Welcome to Litsy!

1. Sunday afternoon, the weather‘s dull, dark, rainy, but I‘m indoors with the fire on, a cup of tea on the go, and a good book in my hand ☺️

2. I‘ve just started reading the tagged book, which I‘ve been looking forward to diving into since I saw Elif taking about it at Cheltenham Literature Festival last month.

#WondrousWednesday
@Eggs

#Two4Tuesday, thanks @TheSpineView

1/ both - I can't choose, I 😍 them both
2/ dusty, unexpected, informative
extras (couldn't resist 😃) amazingly this is older than The Iliad and has somehow surived

I got the ARC of this from #netgalley, long before it was published in August, but it had mixed reviews so I wasn‘t really tempted. It‘s recently been announced as being one of the BBC Between The Covers books so I picked it up, and absolutely loved it.

It‘s really devastating though so be warned, with some CW. Following 3 different people in different timescales, all linked by water, I loved how it all came together in the end.

This book broke my heart. Brutal and beautiful. A drop of magical realism. Three lives separated in time and place, connected by a drop of water, the Tigris, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. I found it a bit hard to get into the present tense narration, but all three narratives gripped me. (Content warnings, but the most horrific events are off page and there's nothing gratuitous.) I fully expect to see this listed for the Women's Prize next year.

What a book. This is a new to me author and this book is so hard to describe. It's definitely going to be at the top of my favorite books for this year. This is such a good one. One you won't want to put down and you definitely can not just skim through it and understand what is going on.

Full review: https://lsmoore49.blogspot.com/2024/09/there-are-rivers-in-sky-elif-shafak.html

@shafakelif
@aaknopf

I remember reading an excerpt of this in a big chunky English Lit book for high school homework.

#Schoolspirit
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

When you have the perfect bookmark for a book. 💙

After really enjoying her previous 2 books, I am unsurprised that Shafak‘s latest is terrific. It follows 3 main characters in three different times and thus took me a little time to settle in, but I was absolutely rewarded for doing so. The storylines are all equally compelling and I had so much empathy for each of these characters. And I loved how she used water to show how truly connected we all are. Just superb.

It‘s almost unfair to other books in a square when Elif Shafak enters my grid. I find her writing so captivating that I‘m pulled into her stories every time.

5* = Loved It, want to shout out loud about this book! I do/will own/keep a physical copy. A+
4*= I liked it, would love to discuss. Solid B
3*=Meh, no need to discuss. Avg C
2*=Nope D
1*=DNF F

Summer's over, as illustrated by soggy dog.

I'm really enjoying this book though.