Welcome to Litsy!

Oh my! That was a bleak, depressing, violent, and vile spectacle of humanity. But the writing craft is exquisite.

A pick if you are up for a dark read.

Next up and long overdue. I‘m not excited to start another after Words to Shape My Name. 😐 Let‘s hope it‘s fantastic and I don‘t flounder in a morass of bails.

I‘ve had this on my shelf for a long time, but put off reading it as I thought it might be too weird. It wasn‘t actually that weird, but very dark, almost dystopian. It‘s very violent too, but I liked it nonetheless.

Teamed it with my squirrel cushion and my new squirrel bookmark from the lovely @LeahBergen ….well, the book is set in the woods and I always like to match my reading accoutrements to my book!

Daniel and Cathy‘s Daddy builds a house off grid #InTheWoods, but their simple way of life is threatened when others take offence.

#FebruaryFeels @Eggs

#ReadWithMrBook #OneWordTitle This has been in my TBR for a long time .Beautiful writing fills this novel of a back to the land family in the wilds of Yorkshire.But in the rules of rural gothic settings,someone or something won‘t let that stand.
Also using for #readingeurope2020 #England

Another wild Friday night! 📚🍷🛏

I have decided to join the fun , add to my pile of books to read and #ReadWithMrBook
The first one up is #1WordTitle My selection has been on my TBR for a long time: Elmet

I really loved this story of a man and his children who create a home in the woods, living on the edges of a rural life of casual labour, unscrupulous landowners and borderline poverty. The prose is beautiful, the story harsh but unusual. It also has such a sense of place in the rural flatlands where Yorkshire meets Lincolnshire and by the sea of the East coast. Not far from where I grew up in fact. This just might make it into my top 5 this year

If you need some ideas for this weeks topical reading! Loved the grittiness I‘d the tagged book.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/28/devils-and-debauchery-why-we-love-...

I feel this one in my chest; it‘s so heavy in a beautiful way. Gorgeous prose — with so many phrases and sentences that just bowled me over with their perfection — that builds, powerfully, to a heart-wrenching climax.

A poor family living off the grid on stolen land owned by immoral less poor people. What could go wrong? This debut novel was short listed for the Man Booker prize, but had no effect on me. So if you liked Olive Kitteridge or The Shipping News or The Sense of an Ending _ all other books that left no impression on me- you might like this.
( yes, it‘s been a poor reading year for me. don‘t know if it is me or the books!)
Next up: a simple romance

#Daddy is a very strong character, in many senses of the phrase, in this 2017 Booker shortlisted debut from Fiona Mozley.

#SoulSeptember @Eggs

#7days7covers #covercrush Day 1

Would you like to share your favourites @youneverarrived ? Each day, for 7 days, share a book cover you love, no explanation needed, and tag someone.

@Cinfhen 😘

Daddy builds a house in #DownInTheWoods where he lives with his children Cathy and Daniel. This 2017 Booker shortlisted novel was a pleasant surprise to me, very readable, though the subject matter can be harsh.

#AyUpAugust
@Cinfhen
@squirrelbrain

There is a way that the world works, where the owners get to make the rules and those below must follow. To escape society‘s ideas of ownership—of land, of your own body—you can live in the woods like John, Cathy, and Danny. You can even fight back with great strength. But you‘ll inevitably be found, outnumbered, and subjected to the demands of the powerful. To be truly free, the book suggests, you have to burn it all down.

Far more nonfiction than my norm. (Usually lucky have just one.) Nice mix for me. Usually heavy on the mystery/thriller train.

#TimBitTunes #WheatKings

Growing up in rural Yorkshire, not too far where Elmet is set, I spent my childhood romping through wheat fields. Oh, the fun!

I have this on my TBR and may have to bump up after thinking of it again.

Ugh, this one just didn't do it for me. I loved the stark, poetic prose, but the slow pace and lack of plot had me wanting more. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Between the holidays and moving, the past couple weeks have been a blur. But we are making progress!!

I suggested to my husband that he put some music on while we unpack boxes but he said he would prefer to finish his audiobook (Mistborn #1- anyone read this??) and who am I to complain?? So I‘m trying to finish up Elmet on audio in the meantime 🎧👍🏻

I cannot truthfully say I enjoyed the book as a whole, but I did enjoy the writing (from teenager Daniel's POV) and appreciated how the lyrical style with its frequent glances at pastoral beauty made the pervasive violence and building menace feel all the more violent and menacing. The story is troubling throughout and the climax to which it leads is both horrible and horrific: I needed a brisk walk after to clear my head.

Completed it today. It was a picnic read, with lyrical narrative and breathtaking ending.

Reading this book gives me a feeling of a trip back to my granny's place when each night she used to tell us beautiful stories.

#31bookpics #bookstack All of these have been on TBR too long . Hope to get them read before the end of 2018.

#litsybookmail part two today😁
Thank you Cindy - I now feel I‘ve had my (vege) chicken soup for the soul! Grateful to have found such a wonderful friendship 💕
These gifts are awesome and sorry if I‘ve opened them ahead of birthday (it did say get well/birthday - my excuse) - but they will still be awesome then!!
I love my little Hedwig 🦉 and the books and gifts are amazing. Thank you 💜💜

Trite but true: feel like I didn‘t read the same book as others. Found this boring & plodding, narrator‘s voice changed seemingly by the author‘s needs, characters felt flat & clichéd. And while there‘s certainly a valid convo to be had about the concept of land ownership, ummmmm sorry I don‘t side with someone who just randomly decided to squat and acts high and mighty about it. Also STOP USING SEXUAL ASSAULT AS YOUR PLOT DEVICE. Bleeehhh. 1/5 ⭐️

Timely. 😡

Had a hard time choosing my next read after such a wonderful experience rereading Neverwhere. I finally just went with one of the oldest ones on my TBR shelves (not by publication date, but by how long I‘ve owned it). “Man Booker finalist” doesn‘t always guarantee a good book but hopefully this will be! #nowreading

It took about 30 pages for me to become invested and once I did, I read through in one sitting. Told from the POV of Daniel, a young boy who is looking back on an event that altered the course of his life. You know from the beginning it‘s something dark & isolating but the story is slowly revealed and you feel the dread and tension percolating. I‘m sure @TrishB & @emilyhaldi will love this richly atmospheric, dark & haunting story.

I told my daughter to choose a book from my shelf and here‘s the winner 🌳🍂🌾 I don‘t know much about this book so I‘m going in with no expectations. September is #ReadWhatYouOwn month 🤞🏼🤞🏼

Finished this after a recommendation from my best friend, who is a Yorkshire lass. Very bleak and like granite but, oh, such love...

Literary fiction debut from female British author. Based in the north of England, this timeless novel has a strong sense of place. There are a range of characters showing the variety of human experience; some confirming gender biases and others challenging them. They are also shown warts and all, confirming the complexities of being human - we are neither all good or all bad.

I got completely swept up by this audiobook. It‘s such a unique and disturbing story but beautifully written. I can‘t help but feel deeply for Cathy, Daniel and their Daddy. Well worth the listen.

I did not think I was going to enjoy this book. I could not have been more wrong.

This reads like the first season of a fantastic new HBO show - dark, forboding, with a cast of characters you immediately sympathize with, making the inevitable disaster that much more raw.

This was great - don't miss it

#EliReadsTheBookers #EliReadsTheWomensPrize

I most definitely have an inside sort of head.

Book 17: Took a while to get into this one but after a decent sitting and a change of pace in the latter part of the book I found my way. Would have loved to have heard this story from Cathy's point of view....

This book starts with Daniel running from something #burn-ing. Slowly, throughout the book, we learn how Daniel got seperated from his father and sister, and why he is fleeing the burning of his family home 🔥🔥

#HeatinJuly

I really liked this book which portrayed the Yorkshire countryside and community in both its natural beauty and brutality. Daniel seems a lost soul searching for his wild sister, cathy, who he lost years before when his bare fist fighter yet gentle 'Daddy' confronts demons from his past. Harsh yet poetic, i liked the characters, relationships, tension and couldn't stop turning the pages with a dramatic ending. As a debut im looking fwd to her next

#backpackeurope traveling Elmet. Beautiful walking weather. @JenP @BookwormM

#backpackEurope.
Destination, Heathrow, July 2. First stop, Elmet. Hope there are no delays or bad weather. @JenP

Written in stark, yet unrelenting prose this story gripped me and wouldn‘t let go. I don‘t want to give too much away as much of the story happens at the end but it‘s about a family that lives in the woods of Yorkshire. The story is told in alternating flashbacks and present moments from the POV of Daniel, the son. Family, rural life, community are all described in language that is “rhythmic and lilting.” #Booked2018 #Outdoors #LitsyAtoZ #LetterE

Today‘s Audible daily deal looks too good to pass up. #Audible #DailyDeal

Reading on the stair machine at the gym. Trying to make reading and cardio a thing. 😁🏃🏻‍♀️📚 At the very least I feel like I‘m accomplishing 2 things at the same time!! Still really enjoying this strange story.

Just started this one-literally only 15 pages in. Went on a short run and had a workout and I can‘t seem to stop thinking about it. Which is a good sign I think. It seems a little out of my comfort zone in terms of writing style (no dialogue yet!) but I‘m still liking it. I‘m thinking of using it for #Booked2018 #SetOutdoors

Slowly getting through last year's booker shortlist. I loved this book. It is beautifully written, lyrical and at times disturbing. This tale of growing up tough in a rural Yorkshire with a bare knuckle fighting father, malevolent land owners and the risk of losing the house they call home, is slow to start but never boring. A marvellous debut novel.

Shirt, sharp, clear. I can taste the air, smell woods, feel the cold.

Beautiful poetic writing...just hard to beleive it would come from an enducated young man. I will definitely read her future work.

My reading buddy 😻😻📚 #catsoflitsy