Litsy

Rick Steves Pocket Prague | Rick Steves, Honza Vihan

Looking for book recs!

I am thinking about going to Prague in September. I have never been! There are not a ton of book recommendations online, so I am hoping some of you might know some. Either fiction or NF set anywhere in Czech - I would prefer a Czech writer (I only read in English), and NO WWII****

I have read most of Kafka, & The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Susanita The hosts of the Strong Sense of Place are expats living in Prague. Their first episode was about their adopted home. https://strongsenseofplace.com/podcasts/2020-01-20-prague/ 3d

LiteraryHoarderPenny You have to go see the big book tower at the municipal library in Prague. 3d

ChaoticMissAdventures @Susanita thank you! I will listen. @LiteraryHoarderPenny I plan to! I love seeing other countries libraries, and this installation is so cool. 3d

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Dilara The Other City by Michal Ajvaz is a short, surrealist novel set in Prague.

The Other City: A Novel

Dilara This one might be a bit more difficult to get hold of, but I really enjoyed this Victorian classic by one of the best-loved children's (and adults') authors of the Czech Republic: The Grandmother by Božena Němcová.

The Grandmother: A Story of Country Life in Bohemia

ChaoticMissAdventures @Dilara I will look around for Nemcova! Thank you athe Other City was one of the few I saw on Google that looked interesting and my library has it! Ordering it now. 3d

ChaoticMissAdventures And I bought tickets. So going to Prague and I think Český Krumlov (UNESCO town) in September! 3d

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arlenefinnigan

The Golden Maze | Richard Fidler

Next up

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WeAreLegion

Dark Days: My Tribulations and Trials | Randy Blythe

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In 2012 Randy Blythe (vocalist of lamb of god) was arrested after arriving in Prague for the death of a fan at a concert two years prior. No one in the band or management had known about the issue. This is the harrowing account of his 34 days spent in jail and the months-long trial after. The fallout from this would prove to shake the foundations of concert organizers in the Metal world as they reexamine safety precautions moving forward.

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Purpleness

Histories of Nations: How Their Identities Were Forged | Furtado Peter

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AnishaInkspill

A Hunger Artist | Franz Kafka

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A Hunger-Artist: Four Stories

I‘m left speechless, my first response is the four stories that make this mini collection are sad as they are beautiful in how they each show the human condition.

The four stories are: First Sorrow; Little Women; A Hunger-Artist; and Josefine the singer, or the Mouse People

#Fiction #books #readaway2024 #eBook

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i.z.booknook

Spaceman of Bohemia | Jaroslav Kalfar

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I read this one after watching the new Netflix film adaptation called Spaceman with Adam Sandler. As is usually the case, I thought the book was immensely better and having now read it I think the film missed the key themes of the book. The story follows Jakub, a Czechoslovakian astronaut alone in space, the first to venture out to investigate a strange new gas cloud. He encounters an arachnid on his ship. (Cont. in comments 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻)

i.z.booknook (1) It is never clear whether this is imaginary and a result of his madness alone in space, or if it is real. However, there are some real political themes in the book as Jakub revisits his childhood in a communist and then capitalist country. I found this one of the most interesting aspects of the book as it deals with the immediate aftermath of revolution and a drastic change in values. 11mo

i.z.booknook (2) Without giving too much away, where the film ends is actually only half way through the book and the complex emotions and politics continues into further interesting territory. I really enjoyed reading this book and even though it is a sci-fi book, it was a great look at a country I don‘t really know much about. 11mo

31 likes2 comments

IuliaC

Defenestrate | Renee Branum

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An exquisite story about falling and failing in so many ways. Marta is part of a family of Czech descent living in the US. Their family is haunted for generations by a superstition related to defenestration, a deadly fall at a certain point in their life, as if it was written in their genes and as if the fall were calling to be accomplished.

"the two of us poised on a sweet precipice before falling blindly forward into the rest of our lives."

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IuliaC

Ignorance: A Novel | Milan Kundera

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This is a very touching depiction of how it feels to be an immigrant returning to your home country 20 or 30 years later. After the fall of communism in 1989 in Europe, Irena returns from Paris to Prague. She and others like her return led by nostalgia, but the ignorance, under all its forms, displayed by their relatives and former friends shows how absence can create a huge chasm between people, with no hope to reconnect with the past.

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Cortg

Spaceman of Bohemia | Jaroslav Kalfar

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This storytelling is very unique which has a lot to do with how much I enjoyed this book. The wording is also quite lyrical. Jakub, a scientist, has a chance of a lifetime to go to space. The story is mostly told in his head as the reader learns about his family, his upbringing, the relationship with his wife, Lenka, and Russian/Czech politics. There‘s also an alien spider friend! The solitariness of Jakub reminds me a bit of Life of Pi.

31 likes