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The Story of Antigone by Ali Smith (2011): A Review

Title : The Story of Antigone Author : Ali Smith Publication Year : 2011 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 100 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : retelling, Greek Mythology, Historical fiction, YA, Children Who better than Ali Smith to give Greek mythology a cheeky twist, turning it on its head by letting a crow do the talking and a dog sit quietly, presumably thinking about snacks? In this wild retelling, we, the readers, are mere spectators in a feathery soap opera where a mama crow narrates the story of Antigone to the dog (not us). It’s such an unconventional choice that you might forget you are navigating a tragedy—until you find yourself laughing at the crow's perspective on humans. They seem so dramatic and tragic, yet the crow can't help but wonder how delicious they would be if only they weren’t so busy wallowing in their own misery! After reading a few of Ali Smith’s books, I thought I had a grasp on her quirky style and themes. But just when I felt like I was in the...
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The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (2017): A Review

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Title : The Deal of a Lifetime Author : Fredrik Backman Publication Year : 2017 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 65 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : literary fiction, novella I’ll keep this short, just like the book itself. I listened to the audiobook while trying to stay awake amidst the turbulence of my exhaustion—and I might’ve dozed off about 13 times. When I finally came to, I realized I had accidentally finished it. Oops! From what I can piece together—like a jigsaw puzzle missing half its pieces—it was an emotional saga about a guy who was seriously considering sacrificing his existence to save a random kid. I mean, talk about overthinking things! It's all very touching, but honestly, it felt flatter than my plane seat after a long flight. So, that’s about it!
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Today in Bookish and Literary History, June 11

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1687 Crusoe arrives in England. 2023 Flags on the Bayou by James Lee Burke | US | 320 | 🏆 2023 The Madwomen of Paris: by Jennifer Cody Epstein | US | 336 | 🏆 2024 The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden | US | 402 | 2024 Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe | US | 304 | 🏆 2024 Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich | US | 303 | 2024 One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon | US-Jamaica | 272 | 2024 Beautiful Days: Stories by Zach Williams | US | 240 | 🏆 2024 Gretel and the Great War by Adam Ehrlich Sachs | US | 224 | 2024 Tehrangeles by Porochista Khakpour | US-Iran | 320 | 🔗 Check this list for Today in Bookish History for June: https://fable.co/list/2067ba4d-156b-4ab9-9cc3-350565bf7a9b/share
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A Long Winter by Colm Tóibín (2006): A Review

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Title : A Long Winter Author : Colm Tóibín Publication Year : 2006 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 144 Source : audiobook @storytel.tr Genre : literary fiction, historical fiction, novella I picked up A Long Winter because I needed a short audiobook for a trip. The audiobook was short. The winter inside it was not. It felt endless. This is one of those compact Irish novels/novellas where nothing is wasted and nothing lets you breathe. In a small village in the Catalan Pyrenees, Miquel’s mother disappears into the snow and never returns. Everyone more or less agrees she is dead, somewhere under the drifts, and life is simply expected to continue. Miquel and his father are left to endure a winter that feels more like a sentence than a season. The language is stripped down, almost bare, but every line carries an impossible weight. Grief is not announced; it just seeps into everything. The poverty, the broken family, the silence between father and son, the isolation, the sense that nothing ...
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Companion Piece by Ali Smith (2022): A Review

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Title : Companion Piece Author : Ali Smith Publication Year : 2022 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pages : 230 Source : book Genre : literary fiction, COVID, Pandemic Ali Smith’s Companion Piece (2022) is very much a COVID novel—but, being Ali Smith, it’s also absolutely not just a COVID novel. Our main character, Sandy Gray (Sand), is a kind of awkward, artsy nerd trying to deal with her father’s hospitalization right in the middle of the pandemic. So yes, there are masks and lockdowns and hospitals, but there’s also Smith doing what Smith does best: taking the narrative, twisting it into a Möbius strip, and then asking you to walk on it in the dark. This is peak Smithian territory: strange timelines, slippery characters, and a narrator you’re never entirely sure you should trust. Here she pushes it even further—so far that you start wondering whether all of it actually happened. Did Sand really experience that bizarre intrusion of the past? Or is she just inventing stories to survive the suf...
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