Alexandra Cristie
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alexcristie.bsky.social
Alexandra Cristie
@alexcristie.bsky.social
420 followers 510 following 430 posts
book blogger, short fiction writer, (armchair) traveler, migratory bird 📚

📍Edinburgh, Scotland
📖 https://alexandracristie.com
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alexcristie.bsky.social
Fun was had, books were bought📚

Compliments to my lovely partner & thanks to everyone who shared their opinion on my wishlist 🧡

#bookSky #WITMonth #womenInTranslation
Five books in the picture: Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes, Space Invaders by Nona Fernández, The Little I Knew by Chiara Valerio, A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter, and Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici
August 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I recently registered for a Spanish language course starting next month, after spending a month trying to decide between Spanish and Italian. Now I randomly found this Ginzburg in the original Italian and I half regret my decision…
Sagittario by Natalia Ginzburg
August 18, 2025 at 3:55 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
At the charity shop where I volunteer, there are occasional, magic events where I open a bag of books donated by someone, and I don’t know who this person is, or what they look like, but I know she (I’m also sure she’s a she) is my kindred spirit.
#bookSky
August 13, 2025 at 3:32 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I don’t know when I became someone who reads memoir, but I’m loving it at the moment!
I finished Your Little Matter, which is one of my best of the year so far, and I’m excited to start A Woman in the Polar Night this evening 📚

#WITMonth #bookSky
@foundryeditions.bsky.social @pushkinpress.com
Your Little Matter by Maria Grazia Calandrone, translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri, and A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter, translated from the German(Austria) by Jane Degras
August 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Partner is taking me on a bookshop crawl for my birthday. It's a yearly tradition & I take the opportunity to browse & discover new books, but I also like to make a wishlist for inspo.
Now, from my wishlish or from outside it, give me your recommendations! #bookSky
Cold Nights of Childhood by Tezer Ozlu, The Annotated Arabian Nights by Paulo Lemos Horta , The Fantastic: A structural approach to a literary genre by Tzvetan Todorov, Her Side of the Story by Alba de Cespedes, Heart Lamp by Banu Mashtaq, We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezon Camara Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici, On a Woman's Madness by Astrid Roemer, There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaelle Belem, Valentino by Natalia Ginzburg, Of Cattle And Men by Ana Paula Maia, Accabadora by Michela Murgia The Lamb by Lucy Rose, Space Invaders by Nona Fernandez, The Human Condition by Hannah Arendt, Miaow by Benito Perez Galdos, When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Iren Sola, A Woman in the Polar Night by Christine Ritter Whale by Cheon Myeong-kwan, The Other Name - Septology I-II by Jon Fosse, Mac & His Problems by Enrique Vila-Matas, Ghost Town by Kevin Chen, There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself by Liudmila Petrushevskaia, Goodbye, Eastern Europe by Jacob Mikanowski
August 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
🥲
Woman at Point Zero, ruined by a stubborn sticker on its front cover. I gave up halfway through trying to remove it, which peeled off sone of the cover or left a sticky green residue.
August 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
alexcristie.bsky.social
#WITMonth #currentlyReading #bookSky
There are two books: On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan, and Your Little Matter by Maria Grazia Calandrone, translated by Antonella Lettieri
August 4, 2025 at 3:57 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
New #bookmail: ✨What Remains✨ by Brais Lamela, tr. Jacob Rogers

Set between the 1950s and the present, between Galicia and New York, and described as 'a meditation on the ruins of memory and an urgent exploration of identity, colonialism, and resistance'

Thanks @bullaunpress.bsky.social! #bookSky
What Remains by Brais Lamela, translated from the Galician by Jacob Rogers
August 1, 2025 at 2:55 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Love seeing people preparing for the start of #WITMonth tomorrow! Here’s my stack of possibilities (well, a conservative selection of them) 📚 Spotting any favourites?

#bookSky #WomenInTranslation
July 31, 2025 at 3:16 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Goodbye, Estonia! You’ve been utterly lovely! 💙🇪🇪

I was hoping to find a better selection of Estonian literature in English while here but, alas, there just isn’t that much of it in print. I only bought this second hand volume of Jaan Kross. I’m still looking for recommendations! #bookSky
The Conspiracy & Other stories by Jaan Kross
July 22, 2025 at 4:07 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Spotted in a gorgeous bookshop in Helsinki! @dauntbookspub.bsky.social @andotherstories.bsky.social

I’ve got plenty more bookish photos to get off my camera once I get home (the central library is from another world), but the Finns do know their books! 📚🇫🇮 #bookSky
July 17, 2025 at 1:31 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
My holiday reads, to match my journey through Helsinki and Estonia. Love reading books by local authors while travelling 🧡

#bookSky #currentlyReading #womenInTranslation
Baltic Belles: The Dedalus Book of Estonian Women’s Literature edited by Elle-Mari Talivee, and The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
July 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Exciting bookmail from @charcopress.com :

On Earth As It Is Beneath: a Hunger Games-esque psychological thriller set in penal colony in Brazil’s wilderness

Restoration: inspired by ‘old stories made anew’, it addreses female desire, toxic relationships and the male gaze

Out in August! #bookSky
On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan Restoration by Ave Barrera, translated by Ellen Jones & Robin Myers
July 15, 2025 at 2:14 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Books I read in June.
Gathering the books for the picture, I realised it's all indie presses, which always leads to a great reading month ✨

@saqibooks.bsky.social @dauntbookspub.bsky.social #PeirenePress @tiltedaxispress.bsky.social #bookSky #BooksInTranslation
Five books: Babylon, Albion: A Personal History of Myth and Migration by Dalia Al-Dujaili, The City and the House by Natalia Ginzburg, translated from the Italian by Dick Davis, B. Proudew by Irena Dousková, translated from the Czech by Melvyn Clarke, The Brothers by Asko Sahlberg, translated from the Finnish by Emily Jeremiah and Fleur Jeremiah, and Where the Wild Ladies Are by Matsuda Aoko, translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton
July 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Picked this up on a whim & then I inhaled it over the weekend! I came for the mouse plague and stayed for the existential dread. Loved it! @sceptrebooks.bsky.social #bookSky #AustralianLit
The book is Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood
July 7, 2025 at 3:39 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I saved this stack from the bin at the charity shop I volunteer at (I know!), thinking I'll see what I keep & take the rest to a little free library. I'm very undecided though. I'll definitely keep Joyce as I read it & wanted my own copy - do people have any strong feelings about the rest? #bookSky
A stack of five books: Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai, The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, The Accidental by Ali Smith, and New American Short Stories edited by Ben Marcus
July 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
The weekend charity shop gods have smiled upon me! #bookSky
Two books: The Quarter - a short story collection by Naguib Mahfouz, translated from the Arabic by Roger Allen, published by Saqi Books; and The Latehomecomer: essential stories by Mavis Gallant, selected and introduced by Tessa Hadley, published by Pushkin Press
June 30, 2025 at 4:25 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
That, but also sometimes they add more, here's a picture. I suppose that's just stating what the copyright law is, but reading it I wouldn't think to myself yeah, digitalising and training AI on this book seems lawful.
June 29, 2025 at 9:56 AM
alexcristie.bsky.social
May the only pain that finds me be the pain inflicted by great literature. I finished The City and the House yesterday, my fifth and favourite Ginzburg so far.
@dauntbookspub.bsky.social #bookSky #WomenInTranslation #ItalianLit
The City and the House by Natalia Ginzburg, translated by Dick Davis, published by Daunt Books
June 27, 2025 at 12:46 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I am returned home; I brought books: left from Cambridge, right from Brighton. The charity shops weren't as exciting as I remembered them, but this was also a conscious decision because two years ago, while on the same trip, I broke my suitcase with the amount of books I bought. #bookSky
Three books: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe (translated by Michael Hulse), The Details by Ia Genberg (translated by Kira Josefsson) and The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (translated by Thomas Teal) Two books: Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin, and The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim
June 25, 2025 at 3:44 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I've reached my friend's house. She's been working today, so I spent the afternoon with Montserrat Roig, that handome boy and that fussy lady by the window. If life could always be this simple... #bookSky
A handsome green-eyed, long-haired black tomcat staring into the void next to a book, The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig, translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches A beautiful but aloof cat sitting on the window sill. She will take every opportunity to hiss at me for petting her brother, but will not be petted herself. And a book: The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig, translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches
June 18, 2025 at 3:23 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
Spent my weekend with this novel about a schoolgirl in 1960s Czechoslovakia. As expected, it places childhood innocence against the darker political background. The protagonist is quite astute in her observations, but her child pov softens what could've been a much darker novel. Enjoyed it. #bookSky
B. Proudew by Irena Dousková, translated from the Czech by Melvyn Clarke
June 18, 2025 at 9:31 AM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I'll be visiting my best friend next week, which means I'll be taking a long train journey between Edinburgh and Brighton, which means I need to pick a book for the trip.

These are my current candidates. Any thoughts?
The Roig isn't that long, but let's face it I'll be buying books anyway. #bookSky
A stack of five books. Top to bottom they are: Evelina by Frances Burney, The Italian by Ann Rascliffe, Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison, The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches, and Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
June 11, 2025 at 3:51 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I just learned they're publishing the next Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, which I'm excited about, despite that cover. Sad to see they stole them from @charcopress.com, but I suppose that's the way it goes.
We are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara
June 11, 2025 at 1:53 PM
alexcristie.bsky.social
I don't typically read in the morning, but over the last few days I've been spending a bit of time with Natalia over my morning coffee and it's just lovely ✨
This might be the way to go with her novels, as I usually have a hard time trying not to gulp them down.

@dauntbookspub.bsky.social #bookSky
The City and the House by Natalia Ginzburg, translated from the Italian by Dick Davis.
June 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM