Welcome to Litsy!

Themes: Interwoven Short Stories, Quirky Charcters, Journalism

This was a quirky, quick read - just what the doctor ordered. I enjoyed some of the characters‘ stories more than others, there was one I skipped after 3 pages because I knew my blood pressure was rising from the stress the character was facing 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 Overall though, a pick with an astrisk that it will not be everyone‘s cup of tea ☕️🧋🫖

I picked up this book just to have a look and ended up reading the entire thing in one sitting- even skipping dinner!!! I LOVED it @BarbaraBB ♥️🙌🏻 Interconnected vignettes surrounding the staff of a small international English language newspaper located in Rome. Each chapter introduces another news correspondent. The writing is sharp, funny, authentic and memorable. Can‘t believe this was Rachman‘s debut novel! Fantastic

This is my #doublespin for this month, but I‘m about 30% in and I‘m gonna bail. It‘s not holding my interest and I just don‘t care about the story, not that there‘s been much of one so far. Each chapter seems to be about one specific character and reads like a short story. Maybe I‘m just not digging that format?

#bookspinbingo

Wow, for a first book this was great. We get 11 related short stories of people under the arc of the life and death of an American newspaper in Rome that they have a connection to. If I had read this 11 years ago when it first came out, I think I would have taken these stories better. The main character of each story suffers from an illusion, a delusion, a kind of fantasy. They all get brought back to reality. Very compelling, just a downer.👇🏼

Set in #Rome. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #julyjourneys

On a break from our beachside town to this blustery, windswept beach in Coromandel. 💕 I just devoured this book of short stories from 2010. They‘re set around a small international newspaper published by a bunch of Americans living in Rome. The author was once a reporter and editor and the setting and work details feel authentic. Each story exposes the life of a different person working on the paper or related to it.⬇️

I stopped by my library‘s book sale this morning which is always dangerous (but luckily inexpensive) as my TBR pile is getting out of control. Between the stack of books my daughter picked up as well and my stack, I spent $11. I just can never resist!

I won‘t say run to the library, but it‘s still worth a read. Each brief chapter opens a portal into a character‘s life - all of them intertwined by the English newspaper out of Rome for which they work. Thinking this would have been a nice book club read; I would have liked to delve deeper with fellow readers into the characters‘ personalities and motivations.

Looking forward to finishing over the weekend. Happy Friday, fellow Littens. 🙂

Need to restart my other current read as I‘m not far in and have taken too long of a break from it. Wasn‘t in the mood to begin again now, so started anew with the imperfectionists. Intrigued by the setup: the history of an American newspaper out of Rome, interwoven through a compilation of vignettes of its staff. I‘m hopeful characters to come continue to deliver.

What did you do to me, Tom Rachman?! This perfectly lovely book, each chapter focusing on someone associated with an English-language newspaper in Rome, with backstory on the paper threaded throughout...AND THIS IS HOW YOU END IT?!?! Each character vignette was a little jewel, most quite poignant. But that ending! 😳😳

“Nothing epitomizes the futility of human striving quite like aspartame...”

“If history has taught us anything, Arthur muses, it is that men with mustaches must never achieve positions of power.”
Why does this seem so truuuee?? 😂🤣

Well here is book 1 for the first day of our new year! I am ready to read the night away 🤓

To be honest, if I'm at the thrift store or at the library I hardly ever read the back blurb of the book. If I like the spine or the cover, it goes in the basket. 😉 #LibraryWishlist #NeverEndingTBR

Have any of my fellow Littens read this book? Would you recommend? Please let me know. ☺️

One of our consultants at work knows I'm a reader, and lately we've been trading books--I lend him all my political memoirs, and he's been bringing me interesting reads from all genres. Today he brought me this fat stack (though I've already read The Girl on the Train) and told me to just keep the lot! 🙌#bookpeoplearemypeople

At this point I'm finishing this out of spite...

Each chapter was a short story about a person working at a failing newspaper. I loved the characters and after their stories were over, I wanted more.

Reading on my lunch break and found my boyfriend's name in my book 😍

Been in a reading slump for months now. Going to attempt this book today.

This is one of the few times that I read a book because of the New York Times review. (Usually I find recommendations - or now Litsy - more reliable than newspaper reviews). It was great.

I have a great memory for book covers, which means I often notice patterns and transaction like these total #covertwins Does anyone else notice almost identical covers out there in the wild? 😜

This is the second time I have read this book and I fell in love with it all over again. Well written characters that you feel for, the history of this strange newspaper in Rome, and a great ear for awkward dialogue. You'll laugh, cry, whatever and if you don't you have no heart. Grab a warm blanket, a drink of your choice, and check this one out.

I know I'm not the first to post about this book today, but I'm gonna post anyway, partly because this was one of the few #workplacebooks on my shelf and also because it was a really, really good read about a dying industry and the people working to keep it relevant. It spoke to the bookseller in me.

@Well-ReadNeck @RealLifeReading
#somethingforsept #septphotochallenge #LitsyFeature

#SeptemberPhotoChallenge #somethingforsept Workplace books. I absolutely fell in love with this book about journalists and their paper and spent the summer it was released recommending it to everyone at the neighborhood pool. So, also something to mark the end of summer.

So much middle aged white guy ennui.

I loved the hardcover dust jacket design. The paperback is making me feel meh. Is it worth reading? It's another #laundromatlibrary find

Quick read. I was able to finish it on two back to back flights today. Which was fortunate, because I definitely did not want to put it down. Each character is unique and well developed as their stories intertwined. I would totally befriend a few.

So missable! There wasn't a single character who I liked or cared about. Each chapter was basically a stand alone vignette about the different people who work for an international newspaper. I got about two thirds of the way through and then gave up.