I put off starting this book for months. I sort of thought it should be good, but the first pages just did not do it for me.

Today I read it through in one go, and still find it a bit difficult to comment. No, I didn't like it much, but why? The writing was good, characters human, situations intriguing enough. I didn't hate the book, either. Well?

One thing I wondered about was whether E. could have had a relationship with the friend who had the baby? It is not implied in the text, but would make sense, at least to me.

reserved for the Finnish BookCrossing Summer Meet Gala :-)

I got a pile of my WishList books at the BookCrossing Summer Days in Suomenlinna. This was one of them. Thanks for the book, oofiri! And big thanks for the greatest BC event ever. It was fun! Next year in Turku, I hear...

I feel a bit ambivalent about this book. It's written skilfully and beautifully, and I love the pace , there's tranquility in narration. The text is also very visual. With his detailed descriptions, Leo made me see all the pieces art he was looking at. But then...
During the second part I started to get irritated. I wanted to shake Leo and his friends yelling, “Wake up! Open your eyes and see what's happening.” I know—I really do—that the closer you are to someone, the more you love them, the more difficult it is to see that something's wrong with them.
But I kept on reading. Part 3 was, well, boring. I got tired with Leo thoroughly describing every darn piece of art he saw. I think art is meant to be enjoyed, not explained, every reader (viewer, whatever) is allowed to understand it in her/his own way. In part 3, the book also turned out to be a kind of thriller. And I don't like them that much. I'm not so keen on psychological novels either.
So, first I enjoyed What I Love very much but felt a bit disappointed in the end. Yet I'm glad I read it. Thank you for this reading experience, oofiri!

Just wanted to surprise you. :) Happy reading!

I am very lucky to get two package son the same day..was definitely surprised. I put the books on my wish-list as I have the goal of reading the books on the 1001 books to read before you die list. I doubt I will ever do it, but it is fun to check them off my checklist.

It is very good timing as in a couple of weeks time I will be heading off on holiday and will need some good reading material to take with me. I love my holidays as they give me time to do lots of reading; time is limited while I am working.

Thanks very much for the surprise.

Managed to get half way through the book on a trip to Shenzhen: a lot of time on trains and metro. I have found the story very engrossing; I was almost in tears at one point, would have embarrassing considering I was sat on the metro. Now, its back to work and is probably going to take me ages to find the time to finish reading it.

Taking the book with me when visiting a friend I have managed to get a fair way through the book, perhaps in part due to the fact that I have spent hours riding around on a bus due to disruption caused by a marathon in Zhuhai. I feel a lot of sympathy for Leo. When I started the book I thought it was oing to be a typical man-woman love story, but it is much more than that: it is a bout love for partners, friends and family. Leo is losing all that he has loved, not in an overly dramatic way, but in ways in which can make me appreciate how fragile what we have is, and that it is a normal part of life for it to one day not be there. Yes there is the delinquent to deal with, which may not be typical, but is an extreme example of how we can be blinded by the need to love and be loved.

Only 37 pages left now. Tomorrow I am leaving for my Christmas holiday; 36 hours cross country from Guangzhou to Harbin: lots of reading time. I will release it somewhere on my journey.

It is an engrossing story, I don't know how it is going to end.

Finished the last 30 pages on the train to Harbin. I was engrossed right until the end. It didn't end the way I thought it would; I was expecting more of a happier ending, even though that was not the gist of the book.

I loved the story: the narrator, art historian Leo Hertzberg, at the age of 60 is looking back on his life. At first I thought it may be a man-woman love story, though in reality it is about all the people in our life that we love, and subsequently lose. Relationships come and go; separation from spouses, deaths of friends, children rowing up and nto being what they hoped they would be. No relationship lasts for ever.

The characters well developed and the story is absorbing. It was very emotional and several times I found myself on the verge of tears.

Left at a youth hostel; hope it will help someone to pass the time on a cold evening - is minus 23 degrees Celsius outside at the moment!

If you were lucky enough to find this book please journal it to say where you found it, and then what you thought of it.

When you have finished please release it. Keep its journey alive!