Welcome to Litsy!

@Lesliereadsalot Thank you so much for this #jolabokaflodswap ! I haven‘t heard of this book, but I think I‘m going to like it. Thanks for the hot chocolate bombs and the chocolate W (I totally see it). Happy Holidays!

And thanks @MaleficentBookDragon for an awesome swap!

For #February , I‘m highlighting this book. Short in page length, but the emotions in this book are not small. I reread my review of this one - it is a quiet novel and one that does stay with you. Even now, I may not necessarily remember all of the details, but I can remember the feelings conjured up from the story and the raw emotions from the characters. #12BooksOf2023

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

This is a quiet novel, a novel about love and longing and what it means to be a family. It took me some time to get into the writing style, but once I did, I loved the scenic descriptions. Winman has a way of documenting emotions…very stark but yet also layered. It‘s melancholic but yet also hopeful in a way. Lots to think about with this one. #BBRC #YeahBaby #FriendOfDorothy

#wonderouswednesday @Eggs

1) This just happened with the tagged. Took me weeks to recover

2)
1- Hated it, 📚 has 0 merit
2 - Disliked but can see some pros
3- It was fine!
4- Great read, will push on people
5- Perfect, absolutely loved it, no notes

3) I can listen to music, depending on if I remembered to turn on the speaker 🤣

@Librariana

Last week's reads.
Struggled a bit with Far From the Madding Crowd (honestly spent a lot of time wondering who the Maddings were....)
Tin Man is a reread, and wooo it took me a couple of days to get over it to start reading again. What better praise of a book then to say it created a book hangover
Dread Nation I listed to on audio, it was fun!
Ring Shout was so incredibly imaginative, excited for the TV show.

@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #bookspinbingo

Great reading month for me! I finished both of my bookspin books, and got 5 bingos. It's all downhill from here! Ahahaha kidding hope I can keep this momentum going.

I read 20 books in January.

Best-
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Careless
Take My Hand
Nothing But Blue Sky

Worst
Really Good, Actually
Fried Green Tomatoes

January reread-. Tin Man holds up so glad I read it again!

I love Sarah Winman‘s writing. But oh, this one is sad.

Read this short book (under 200 pages) in one sitting. It‘s a love story, a beautiful story, about Ellis and Michael and Annie. The writing is magnificent and reading this book will enrich your life. Make time for this magical little book.

Just gorgeous writing - like everyone else, I was absolutely captivated by this beautiful gentle story about how three very ordinary people found and lost and found each other (in a way) again. I'm planning on buying copies as gifts for my MIL and a few of the other literary fiction fans in my life. This one's a keeper.

#AlphabetGame Letter T

From all the good books starting with. T I chose this one. I loved it and need to reread it.

Amazing how much this author accomplished with so few words. Ellis, Michael, and Annie have a special connection that is revealed in scenes, many remembered by characters when thinking back to formative years and experiences. Kind of how real life is, and that made this book all the more impactful for me. So much grief though, so beware.

Started this today for book club next week.
I‘m not far into it yet, but in a word:
Melancholic.

Cayla! Thank you sooo much for this sweet and thoughtful package! I love everything! You put your heart into this and I can tell! Love your letter and thank you for the sweet things you said. That means the world to me! Can‘t wait to write in my notebook and read these books! Thank you so much sweetie 💗💗💗 sending you lots of love and hugs 🤗

#LitsyLove

Love is not strong enough for how I feel about this book. Beautifully written, artful, and quietly heart wrenching. A story about love, relationships, and loss that‘s left me with a hole in my heart and a #bookhangover like I haven‘t had in a long time. 💛

I love the way Winman writes about longing and loss. The language is simple yet lyrical and beautiful. The book explores different types of love/relationships - first love, friendship, marriage. Winman also writes about the AIDS epidemic. The first part that centers around Ellis drew me in but I felt less connected to Michael and Annie. It‘s 3 out of 5 stars for me.

Gosh, what a book, what a read.
I've neglected chores and the boyfriend as I've been consumed by this tale of three.
Almost wept at various points but equally smiled so much 😊😊😍😢

Bagged this at the library.
I really fell for Still Life and hope this is half as good.

“We keep secrets from one another now… They‘re secret because we don‘t know what to do about the thing we were. So we stay away from it and don‘t touch it, in case it stings. Avoidance is the dock leaf.”

Lunch time reading soundtrack #readingsoundtrack

I loved this. It's the story of a pair of friends. It's a love story really.

Poignant, thought-provoking, heartbreaking, tear-jerking, soul-restoring & beautifully written, this book is a thing of joy. The complexity of the relationship between the 3 main characters unfurls slowly & seductively & I was entranced. Loved all the oblique Wizard of Oz references, loved Michael's section, a snapshot of the 80s AIDS epidemic, loved the ending in France, loved it all. So sad, but also weirdly uplifting. Gosh, what a book!

A lovely, albeit melancholy, novel about friendship, family, love, art and grief.

So happy to be starting a new book today. My last read was a bit of a hard slog so I'm hoping this one flows a little easier.

#curiouscovers #gold
Has anyone read this gorgeous and deep slim novel? I remember reading and thinking this is fine and then the end came like a gut punch and I couldn't stop thinking about the whole book for weeks and weeks.
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

1st book of June finished. 4 ⭐️

Postal book club strikes again... I went in to this tiny book knowing nothing about it, was promptly completely absorbed in the beautiful storytelling, was totally blindsided by the direction the story took, and was finally stunned by a perfect ending.

Never have I seen a more apt blurb on a book cover. I am all astonishment.

Not going to talk about what happens in this book—everyone should experience it for themselves. ❤️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a BEAUTIFUL package of birthday goodies today from the lovely and marvelous @Meaw_catlady !!! Thank you so so SO MUCH, Ray! You are so kibd and sweet! I especially love the books and mala beads! 😍📚💕

I felt like this was a bit slow at first, but the pace ended up being a perfect buildup to a beautiful ending. I definitely want to re-read this, just because I felt like I was not as immersed as I should have been reading the first half. Such a wonderfully sad story

Not your traditional love stories, and some (most) with not so happy endings.

Happy VD.
#lovestories #VDreading

Rereading this small miracle of a novel for a book club discussion I‘m leading next month and it‘s every bit as beautiful and devastating as I remember.

#12booksof2020

For the 12th and final book was this little heartbreaker. I‘ve noticed most of my favorite reads this year were very character driven and I won‘t forget Ellis or Michael anytime soon.

Just spotted on Instagram.... Sarah Winman announced a new book for July 2021... so excited! I know you loved Tin man too @BarbaraBB

5🌟 A story about love in all forms, grief, and friendship. Winman's storytelling was superb! Slowly and nonchalantly showing us these characters and their layers, their longing and love for each other. I loved them all by the end. The whole book was so serene and beautifully done. Her prose are steadfast and wistful. The narration in the second half was so raw, like an open wound. This left me heartbroken but content at the same time.

#fridayfunwith451
Thanks for the tag Helen 😊👍💕@squirrelbrain

Covers I love? I‘m always drawn to covers with a watery/swimming theme....
Here are some favorites..... 📚😍

Feel like playing? @Tex2Flo @erzascarletbookgasm

#alphastack #letterT

Some of my favorite authors in this stack (Winman, O‘Farrell, Fitzgerald, Niffenegger) and two of the same paperback as I loved Tin man, and adored both the US and UK covers!

My first #bookspin pick finished in the nick of time! I enjoyed this slim novel about heartbreak and loss. The writing style took me a second to get used to but the language and story telling was beautiful. Love the cover too. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Make peace with it, my boy. Make your peace."

I had no idea how much I needed this book. In such a small package, Winman has not only perfectly personified grief, but reframed it entirely into something beautiful and hopeful. What a lovely short read for a quiet Friday night. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Yay!! Excited for my first #bookspin #doublespin reads.

I decided to also complete all 15 prompts for Leo, which is my rising sign. Out of the 107 books read in June, 23 covered the Leo prompts. The tagged book Tin Man covered the most Leo prompts. 🧡🦁🧡

#ReadYourSign #Leo @Meaw_catlady

Day one of #CYOReadathon is over, and I‘m happy to say I managed to read for 12h11m, and read/finish 5 books! I finished off the 6th book this morning, and now I‘ve started on the tagged audiobook. So far I‘m truly enjoying this weekends events! Not to mention that I‘m going to be FaceTiming my best friend later today, during their gender reveal party 💕💙💕

@Sace

Sensitive and well written. I will read more of Winman.

Perhaps what I love most is the reasoning of the title and references throughout the book hidden in plain sight. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Well it took me about 5 hours, but I finalized my #JuneTBR for the #ReadYourSign event. I am a very stereotypical Scorpio🦂♏️, but after reading more into it I found my rising sign is Leo🦁♌️ and I have an Aries ♈️ moon sign. After a bit of research, I can relate to the Leo description as well, so I‘ve decided to attempt to check off all 15 prompts for both signs. Which I‘m hoping I can do with these 15 books 😉

@Meaw_catlady

#BiblioMAYnia #endpages

Love that it‘s so pretty 🌼🌻

Sarah is reading her novel aloud LIVE right now, on Instagram.... 💕🎧

Sarah Winman is one of my favorite authors, and I just LOVE this book....
Just spotted this on insta....I‘m definitely going to try and tune in to this each day.... She was an actress before becoming a published author, so I‘m sure she‘ll be a fabulous narrator....