖋 Colm Toibin
🎞 Truly, Madly, Deeply
📺 Ted Lasso
🎤 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
🎶 This is a Rebel Song (Sinead O‘Connor) Teach Your Children (Crosby, Stills & Nash) True Love Will Never Fade (Mark Knopflerj This is How I Disappear (MCR) Through Glass (Stone Sour)

Sorry to be so late @CBee Finally home from whirlwind trip to Cali.

#ManicMonday #letterT

I enjoyed this book, but it wasn‘t the emotional sucker punch of Fresh Water for Flowers. She manages dual timelines masterfully.

Their alphabetically close last names bring Nina, Adrien, and Etienne together in fifth grade. Despite different dispositions, they stay remarkably close through middle and high school, but when tragedy strikes near graduation, their adult lives diverge dramatically. Can they come back together when it counts?

@AmyG LOOK!!! This was a gift from you and it works for #TBRtarot 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Now, full disclosure - the blurb in question was written about Fresh Water. But I‘m counting it anyway 😂😂😂

What a delightful surprise, @BookNAround
Completely unnecessary, but greatly appreciated. A new-to-me author, a cute bag and bookmark, and yummy pretzel treats. Thank you!
#litsylovefallswap
@Deblovestoread @Bookgoil

I really loved this. I love how the story of the three friends is slowly revealed, and the mysteries set up at the start are gradually resolve. But more than that, it's one of those books that you just live in, and are totally immersed.

Gradually making my through this. It's a very vividly created world - reading it feels like fully stepping into their lives. It's pretty long, so I'm taking this one slow and steady and I think that suits the book. It seems like it's not one to rush.

Beach reads are always a must!

“Adrien, Etienne and Nina are 10 years old when they meet at school and become inseparable. Years later, a car is pulled up from the bottom of a lake, with a body inside. Virginie, a local journalist with an enigmatic past, follows the case. Step by step she reveals the extraordinary bonds that unite the three childhood friends. How is the car wreck connected to their story? Why did their friendship fall apart?”

AMY GOLDSMITH!!! You did not have to do this! You are the sweetest and I absolutely can‘t wait to read this. Thank you, thank you, my lovely friend 📕♥️📕♥️📕 It was like my birthday today as I got this book from you, and my BOTM box 😂😃
@AmyG

Lovely story of friendship, childhood, death, uncertainty and salvation. Loved every moment.

I honestly really loved this book, story and character-wise, but I had some problems with it as well. However, I can‘t say what without totally spoiling it. 😂 So if you‘ve read and want to discuss let me know!

5 🌟 I loved this book! To echo @TrishB whoever decided Valerie Perrin‘s books should be translated into English gets all the stars. Part coming of age, part found family, a little mystery and a whole lot of life. Just lovely.

Oh I just loved this. Friendships, failures, fall outs, everything in here. It‘s a feel good, but melancholic read. You do want to bang heads together occasionally, but the story gets told and yeah, I just loved it.
Whoever decided to translate this author into English, thank you very much!