Welcome to Litsy!

Phew. My 5th book from the International #Booker longlist took some time, and some perseverance. It flows, it‘s just keep going. A schoolteacher learns of the layout of electrical solenoids connecting through Bucharest, becomes a mite messiah, floats two feet over his bed loses his way in every building, and turns into something like a sperm. Dear reader, you're left to decide what to make of this.
#IB2025

This book from a Suriname-Dutch author was originally published in Dutch in 1982. It was 1st translated to English in 2023, and this year made the 2025 International #Booker longlist. I just started. The language is rich.
#IB2025

I read this today. Took 2 hours. My 6th from the International #Booker longlist. It‘s highly regarded.

A heavily disabled woman, with a muscular disorder, dependent on helpers and a ventilator, writes pornographic romances under a pen-name. This is about her looking at her life, and ableist biases, even on book reading, and at her own desires. Unsettling and provoking.
#IB2025

I‘m solidly in the “loved it” camp here. I know some found it boring and to be fair, I may have ventured in that direction if it had been longer. I read it over a month ago, but keep thinking about it - which makes me love it more!
#booker

Tough one for Jewish me to review. The premise is that all the Arabs in Israel disappear. So we follow a Jewish reporter who breaks into his disappeared Palestinian friend‘s apartment, and finds and starts reading his diary about the Palestinian history in Jaffa. Reading a Palestinian diary through an uninvited Israeli reader echoes the colonialist theme brought up throughout the novel.

Next international #booker book. I‘m about 20% in - it‘s long. #IB2025

Dystopian feel, with pared down prose and a lot mystery. Eventually we figure out we're in some future with a much smaller population of humanity. And we're within an unnatural system where no one seems to understand the controls. [The Giver] was always on my mind. This is is a bit of a puzzle to put together.

I liked it. I liked the pared down prose and curiosity build-up.

#booker #IB2025 No. 3

My second from the 2025 #IB2025 longlist.

It's that funny-not-funny-but-still-funny serious-not-serious-very-serious sort of satire - here on the dark history of Europe from the heirs.

But it becomes a bonding road trip, and a series of conversations and a character study of senile mom. This not only works but was thoroughly entertaining, especially because of mom‘s occasional sharpness. Comically heartwarming? Maybe. I enjoyed it. #booker

My next international booker read.
#booker #IB2025

Tara Selter is stuck in November 18. That is every day when she wakes up its 11/18 (or 18/11 🇬🇧) , and everything repeats itself - the rainy weather near Lille, France, the sky, and people who wake fresh to their first 11/18, with no memory of the previous 11/18s.

It‘s a very curious book, with terrific atmosphere and yet many unanswered questions. It‘s the kind of book that makes me want to try writing.

#booker #IB2025