I'm thoroughly enjoying Katabasis, but I do on occasion wonder who R.F. Kuang's Oxbridge informant/researcher is. Wetherspoons is not really a student party spot, and considering Oxford's divide between "Town and Gown" I doubt a student would even set foot in one of them. Not to mention that in the 80s, when this book appears to be set, Wetherspoons was still confined to the London area.

Read in one sitting. Gorgeously expressive sparse prose. The story of two men secretly falling in love in a small Welsh town in the late 80s, told in short chapters and vignette-like paragraphs that somehow tells a full and rich story. Both sensual and melancholy. Almost made me cry.

A devastating gem from 1978. Jean doesn't know how to live without the structure of her job and decides to die. But her retirement gift is a 5 year diary, which she takes as an order to live. She makes herself subservient to the diary for the duration, writing her entries in the morning and then fulfilling the commands. It starts as simple orders of eating meals, but gradually becomes more daring. Failure = disobedience and is not an option!

#FirstLineFridays
Or more like First Paragraph Friday

"The funfair folk know better than anyone how it is to be an outsider in a world that would prefer they didn't exist. Each and every one of them - those born freaks and those freakish by inclination, those with freakishness thrust upon them, those with it in the blood - understands the acrobatic feat of being oneself while surviving in the opposite ecosystem. (...) Better freaks than them have perished under the weight."

Overall I enjoyed spending an evening with this book, but it did feel rather unresolved. It's hard to discuss this book without giving spoilers, so suffice to say that I enjoyed what I thought was a mildly satirical piece full of stereotypes, but from there it moved on to a sequence of unlikeable characters and several truths about the media that are no revelation. I'm not entirely sure what the author wanted me to take away from this story.

I think I might want to see how this saga about an ethnic Chinese family in Malaysia continues in the next book, but I'll be avoiding the audiobook. I kept zoning out during some landscape description and then realising I didn't know whose POV the narrator had switched to. He read everyone the same way, and occasionally there's a 1st person comment from the future self of the teenage son who is otherwise in 3rd person like the others. ⤵️

I wasn't sure about the first part of this book, but the second won me over with the sheer creepy discomfort I felt when I read it. I think I might have to let it percolate for a few days before I decide exactly how I feel about it, but it was really cleverly done and a good choice by the #Booker judges. I suspect this might make my personal shortlist.
#BookerLonglist

@CrowCAH Hopefully this will be sorted out before the Keira Knightly book comes out in October! It should be fine since I believe the new exemption is for packages under $100, but we need the postal service to be actually running! Neither The Royal Mail or DHL is currently accepting any packages for the US. If all else fails I guess I'll have to find some American tourist to act as courier 🤣 (because that doesn't sound dodgy at all)

I like books that have little or no plot if the writing is good and the characters interesting. Here the prose is good, but focussed on the minutae, the characters interesting but not allowed to shine. The pace is glacial. And the ending is 🤷🏻‍♀️🫤
I'm left feeling like I've been teased with bits and pieces of a good story, but instead of filling in the gaps Miller has given in to a Knausgardian impulse to describe how people brush their teeth.

I didn't get very far on my #ReadYourKindle selection in July. Trying again with these August books. (And might still try to catch up on July 😅)

@CBee

He was lying on a varnished wooden board, the top of a boxed-in radiator.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Excellent and eerie. I loved it. That feeling of I'm not even sure what I'm reading right now, but I'm here for it. Dysfunctional family, generational trauma, mental illness, and a house that may or may not be haunted. 👌

Me reading Never Flinch: I am wise to your tricks now, Mr King. When this turns suddenly supernatural and horrific, I'll be ready. Just, please don't make 'Sista Bessie' be magical.
Me, currently at 270/410: Wth Stephen? Is this going to stay mundane? The villains, while definitely in need of therapy, seem mainly pitiful, and even Holly reads as mostly neurotypical here. 🤷🏻‍♀️
(Fully expecting to have to eat my words by the end)

I would not be at all surprised if this wins the Pulitzer next year. Clever, emotional, full of literary and pop culture references and quirky characters, it's the death of dreams and the endurance of friendship. It gave me a lump in my throat but also, at one point, made me laugh until I had tears in my eyes. It would have been a five star read except for the ending.

My #ReadYourKindle books for July. Two international Bookers and two crime novels! And both crime novels are the first in a very long series 😅 I think I'll aim for one crime one Booker and then see where the month is at. (Meanwhile I am also reading all those massive Cosmere books on my Kindle, so it is getting a workout 😂)

It's been a long time since a book brought this many tears to my eyes. I'm not sure I could have read it when my children were younger. But it was also a real eye opener with a lot of fascinating information about medical history and innovations. A remarkable story featuring a lot of ordinary people showing remarkable compassion.
The #WomensPrize for non-fiction list was really strong again this year, and this is a worthy winner.

#WomensPrizeNF

An Aeluon, an Akarak, and a Quelin walk into a long-haul short-stop and end up in lockdown for a few days. The Laru host and her kid try to cater to their needs. They all learn a few things about themselves and the universe. Unlikely friendships are forged. Nothing much happens, and I didn't need it to. Possibly my favourite of the series.

#ReadYourKindle

I love it when a book gives me really interesting information about something it had never occurred to me to think about. I am now officially a fan of hares. I really didn't think that a book about a woman's lockdown project of looking after a hare would be all that interesting, but it really was.

#WomensPrizeNF #WomensPrize
#14books14weeks book 1

#

Indeed!

DNF at 31%
I don't get the hype or why this even has a mainstream publisher. Was it popular on Booktok or something? You can find better self-published books on KU. Dark? Please, there's zero depth or emotional attachment so it doesn't feel dark. Romantic? The courtship is more painful than the torture scenes. Comedy? A light tone and irrational characters isn't enough to make it funny.

#HailTheBail

I picked only paper editions for the #14books14weeks so my summer reading challenge to myself is to actually read my #ReadYourKindle books in June, July, and August (yeah, we'll see how that goes 😅)
I think this is some good midsummer reading here; a mix of the cozy and the queer (or the cozy and the weird, but that has no alliteration 😆)

@CBee

It's frustrating, because this book has such potential for greatness and so many strong insights about a whole slew of important themes, but it focuses mainly on a toxic love affair. And I am so tired of books about barely adult women in unhealthy relationships with older men.

#WomensPrize #WomensPrize25

More regret for everyone!

Just days after picking my books for #14Books14Weeks I go book crawling with @Caroline2 and end up with this haul 😅 Now, of course, I want to read these instead 😂 (as well?)

When I started putting books together for #14books14weeks I realised that between Camp Litsy and other buddy reads I already have 14 books lined up for summer. And I'll be reading those anyway, so I decided to challenge myself to also read 14 books without a group schedule. Most of these keep getting pushed back because of those scheduled reads. Well, now these are scheduled too. Not shown in reading order. Banana for size.
@Liz_M

The #WomensPrize always picks one weird one that nobody likes. This year it's Crooked Seeds, and I actually did like it. In a future New South Africa water is rationed and the government is reclaiming private property. Compensation is not forthcoming because the economy has gone to shit. Deirdre is a middle aged alcoholic with a massive chip on her shoulder, and bases her whole identity around being an amputee. Something is found buried in the ⤵️

My current audiobook. I'm only 24% in, so not entirely sure where it's going, but it looks like nowhere good 😅 The MC is an utterly unlikable ball of narcissism and unresolved trauma. I can't help thinking that if the Women's Prize really had to have rich people immigrant problems , this is a better choice than the boring Persians. And if they wanted women being gross and transgressive, All Fours has nothing on this woman's skincare rituals.

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

I thought Neneh Cherry's memoir sounded like a niche choice for the #WomensPrizeNF shortlist, but you don't need to be a fan to get a lot out of this book. It's a time capsule. It's the emerging music scene and countercultures of NYC in the 70s and London in the 80s. It's Jazz history. It's about being bi-racial and with family ties to three continents. It's about food, friendship, addiction, the AIDS epidemic, art, and an unconventional life.

Yes!

My #readyourkindle numbers for May. Christ on a Bike is a repeat from an earlier month, so I should really prioritise that 😬 Will I get to any of them? Maybe. I managed one in April 😅
@CBee

"I had been trying to be invisible - trying to blend in - when, of course, in Sweden I couldn't. And while being in the States would always be a relief because it was a place of colour, even there I still didn't entirely fit in because of being Swedish and from an unconventional background. I had always been aware of my in-between-ness.
But after that first time in London, I never felt compromised in the same way again."

This was great! I have little interest in the French Impressionists, and knew very little about Gauguin (most of which turned out to be inaccurate), but this was highly interesting and superbly entertaining as well as informative. What a character! What a life! The book also includes a lot of prints and photos of artwork, on high quality paper. I'm sad this didn't make the shortlist for the #WomensPrizeNF

Thing 2 likes to have a lot of options, including non-fiction and manga. He's currently reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

This is the 20th time we take part in the twice yearly #Deweys #24hourReadathon ! Ten years of family readathons.
#RaisingReaders

There will be no pic of Thing 1's #readathon stack, as he's audiobooking The Raven Cycle for the umpteenth time whilst working on his Final Project for his Art & Design course.

The Spouse goes for a smaller #readathon stack. And tbh he will probably just read Nights at the Circus until his head spins and then either fall asleep for three hours or wander off to do something else (like prepare food, because I'm for sure not going to do it today 😂)

#Deweys #24hourReadathon

It's #readathon time! My stack has a bunch of short reads for when I need a break from the chunksters. My kindle is there to represent The Hero of Ages and Warbreaker that I need to catch up on for the #CosmereBuddyRead 😅

Sparkling, darkly elegant, and deliberately crude. A fictionalised account of the courtly intrigue and censorship under Louis XIV when French folktales were given the name "fairytales" and standardised in the female-dominated literary salons. Some wild historical info, and a lot of dark tales and fates.

Soft pick. I probably shouldn't have read this directly after an Agatha Christie. Where she is charming and witty, this was charming but silly. And the plotting and false leads weren't half as fiendish. I also didn't entirely buy the 1925 setting. However, the mystery and the unlikely grandfather & teenage boy detective team grew on me, and I might give the next book a go at some point.

#Eastercrime

Not one of Agatha Christie's best, but great fun nonetheless. It definitely showcases her sense of humour. It's pretty much a spoof spy thriller, with all the characters acting like they're something out of Wodehouse. For a while I was sure I had worked out the solution to the mystery, but of course I hadn't 😂

Did she really, though? First of all, it's "hear, hear", not "here, here", and secondly, this takes place in France so she would be a lot more likely to say "well said" (Bien dit!)

And the book was doing so well up until now.

Time for some classic #Eastercrime
I read (and watched) a lot of Agatha Christie in my teens, and the premise of this one sounds familiar, but I can't remember who the killer is or why. Hopefully it won't come back to me as I read 😅

Very unsettling mystery! And a fast read. I would have done the whole thing in one go if I hadn't made the mistake of starting it just before midnight. As it was I still read half the book before going nervously to bed 😅

I have the sushi cover, and I just have to say that it has absolutely nothing to do with the book. At all. Unlike the other one which features clues from the story.

This book has been described to me as cerebral crime/horror, and I sincerely hope that it's dark and unwholesome and full of fiendish puzzles.

#Eastercrime

How did BOTH of these books make it to the #WomensPrize shortlist? Wasn't one (more than) enough?
They both feature serious broader issues that affect women, but take a tone that is supposed to be funny and have protagonists that nobody can identify with.
They're both about privileged women who implode their lives because rich people have trauma too. That's 1/3 of the #shortlist (maybe more 😵, I haven't read them all yet).
Why?

The Fellowship was a lovely idea with memorable characters, but it seemed like the book had more descriptions of clothes and food than puzzles. (And there were inconsistencies!) It was also terribly wholesome and life-affirming and full of mindfulness-style wisdom. And since I'm a total grouch I found the sum total to be a bit dull.

Easing into #Eastercrime with this book that isn't really crime (I think), but a mystery and a lot of puzzles. It's also one of my #ReadYourKindle picks for April.

Very interesting and informative, but a bit technical at times.

The TL;DR summary:
People are the worst. We destroy everything with our greed and short sightedness. But not all is lost, and some people are doing awesome things. To save the oceans (and our future) we need to work together globally, but also give the local people of each area a say. And we need to cut carbon emissions. By a lot. Immediately.

#WomensPrizeNF #shortlist

Step 1 - Get the governments of poor countries to sell you fishing quotas for a steal
Step 2 - Overfish their waters, wreak their coastline, and destroy the natural habitats of the area
Step 3 - When the impoverished former local fishermen of the area risk their lives getting to Europe in search for work, call them "economic refugees" and "illegal migrants" and deny them entry.

??