pickAnne Serre‘s novel is partly a response to her sister‘s death. This is a character study that plays games with the narrator… or The Narrator. It‘s wonderful in language, but a little lacking in reader drive. I enjoyed it enough and… it completes my read through the 2025 International #Booker Longlist! #IB2025
I will add my personal ranking of all 13 books in the comments. But leave off my quirky reasoning. Feel free to ask questions, though.
pick#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."
Started this. And it will complete my reading through this year‘s International Booker longlist - the 1st i will have done this.
#booker #IB2025
pickA 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
pickWell, 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.
pickThe 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.
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!
pickMy 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
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1. On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
2. On a Woman‘s Madness by Astrid Roemer
3. Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu
4. Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
5. Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq
6. There‘s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem
7. Eurotrash by Christian Kracht 1mo
9. A Leopard-Skin Hat by Anne Serre
10. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
11. Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
12. The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem
13. Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda 1mo