Welcome to Litsy!

#25Alive! Day 3: #Winter - here‘s hoping I finally get to Norwegian Knausgaard this year as GatheringBooks launched its #ReadTheWorld2025 reading theme inspired by how my travels to eight countries in 2024 shaped my reading journeys: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qUy

I received this book for Christmas from my wish list and I wasn‘t disappointed. It is the story, told in short chapters, of the narrator‘s experience of living in temporary assisted housing for young people with mental illness. It explores themes of the uneven division of power, what it means to be mentally ill, and where does helping cross into abuse. A fascinating short novel.

#DaysDevotedTo Day 8: #CoffeeTea with a Norwegian novel while I was in Bodo Norway early this year. This is part of the free “fika” offered by the hotel between 3-5 pm and- said to be a big part of Scandinavian culture. Reminded me of our merienda - byproduct of Spanish colonization.

‘My dad‘s dead, did I mention that? It‘s my fault. I prayed out loud to God for him to die and he did.‘
10/10

I absolutely LOVED the first 85% of this book. I was taking notes on the characters because there are so many, and keeping track of the little threads that intertwined between them…and then the last 100 pages. OOF. I almost can‘t forgive him for the lack of an ending. But the first 579 pages were so good! (40)
⭐️: 3.5/5

4/5📚

This was a gripping story and surprisingly dense considering the length.

It seems ironic that the American editions of Ditlevsen's books all have her face on them, since she seems to have not been terribly impressed by her own appearance.

This was my #bookspin for July, a month late. @TheAromaofBooks

https://youtu.be/HZkD2VsfBMw?si=uY7JTA0Fz9cCHSjJ

Introduction

Mystery guest

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Ti Amo by Hanne Ørstavik, Martin Aitken (Translator)

Forgottenness by Tanja Maljartschuk, Zenia Tompkins (Translator)

And the Stones Cry Out by Clara Dupont-Monod, Ben Faccini (Translator)

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Archibald Colquhoun (Translator)

Two painters, both called Asle, live on the West coast of Norway; one of them is the narrator. They look identical and their lives seem two different versions of the same life.
The novel is written in stream of consciousness but the prose is slow and flows so beautifully. Their story is very intriguing, they interact with each other and it feels like one of them is a sort of an alter ego. It makes the reader wonder if both lives are real.