Welcome to Litsy!

A short #memoir written in an interesting way: the author layers past + present from one sentence to the next + back again. I was right there with her as she remembered her son‘s early years, then flashed back to the present moment of going to dinner w/ her husband. I am delighted by this style, as it is the way I think (possibly we all do?), which made this #audiobook that much more intimate. I should say-the entire book is not written like this.

Pairing books with songs was quite the endeavor (and definitely harder for some of us more than others!). Listen to our newest episode of Unabridged, and then let us know what you think of our picks. What pairings would you recommend?

Short, quiet, thoughtful. There‘s something to be said for picking up a book at the right moment in time for it-

A collection of small observances but not really a coherent whole. Sort of boring, I‘m afraid

Starting this one today. Already, it‘s full of small but spot on observations like this one.

#TBRTuesday

Reading down Mount TBR!!

I just love the way this woman writes.

In Hourglass Dani Shapiro recounts moments of her life in this memoir about choices, relationships, marriage, life and time. She examines her 18 year marriage. Remembering the girl she used to be before and the woman she is now. How she looks back on all the memories of her life now.
There are beautifully written passages that I really enjoyed but at times I did find it dragged on a bit and fell flat.
#bookreview #bookworm #booklover #bookish

I loved this book. It‘s a concise, sparse read in a way- but so moving and thought provoking. She describes the realities of marriage in all its frustrations and confusion very well. Highly recommended.

"Years vanish. Months collapse. Time is like a tall building made of playing cards. It seems orderly until a strong gust of wind comes along and blows the whole thing skyward. Imagine it: an entire deck of cards soaring like a flock of birds."
~Dani Shapiro
#currentread #currentlyreading #danishapiro #memoir #booklover #bookworm #bookish #booksandbeverage

The stories- both the ones that happened and the ones that didn't. The ones eternally bound into the spines of books. The ones that I have polished until they gleam like jewels-until I can say this is it, precisely it-that is, until they change on me once more.

Where does hope go when it vanishes? Does it live in a place where it attaches itself to other lost hopes? And what does that place look like? Is it a wall? A sea? Is it the soft bafflement I sometimes see in my husband's eyes?

I love the way this lady writes. 💖💖💖
Just realized this also fits today's prompt #1stbookof2018 #newyearreads @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @bookloo

I like Dani Shapiro and have always liked reading what she had to say. Unfortunately, this book was not my cup of tea. She talks so much about her fears for her financial future that I began to wonder if that was the main reason she published this book. Okay, that‘s a bit harsh, but... I will say that I always appreciate the lines she quotes from other authors.

Lovely. Poignant. Lyrical. Haunting. I needed this book at this point in my life. It was a blessing.

Today's plan (plus Christmas decorating!)

I've loved Dani Shapiro since I read Slow Motion. Hesitant, I thought I wouldn't be able to relate to the topic of this memoir (focuses on marriage and how it does/doesn't last).

Engaged in the spring it's now hitting me that I'll be someone's wife and it's made me sentimental for books like this one: portraying the honesty and struggles of day-to-day life without romanticizing a couple's ability to stay the course. I was not disappointed.

Who did you think you would grow up to become? You could never have dreamt yourself up. Sit down. Let me tell you everything that's happened. You can stop running now. You are alive in the woman who watches as you vanish.

We did not spend our days gazing into each others' eyes. We did that gazing when we made love it when one of us was in trouble, but most of the time our gazes met and entwined as they looked at a third thing. Third things are essential to marriages, objects or practices or habits or arts... or human beings that provide a joint rapture or contentment. Lovemaking is not a third thing but two-in-one. For many couples, children is the third thing.

Waiting for an event to start... the store hadn't even started setting up chairs, so I went next door 😉🥃

Just picked this up from the library tonight! I've been in the mood for a memoir, so I'm excited.

I'm not a huge fan of memoir but when I read them, I don't like a straight narrative. I want them like this one: circling around a memory, a theme, a moment; circling and revisiting and turning feelings inside and out and over and under until something starts to make sense. Real life is so much more complicated than fiction. I want memoirs to be complicated too. And this one is. Also the prose is poetry. Worth it just for that.

Sort of not in the mood for these first world problems.

I find it interesting to note the types of books I find solace in when times feel turbulent. Sometimes I want to face the issues head on to articulate the problem & work to a solution. Other times I try to hide in something so different that the escape is a panacea- maybe even off this planet, in a made up place. But today I need emotion, quiet reflection & softness. This audiobook is a balm, especially as the author's narration is lovely.

This memoir was very well written but I couldn't relate.

There was a line to get in the library today. How cool is that? 😎 📚

I really loved this - short, bittersweet, and quite wonderful. I've read a couple of her previous memoirs and liked them to varying degrees, but I think this is my favorite so far. Though her writing is always so good, this had a new level of depth and maturity that really impressed me.

My review of Hourglass got a little personal. How could it not? Hourglass is a memoir about marriage. My husband and I were married in October. It was one of those Hit Me At The Right Time Books and was also a smack dab in my wheelhouse book. Hourglass is a melancholy and meditative little memoir full of the heavy weight of the past. You can read my review here: http://bit.ly/2v0sSxd

Very short but very poignant book. This feels more like a meditation in love marriage and family. I would highly recommend this for really anybody, even if you are not married. This is extremely thought provoking.

Finally got this off of hold at the library. Under 150 pages, think I might get this in tonight.

Here is a potential stack that I have put together for the @24in48 readathon. I say potential because I'm lawless. As a mood reader, I can't predict what I will feel like reading, even a day before. I live for that moment after I close one book and ponder which one I will pick next. But I do like to group a bunch of potentials together for a readathon in the interests of time so I don't wander around my apartment, picking up random books.

Beautiful, poetic, dreamy memoir. I found it so inciteful and thought provoking, but I admit that may be due to the fact that I am relatively close to her in age and have been married for 14 years... 4.5⭐️

I absolutely loved this book! It was incredibly touching and beautiful. I highly recommend it! 😊

It's a quote of a quote😜but still lovely. Beautiful writing in this memoir so far.

Just a small #bookhaul for today. One for my son. One for the Mystery Book Exchange I'm hosting next week and two for me. 🙆🙆🙆

“My June Reading Wrap-Up” @tinaisreading/my-june-reading-wrap-up-84f72b786932" rel="nofollow" target="_top">https://medium.com/@tinaisreading/my-june-reading-wrap-up-84f72b786932

About to finish this book. It really makes me reflect on time, memory and love. This is a book I can see myself re-reading in the future🙊

A beautiful reflection on marriage and the unknowable direction of our lives. After listening to Dani Shapiro on Lit Up, I was compelled to read her newest work. She contemplates that it's not so much "what" happens to you, but "when" it happens to you. She writes with such ease and familiarity, and captures the everyday, fleeting yet repetitive, thoughts we have about our lives and the choices we make; I finished the audiobook in one sitting.

I really admire the way Shapiro was able to capture the disorienting effects of time with her writing and structure in this book. She weaves together themes and phrases artfully. Overall, though, I felt like this was a little too dreamy for me. The book is full of a lot of weighty poetic prose that can seem overdone/melodramatic. Still, she has some beautiful quotes and it's a very slim, fast read.

That moment when you realize that you will need to carry this bag for the entire rest of the day, even though it is now filled with new, signed copies! 😳 I'm blaming it on Litsy, for sure!

My June TBR list. I finished The Cosmopolitans this morning, so now on to Hourglass! The Immortal Life is the only one missing from this pile because I'm waiting on a hold from the library! 📚 #bookstack #junetbr

A pretty good month for reading! I listened to Hourglass on audio too.

"At the moment of my death, I'd like to be looking at the pictures of everyone I have ever loved."

Listened to this one on audiobook, which I would recommend. The author narrates it and I love her voice. I actually think I enjoyed listening to it way more than I would have liked reading it, just because of the style of her writing. She weaves back and forth in time, telling stories from her marriage. Definitely worth a listen.

Shapiro writes with honesty and focus. She writes about small things that happen daily and how hard it is to think about the future while the present is happening. I couldn't relate much to her background or personal life, but I enjoyed her writing style. This is not a fast and thrilling memoir by any means, but for those of us who like a bit of quiet reflection, Shapiro's newest book is just the thing. #arc #firsttoread

My 2 next reads are cover twinsies. #nextreads #bookcovers

This was just not for me. It only has to do with the format, I don't like the flow. It's beautifully written, I just didn't enjoy it, however I would recommend it to others to try.

I'm new to audiobooks but I love listening to podcasts, so I thought I'd try it. Going to start with this one, because I love her voice. #audiobook #hourglass

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ a beautiful meditation on marriage. I loved the writing and the complete honesty and truth. Many, many good quotes but loved this one. "The future - even minutes from now-is an actuarial guess." ???