Welcome to Litsy!

#12Booksof2024

I read a lot in December due to time off work. Most of my favorites I‘ve already posted about for challenges. I want to highlight this title because I love Kunzru as an author. It didn‘t delve into the fantastical like others from him but it‘s still a crazy story. I appreciated Kunzru‘s intelligence and questioning of reality-why we value what we value. In large part, it‘s about art; what isn‘t art; how society commodifies art.

My second to last #10BeforetheEnd book. I think I might make it!

This was an interesting look at art, capitalism, privilege, racism, etc. A lot of big ideas but Kunzru pulls it off, IMO. Jay was a performance artist who disappeared at the height of his career. Now, delivering groceries during the Covid pandemic, he encounters former friends from his art school days. We flash back to their friendship and then catch up to their uneasy present.

@ShyBookOwl Here‘s the “geode” simile done better!

#WickedWhispers Day 26: #Trick

#bookspin for October - LOVED this! So sad, yet uplifting, really makes me want to walk the south west coast path one day!

#hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

Set in the midst of the pandemic,Jay,a once promising artist,now in his 40s&homeless runs into his first love,Alice&is confronted with the life&people he left behind.I gave this novel a pick bc I was intrigued but I feel it‘s more a so-so since the story& writing don‘t always work for me: overdone,pompous. BUT there‘s real depth, too. And the concept of life as art, some sort of modern philosophical Odyssey journey kept me engaged.The ending - hm.

My second book by Wagamese and it certainly won‘t be my last. I loved this story about four people experiencing homelessness who win the lottery. We get to see their care for each other and how they touch the lives of those they encounter who at first see them as their circumstances and not as people. Their story is not really about sudden wealth, although that is part of it. It is about connection, compassion and the magic of sharing our stories.

I invite you to check out my latest video in which I talk about: Whales, Seals, Forest fires, Gardens & Books: Poetry; Comics; Art; Disability; and Indigeneity

https://youtu.be/YqW3myj5GDM