Welcome to Litsy!

Now, I can imagine your surprised expressions: wait, Iranians watched Columbo? Just think about it: from the moment the United States rests one authoritative hand on a country's politics, with the other hand it loads the people with all sorts of military, industrial, cultural, and food products. Imperialism is no joke! Not only did Iranians watch Columbo, they also watched Bewitched, Little House on the Prairie, Peyton Place...

You've probably noticed that since mobile phones became ubiquitous, there's an imaginary line separating people of childbearing age. On one side are the people who have pictures of their kids set as their backgrounds, and are always waiting for the first possible opportunity to turn their phones so you can see them.....

[Bit of a jump from discussion of the Iranian revolution...]

The second book with this title I‘ve read this year. This moving novel about three friends and their relationship with their home country, Libya, was more in my wheelhouse than the Backman one.

I finally got started on summer with my first #14Books14Weeks and my first visit to the hammock grove on Governors Island!

As others have said this is not the book i expected it to be and it hit me harder because of that. I expected a book about tyranny causing violent revolution but what i got was the way that tyranny with one act unmoors and exiles and causes long term trauma. To me so much of this book is the loneliness of exile, how an 18 year old is supposed to somehow forge a life away from his home and family knowing he is watched, knowing he cannot speak.

It‘s impossible to rate a book that takes your breath away. Sebald is such a gentle and wise writer. Don‘t ask what it‘s about; read it and be transported.

Yesterday was a day filled with walking and I spent some time alone visiting Hatchard‘s, Daunt Books and Books on the Water (an absolutely lovely bookstore in a river barge). The tagged book is a signed edition from Daunt. I am fortunate to have an exceedingly understanding husband (plus bonus money that I earn judging trampoline gymnastics) that allowed me to splurge. Best book trip ever!

I love Matar‘s warm, erudite tone & rich subject matter so no surprise that I was engrossed by this novel. Khaled & his friends yare in London, unable to return to Libya. The heartbreak & uncertainty of this exile is beautifully rendered & feels true to life. It‘s poignant but told in a warm, inviting voice. Matar‘s writing flows & there‘s something exact in his prose that feels thoughtful & not showy. He wears his knowledge lightly. Moving.

#bookerprizelonglist (Yes, I'm still making slow progress through the longlist ?)

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to this much. Given the subject matter, I imagined it would be rather "tough" in a blokeish way: the book it would have been had Mustafa been the narrator, perhaps. As it was, I found it surprisingly tender. I felt for Khaled, whose life seems permanently provisional despite 30 years of staying put.

I'd have shortlisted it.

'At first I thought, to be a parent you have to be an idealist. Then I learnt that to be a parent is to be continually coming up against everything that is not ideal about you.'