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#IB2025
review
Graywacke
Theres a Monster Behind the Door | Galle Blem, Latitia Saint-Loubert, Karen Fleetwood
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Pickpick

#booker #IB2025 12 of 13. I have one left.

This is a novel about the life of descendants of African slavery on Reunion Island - a French territory in the Indian Ocean. Despite some humor and charm, don‘t expect to be uplifted.

“For here, their pain is told, their disgrace blessed. By night, as by day, I wanted them to exist here, to have an ode to their madness, a book that avenges them even as it absolves them."

Suet624 You‘ve managed to read so many! 1d
Graywacke @vikaplus321 everyone tagged just above are Booker Prize fans. 🙂 1d
See All 12 Comments
Graywacke @Suet624 I‘ll read the whole IB longlist this year. I‘m unreasonably proud ☺️😊 1d
Suet624 As you should be. Do you have a favorite? 1d
Graywacke @Suet624 i do. I loved the winner and enjoyed the list. My own winner is 1d
TheKidUpstairs Congrats on working through the list! I haven't read them all, but what I've read have been excellent. I'm really looking forward to delving into the world of “On the Calculation of Volume“ and reading Heart Lamp. I'm on mile long hold lists for both, but someday my turn will come! 1d
squirrelbrain Wow, the whole longlist - that‘s amazing! I don‘t do the IB, only the ‘standard‘ Booker, which I‘m very much looking forward to. 1d
Graywacke @TheKidUpstairs that my favorite and the winner. Mushtaq left me thinking of Edith Wharton. Negative reviews say it‘s repetitive. But i didn‘t feel that. Come on borrowers - move along. 🙂 1d
Graywacke @squirrelbrain I‘m looking forward to the regular list too. July 29. I‘ll be overwhelmed for a bit. ☺️ 1d
vikaplus321 @Graywacke great to know, thank you 1d
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 10h
49 likes12 comments
blurb
Graywacke
A Leopard-Skin Hat | Anne Serre
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Started this. And it will complete my reading through this year‘s International Booker longlist - the 1st i will have done this.

#booker #IB2025

BarbaraBB So good you read them all! 2d
Graywacke @BarbaraBB I‘m really happy about this 1d
BarbaraBB You should be! I loved this year‘s IB longlist. Now it‘s fingers crossed for the Booker one. Will you read that one as well? 1d
See All 6 Comments
Graywacke @BarbaraBB definitely! And the options look amazing. I think they have an opportunity for an especially good longlist. Of course judges are weird. 😆 1d
BarbaraBB I don‘t dare doing any predictions! Can‘t wait for the longlist! 1d
Graywacke @BarbaraBB July 29 🥰 1d
39 likes6 comments
review
Graywacke
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Pickpick

A book looking at social media appearance, how it seems real life should measure up. To hammer home the point, the book focuses on how things look, and treats our characters from a distance.

Not sure I‘m a fan of this cold distant literature. But it reads nicely and is well-executed.

This is my 11th from the International #Booker longlist. #IB2025

BookishTrish I thought it was so well executed and was disappointed it didn‘t win 2w
Graywacke @BookishTrish looks like you were moved by it! 2w
sarahbarnes Still waiting on this one from the library. 2w
48 likes4 comments
review
Graywacke
Small Boat | Vincent Delecroix
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Pickpick

Well, I got lost 🙁

An important book. On Nov 24, 2021 a sinking boat with 29 refugees wasn‘t rescued. A French radio operator was in contact with them for hours, but failed to get them help, and criticized them. 27 people drowned.

This is a fictional look at the radio operator. She narrates her thoughts and a perhaps imaginary questioning.

Unfortunately I couldn‘t follow what she was thinking. Didn‘t make sense to me. I just missed too much.

BarbaraBB I loved this one but I also love how different we judge our books! 3w
Lesliereadsalot I loved this one too. I‘m not sure the radio operator could follow her own thoughts. I felt like she was so messed up from the whole experience and could never define for herself exactly what happened. 3w
Graywacke @BarbaraBB i just got lost. 3w
Graywacke @Lesliereadsalot that makes sense. But there is a story with her thought processes. I just couldn‘t find it. 3w
51 likes5 comments
review
Graywacke
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Pickpick

The IB Prize winner

The stories are Wharton-esque

The author is a native Kannada speaker, and also activist, lawyer and feminist. Kannada has 60 million speakers, and is older than Hindi.

These stories do not directly challenge cultural norms. The characters all exist in their Muslim Indian world and accept their realities, including their economic reality, as the natural order. It's within this mindset that BM‘s feminism lays its hands.

54 likes2 comments
blurb
Graywacke
Perfection | Vincenzo Latronico
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Bought and started yesterday. This is one of three books i left to complete the International Booker longlist.

#booker #IB2025

42 likes1 stack add
blurb
Graywacke
Small Boat | Vincent Delecroix
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Starting a new book. I have four left for the International Booker Award long list.

This one, oddly, is not available as an ebook on Kindle in the US. I bought my copy from Bookshop.org - didn‘t know they sold ebooks!

willaful I didn't know that either. 1mo
TheBookHippie I‘m slowly trying to just get ebooks from there! It‘s new! 1mo
See All 10 Comments
sarahbarnes I really want to read this but I don‘t love ebooks. I keep hoping it will show up in print in the US soon…I suspect it may win the prize this year. 1mo
Graywacke @sarahbarnes you can buy hardcopies online. Try Blackwells. ?? 1mo
Graywacke @willaful @TheBookHippie I think BookShop.org will become my ebook go to for the foreseeable future. I‘m happy to get away from Kindle (and other deranged corporations) 1mo
willaful @Graywacke I got the impression you can only read their ebooks on their app, is that the case? I don't want to buy anything I can't read on an ereader. :-( 1mo
Graywacke @willaful I don‘t know. (I‘ve only tried their app on my iPhone.) 1mo
willaful @Graywacke Thanks, I didn't see the FAQ. 1mo
46 likes10 comments
blurb
Graywacke
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Another book I‘ve been reading from the International #Booker longlist. Originally written in Kannadan, it‘s a muslim-Indian perspective. It‘s been terrific so far. #IB2025

BarbaraBB It‘s the only one on the shortlist I haven‘t read yet. 2mo
Graywacke @BarbaraBB Im impressed. It‘s a slower read than you might expect. But very enjoyable 2mo
BarbaraBB I will be looking for a copy! 2mo
46 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
Graywacke
Reservoir Bitches: Stories | Dahlia de la Cerda
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Pickpick

My 8th from the #Booker longlist comes from a Mexican activist. She tells us, in her best and last story, that a woman is murdered in Mexico every two hours and twenty-five minutes. I liked the last story a lot. Most of the other stories - confident unreflective irreverent voices - sounded too much the same to me. But a good collection overall and an easy read. #IB2025

52 likes1 comment
review
Graywacke
On a Woman's Madness | Astrid Roemer
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Pickpick

I loved this book. It‘s a literary look at Surname around 1980. The main characters is a Jewish-African mixed-race. She leaves her black husband after nine days and goes to the capital to some wild affairs. The language captures the lush surroundings, but it leaves gaps the reader has to fill in. I loved that. Negative capability with intent. It works. #booker #IB2025

Suet624 Oh! I didn‘t realize this was on the booker list! 2mo
BarbaraBB I just starters it and find it hard to get into so I‘m glad for this recommendation! 2mo
43 likes1 stack add3 comments