Welcome to Litsy!

Guess where I've been today 😀

Three books I had never before heard of and another Maggie Nelson poetry book 💕

May also have picked up a few bits and bobs from Monsoon. (Got to look all floaty and summery while reading my new books in the sunshine, right?)

I loved this book! The best part is the voice of the protagonist, Dinesh. He is a man forced to evacuate his home during the Sri Lankan civil war; he's the last living member of his family, surviving without sleep or much food. Being privy to his mind is like reading through the sludge of simple, logical, and confused thoughts that I assume make up a mind when living is no longer a given. I wish it had ended as strong as it began.

I like this alliteration: "soft and solicitous silence of her sleep".

I like the comparison of possessions as paperweights for these shells of displaced human beings.

Trying to determine whether it's best to be married or alone for the short amount of life he has left. I enjoy the detached, methodical, slow process of Dinesh's thoughts in this book.

I love the detached, factual narrative style!

First sentence. I can already tell that this is going to be a great book!!

#Srilanka #readingaroundtheworld. Taking place over only a day and a night, this narrative of a young man fleeing both the govt forces and the Tamil ‘movement‘ recruiters during the horrific Sri Lanka civil war, focuses on the base features of being human. To cry, to bleed, to eat, to defecate and perhaps to dream about touching, loving, surviving. Or perhaps to only concentrate on breathing.

Summer Solstice and I am reading a short book deep in the Sri Lanka civil war. think I need to go out into the garden. #srilanka

The Story of a Brief Marriage is a short novel about two young people brought together by harsh circumstances during the Sri Lankan civil war. Though I started reading it at the end of August, I only just finished it this morning. It is a beautiful and heartbreaking book, but I found it very difficult to read these past few weeks as I‘ve been dealing with loss in my own life.

#bookrec #literaryfiction #readdiversebooks #srilanka #librarybook

#SeptemberStats #BestOfSeptember #SeptemberWrapUp

I‘ve read 12 books in September, which is pretty good for me. The last two books I read this month are my favorites (see picture): both 4,5 stars.

Again no 5 star reads. Maybe I‘m getting too critical, so far this year I‘ve rated only three books with 5 stars.

Never mind, I‘ve read lots of good books!

Arudpragasam writes about life in the Tamil-majority north of Sri Lanka. Dinesh meets Ganga in a makeshift camp in the jungle among the constant threat of shelling. He describes their first night together. There is no room for emotions, he went through so much in the recent past, which makes him more an observator of life than a participant. I can‘t imagine it‘s fiction, it feels so sadly realistic.
Thank your for bringing this book up, @batsy

“But if they couldn‘t talk about their pasts, what could they say to each other at all, given that there was no future for them to speak of either?”

Congrats @BarbaraBB on your Litsy milestone ❤️ Thanks for this fabulous #spotlightgiveaway! I'm going to highlight this beautiful book that got quite a bit of critical praise but maybe didn't quite make a big splash because it's a quiet, self-contained, & ultimately devastating book about a young Tamil man's experience in the war camp towards the end of the Sri Lankan war. Hard to read but elegant, philosophical, & emotionally true.

Sorry for the really long quote, but it just kept going. #currentread

Picked up these lovelies from the library yesterday... which should I read next? 📖

#library #librarybooks #hardcovers #toread #upnext

#NewToYouFavoriteAuthors #AllTheBooksof2017

These are authors I've read for the first time this year and loved, and want to read all of their other/upcoming books.

Ananda Devi and Fleur Jaeggy, I read in English translation for the first time this year; Anne Brontë and Shirley Jackson, read for the first time this year; Anuk Arudpragasam and Weike Wang, both debut authors.

Ever pick up a book and wonder “Why am I just reading this?! How come this wasn‘t in the news or all over #bookstagram?!” That‘s how I feel about this book! I‘m not sure where I was when this was first published but I‘m so glad to finally pick it up thanks to @flatironbooks ! It is such a powerful read! Exploring the depth of what makes us human- our connections to each other. Definitely one to add to your life TBR list.

Beautiful, haunting poetic language throughout the short novel. Only spans two days, but it felt so much longer. Make sure to check this one out, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Oh Barbara's bookseller in South Station... How you provide such temptation for me when I am too early for my train. #bookhaul #Iwasjustlooking

Loved this short book I found in the library so glad I picked it up ☺️🌎✨

As hard reading as you might anticipate a book to be, set in the dying days of the Sri Lankan army's suppression of the Tamil Tigers' campaign. From the first pages, with description of an amputation without anaesthetic, the reader is not spared. Read it. It's amazing.

In the first few pages there's so much death and destruction, I feel rather shell shocked.

This is a compelling storyline and there are some beautiful sentences here, but I did not enjoy the writing overall. I felt that there was too much exposition. The story was too close to the character, almost like a stream of consciousness narrative.

#bookandbeverage Still hot here today, so I'm reading and pulling out one of my favorite summertime drinks - green tea steeped with lemon balm, add honey and fresh lime juice. So yummy and refreshing over ice. I'm not enjoying this book as much as others have, though. I'm finding it a bit too expository and bogged down in minutiae for my tastes. I'm about halfway, so we'll see how I feel at the end of the day.

Starting this one today. I've heard many good things about it. It's also very short (under 200 pages) , so it should be a quick read.

I have a giant author crush on Anuk Arudpragasam. Turns out he's about eight years younger than me and has written a perfect book. To top it off, he's all casually handsome like he churns out exquisite prose while chilling out and slouching gracefully. I #canteven

#attractiveauthors #JuneBookBugs @RealLifeReading

Didn't have to think too hard for my #bestofMay. I read an embarrassingly low number of books this month, a number so low that I don't think it would be polite to mention it in the company of Littens, but these two stood out as gems. I will probably get the paperback of The Story of a Brief Marriage when it's out. #maybookflowers @RealLifeReading

All the stars I have to give. ⭐

This is a book with integrity, that affords its characters, especially the main character Dinesh through whom we see this war-ravaged slice of world, dignity. I think there is an ethics to this careful, precise writing, that anyone who writes like this must consistently value the moral in process of creation, the responsibility that comes with it. It makes me believe that truthful writing must have a conscience.

Wow. What an emotionally intense story. Short but vivid in placing the reader right in heart of the Sri Lankan civil war, on a very personal level.

Today's book. I'm reading this for book club & I have high hopes

I do!

Three new books to add to my TBR stack!📚📚📚😄

Not a book I would typically pick up but I'm trying to branch out and I've never read anything set in Sri Lanka before. There were times when I got annoyed with the very detailed descriptions and the tendency to say the same thing in several different ways but overall, it is beautifully written and a powerful book. Some scenes are fairly graphic (violent) so be prepared. Still, I highly recommend it.

Such a good #bookhaul from my library today. I've been waiting for some of these for ages!

I think these are all from 2016. Who knows what's what anymore! I don't! #readjanuary

Forecast for London this week. At least it's perfect reading weather 😉👌

Being close to someone meant the entire rhythm of that person's life was synchronized with yours... The puppy and I approve this statement.

Oh wait! I forgot about my new corner shelf. This is where I store the books I plan on reading soon. #shelfie

Finished this one up over my lunch break on this long, last day of work before another holiday break. It's simple and beautiful and gut-wrenching. Even though it's fairly short, the language is so moving and intense that I had to wade my way through to experience it fully.

Hanging out @TheBookmarkPR with @WanderingBookaneer @Rex and @kyrabashi 💜💜💜 @melaniebarbosa is behind the scenes, working hard!

Tonight's reading during the snow squalls. ❄️🌬❄️

Shelling and bombing and dead decomposing bodies and the wounded surround you in the rebel camp. A man from the medical tent asks you to marry his daughter, it being a given that none of the three of you can expect to survive the end of the week, never mind the end of this war. Yes, you say. She too has all but disappeared into numbness. No time for romance, for much of anything. Except what really matters. Devastating; it aches with truth.

Apple Music has tons of Tamil music, including a playlist of love songs, which make a great ambience when reading this novel.

I expect I'll look back on this beautiful passage as the moral heart of the novel.