I'm starting to really love Kate Grenville. The novel is a tiny bit heavy-handed here and there and to be honest I think one entire storyline could have been left out, but I loved Harley and Dennis, the setting, the detail, the beautiful descriptions. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

For someone who almost always scans the shelves in libraries and bookstores for Ish..., I've actually read shockingly few of his books. I wasn't crazy about Never let me go and I also didn't love this one, sadly. Some ideas were fascinating but the conversations were exhausting to read and the premise a bit lacking to me.

I really enjoy anything by Kate Atkinson and these stories were her wonderful sort of weirdness. I especially liked Blithe Spirit. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Is each Maisie Dobbs just better than the last? This was so excellent. I could barely put it down and finished it way too quickly 😢

I was excited to come across this book, plus there was a sequel on the shelf written something like 30 years later, but... The sex. I couldn't handle all the writing about prostitution and fellow travellers talking about their sexual adventures in these countries. I'm sad that I wasted 4 days of reading time before realising it was just going to get worse.

I have a cold (surprise surprise after two horrible weeks at work) and it's my week without my girls so I'm trying to force myself to rest. I bought this because it was heavily discounted and I had been browsing in a bookshop to pass the time and it seemed depressing to buy nothing at all - does that sound demented? I just don't have the budget for new books when even simple children's books cost what I used to pay for new books for myself.

I loved this! The MC is in a coma and the reason why unravels in a non-linear way throughout the book (which sometimes irritates but was done so well). Her explorations of love and connection always touch me deeply. One fact that seems highly improbable to me was the only thing I didn't like. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I thought I was going to return this to the library unfinished - I found the beginning of Elizabeth's marriage terribly depressing. I'm so glad I gave it one more shot! It turned out to be absolutely beautiful and comforting and challenging and I loved it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

This is for sure an example of a movie taking the basic idea of a book and running wildly in different directions wirh it. It's for the better, though, I think. The clumsy treatment of class differences, the depressing reflections on married life and the unappealing character of Sonny are all vastly improved in the movie.

Well, now I can say I've read it, I guess. I unfortunately found the writing corny and heavy-handed, but it's a compelling story and I can understand why it's popular. Just not my kind of writing.

I really liked this one, maybe even more than Messenger of Truth, although there is no need to compare. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was so beautiful. It made me very sad in places but I loved it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed this! I loved the characters, their pain and challenges and also their enjoyment of life. I found the plot quite complicated but maybe my brain is just fried from work 😅 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Why oh why is the use of commas in this book so bad?

I did a 5 km hike this morning on a beautiful mild winter's day and ran some errands. So far I'm enjoying the tagged book and reading and resting are my main plans for the rest of the day.

The layers she builds are complex and so well done. I loved seeing more development in Maisie, even when she has to make hard choices. Such an enjoyable but also deep read.

I wanted to read this for so so long and my trip to the fancier library in one of our malls finally gave me the chance. I loved it; it was absolutely my kind of literary historical fiction, if that is even a genre 🙂 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I went through a big Margaret Atwood phase about 15 years ago but I never came across this one. Her books are always unique and this one can even be called weird but it's marvellously written; I can never quite pinpoint what is so masterful about the way she writes about her characters' inner lives. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've seen this movie several times for reasons I can't really explain and I found it 100% impossible not to run it through my head while reading the book. I loved certain parts, certain angles in the book - after everything, the movie doesn't convey as strongly how much Matt pursues Brian out of love for his wife.

Question: are American 10-year-olds really this precocious or is the author's perspective messed up? Scottie is way worse than in 👇

This was my first JG in I don't know how long, possibly since high school. Randomly selected at the library. I found it entertaining and informative (I never knew how much drug use there was among soldiers during Vietnam) but the flow was strange - a lot of it was like little vignette of life in this town. Hard to explain. It won't blow you away but it's an enjoyable read.

This was frankly better than I expected. For one thing, I always thought it was like a cabin in the woods 😂😂😂😂

My only gripe, because I don't drink, is that I'm so sick of the narrators of thrillers drinking constantly and the whole book taking place in an alcoholic haze.

This was very good, as always. Right now all the timelines with Max and Leon are confusing me... Very interesting parts of history were covered - her ability to imagine these is amazing.

I can't lie to myself anymore. I have a cold 😭

My children are with their dad so it's me and these babies and bed, I guess. I'm trying Cabin 10 after reading about the millionth review of it on Litsy this morning - I really hope I like it!

I've never read Jennifer Weiner before aside from starting Big Summer and not really getting into it, but this was a lot of fun! Her writing is good and I was sucked into the storyline. Recommend as a light, distracting read 😉

This is a beautiful autobiographical Afrikaans novel about the author's childhood as the child of parents who were left-leaning during apartheid and good to black people, but not always the best or most loving parents, + her relationship with her older brother who eventually could not overcome his drug habit, despite all his nonconfirmist beliefs + his writing talent. It's about family roots + the lengths people will go to for those they love.

I was really engrossed in this beautiful book. It's about a difficult physical and mental challenge, about dreaming of wild success, and about the way unresolved trauma stays with us and shapes our lives. I couldn't wait to pick it up at night once my youngest was asleep and all my chores done. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I started this a long time ago - two years? - and couldn't get into it at the time. I gave it another shot and was continually surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Maybe I had just needed a break from other feminist reimaginings I had read. Her portrayal of Jesus's humanity is unique and beautiful and definitely provides food for thought.

I stuck it out and was rewarded with the book just getting more and more depressing! All the different groups fighting for different things never stopped confusing me. Yet I did learn a lot and I don't know if I can say I'm sorry I read it. Just don't expect it to be anything like The Sparrow. Unfortunately some of her characters come off cheesy rather than profound and moving in this book.

I wanted to like a book about a nerdy translator but I just can't with this one. The writing style is just not for me.

Another really good read. I flew through this far too quickly! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aeroplane companion today.

Current read. I have another Maisie Dobbs waiting for me but trying to be disciplined and finish this first. Lots of events I never knew about. I have to go to Cape Town for 3 nights on Sunday so hoping to make progress with the library books I so energetically borrowed 😬

I really enjoyed this one, as I do most Maggie O'Farrells! I suppose the misunderstood mental illness storyline is not completely new but this was well done without being too heavyhanded, I think. And her writing is just so good. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I feel like I've been seeing posts on Maisie every time I'm on Litsy lately, and made the happy discovery that my library has at least the first 3 books. I can understand now why these books are so deeply loved and admired. It was really a light but very special read 💜💜💜

It's Jill Paton Walsh, so if course it was incredibly thought-provoking and philosophical. A proper Art of Soul book, @BarbaraJean. I finished it in the midnight hours when I couldn't sleep and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Beautiful writing, highly recommended. ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

1. My mom is in town and I need to try to see her one evening. My children are with their dad so mostly working.
2. Ceylon tea with milk.
3. Usually scraps of paper, whatever is to hand 🙈
4. Tagged. I have a Jill Paton Walsh to start after this.

Thanks for the tag, @Monica5 !

I read this story over 20 years ago, loved it and couldn't find a copy again until I found the volume Tales from the perilous realm at the library on Saturday. It was a lovely reread although I was more deeply moved the first time.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ for the beautiful writing, the nature descriptions, the shrewd and true observations on people. The hermit character and his beliefs were just a tad too obscure for me, and at one point the father's reminiscences were a bit much. Nevertheless enjoyable, thought-provoking and well done.

"I suppose I've thrown in my lot with love, and don't know any other way to go on breathing. I embrace this world... and suffer it consciously for its compensations, and fully expect to awake one day to the consequences of the bargain I've struck, since life, eventually, closes in."

In Afrikaans, Holy Saturday is called Quiet Saturday. My children are with their dad and aside from going to the farmer's market this morning, which was crazy busy, I don't have anything planned and I got into bed with my book. David Guterson is really my jam - his books don't have to be perfect in every way for the beautiful writing to move me.

I enjoyed it and it was a fun distraction but ultimately I was disappointed, I'm afraid. I feel like I've had enough of British crime writers needing to make their twist, their big secret, some kind of sex/kink thing. The Atticus Pünd novel was fun but the ending fell flat for me. I can understand why others loved it, though. ⭐⭐⭐

"All" you need to get out of a reading slump is a fun book ?

I have a day off after a horrible few weeks, and tomorrow is a public holiday because we won the Rugby World Cup (only in South Africa!) so I'm enjoying a bit of time with my girls. Sadly the water slide at this park with a shallow pool is broken, but they're stull having fun.

This was a really good read. At times I felt desperately sad for her, and, depressingly, I could relate a little to her mental health struggle. I realised I knew shockingly little about her life and death, and the author's investigation was fascinating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Another excellent Litsy recommendation that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would not have fared well on any expedition into the Amazon 😂

I hope I can blame being in survival mode in 2021 for missing this Booker winner entirely. I got to see the play based on the book last night and it was absolutely amazing. A brilliant commentary on South Africa's complicated history.

I saw the movie for the first time a few months ago and I loved the book. Just beautiful.

This was wonderful! I learned a ton and really enjoyed the journey through all the different theories of how the Polynesians came to be. My absolute favourite part was the description of the journey by traditional navigational techniques and the young Hawaiian guy that learned how to do it in his own way, using his gut. There is just so so much we don't know or understand about human intuition and ways of sensing things. A highly recommended read.

I was browsing Scribd for something light yesterday and thought hmmm, this is such a classic and I've never read it. Joke's on me because I did, possibly in translation - I remember the mom being from Georgia, because I didn't understand US states yet and thought it was Georgia next to Russia 😂😂😂 And I remember the sister wearing a see-through blouse to church. A sweet Sunday reread. I didn't know the book was based on a real girl who died.

Now I, too, have read this wonderful classic. This edition, which I got secondhand from someone, has a box it slots into, although even despite that the dust cover is terribly torn.

I became fully immersed and emotionally involved in this world and loved it.