Welcome to Litsy!

Tomorrow the winner of the #InternationalBooker prize will be announced. I managed to read 5 out of 6 of them (I didn‘t read Heart Lamp yet).

I have especially enjoyed Perfection, Under the Eye of the Big Bird and On the Calculation of Volume I but my absolute favorite is Small Boat. I hope it‘ll win the prize tomorrow.

Do you have a book you root for?

This is a hard book to read, especially considering what‘s happening now in Israel and Gaza and that it was written in 2014.
It‘s so complicated, Arabs and Jews living in and fighting for the land they feel it‘s theirs. What if all Palestinians vanished from Israel one day?
Ibtisam Azem tries to write from various pov‘s and that just shows how complicated it all is.
A poignant #InternationalBooker book.

Based on a real event where 27 migrants drowned in the Channel because the British couldn't get to them in time and the French wouldn't help, even while the boat was still in French waters. A semi-stream-of-consciousness narrative where the French navy emergency dispatcher tries to justify her actions and her words, refusing to bear the collective guilt and responsibility of society. Powerful and uncomfortable. #InternationalBooker #Booker

#WeeklyForecast 19/25

I am reading the second volume of On the Calculation of Volume. Such an interesting story.
Next will be the new Mieko Kawakami (in Dutch, it isn‘t translated in English yet) and last but not least I‘ll continue my #InternationalBooker journey with The Book of Disappearance.

#ReadTheWorld2025

In March and April I‘ve read 7 books set in or written by author from places around the world: #Italy #Switzerland #Iraq #France #Iran #Denmark #Mexico #Argentina

I have the #InternationalBooker to thank for most of these books!

This #InternationalBooker novel is based on a real case where a dinghy overfilled with migrants attempts to cross the Channel and starts sinking.

Most of the book consists of thoughts by a coastguard radio operator, who‘s being interrogated by the police because of her alleged complicity in the death of 27 migrants. We are drawn into her conflicted consciousness, displaying what appears to be an almost inhumane coldness and indifference. ⬇️⬇️

#WeeklyForecast 18/25

I am in the middle of The Mangan Inheritance which I am loving. Next will be the tagged title for the #InternationalBooker and I also want to read My Documents, that @TrishB nominated for #CampLitsy25 and caught my eye in the bookshop the day after!

I‘m not sure what I feel about this novel, but maybe a soft pick, guess only time will tell.

A story about a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional family and where her parents mantra is “That‘s the way it is and that‘s that!”

Another book of the #InternationalBooker Longlist

“Every 2 hours and 25 minutes, a woman in #Mexico is strangled, raped, dismembered, burned alive, mutilated, beaten to pulp, and left with bruises and broken bones.”

Combine these gruesome facts on femicide with living the high life of drugs, money, cosmetic surgery and Instagram followers and you probably have the span of Mexican society and of this #InternationalBooker collection of short stories. A good one
#ReadingTheWorld2025 book 13 🇲🇽

At first I didn‘t know what to make of this book. Were it loosely connected stories, all set in a fantasy setting? YA maybe? And then I got it and I got the message. A book that packs a punch in a quite unexpected way(to me) and well deserves its place on the #InternationalBooker shortlist!