I really didn’t think I’d bee getting these up so soon after the first post but here we are. I’ve got to say, I’m really glad I did manage it and hopefully now I can catch up with all my other reviews. But let’s get into these ones first…
Negative Space by Luljeta Lleshanaku
This was my pick for Albania and the only poetry collection I picked for this round. I used to love reading poetry—for a few years, it was probably my most read genre/form, but I just don’t pick it up that much anymore. I loved poetry for the emotional connection I felt, but I guess I lost that somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, I didn’t really find that in this collection either. It’s a good collection—it has some well-written and interesting poems, but it just didn’t inspire any emotions for me. My favourite poem of the whole collection was one about Shackleton’s right-hand man, which was honestly just a really fascinating piece, but nothing else really stuck out to me. It’s definitely a quiet kind of collection, but it was still worth the read.
The Saviour of Lasnamae by Mari Saat
This was my pick for Estonia. I still don’t know how I feel about this book—it was just a bit of a strange one. The story is kind of odd and confusing, but there was also something strangely compelling about it. I don’t think I understood anything that happened in this book or the point of any of it. I also didn’t really care about any of the characters—I can’t even remember any of their names. And yet, there was something about this that just kept me reading and I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. I really had little hopes or expectations for this, but I have to say that I was impressed by Saat’s writing and I’d be interested in seeing if I could get my hands on something else by here, maybe for next year’s round.
Women and Change in Cyprus by Maria Hadjipavlou
As you might be able to guess from the title, this was my pick for Cyprus. This was definitely one of the biggest surprises I had from this year’s round. I thought it seemed interesting enough, but I ended up really enjoying it. I realised very early in this that I knew absolutely nothing about Cyprus, but by the end I felt like I’d learnt a lot and found some things I wanted to research on my own. My only struggle with this was that I’m not a statistics person and so in those sections I struggled a little to stay focused, but I enjoyed everything else. The writing style was reasonably easy to follow along with and I felt like there was enough background information that I didn’t feel like I was missing anything. All in all, an interesting and worthwhile read for sure.
The Story That Cannot Be Told by J Kasper Kramer
This was my pick for Romania and my second favourite read for the whole readathon. This ties Romanian history with folklore along with some beautiful depictions of family relationships. This is definitely one of those books that is written for people who love stories. I loved that the lead character, Ileana, collects stories and the relationships both she and her extended family have with the written and spoken word. I loved seeing the relationship between Ileana and her grandparents develop—I love middle-grade stories with grandparents in. I think the book does a good job of mixing some serious historical events and topics in with some more light-hearted moments as well. The whole thing was a fantastic read and I’m so glad I picked it up. I think it’s one I’ll be coming back to in the future.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
This was my pick for the Netherlands. This is easily going to go down as one of the worst books I read in 2023. At first, I was really enjoying it—the first 250 pages are interesting and mysterious but it goes down hill fast. This is basically a 700 page book in where nothing happens, but also kind of a lot happens? The characters move around a lot and the different cities and countries they visit are really interesting to learn about. There’s a lot of history discussed, which probably made the whole thing drier, but at least it was something to read. The actual plotline of them looking for Dracula is boring and pointless—Kostova tries too hard to make it seem mysterious and creepy and instead you just end up feeling lost. I think had this book been cut down to more like 450 pages, it could’ve been really strong but instead it felt like an absolute slog for very little payout in the end.
Baltic Facades: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuanian Since 1945 by Aldis Purs
This was my last read for the readathon and my pick for Latvia. This was a really interesting read—I knew a little about Lithuanian history but next to nothing about Estonia or Latvia before picking this up. The first 60-80 pages (maybe more) out of 200 pages were about pre-War/during WWII. I wouldn’t have taken that out—it was definitely needed for context, but it did take up a sizeable chunk of the book. After that section, the book felt a bit unorganised—there were topic-focused chapters but within them, Purs would constantly switch between years and between the three countries sometimes in a single sentence. It did make it a little complicated because you’d be reading about 1980s Estonia and then suddenly discover the next page was going back to something in 60s Latvia, for example. I think in the chapters focused on history (in an event-to-event narration), it would’ve done a lot better in having the countries separated. Otherwise, on a whole, it was a really interesting read.
And that’s it, finally! As I said, hopefully I’ll catch up with my many other reviews soon.
Earl Grey Books 