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#pageCountPhobia
review
BarbaraBB
Crossroads: A Novel | Jonathan Franzen
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Pickpick

All members of the Hildebrandt family seem to have an existential crisis at exactly the same moment. God, a lack of God, sex, a lack of sex, drugs and rock ‘n‘ roll: it‘s all there.
Franzen writes about a real unrealistic dysfunctional family but it was so fun to spend some time with them - despite their crises.

I am sorry it took so long to pick it up Helen, I really enjoyed it 💕

squirrelbrain I‘m glad you liked it - I really did too! Love the photo. 10mo
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BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain Thanks. View from my bedroom 😀 10mo
TrishB Must get to…. 10mo
Librarybelle That‘s a gorgeous view! My bedroom view is not as glamorous. 😂 10mo
squirrelbrain I wondered if it was from your house! I‘d spend all day staring out at the view! 10mo
BarbaraBB @Librarybelle @squirrelbrain Lol it isn‘t as glamorous as it may seem. Or maybe I am used to it! 10mo
Becker Enticing photo 10mo
Hooked_on_books Add me to the “great view!” crowd. You‘re a lucky woman! I‘ve found this prompt to be difficult. I finally found one book on my shelves that fits it after looking through about 500 books. Either instruments aren‘t a common cover theme or that‘s just the case with the books I tend to pick. 10mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books It was the only book on my shelves with a musical instrument! And about the view, yours is the best 🌴 💚 10mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books Which book did you find? 10mo
Megabooks Count me in the “Barbara has a fantastic bedroom view” camp!! 🤩🤩 this is supposed to be book 1 of a trilogy, and I‘m very excited to see where he takes it! 10mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Really? That is cool and I have to admit the book ended rather abruptly so a sequel would be welcome! 10mo
Soubhiville I love your view as well 🙂 10mo
Hooked_on_books I do indeed have a fabulous view. My good one is from my kitchen, so eating breakfast is lovely. Here‘s the book I found: 10mo
jlhammar I really must get to this! I bought it when it first came out and there it sits. Looking forward to it. 10mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books it‘s been awhile since I read Proulx. It might be an unexpected surprise! 10mo
batsy Oh, that is a very stunning view. And great review. (Franzen and I didn't get along so well in The Corrections 😆) 10mo
Crazeedi @BarbaraBB this book looks really good, adding, and yes the description says it's book 1 of a trilogy!! 10mo
Chelsea.Poole Loved this one! 10mo
KarenUK I‘ve been debating this one, but the #pagecountphobia is real! 😉 10mo
101 likes2 stack adds22 comments
review
Cinfhen
The Covenant of Water | Abraham Verghese
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Pickpick

It‘s no secret that I fear #BIGbooks but I was willing to put aside my #PageCountPhobia and tackle this beast - SO GLAD! From the first line until the final page I was swept up in this multigenerational tale of love, faith, family, secrets, science, religion, chance and destiny. Outstanding storytelling and incredible amount of detail and vivid imagery. My love affair with India continues. Definitely a favorite read of 2023♥️🙌🏻

TrishB Ohhhh I have a (d0 Waterstones card burning a hole in my purse- I think this may be it! 1y
Cinfhen It‘s a gorgeous book @trishb (edited) 1y
squirrelbrain I think I‘ll treat myself to this one soon too. 1y
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Cinfhen I think it‘s the type of book that deserves to be owned in hardcover @squirrelbrain - I actually enjoyed the feel of reading this behemoth 😁 1y
jlhammar Great review! I have a feeling this will be among my top reads of the year as well. Really loving it. 1y
Cuilin Sounds so good!!!!! Really looking forward to this read. 1y
BarbaraBB Thanks Cindy! Such a convincing review! 1y
DivineDiana Looking forward to this one! ❤️ 1y
LeeRHarry I let my NetGalley ARC lapse for this one - big sad 😔 but I‘ll definitely pick it up at some point 😊 1y
Cinfhen I think reading in print as opposed to a digital copy might be easier @LeeRHarry - so don‘t be sad😉it‘s a lovely read and I can‘t wait to hear what ya‘ll think @DivineDiana @BarbaraBB @Cuilin @jlhammar 💕💕💕 1y
TrishB It seems I ordered it last night after a couple of glasses of wine 😁 oh well. 1y
Cinfhen Hahaha 🥂 @TrishB well done 1y
92 likes6 stack adds12 comments
blurb
Cuilin
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#camplitsy23 First time camper. Here are my six nominations.
@Megabooks @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB

Cinfhen I‘m soooo excited for the new Verghese but it‘s over 700 pages #PageCountPhobia 2y
Cuilin @Cinfhen 😮😬😳 2y
squirrelbrain @Cinfhen - we might need to camp until Christmas to read that one! Great choices though @Cuilin and welcome to camp! 2y
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AmyG I forgot about The Covenant of Water. Very anticipated. (edited) 2y
LeeRHarry Ooh I didn‘t do a page count when I picked the Verghese either @Cinfhen hehe 🙃 I was just super excited he had a new book coming out! 2y
Bookwormjillk Like @AmyG I completely forgot about The Covenant of Water. Really looking forward to that one. I loved Cutting For Stone. 2y
Megabooks I noticed that when someone else chose it @Cinfhen @squirrelbrain !! Welcome to camp @Cuilin !! Glad to have you 😁🏕️ 2y
Bookwormjillk @Cuilin Sounds good to me!! 2y
AmyG Great idea @Cuilin I‘d be in if you do a buddy read for 2y
BarbaraBB They all sound so good! Welcome to camp! 💕 2y
Deblovestoread I‘m in for a buddy read of 2y
Cinfhen Yesssss!! I‘d love to buddyread Covenant!!!! 2y
Ruthiella Interesting list! I‘ve only read Skippy Dies by Murray. 2y
Cuilin @Ruthiella loved Skippy, 2y
Sapphire I want to read The covenant of water 2y
60 likes16 comments
blurb
JessClark78
Untitled | Unknown
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#BookReport

📚 No books finished last week.

📖 In Progress
The Witching Hour - Read the first five chapters. On page 159.
Collected Christmas Horror Shorts - Working on the seventh story. 23% finished.

#WeeklyForecast

The Witching Hour is pretty thick. I‘ll probably be working on that all week. On Kindle I‘ll be reading the Christmas Horror Shorts collection and then starting The Butterfly Garden.

Cinfhen A while back I had stacked the Anne Rule book until I saw the page count 🙀#PageCountPhobia is real - I quickly unstacked it 😅 2y
5feet.of.fury Those pages are dense too, a lotta words 😂 I keep procrastinating getting back into it but i gotta just buckle down and embrace it. I bought the 2nd book and added these to my #serieslove2023 list for added motivation. Are you enjoying it so far? 2y
JessClark78 @5feet.of.fury I just bought the second book, too, to have the complete trilogy. Yeah, I like it. I like how detailed her writing is. 2y
49 likes3 comments
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TrishB
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It‘s been a pants reading week.
Enjoyed Snowflake.
Still reading Mandela, just not had much reading time and it‘s very long!! Fascinating, but long.
#bookreport

Smrloomis A pants reading week? 2y
TrishB @Smrloomis Slang - pants= rubbish . Obviously not everywhere 😁 (edited) 2y
Smrloomis Ah thanks. I assumed this is an expression I don‘t know as a North American 😂 so thanks for the translation!! 2y
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youneverarrived Loved Long Walk to Freedom. Well worth the long read. 2y
Amiable @smrloomis I thought maybe this meant a week where you can put on comfy pants and lounge on the couch with books! Because if that was the case then I wanted a pants reading week as well. 😀 (edited) 2y
Aimeesue @Amiable I thought the same. Those definitions could definitely overlap! 😄 2y
squirrelbrain And don‘t forget pants *doesn‘t* mean trousers in the UK…. 🤣 It‘s a bit TMI for Trish to tell us she‘s been reading in just her knickers! 🤣 @Amiable @Smrloomis 2y
Amiable @squirrelbrain If the knickers are comfy, that works too —no judgement! 😀 2y
TrishB @Smrloomis @Amiable @Aimeesue @squirrelbrain 😂😂 how easy it is for all things to get lost in translation. @Amiable you have the best idea and we should indeed instigate that pants reading week. 2y
Smrloomis @Amiable ha ha yes! @squirrelbrain oh right, hadn‘t even thought of that! I know a lot of English expressions (since it‘s my first language and all) but still there are many new ones to learn! Love it. 2y
mabell Loved the comments 🤣🤣 2y
TheEllieMo I could definitely go for @Amiable‘s definition of a pants week! 2y
TrishB @youneverarrived it is definitely! So much background info I didn‘t know anything about. 2y
Cinfhen Bono references your current read (Long Walk) several times in his memoir - I think I might try it next year! And thanks for asking @Smrloomis I was kind of wondering what the hell Trish meant too??!!?? 😂 2y
Smrloomis @Cinfhen ha ha my pleasure! Also I loved Long Walk too. Read it years ago and remember it being long but fascinating. 2y
TrishB @Cinfhen it‘s easy to forget that slang doesn‘t translate 😁 Long Walk- I think this is one of those you probably need to have little breaks with other stuff. 2y
Cinfhen Good to know about the Mandela book @Smrloomis @TrishB you know big books scare me #pagecountphobia but somehow memoirs are less daunting 2y
Tove_Reads Well, he had a long walk, so you can‘t expect for you to have a short read 🤷🏼🤣🤣🤣🤣 2y
TrishB @Tove_Reads 😂😂I suppose not! 2y
CarolynM Hope this coming week is better😘 2y
TrishB @CarolynM thank you 😘 2y
90 likes21 comments
review
squirrelbrain
Mexican Gothic | Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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Pickpick

Well, that was a bit…weird! It‘s a soft pick, as I‘m not a huge fan of gothic books anyway, but this was odd in that it is set in Mexico but in a traditional English country house, so didn‘t feel Mexican at all. It‘s all a bit odd to me but I kinda liked it!

As @Laughterhp commented on her recent post, I also have no idea what a #socialhorror book is, but this was classed as such so I‘m taking it! This is my last book for #pop22 - yay!

squirrelbrain What did you think @Caroline2 ? 🤔 I hope you haven‘t bailed! 🤣 2y
Laughterhp Wow all done! Congrats! 2y
TrishB I bailed on this one! 2y
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KarenUK We‘ll done on completing the challenge!! I‘m 5 away from doing the same….. but some really long books! 🤦‍♀️ #pagecountphobia 2y
AmyG Yes…odd but Ikind of liked it. 👍🏻 2y
Cinfhen Yay!!! Congrats!!!!! This was definitely a #weird book!!! 2y
julesG I nearly bailed on this one. It was an ARC and I skimmed most parts. 2y
Caroline2 Meh I‘m about 35%. I was enjoying it but now I‘m bored might skim read for a bit, might bail 🤣 2y
squirrelbrain @Caroline2 - the really weird stuff starts at about 60% in…. 2y
squirrelbrain I didn‘t do the ‘extra‘ prompts though @KarenUK so you get extra brownie points for those! 😁 2y
BarbaraBB You‘re done? Impressive!!! ✨✨ 2y
Cortg Oooh! Congrats on finishing! That‘s super exciting! 2y
squirrelbrain Just realised I forgot to tag you on this for #aam @soubhiville 🤦‍♀️ (edited) 2y
Soubhiville No problem, I saw it anyway 🙂. As long as you fill out the Google form I don‘t have to be tagged in all AAM posts. 2y
78 likes14 comments
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Leftcoastzen
The/Last Chairlift | John Irving
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You are old,the author is old,& we no longer care!
I was disappointed my local indie only had copies of the new Irving either paid for or reserved,none to buy on Tuesday (release day) they had 7 at the Tempe location, unfortunately, that is the opposite direction of my moms place.🙄The next day I did find it at Barnes & Noble , at the back of the new release table ,only 4 copies total. I am a reader for life, but Garp reignited my interest JIT.⬇️

Leftcoastzen Just in time & because of that , I am fiercely loyal. But damn , the 80 year old wrote a 889 page book!😳 2y
Soubhiville Wow that‘s an impressive page count at any age! 2y
Leftcoastzen @Soubhiville right?!?😂 2y
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Cinfhen That is super sad - not to stock a book by John Irving. Can‘t wait to hear your thoughts….the page count actually has me hesitating #PageCountPhobia 2y
squirrelbrain I have an ARC and haven‘t got very far yet…. 2y
sdbruening Love that owl art 😃 2y
Leftcoastzen @sdbruening thanks ! I treated myself to some Halloween decor!🦉 2y
58 likes7 comments
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rockpools
Untitled | Unknown
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Well, that was a week. Let‘s do a #BookReport before I go back to work 😵‍💫

Marlow - Enjoyable cosy 👍
Rick - Gino does it again. I wish books like this existed when I was 10 (or 20!) 💜
Birdsong in Literature. A 45 minute audio. I bailed after 10 minutes.SO DRY, even with birdsong!
Life in Nature. Much more like it. This week I learnt that the extended family also have a 🦆 thing going on. Odd.
Jacob. So good. But so long. I‘m at 50%.

rockpools #WeeklyForecast I don‘t imagine much reading‘s going to happen this week, but I‘d love to get to 75% on Jacob. The International Booker longlist is out on Thursday, so that might shake things up. And I need/am struggling to find a new, light, not-rubbish audiobook. Ideas welcome.

Have a fantastic week, all. Hi Cindy 😘
3y
Cinfhen I‘m so curious about Books of Jacob BUT #PageCountPhobia 3y
Cinfhen Hi Rachel xxx 👋 3y
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youneverarrived If you haven‘t read it already Born A Crime on audio is brill! Hope you have a good week ❤️ 3y
Simona 50% is a great progress! And I feel relieved that you like it😘 My current audiobook is NF and I like it 3y
TrishB Great summary 👍🏻 have a wonderful week ♥️ 3y
squirrelbrain Hope your week goes well Rachel! 3y
Cathythoughts Have a good week 👍🏻❤️ 3y
rockpools @Cinfhen It‘s not dragging at all - it moves very swiftly between POVs, so you never get bogged down with one person, and the writing‘s fab. But #PageCountPhobia is real and keeps recurring! 3y
rockpools @youneverarrived Do you know, I think that was the first audiobook I ever read? But now might be a *really* good time to reread… (I NEVER re-read. Interesting 🤨) 3y
rockpools @Simona 🤣🤣 Is there a #blameitonsimona hashtag out there already? No seriously, I understand why you love it, and I flipping hope it makes the longlist! But I do struggle with chunksters, especially when I‘m attempting to read to a deadline, and this is probably my longest book ever 😱 3y
Cinfhen Maybe I‘ll give it a go!! I think I would love it 😊 thanks 3y
48 likes12 comments
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Cinfhen
Coffee Trader | David Liss
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This book was gifted to me ages ago from @BarbaraBB I picked it up the other day and I‘m LOVING IT!!!! I have a strange obsession/ fascination with the Spanish Inquisition and specifically the Converso‘s (Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism or face death) This book is SO in my wheelhouse. Hubby keeps asking me questions as this book also covers the beginnings of the financial market in Amsterdam, which TOTALLY appeals to him!

BarbaraBB I am super glad to hear that! I thought it might be so I am glad it is! And especially that M is interested too! 😘 3y
SarahBookInterrupted Have you read Hungers Bride by Paul Anderson? It‘s beefy but covers those topics as well (not the financial one) and is an excellent book. I highly recommend it. You just have to get over it‘s size. 3y
Cinfhen I have #PageCountPhobia @SarahBookInterrupted BUT im willing to conquer the fear for a great read!! Thanks for the recommendation/ I‘ll search for it 🤩 3y
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Cinfhen I don‘t know why I hadn‘t picked it up before now @BarbaraBB but it‘s SO PERFECT for me & M!!!! 3y
Cinfhen OMG 😳 it‘s over 1300 pages @SarahBookInterrupted 😱 @TrishB have you heard of 3y
TrishB I‘ve not heard of that one! And it‘s not easy to find either. 3y
CarolynM This sounds good! Stacked. 3y
SarahBookInterrupted Yes the 1300 was intimidating and it‘s a pain to carry around. But I really enjoyed it. It was recommended by my local used bookstore. 3y
BarbaraBB Have you read this one? My BFF is raving about it 3y
Cinfhen No, I haven‘t @BarbaraBB I will look for it!! Thanks for the recommendation Just finished Coffee Trader!!! LOVED IT 😍 I think you will like it too @CarolynM 3y
BarbaraBB Happy you loved it! Will M read it next? Is Nir Baram as hot in Israel as he is here? 3y
Cinfhen I am not at all familiar with that author 🙈🙊 @BarbaraBB I will go to the local bookstore and see if I can find that book!! And Yes!!! M is planning on reading Coffee Trader!! He‘s gonna love it, as he‘s a security & fraud litigator. 3y
BarbaraBB That is so funny, Nir Baram has been a literary hero in the Netherlands since his first book but I never read about him on Litsy! And he lives in Tel Aviv and you don‘t know him either. Maybe he doesn‘t exist, are our media making him up 😂. Hope M will like the book! 3y
76 likes3 stack adds13 comments