Welcome to Litsy!

There were sections of this story in which I found I was holding my breath for far too long, sections where I actually gasped at the beauty of a sentence or a paragraph. The main characters were ones I rooted for and felt deep affection for. A ghost in a bookstore, love that is tender and quiet, brief sections on the pandemic that cut deep, and the aftermath of the George Floyd murder that were visceral. Erdrich is a master. #TOB22

#WeeklyForecast 04/22

I‘m in a bookclub! Finally! Each month a Dutch author chooses their favorite books and will discuss it with the participants of the bookclub on Zoom. Out of Mind is this month‘s choice, an old favorite of mine. I‘ll reread it and am also starting another one for the #Tob22. Maybe some Africa later in the week.

My #tob22 picks in order thus far:

1. The Trees
2. Klara and the Sun
3. The Sentence
4. All‘s Well
5. The Book of Form and Emptiness
6. The Echo Wife
7. Intimacies
8. Beautiful World, Where are you
9. In Concrete
10. When We Cease to Understand the World.

Where am I wrong? I can take it. 😂

Matrix and Nervous System are in progress. If I finish everything including the remaining play-ins, I‘ll give No One is Talking another go. 🙂

This is where I‘m at with my #tob reading. I‘m very pleased with the progress so far. Of the remaining books, I have the all but Nervous System in my possession or on the way. Maybe this will be the year I read all 18. 🤞🤷‍♀️

Favorites so far include When We Cease to Understand the World, No One is Talking about This, The Sentence, and The Trees. But I really have enjoyed most of these.

I stole this from you @BarbaraBB to keep track of what I‘m missing for #ToB22
No way am I going to get to them all but I have several on hold at the library. Just borrowed When We Cease to Understand the World. Probably going to stay away from All‘s Well and The Book of Form and Emptiness.

I‘m disappointed. I didn‘t make a connection with the main character, plus there‘s not much of a plot so I was left to meander through. And I fear it‘s forgettable. The positive: it did feel like a glimpse into a real life.
#ToB22

In a few weeks the #ToB22 starts. Should we do our own tournament again and predict and choose our own winner, like we did last year? I liked it a lot but am not sure if anyone is interested to play again? If so, I‘ll gladly dig up my GoogleForms and update them.
I am tagging people who I know are reading this year‘s shortlist but of course anyone is very welcome to join. Spread the word and please let me know when you want to join!

“While in prison, I received a dictionary.“

And so I begin the latest by Erdrich. I'm delighted this is on the list of #TOB22 books to read.

#FirstLineFridays

I wasn‘t sure if I was ready to read a book about the pandemic. But I was in good hands with Erdrich. This book pulses with life, with the love of books and words and people and traditions, and with the violence that permeates American history. It‘s told from the point of view of Tookie, an Ojibwe woman who spent a decade in jail. It weaves in and out of fiction and reality with a light touch. And, at the end, I felt a little less haunted.

I'm so glad I finished reading this. Ozeki manages to leave me with a background hum of all the components of this novel. How grief and loss manifests, hearing voices, mental illness, the life and role of a book, and those rare beings who reach out to you when you very much need it. Of course I needed to investigate and, yes, there is an organization that supports those who hear voices. My skylight seemed the perfect photo for form and emptiness.