Joumana Khatib

So she goes to the woods and observes this group of people living in the middle of nowhere.

She can't exactly figure out how they know each other.

She eventually becomes very entwined with them.

And I thought, this book, I was talking about this with a colleague and we both agreed this was the kind of book that was so well-drawn.

It was so unexpected.

Every single turn took me by surprise.

This is the kind of book that reminded me of why reading is exciting.

And I'm not even like I felt that kind of I made contact with that childlike sense of joy reading this book.

Oh, I mean, I love understanding like different ways that thoughts can be communicated or, you know, when you have access to different reference points or idioms, then it becomes totally mind expanding.

And I have such an affection for translators because they toil in invisibility.

And I think it's one of the hardest things to do.

I mean, I grew up in like a, you know, mixed language house.

And so

I understand how hard and frankly existential it can be.

And like, I had no idea that this was a whole subset apparently in Swedish literature is like the burnout novel.

This is fascinating.

With a pink lily on the cover.

Quite large.

Oh, yeah.

I forgot to mention that another one of my sort of tentpole qualities as a reader is like the longer it is, the more interested I am.