Welcome to Litsy!

Wonderful as always, this was my companion on the 13 hours or so I spent at Jomo Kenyatta airport trying to get home (and on the plane when we still thought we were leaving on time, haha.) The unravelling mystery from the past felt a bit like it had been done before but it was still good. I was super anxious about having packed my other book in my suitcase for some stupid reason.

It looks like I wanted to get away from this book so fast, that I brought it back to the library before I took a picture… oh, this was heavy and made me feel aggrieved. But it‘s not a bad book at all. I gave it five stars exactly because of how it was able to make me feel. But it was a hard read. Especially in times like these.

Starting a new book recommended by a library coworker.

Gratz has a talent for writing the truth of difficult situations. He weaves several plots together, making the reader care about each. It makes me want to host a refugee family. The audiobook was a great road trip listen.

This is a short story collection featuring Vietnamese characters at home, abroad or returning home.

There are 8 stories in total, around 25 pages per story. I really loved this authors writing style so I'll definitely be checking out his full length novel The Sympathiser.

I'm not the best audience for short stories, I feel like I don't have enough time to get to know the characters and who they are.

Set in Syria during the uprising, we follow Salama, a girl in her late teens, battling day to day life under the Assad regime.

With the recent fall of Assad, this felt like a timely read.

I want to read these books to understand some of what's going on politically in Syria and to see the everyday person having to life under these circumstances. What does survival look like for someone whose country runs in their veins.

Fantastic book.

I am picking myself up off the floor, a mess of emotions and holding my baby tighter after finishing this. This is a masterpiece and a totally justifiable Booker prize winner. Marketed as dystopian but in reality it is close to home for many, it follows an Irish family living under an ever worsening regime and tackles the horrifying reality of “it won‘t happen here until it does”. I can not recommend this more. #prophetsong #bookerprize #paullynch