I finished Part 1 of My Struggle Book 1 and needed a break. KOK is as intense as the way he looks! 😏 So I‘m back to 19th century France with Zola. I don‘t think this is a stroll-in-the-park kind of read, either 😅

😅😅😅 The names in this novel are very very challenging!! This is worse than Russian names 🤣 Norsk is unpronounceable for me I need some time to get used to this 🥂

My second time reading this book and my 4⭐️ rating holds. I usually stay away from novels about infidelity but this one is well written, and it digs deeper on a crumbling marriage and a family going through a divorce. It‘s another NYRB Classics gem I‘d add to my recommendation list.

Starting my journey with KOK. My husband has been teasing me for having the series sitting pretty on my shelves for 7 years 🤭 They‘re the depiction of my true TBR-stacks struggle

Getting ready for Chinese New Year 🍊

Re-reading this gem 🤩

4⭐️ It‘s a story about 2 fathers and 2 sons, and how they differ in their thinking and POV. In today‘s context, this would be Gen X vs Gen Z. As a Gen X myself, I totally relate with the fathers but I wonder how I‘d think about this novel if I were to read it when I was in my early 20s 🤔

5⭐️ I expected Germinal to be crazy, but I didn‘t expect it to be THIS crazy. Zola went all out. His graphic descriptions could be horrific at times, and he pulled his readers to experience it along with the characters. Coal mining is a messy business, and working as a coal miner is basically living in hell. Pour in the disparity and conflicts between the bourgeoisie and the workers, and you‘d get an unforgettable read.

With this, I decided to bail. It‘s too painful for me I wanted to cry. My issue with this novel is the delivery. “Its beauty echoes - its beauty is its echoing, its ringing singing lightness.” 🤨 What?! Is she a disciple of Lawrence Durrell?

Buddy-reading this with my colleague. I‘m about 20% in and I feel that the author is trying hard to impress the readers with her sentence structure. I‘m not impressed at all 😭

Books read in 2024 📚

Festive Melon 🍈

Merry Christmas, everyone!! 💕Wishing you stacks of Christmas joy 🎄🎅🏻

I‘d never thought about how coal mining works until now. It‘s extremely hard work, dangerous, and harmful to the body. To think that they used child labour for this is mind-boggling!

I borrowed this book from the library because of the pretty cover, but decided to bail when I came across this part. Here the girl Emilia just got her first period and the Queen told her that it‘s a gift.
🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

And then I got curious about The Execution of Emperor Maximilian painting by Édouard Manet. Poor Maximilian ?

Have you watched The Empress on Netflix? It‘s about Empress Sisi of Austria. Part of Season 2 is about the revolution in Lombardy-Venetia. It‘s nice when my book and my Netflix connect 💕

My next read 😅 My book buddy said to me, “Germinal for Christmas! Only you would put yourself through this kind of torture.” I‘m so looking forward to this, though. The ultimate Zola unhinged 🔥

5😱 This novel reads like a full speed train! Domestic violence, rape, murder, lust, suicide… it has everything! This is Zola with high level of madness; I could feel the horror when he describes the aftermath of a derailment and the Anna Karenina-style of self-destruction. Definitely a book to savour but preferably not during Christmas season 😅

Flore embracing the train. I‘ve been thinking about this scene for 2 days now 😖 I wonder what Zola actually observed to be able to write in such descriptive manner. What did you see?

Happy Sunday, my dearest! Happy reading 🤓

😅😆🤣

I was reading the tagged book on the bus on my way to work this morning. I was aware that the guy beside me was staring at my book but I ignored him. About 3 stops before my destination, he couldn‘t resist and said “That‘s a really good book!” He asked me if I‘ve read any other Zola (yes, this is my 15th), and which titles that I haven‘t read yet. He shared that Germinal is his fav, and asked if I‘m doing this as part of a lit study. 👇🏻

Listening to Edwin Frank talking about his new book (tagged). Thank God for Zoom; I can listen in from miles away 🥰

Found this on pinterest 😍 which reflects my mood now

Lucky black kitty guarding my NYRBs 😆

This just arrived today 😍😍😍 I‘ve only read his memoir and essays so far, and I admire him so much. When I grow up, I want to be OS !

Just started this today, and Zola served me a very descriptive DV 🥴

About 6 weeks left in 2024, and I have 6 titles left for this series. Can I do it? Can I? 🤪

3⭐️ This is a thought-provoking novel that offers a compelling exploration of the artistic struggle between creative vision and commercial success. The story follows Claude Lantier, a talented but troubled painter, as he navigates the Parisian art scene. His struggles feel authentic but the supporting characters are not as engaging

Another article about Silent Book Club Singapore. Well written profile 👍🏻

https://www.anza.org.sg/2024/11/06/inside-the-world-of-singapores-silent-book-cl...

3⭐️ This is a perfect book for Halloween. 11 stories about ghosts 👻 I would‘ve given a higher rating if the endings are more conclusive. I was left feeling unsatisfied for most. My favorites are “Afterward” and “A Bottle of Perrier.” There‘s no ghost for the latter but a gruesome finding at the end, and I found it the most entertaining.

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes 💕 I spent my birthday hiking the Togakushi trail. Beautiful nature ❤️

I‘m so behind with my reading. September and October were busy months 🥴

The recording for the NLB event is here. We discussed BookTok and backlists.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/YbqHTLjQizB7UFK5/?mibextid=QwDbR1

I just had a fun discussion at the NLB event. We talked about BookTok resurgence of backlisted titles. I will be sharing my book recommendations here 😬

I was invited by National Library Board Singapore to speak at their panel discussion on 8 Oct.

I‘m not following BookTok and I don‘t really read BookTok books but I read a lot of backlists 😆 I‘ll be sharing how I search for titles that interest me, and how people benefit from bookclubs.

I‘m staring at my shelves now to create a list of book recommendations 📚

If you are keen to listen in, get tickets here: go.gov.sg/worththehype3

In the mood for Comyns

For September bookclub. This is sooooo good 😍 Add this to your shopping cart, please!

4⭐️ This was a fun and quick read for me. Comyns mixed a handful of interesting characters in one boarding house that belongs to Amy Doll. The lodgers are four elderly prostitutes who keep their days busy entertaining their elderly gentlemen friends 😅 Comyns has her ways in making me laugh and feel sad afterwards. I don‘t know how she did it, it‘s just magic!

😎

Almost halfway and it‘s been so good! 🤓

3.5⭐️ Funny and entertaining, this book is such an easy read. I think I would‘ve appreciated it more if I read this in my younger days. The madness would have been more relatable back then. Nevertheless, it‘s an entertaining novel and I had some good laughs thanks to Jim Dixon‘s shenanigans.

Rushing Lucky Jim for our book club meeting this Sunday. I‘m back in my hometown for 2-week break 🥳 and today I spent some time at the most popular cafe in town Coffee & Beyond. My drink is called Kermit the Frog, which is dirty matcha. Not bad at all 😃

4⭐️ What a tough book to read! 😅 Platonov deployed so many layers of irony in this story of communist experiment in a district named Chevengur. It‘s not easy to realize the dream of creating a perfect communist world. The communist intellectuals themselves were not sure about the concepts and implementations. It‘s really a brain-wrecking novel but I‘m also encouraged to read Platonov‘s other works now 😆

4⭐️ I was looking forward to reading this book because 1. It‘s Kempowski!, and 2. It‘s rare to have WWII story from Germany‘s POV. This is an autobiographical novel of a boy growing up under Nazi rule. Reading this book ~80 years after the actual event, I don‘t see anything ordinary about his childhood. I was fascinated by his bohemian family, and how they dealt with the disruption of war.

Happy Wednesday, Littens! I have not been reading for the last two weeks!! 🙈 Somehow I have no mood to pick up a book… which is so weird!

🖼️: Pinterest

I think he is right 😐

I had no idea about Andrey Platonov and his works; all I knew is that NYRB said that it‘s good and so I decided to read it. The Chandlers translated this novel and they translated Vasily Grossman‘s works so I trusted them. So I read the first chapter and thought “wow so this is about the famine period! This is going to be tough!” I then flipped to the translator‘s note and Robert Chandler‘s first sentence says 👇🏻