🌟 "Vita Nostra" by Marina Dyachenko & Sergey Dyachenko

Translated from Russian into English by Julia Meitov Hersey. Vita Nostra is one of my favorite books, so this a reread for me. It's part of a trilogy, but can be read as a standalone. I actually still need to read the third book, so I'm rereading the first and second to prepare. No matter how often I return to this book, it still holds up for me. I don't think it's a book for everyone, but if it hits, it will hit you in a very peculiar way that no other novel does. For me, this is a book about having to abandon a life you expected to have. It's about being forced to adapt, to transform into someone your past self would have never recognized. It's about the struggle of being isolated from your (former) loved ones, because they'd never understand and they're moving on without you. But it's also about endurance, curiosity, solidarity, and finding a way to embrace or reject your new circumstances (I think it's up to the reader to decide). More concretely, this book follows Sasha, an…