Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Every year, I try to accomplish things like reading fifty-two books, but not always does life go according to plan. There is always room for a Plan B! Let's see what 2026 has in store. Happy reading, everyone!

𝓜𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓼:
✤ Around the Year in 52 Books 2026: 02/52

𝓣𝓪𝓰𝓼:
📖: 182 +

🎧: 04:36:00

🔠: Hustvedt, Paasilinna

𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰:
❌❌❌❌❌:
❤️️🖤🖤🖤🖤:
❤️️❤️️🖤🖤🖤:
❤️️❤️️❤️️🖤🖤: 1
❤️️❤️️❤️️❤️️🖤: 1
❤️️❤️️❤️️❤️️❤️️:

𝓡𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓫𝓸𝔀 𝓒𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼:

reserved

reserved

reserved

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓮: Around the Year in 52 Books
𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓽: 4. A book by a new-to-you author
𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓮: ★★★★☆

The Summer Without Men started as a damp summer afternoon, when you feel dizzy and moist, with nowhere to go but indoors or anywhere under a big shade. It was slow, and I was not able to follow through Mia's thoughts. But something in her voice, the way of seeing life despite the challenges, her willingness to be welcomed and to engage her pupils to express themselves, made me feel at ease. Not to mention digging up the past and seeing how it could reflect in her life so many years after it had happened. And then Mia shook me up. Or the author did. And I felt loved and seen. And the remainder of the summer, my summer with Mia, suddenly turned into a breezy and warm end to the muggy days, and I ended the book as if I was waving goodbye to an aunt after we had spent a couple of weeks sipping iced tea and reflecting on how lovely it is to be alive.

“A book is a collaboration between the one who reads and what is read and, at its best, that coming together is a life story like any other.”

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓮: Around the Year in 52 Books
𝓟𝓻𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓽: 2. A book with a primarily red, green or blue cover
𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓮: ★★★☆☆

I do not recommend reading The Year of the Hare in the year of the horse. But in fairness, I enjoyed this book as much as I expected to. Based on the reviews, I thought it could have been worse, but no. In fact, I am sure that I would have liked it more had I read it; the audiobook was hard to engage with, and a few times I simply had to go back a couple of chapters because I was thinking about something else. The reading does make you wander and reflect on your own life so profoundly that you might start writing to-do lists, ringing your second cousin for a chat, or reflecting on human evolution.