My last read for #NovellasInNovember - I didn't quite finish it in November because it demanded slow reading and reflection of me.

The Sense of an Ending is a story about the paradoxes of existence, the unreliability of memory and the way we curate our memories to tell a manipulated version of the story of our lives.

It's utterly brilliant.

https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2022/12/03/the-sense-of-an-ending/

#NovNov22 #Jans2022readinglist #Books #BookReview #JulianBarnes #TheSenseOfAnEnding

#MonaArshi's novel Somebody Loves You is exceptionally beautiful and sad in its depiction of a family trying to maintain stability. Seen through the eyes of Ruby, a girl who has internalised her own otherness while observing the otherness around her, the story deals with mental health, racism, sexual assault and the complexities of suburban life.

https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2022/11/28/somebody-loves-you/

#Books #BookReview #NovNov22

Is A Pale View of Hills a ghost story, or is it the true memory of a Japanese woman transplanted from Nagasaki to an anonymous village in England?

#KazuoIshiguro's debut novel introduces the writer we now know him to be, over a career of eight novels (so far). It's full of observations on Japanese life but also his bread and butter observations on alienation and being an outsider.

#NovNov22 #NovellasInNovember #APaleViewOfHills #Books #BookReview

https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2022/11/27/a-pale-view-of-hills/

The Philosophy of Libraries

I've had Packing My Library on my To Read pile for a while, but the #NovellasInNovember reading challenge gave me the impetus to pick it up.

I loved #AlbertoManguel's perspective on libraries, literature and reading. I relished the way he allowed his thoughts to wander off on certain topics, and the way these apparently disparate digressions all threaded together into a coherent whole.

https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2022/11/23/packing-my-library-an-elegy-and-ten-digressions/

#books #novnov22 #nonfictionnovember

A Very Normal Man tells the curious tale of Giovanni Vivaldi, a clerk in the Ministry of Pensions, working towards his own retirement when a swift and shocking tragedy occurs.

The tragedy leads to a moment of decision that takes an unexpected turn, with Giovanni taking a brutal revenge on the perpetrator of the tragedy.

I loved it.

#jans2022readinglist #averynormalman #vincenzocerami #isobelgrave #novnov22 #novellasinnovember #books #bookblogger

https://thinkaboutreading.wordpress.com/2022/11/20/a-very-normal-man/

…a dream within a dream… #NovNov22 #germanlitmonth #baronbagge https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2022/11/18/a-dream-within-a-dream-novnov22-germanlitmonth-baronbagge/

RT @cathy746books@twitter.com

We're halfway through Novellas in November! #NovNov22 http://746books.com/2022/11/15/novellas-in-november-the-halfway-point-novnov22/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/cathy746books/status/1592450546891456513

RT @kimbofo@twitter.com

A stunning story about forbidden love in conservative 1950s Melbourne: 'Marlo' by Jay Carmichael #NovNov22 http://readingmattersblog.com/2022/11/14/marlo-by-jay-carmichael/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/kimbofo/status/1592145420410671106

New blog post for #GermanLitMonth & #NovNov22
My thoughts on FERDINAND, THE MAN WITH THE KIND HEART by Irmgard Keun (tr. Michael Hofmann).
I have mixed feelings about this one, but there are some marvellous pen portraits of life in post-war Cologne. https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/ferdinand-the-man-with-the-kind-heart-tr-michael-hofmann/ #IrmgardKeun #WomenInTranslation

“…on this earth, does every action have to lead to suffering?” #NovNov22 #hill #jeangiono @nyrbclassics@twitter.com https://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2022/11/10/on-this-earth-does-every-action-have-to-lead-to-suffering-hill-jeangiono-nyrbclassics/

Ah it’s brilliant - loved this book! 😊

RT @kimbofo@twitter.com

A completely compelling twist on the psychological thriller 'The Last Summer' by Ricarda Huch (translated by Jamie Bulloch) #NovNov22 #germanlitmonth http://readingmattersblog.com/2022/11/06/the-last-summer-by-ricarda-huch-translated-by-jamie-bulloch/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/kimbofo/status/1589153776472145921