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#currentlyreading #nighttraintolisbon 🩵

This is a beautiful, subtle story of queer teenage love set in small town Portugal, told alternately in graphic novel and prose poem format. The art is gorgeous, dynamic, and expressive. The words are poetic yet simple, and authentic in a way that brought me right back to being 16 and having a crush.I loved this! Definitely read this if you're a fan of Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki's graphic novels.

"Pardalita, I tried to sit as far away from you as possible. But since we were in a circle, the farthest away meant facing you directly. Not the best plan."

"How far can you be from someone without them noticing you don't want any distance at all?"

Ah, the idiosyncrasies of a queer teenage crush

#QueerBooks

The lifelong love story of two Madeiran refugees in the US. I really loved reading about the divergent paths their lives took and treasures the moments they reconnected. A little slow moving, but beautiful.

#bookspin #doublespin

Second month in a row bookspin hit my author of the year - Jose Saramago, going to try to get to him this month with the shortest of his I own Cain.
Double spin is from the Women's Prize Nonfiction Long List, it looks interesting about geography and more... already have it on hold at the library.

I decided to give historical fiction a try & this one is fast paced, & well researched. I am impressed by the way the author wrote the MCs.
Maria fights to serve her country in WW2, and earns her way to Portugal where her microfilm skills are needed to collect Nazi publications. She works with a Portuguese freedom fighter who runs an underground Jewish network, and serves as a double agent to the Nazis.
3/5 read for a good story based in history

Each year I chose one author to read all year long, this year I am trying to read 12 Jose Saramago books.
Stone Raft is about a group of peoples adventures when they are stuck on the Iberian peninsula when it breaks from Europe and starts floating around the ocean. I love that the car and a dog become characters with real personalities. The rag tag group is interesting and creative, and Spain and Portugal come alive as we travel through them.

#weeklyforecast I can't believe January is ending this week! It was the longest quick month ever.

I am reading 1 Saramago book a month And am not quite finished with the tagged, will finish this week. Am super excited to read the ARC I have "Jacquotte Delahaye" about a Caribbean pirate lady! I am also half into Bright Young Women so hopefully will wrap that up, I have Hunt the Flame on audio to help move this stack along.

While the main story is about the Iberian peninsula breaking off and floating away, it is also about different adventures our characters have. While on a road trip Saramago gives the Deux Chevaux used during a road trip almost an animated quality, he speaks of it occasionally as an autonomous character which is very interesting.
I had never heard of this car so had to Google it, it is so cute!

"It was a clear night, the vast expanse of the sky dotted with stars, so close, it seemed, that they might have been magically suspended motes of glass dust, or a snow-white veil, and the great constellations shone dramatically, the morning star, the two Bears, the Pleiades, a fine shower of tiny crystals of light fell on the two men's upturned faces, got caught in their hair, it was not the first time this phenomenon occurred........"