Right up my alley, a book in the form of a true crime podcast, a cold case set in the woods and marshes of England. Throw in some folklore and a great twist and you have a great read. At least I think so. Thanks for the heads up @Reggie 🖤

France, 1714. When Adeline LaRue has to marry someone she doesn‘t want to, she begs for a life of freedom. Her wish comes true, but at a price. Addie will live forever, and is doomed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
She travels across continents and through centuries and learns to live an invisible life. Until someone remembers her. That changes everything.

It‘s a sweet read. A bit too much so to my taste.

#TuesdayTunes

Well, it is Eurovision 🇪🇺 time so I think I should share the Dutch contestant 😃. It is a ridiculous song called Europapa. Tomorrow are the semifinals, let‘s see if Joost makes it to Eurovision on Saturday!

https://open.spotify.com/track/0uHrMbMv3c78398pIANDqR?si=XD4sRfOCT5ycQsrPAjkqSA

Exactly a month from now we‘ll go camping! In #CampLitsy24 we‘ll kick off with Clear, our first June read. As always we‘ll discuss the books over two weekends, even when it‘s as thin as this one!

On June 8 we‘ll discuss chapter 1 to 23, on June 15 chapter 24 to the end.
I‘ll be your host for the June reads and will post some questions to discuss sometime during these days.

We are looking forward to a summer of reading and chatting with you!

Another delicious twisty thriller by John Marrs. Although the main characters sometimes act a bit too convenient for the sake of the book, I couldn‘t put it down.

Laura volunteers at a suicide helpline where she listens to callers and encourages them to end their lives.

#WeeklyForecast 20/24

I am reading The Good Samaritan and it is as engaging as I expected. Next will be Six Stories because of @Reggie ‘s review. And I have one more book to read from the #womensprize longlist. I haven‘t heard much about it but it does sound good.

#BookReport 19/24

Bitter Herbs (Het bittere kruid) is fantastic, a Dutch classic rediscovered and an absolute gem. I also loved Mrs Caliban and want to read more Ingalls. Dolly Maunders I am still thinking of even though I didn‘t like the book that much. What‘s left of me is yours was enjoyable too but one I won‘t remember for long.

I‘ve been rereading my Paul Auster reviews and the tagged one is the one I enjoyed the least of his books. All others were four stars or more for me. I still have 4321 to read. So sad there won‘t be any new ones coming.

In a podcast I heard of this book, which I read in high school only because it is slim. I reread it now and it blew me away. Published in 1957 it is the story of a girl who loses her complete family during WWII. During the war she misses them but she lives her life, surviving and expecting them to come back, because why not? The innocence….
With our knowledge now and the times we‘re living in this book broke my heart in just 90 pages.

Dolly‘s was the transition generation. Dolly Maunders is born at the end of the 19th century, just when things were starting to change for women and their possibilities in life. Dolly wants to grasp them all, there‘s always something better, somewhere. Her restlessness is understandable but has its bad sides. She‘s never quite happy with what she has and it makes her a rather cold, dominating mother. ⬇️⬇️

#TuesdayTunes

Tonight I went to a show by Wende, a Dutch singer who you obviously won‘t know but I‘ve been listening to to get in the mood. She was awesome. You won‘t understand the lyrics, which is a shame. It‘s poetry!

https://open.spotify.com/track/2de9hFWcbbWM8AiDwg3wvd?si=NuW_ULVqQAqu7SrFC8yIUw

#AprilStats #AprilWrapUp

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Brotherless night
A trace of sun
Christ on a bike
River east river west
The last thing to burn
Mrs Caliban

⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
The vacation
Luister (Dutch)

⭐️⭐️⭐️
The maiden
Mrs S
And then she fell
What‘s left of me is yours

⭐️⭐️✨
Nightbloom

DNF
The wren, the wren
The wild laughter
The future

A suburban housewife starts an affair with a green frogman.
Is he real or just her imagination, her escape from a bleak reality in which she is mourning the death of her child and has become estranged from her husband?

I guess this is exactly what Rachel Ingall wants us to wonder about and maybe it doesn‘t really matter: she starts questioning her life and the world.

What an impressive novella. One that will stick with me. That ending…

I am adding four more colors to #Pantone24: Mushroom, Northern Droplet, Charlock and Watercress. I have eight more colors to go but those will be more difficult I guess.

An interesting story about a “wakaresaseya”, a person hired by a spouse to seduce their partner to gain grounds for a divorce. The setting in Japan added much to the book. I think the book could have done with some editing and a hundred pages less but it is still a pick.

#52BookClub24 - Apostroph in title

#WeeklyForecast 19/24

I am still reading What‘s Left of me Is Yours, which is set in Japan and I am enjoying. I have another #womensprize book lined up, the one on the shortlist I hadn‘t read yet. Mrs Caliban I am going to read because of @vivastory ‘s review.

#BookReport 18/24

I loved the tagged one and bailed on both others. I feel so restless. Excited about the #CampLitsy love and also anxious about the state of the world.

Meg, Helen and I are so glad you are as thrilled as we are about #CampLitsy24: 74 people voted, which is a new record!
@Chelsea.Poole was it so CLEAR that Clear would be one of the selected books 🤣? You were right: it will be our first June read, followed by Butter. We hope you‘re happy with these first books!
I‘ll be your host in June & will get back to you with the reading schedule. Tomorrow check Meg‘s thread: she‘ll announce the July reads!

I don‘t think I‘ve ever bailed on so many books as this month. This is another one that started out great (a woman looking for her two granddaughters who went missing after their mother was murdered). Unfortunately it turned into a mix of dystopia, fantasy, and magical realism 😵‍💫
It was an audioread and maybe my English isn‘t good enough but I completely lost track of the storyline and frankly, I didn‘t bother, I just wanted it to be over.

When I started I was sure this would be a personal #womensprize favorite, but it isn‘t. I have very mixed feelings about it. I love how Alicia Elliott makes me feel (contrary to many others I liked Steve and I think he really loved Alice and she just didn‘t talk! He couldn‘t know half of the things she was thinking of and if they made sense. Does that make me naive or even racist? I certainly hope not but the author is messing with my mind!)⬇️

“Listen” is a Dutch book that has won many literary prizes and I read as an audio. It‘s about a Dutch girl who becomes an au-pair in Paris in the early ‘90s. We also know it‘s a story about 2015, the year Paris was shook up by the Charlie Hebdo attack at the beginning of the year and suicide bombers in November. We know this but not what‘s the connection between them. An engaging read, I hope it will be translated!

#TuesdayTunes

“When I was younger
Oh the path it seemed so clear
I followed the music
And the path it appeared”

Today I am listening to this song by First Aid Kit, a Swedish folk duo. I love their music and this song reminds me of Fleetwood Mac.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5yqkThJqc4Btvc19Qbrlk4?si=Hd5tVDB4QJyPMbPoxlDXIA&...

I am in the middle of And Then She Fell. I loved it immediately but now I am not so sure anymore. So for now I stick to these six favorites for the #WomenPrize shortlist (which I know is exactly the same as yours, Helen!). If I change my mind again after a few more chapters of ATSF and before the announcement on Wednesday morning, I‘ll add it and remove Enter Ghost (with pain in my heart).

A super addictive read about a Vietnamese refugee held hostage by a man in the UK. They are even married but he controls every move she makes and she wants out. So scary and pageturning! It gave me The Collector vibes. The ending felt a bit hurried but I spent some pretty intense hours with this book. Recommended!

#WeeklyForecast 18/24

I am trying to read one more longlisted book (the tagged one) before the #WomenPrize shortlist will be announced on Wednesday.
But first I‘ll finish The Last Thing to Burn which has had me hooked this weekend!
What‘s Left of me Is Yours is the third one I hope to get to.

#CampLitsy24 (post 2 of 2)

Here's the voting form: https://forms.gle/4yfU4GWC3YA5cuBb6

Take your time and please vote for the six books you‘d want to read this summer.

We'll get back to you with the results next weekend, so you'll have plenty of time to get copies of the chosen books before we read them in June, July and August. We are so looking forward to going camping and reading with all of you!! 🏕️ 📚

#CampLitsy24 (post 1 of 2)

Drop all your plans for today 😀 because here is the #CampLitsy24 longlist!!

Although we limited the amount of nominations to 4 this year, we still have an extensive list of over a 100 books 📚 🙌🏽

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iQ7oQlt8wDxGcYpALoW0aPaCQXD-SeMQ/edit?us...

I‘ll upload the voting form in a separate post immediately after posting this one

#BookReport 17/24

I enjoyed the tagged book a lot and loved River East River West. Both others I bailed on. I feel guilty about that but I couldn‘t concentrate on the style and language of both books and lost track and motivation. Maybe one day I‘ll try again.

It took some time getting into this book but then it gave me all the feels. I rooted for Lu Fang throughout the book, the Chinese man who falls in love with an American woman living in China. Her daughter Alva, who‘s coming to age is another storyline, I found extremely annoying: how many wrong choices can a 15-year old make? Set in China from the 80s until 2009 makes for an interesting setting! ⬇️⬇️

Another bail.. I have a hard time concentrating on books (am very busy at work and a bit hyped about that #CampLitsy24 longlist) and this one just didn‘t make sense to me. Great writing, great scenes but they lacked connection I think and I had not really and idea what or whom I was reading about. Maybe I‘ll give it another try when I am a bit more relaxed.

#WomenPrize

#TuesdayTunes

“Oh, would you help me? I don't understand. Is it over? Am I losing solid ground?”

I love Michael Kiwanuka‘s voice and melancholy. So good!

https://open.spotify.com/track/3aLq93pLZHx25jcFhfbEee?si=ZiRp3tSaQAC74JBMiFVPGw

It might be the excitement around the nominations for #CampLitsy but I can't get invested in this book and am putting it aside for now. The language, the fact that nothing much happens in the first 100 pages.. I call it quits for now.

#ATY24 - Sound related word in title

#WeeklyForecast 17/24

I am reading The Wild Laughter, not sure what to think yet. Next will be the tagged book and last but not least, the Iris Murdoch is my #Roll100 book.

Here are my nominations for #CampLitsy24

If you don‘t know what I am talking about but are intrigued, read my earlier post.
If you do know and are as excited as I am about this, post your own 4 nominations, use hashtag #CampLitsy24 and tag me and my co-hosts @Megabooks and @squirrelbrain
Hope to see you at camp 🏕️ 🧡

We are pleased to announce a new edition of Camp Litsy 🏕️ 📚

We're opening nominations for the longlist now. We invite you all to suggest 4 books to read this summer. Post your choices on Litsy with #CampLitsy24 and tag @Megabooks, @squirrelbrain and me. The nominated books need to be published in 2024 and by 15 June so campers can procure the final choices.

Nominations are open until 21 April. Then we‘ll publish the longlist for voting ⬇️⬇️

Cetus inherited a significant fortune from a total stranger but she is legally unable to share it with anyone else. This is a reality with which she has to deal while enjoying her inheritance. It‘s a compelling setup and the book raises so many questions about greed and wealth and happiness. Quite an original plot! Thank you for bringing it to my attention @TrishB !

#ATY24 - Going for the gold

#BookReport 16/24

Two #WomenPrize reads this week and the tagged one. I was disappointed by Nightbloom because my expectations were high but both others I enjoyed.

How am I the first to post about this book while it‘s on the #WomenPrize longlist??
Anyhow, it deserves to be there. It‘s a powerful read. Cilla leaves her homeland Grenada to make money in the UK. She leaves her son Raef behind and it takes 7 years before she can afford his ticket and for him to reunite with his family. Things don‘t go well however and Cilla blames herself. Told by mother and son alternately the book packs a punch.

Two Ghanaian cousins have shared years together growing up but experienced them completely different. Akorfa is the rich and smart one who leaves Ghana for an education in the US. Her story felt too long and lightweight to me.
Selasi stays in Ghana and owns a restaurant. Her story is different. Lots of tough topics come by but her story felt hurried and lacked depth.

So no favorite of mine for the #WomenPrize.

An Australian “matron” works at a posh English boarding school for girls and becomes obsessed with Mrs S, the headmaster‘s wife. The book is slowly building up towards a summer of queer love and seduction, the love between the narrator and Mrs S a forbidden one. And one that could not last. I was curious how the book would end and was glad with the way it did!

#TuesdayTunes

I managed to not mention them until now but let‘s face it, among all other tunes and artists I mentioned here, I am always listening to the Chili Peppers too. This one is about Eddie Van Halen. It‘s from RHCP‘s latest album and the lyrics, Anthony Kiedis‘s voice and especially John Frusciante‘s guitar solo are 👌🏽💯

My favorite song by them these days: https://open.spotify.com/album/6DUWfrmH8uTH33wMFOBJDu?si=8nFdJyTQRTOTVwD5HuDitw

#WeeklyForecast 16/24

I am reading Mrs S and have another two #womenprize books waiting for me. Also I‘d like to start Christ on an Bike which is a 💯 #blameitonlitsy choice.

#BookReport 15/24

I read two #womenprize books this week. The Maiden was enjoyable, the tagged book really good yet both can‘t compete to In Defence of the Act to me - my favorite so far. I then binge-read the Marrs chunkster, an engaging thriller, not his best though.

Although it is definitely not his best (it‘s one of his earliest thrillers, re-edited and renamed a few years afters its publication) I still enjoyed John Marrs‘s book about travelers from all over the world meeting each other in a rundown LA hostel. All carry secrets from their past and the book is full of plot lines and twists. I couldn‘t stop reading!

An interesting story, based on a true one, which for me always adds a bit to a book. Christian was too wild for the times she lived in and that caused her downfall.
I feel like the book could have used some editing ( the story took endless to pick up speed) and though I liked it, I wonder why it is on the #WomenPrize longlist.

#52BookClub24 - More than 40 chapters

What a beatiful book. I loved the narrator‘s journey between the different points of view on the war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government and the people caught in between. She shows there is so much grey between black and white and I learned a lot. Besides that VV Ganeshananthan creates wonderful human characters, who she no doubt met and knew in real life. A great read. #Womenprize

#TuesdayTunes

“I should be cryin' but I just can't let it show
I should be hopin' but I can't stop thinkin
All the things we should've said that we never said,
All the things we should‘ve done that we never did”

My favorite Kate Bush song on repeat today!

https://spotify.link/o4hxZsTztIb

#WeeklyForecast 15/24

I am reading an enjoying both Brotherless Night and The Maiden from the #womenprize longlist. I highly doubt I‘ll finish both this week. I‘ve had an extra long Easter weekend at the coast but will have to make up for it during the rest of the week!
Maybe just maybe there‘ll be time to start another John Marrs 😇

#MarchWrapUp #MarchStats

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In Defence of the Act
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
A History of Loneliness
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Caretaker
Ordinary Human Failings
Sailor Soldier
⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
When You Disappeared
Enter Ghost
What I‘d Rather not Think About
What Have We Done
Bijna niets gebeurt toevallig
⭐️⭐️⭐️
The List
See You in Paradise
⭐️⭐️✨
Vengeance is Mine
⭐️⭐️
O Caledonia
Hangman

DNF
In Ascension

I‘ve listened to this book while driving or when I couldn‘t sleep and enjoyed the short stories of two women who work as editors for daily talkshows. There‘s a lot to do at the moment about the atmosphere behind the scenes of those productions, think #metoo, sexism, long hours, unfair employment contracts etc. The authors write about their experiences with wit and humor. Without getting sarcastic they nail the subject.