Welcome to Litsy!

I appear to have been on some kind of mission this month (called trying to catch up on my Goodreads challenge!), 12 books in a month must surely be a record for me.

Best by far was There Are Rivers in the Sky, a truly beautiful novel.

Worst by a huge margin was Starting Over (men who blame their own violence on others should never be considered as love interest material, in books or in real life).

#NovemberWrapUp

I love Elif Shafak as a person who speaks about pressing issues & as an author. I‘ve enjoyed the diverse characters & warmth of her previous books. I didn‘t get on with this one - it felt too slow & the fable-like tone & lack of plot tension made it hard to connect with the characters or care what happened. It‘s also a little overwritten or descriptive. I‘ve heard people raving about it, but I didn‘t have the patience to keep going.

Oh my goodness, this book ❤️. The writing is so beautiful. I loved the storytelling, I loved the characters. Book of the year for me

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