Welcome to Litsy!

New year, new mug!

This was interesting, and I did enjoy it… but I felt like the endings weren‘t satisfying. I wanted a full resolution somewhere with all the pieces brought together 😂

It was fun though. After the first chapter Jane has to decide who to follow. Each subsequent “chapter” is her choosing to follow a different person/dog and how that plays out, with each being a different genre.

#BookSpin

#ManicMonday #LetterJ @CBee

📚Jane, Unlimited
🖊️Saxon James
🎬Jumanji, Juno
📺Jeopardy
🎤Jukebox the Ghost
🎶Just for Now by Imogen Heap, Jolene by Dolly Parton (my little niece's name is Jolene and she loves the song)

#ManicMonday time!

Book: JANE, UNLIMITED by Kristin Cashore

Author: N.K. Jemisin (honourable mention to Diana Wynne Jones)

TV Show: Jane the Virgin (one of my top three shows OF ALL TIME I LOVE IT SO MUCH HOLY CRAP)

Singer: Jewel (though honestly, I prefer her poppy stuff to her soul searchy stuff. Yes U Can is totally my Y-song)

Song: Just the Way You Are - Goo Goo Dolls (honourable mention to Great Big Sea‘s version of The Jolly Butcher)

Today‘s pre-Gay May recs grid is all about YA! As per usual, this is a non-exhaustive selection of books I love and recommend to anyone who wants to join me in reading all/mostly/more queer books next month.

The tagged book dives into the multiverse. (It‘s also super divisive. Many people hate it, but for me it‘s the fuckin BEST.) The rest are highlighted in the comments. #gaymay

I'm not sure how others feel about this book, but it didn't really work for me. Following Jane as she made different choices, each thrusting her into a different plot and genre, makes for a very unique read, but ultimately, I never felt anchored in the story, and as a result, I just didn't care much. Some plots bored me, others hooked me, but still didn't pay off. Also, it's a "Jane Eyre retelling," but that's a stretch IMO. ⭐⭐

Book 4 of 2022

This was a unique fun young adult read. There's a separation of genres instead of chapters. It literally has 4 books in 1. There's scifi, fantasy, you name it in this one. I felt it was too long for the minor topics at hand but wonderful creative writing style. #BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Thank you @Chrissyreadit I love everything and I laughed when I saw the pens it seems we like the same things lol. The wax melts smell amazing and I love the plug in small wax warmer. I love the mask it‘s perfect. And I am in aww of the sticker book I love stickers thank you. #Bestof2020swap @candority

This was such an interesting read! It reminded me of a choose-your-own-path story like I used to love to read growing up.
Five alternate story endings play out, all in different genres: mystery, spy thriller, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy. Very cool concept.

I‘m not sure what this book is about, but I think I liked it!

Jane promised her aunt before her death never to turn down an invitation to Tu Reviens, her friend Kiran's island mansion. But she is not prepared for the secrets she will uncover there. Cashore experiments with form here, setting up a narrative with a crucial decision point and spinning off five endings in different genres (realistic fic, spy thriller, horror, sci-fi, and fantasy).

#SummerFun @4thhouseontheleft @StayCurious

Just realized I did not post my #integrateyourshelf - I‘m currently listening to Sissy, it is the only own voices currently read this year although Sarah Waters and Mira Grant are on my TBR for sooner rather than later. The books above all have lgbtq identifying characters- and I enjoyed all of those books immensely!

I picked it up because I absolutely loved her Graceling-books. However, I was slightly disappointed by this one. I just couldn‘t really connect to the story or some of the characters. There are some interesting aspects to the worlds she tried to create, but overall not a book I would recommend or reread (which I have done with the Graceling-series).

This is a genre busting kind of book. The foundation is set up, and each section has Jane following a different path from that fixed point. The paths have some things in common and some things completely different. I believe all paths are true in the book. I loved this book!! It was my May #bookspin and I‘m glad I made time to read it, although I‘m supposed to be writing a paper.

I am ridiculously pleased by how perfect this bookmark from @LibrarianRyan matches my book. I‘m also ridiculously pleased with this book.

I‘m a huge fan of Kristin Cashore and this is my May #bookspin choice. I‘m enjoying it, but it kind of feels like a Gothic Alice In Wonderland so far. Not quite sure what to expect next.

Here‘s my May #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks I‘m only halfway through my April, but I‘m sure I will finish it by early May 😂

This was amazing!! Jane is lost in her life, having dropped out of college following the death of her aunt who raised her. But she accepts an invitation to Tu Revians, a mansion on an island. Part Sliding Doors, part Knives Out and Clue, Jane follows many paths that lead to: art heists, ghosts, space pirates, talking dogs, and love. Never turn down an invitation to Tu Revians, readers, it could change your life(s)!

Listening to this amazing book while I wait for dinner to cook. Pages is happy to take a nap on me while we wait. #DogsofLitsy

I am completely in love with this book! It's got the charm of Clue, with a twist of magic and art heist. And now I want a handcrafted umbrella.

Hannah chose this instead of the cat bed just steps away. #catsoflitsy

February Spending Log—or, more to the point, Acquisitions Log. I just didn‘t read quickly enough last month to knock all my purchases off La TBR. (It didn‘t help that I bought two American books during my month off from Americans.)

I aim to do a big TBR reduction push in March. I‘ve suspended most of my library holds, and I‘ll probably follow #MarchUnshelfing for extra accountability. I want to have no more than 218 unread books by April 1.

My Super Bowl Avoidance Tour also took me to Dollar Tree, where I FINALLY found something in their books section! I think the universe was saving it up for me, really, because JANE, UNLIMITED was my favourite book of 2018 and one of my rare 6-star reads, and I didn‘t have my own copy yet.

Books I don‘t have to add to La TBR are my very favourite purchases.

I also got such necessities as throat lozenges, razors, and peanut butter cups.

I am FINALLY getting to this one (on audio), I think the horrendous cover has kept me from actually reading it tbh because I own an ARC and I love Kristin's writing but here we are. Absolutely loving it so far at about 33% through.

My completed #Summer prompts for #Booked2019

#Genrebusting: Jane, Unlimited
#MuslimAuthor: The MarriageClock
#BookToMovie: The Shack
#GraphicNovel: Anne of Green Gables
#BookGiftedToYou: Patron Saints of Nothing
#DiverseMiddleGrade: One Crazy Summer

LOVING this book so far. It‘s a genre-bending mystery experiment that still feels cozy, classic, and genuine. The tone is just so delightful. Impossible to describe, but so easy to get lost in for hours. Excellent heroine.

It‘s been over six months (or seven, technically) since I read ‘Jane, Unlimited‘, and I‘m still thinking about this goddamn book.

My jigsaw puzzle is coming along, as is my #audiobook. This book isn‘t what I expected at all, and it‘s really delightful. #currentlylistening #audiopuzzling

Started this #audiobook from #Libby last night, and looked up from my jigsaw puzzle to find I was already 3 hours in 🧩

I think it‘s fair to say I‘m enjoying it, although I‘m only just getting to the meat of what‘s going on. #ya

I think I‘m in the minority here but this is one of the dumbest books I have ever read and it was such a struggle to get through 😂

Presenting my 2018 Top 7, which I guess is really a Top 12 because I always group comics volumes together by series. The books are listed in the order I read them, not my order of preference; I never bother to rank these things.

That said, JANE, UNLIMITED was my absolute favourite book of 2018. I tried not to expect much from it since Cashore's last book, BITTERBLUE, is an all-time fave, but it blew. my. mind. 6 stars.

Presenting the January-June portion of my 2018 Long List.

Awesome layout! Love the characters and how each story builds on the last. Highly recommend ^_^!

Just started this. So far so good. Love this imagery and perhaps foreshadowing?

#AugustWrapUp : 12 books! 9 library book, 2 ebooks and nothing at all off my shelves 🤔 It‘s been a good reading month, these were all pretty fabulous especially Kristen Cashore‘s Jane, Unlimited and Detective Inspector LeBrock‘s last outing in Bryan Talbot‘s Grandville Force Majeure...

No idea why I put this off for so long, what a gorgeous, twisty ride this was! Think Sliding Doors set in a house that‘s just a bit magic in a world that‘s almost like ours (except Monet‘s water lilies have frogs on them) where 1 choice plays out 5 different ways.

Jane, Unlimited is a fun romp through many genres - after her aunt's death, Jane is visiting a mysterious mansion on an island and encounters a turning point. Whichever choice she makes leads to a different story in a different genre style (heist, space opera, gothic horror, etc) - Cashore lays out each pathway so you can see where all roads lead. Cashore originally intended this to be a choose your own adventure book, but revised it to this. Fun!

After the death of the aunt who raised her, Jane feels lost. A chance encounter with a wealthy acquaintance from her childhood leads to an invitation to Tu Reviens, the glamorous mansion Kiran‘s family owns. What Jane doesn‘t realize is that Tu Reviens holds many secrets and truths for those brave enough to see them.

Jane makes a choices that set her on a path to facing truths about herself. A genre-spanning choose your own adventure. Superb!

Two books from my #nationalbookloversday #bookhaul - a Rookie compilation themed around love (signed!!) and a YA novel that changes from heist mystery to spy thriller to gothic horror to space opera to fantasy as it goes on. Sounds kind of like how I remember The Pagemaster making me feel 😂
#thestrand @strandbookstore #nyc

#multiverse #questionandanswer

Sweeping and imaginative, but not for everyone. Different realities and different endings depending on which one is chosen. Normally not my thing, but it was well done and worked.

#outsidemycomfortzone #gladifinallyreadit #tbrcleanup

This book is all over the place, but in a good way. Exploring the multiverse, dealing with the FBI, Jasper the dog, kidnapped children, spies, art theft, making umbrellas, and a missing woman who‘s become part of the house. Great setting for quirky characters and their various capers taking place in a very interesting house on an isolated island.

#multicultural #multiculturalmonday #mindblown

“Yes, Jane thinks. If this house has a soul, its soul is here in this room.”

#homelibrary

Starting this one while waiting for my friend! I‘ve heard good things.

Thought this would be a winner, but I am seriously on the struggle bus trying to finish it. It seemed up my alley, but just not meant to be for me.

This book is one I‘m suuuuuper curious about, and a number of people I respect have recommended, so I‘m using it as my #yawednesday giveaway entry! Thanks @TheFunkyBookworm !

I was not a fan of the hard cover, and usually if the publisher changes the cover you get a better one. Not this time. What do you think?

#coverlove #YAedition

I read this book and finished it in the hope that the ending would be worth it. Jane is all alone and is invited to an island where artwork goes missing and everyone has a story. Different scenarios take place and finally Jane ends up in another dimension. I felt this was like reading the Groundhog Day book🤔. Authors favorite book is Rebecca and she uses many references from it.

Not sure what I think. The book is kind of an homage to Choose Your Own Adventures but all five possible endings are included. The problem for me was that Jane, the main character, never seemed to materialize into any clear character or personality. The focus was so much on Jane‘s choices that it felt like I never developed any connection with the character.