Ooh, that's a very cold shower! They're even worse when you're not expecting it to be so cold! I'll have to get to some of Williams' novels eventually.
Kairos was the only book on the list I had heard of and considered reading because I like Erpenbeck’s other books. You are the second person whose opinion I take seriously who has not like it much.
You got cold immersion health benefits-albeit involuntarily!😄 Losing parents is traumatic at any age. Mine have been gone for 18 and 12 years respectfully and I still miss them. I liked Augustus although for me, it wasn't as good as Stoner or Butcher's Crossing. As far as book prizes go, I tend to ignore them because they frequently feature books I have no interest in reading and the ones I have read are generally disappointing. Take heart, the video was worth waiting for!👍
The prize books have been underwhelming for a long time - I ignore them. Even new releases have been hit or miss as well!! So here comes the classics & stuff from my bookcases. --- And I loved Parable of the Sower - she was so close to ACCURATE 😎 it's spooky😲. Chin up, stay strong & positive💖
I like all of John Williams novels. I prefer Butcher’s Crossing but I want to reread Stoner and Augustus. I feel that all major book awards are just as lackluster as you described the international Booker.
I read the Crooked Plow in the Portuguese original and the book is a masterpiece. It captures the essence of Northeast Brazil (the hinterland of the state of Bahia) like nobody since the great Jorge Amado.
So happy you liked Augustus! Yeah, nothing is calling out to me this year from the International Booker but maybe that's good because these books are usually so expensive! I tried to read the Polish book, White Nights but I didn't care at all for the first story so I DNFd it, I also DNFd Details only after the first part as nothing was grabbing me there as well - I know both are very short books but I just couldn't be bothered :P there are always so many other books to read... ;)
@@AnnNovella Sarah has a great sense of humour, she reads mostly literary fiction, including a lot in translation, and I think you will find what she has to say about her reading very interesting.
I just finished Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff in which Augustus obviously figures prominently but perhaps doesn't come across as much as the hero main character (though yes as very shrewd and of course he wins in the end). Cleopatra was also a really good book. Non-fiction rather than fiction, though. I'm about to start Crooked Plow - going to tackle it in the original Portuguese, so if I don't get on, it won't be the translation! I'm overall also quite underwhelmed with the Int'l Booker this year. I'm actually not planning on reading any of the others, except maybe Simpatía; the description/blurb sounded interesting and I bought the book, but in the meantime almost everyone I've heard from who's read it didn't like it so now I have buyer's remorse... but now I own the book. So, we'll see...
I agree - that is a very interesting list this year. I want to read at least three of the shortlisted books; I've got two out of the library to start very soon (I'd even read more, but I can't read as fast as these folks who can read all the short or even longlists of all these prizes! )
