Last bingo for 2018 and the final category I needed to fill was:
A book written more than 10 years ago
For this final bingo I’ve selected The Messenger by Markus Zusak, first published in 2002, so it more than fits the bill for this category. The Messenger was recommended to me recently by two friends whose opinions on books I regard highly. Both, completely separate to the other, said this was the ideal ‘first Zusak’ for me.
I haven’t got a review to link to for this one yet as I am not quite done. Hoping to have a review up for it next week.
Big thanks to Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse for playing along with bingo so enthusiastically this year. We are joining up again for an even bigger (and slightly more categorically challenging) bingo for 2019. Stay tuned for the new card!
Here’s a recap on what I read for each category this year:
Theresa Smith Writes 
I’m sooooo excited to hear your thoughts on The Messenger and that meta ending.
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Loving it from the first page. I’m so glad you recommended it to me!
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Woohoo! Me too 🙂
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I’m g going to join in with this next year
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Excellent! It’s a good challenge. I’ll officially put the card up on the 29th December but it’s the one I put up in the bookblub post yesterday.
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#Book Bingo 2018: ‘a forgotten classic’ – The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler
Gosh, the book bingo category ‘a forgotten classic’ had me stumped, this one was the hardest of all the squares in the bingo challenge. The last bingo square for this year and I seriously wanted to give it the flick as I had no idea what qualified as a forgotten classic, a quick search on Google led me to the Pan Macmillan website and one of the featured ‘forgotten classics’ book was The Tobacconist, by the time I realised it was more of an undiscovered gem rather than a forgotten classic it was too late to look for a book that fit that bingo square.
The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler was published in 2012 and is a coming-of-age tale set in pre-war Vienna, 1937 and tells the story of an innocent country boy who moves to Vienna and works as an apprentice for a tobacconist. He befriends the real-life Sigmund Freud, giving him cigars for advice on love. The friendship between Freud and 17 year old Franz is gentle and endearing.
A masterfully crafted novel told in a quiet, understated and warm way! Quite simply, a beautiful read.
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It’s a tricky square, that’s for sure Sue. I like the sound of this book you read though, and undiscovered gem is good enough for me!
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Thanks Theresa, this one had me worried but if it’s good enough for you then I’m very happy with my choice of book. Thanks for a fabulous book bingo year – I had awesome fun! And read books I’d never dream of reading and one of them has become my favourite book of all time.
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I hope you join in again next year Sue!
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I’d love to but my coffee table pile of about 70 books are my priority next year, they’ve been sitting on the coffee table for 2 years now and I’ve only reduced the stack by about 8 books. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into them. And book bingo takes up so much time as I’m not a fast reader and I’ve let go too many things – cooking, exercising, so my focus will be on that next year too. And we have 3 trips planned, a small one and two very long trips so not much reading will be happening then. But I am looking forward to seeing your new bingo challenge and will follow without participating.
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Ahhh, it definitely is time consuming. All good, will be glad to just see you checking in for a chat from time to time. 😊
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🙂 🙂 🙂
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