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Childish Loves - Benjamin Markovits

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  The book is a frame narrative, rather cleverly constructed. The story is told by Ben Markovits, but is not necessarily a sort of autobiography. To me it looks like fiction. He tells the story of the writer Peter Sullivan who wrote a few books about Lord Byron. Ben Markovits tries to find more information about him while working on the last book (of 3). These books are published posthumously because Sullivan died. Markovits also tries to find information about the things Sullivan writes about Lord Byron. There is plenty of stuff to be found, but it is spread all over England and the USA, so he needs to travel a bit too. Also to visit places where Sullivan lived and worked. There seems to be a wanting to find similarities between Sullivan and Lord Byron and even himself. I did not know a lot about Lord Byron. He is mentioned in lessons in English literature in school, but it never is very explicit. So I accept what is stated in this book. The man was a romantic writer and philander...
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Golden Child - Claire Adam

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  A sad but very good novel. It is the story about a Hindu family consisting of father, mother and two sons, who are twins, living on the island of Trinidad. The story is being told by the point of view of the father, one of the sons and a Roman Catholic priest. It shows a bit of common life on the island, family connections, expectations and disappointments. Very awful disappointments... 5 stars very much deserved!
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Good Citizens Need Not Fear - Maria Reva

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An amazing selection of short stories situated in the Ukrain during the period just before the fall of the USSR and right after that. It shows the absurdity of bureaucracy on the highest level and the lack of any regulations after the fall of the USSR. I loved every one of the stories; they are all connected and give a great view of life in this period of time. Highly recommended by me. 5 stars well deserved.
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After me comes the flood - Sarah Perry

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An intriguing novel. I think a lot of people at least once had the experience of being accepted in a group of people because of a mistaken identity. There is the choice of clearing things up or to go along with the flow and not feeling great because of the gnawing feeling of being an imposter. Sometimes it feels like there is no choice. This novel describes that very well, just as it tells you how most people - when you get to know them better - are quite different from what they seem to be. Then it can rise the question: Who really is the imposter in this group? I loved reading this book and gave it 5 very deserved stars.
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Held - Anne Michaels

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It's not an easy read. It's not long, but it took me a lot longer to finish this book than I normally do. It is quite poetic, consisting of snippets of text and bits that are a bit longer. It looks like there are quite a lot of different stories, but they do fit together. Like a very difficult jigsaw puzzle. Some bits are really gripping. At least I felt it like that. I loved the quote from Rainer Maria Rilke, a truly great but somehow forgotten writer. There was an explanation about the font that was used. I did like it, it made the reading a bit easier, I think. I gave it 4 stars.
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Normal People - Sally Rooney

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A novel about relationships. Especially about the relationship between Connell and Marianne, but also the characters who surrounded them. The novel is situated in the west of Ireland in a small town and in Dublin. It is really about misunderstanding, misinterpreting, (false) expectations and there is always that nagging "What will they think of me". It's often sad and I felt upset a few times, had to put the book down for some time. But I finished it anyway and I think I got rewarded for that. I feel like this great novel deserved a stronger ending, yet I don't have an idea how that ending should have sounded. So maybe the writer is right how she did it. Fully deserved 5 stars.
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Night Crawling - Leila Mottley

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A very impressive book that shows a lot that is wrong with the USA. The way Leila Mottley writes really drags you into the story. My world is totally different from the world of main character Kiara, but I felt involved. Almost like I wanted to help, shout at her "Don't go there!" or "Don't do it!" The misery and the impossibility to escape from it all is really awful. And yet, there was hope and there were even some pleasure and laughter in all that darkness. The story has a great flow and every character is carefully worked out and functioning to have it all glued together. I would recommend the book to everybody who loves to read a good book. This one is excellent. Five stars more than deserved.
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