Welcome to Litsy!

Wow, for 149 pages, this book packs a punch. A man leaves his 10 year old daughter to go on a questionable quest. The journey that ensues is interesting but there are some terrifying moments for his daughter. I loved the character Old Woman From A Distance.

Brilliant book, thrilled to have found this in a second hand shop. It's a great tale and full of description of the interior of the USA in the 1800s. Her writing is sublime.

A mule farm in Pennsylvania
#whereareyouMonday
@Cupcake12

Like others here, I wanted to read more from Davies after Clear. I liked this one, a novel of obsession, the expansiveness of men‘s lives and the rapid narrowing of girls‘s as they become women. The ending is a tad preposterous but I liked it.

Loved this! Such a tense book, from both the POV of Cy Bellman who goes west to find mythical animals and even more so for his young daughter left behind in the care of Cy‘s sister.

I don‘t think I loved it as much as Clear, and I wasn‘t *entirely* sure about the very end but I definitely want to read more by this author.

Thanks for sending it to me @BarbaraBB 😘

West, by Carys Davies is a wonderful book. I loved Clear .. it‘s my favourite of the two. But West was similar, a story of isolation, of dreams , of what might be and might have been.. of chance. I love the natural settings of her books. Nature in all its stark beauty.

Now on to Sally Rooney, (totally opposite territory to Davies ) Loving it too.

Also a few bails along the way sinse I posted last.

When some huge ancient bones has been discovered out west, Cy Bellman decides to go in search of these big animals. He leaves his 10 yr old daughter to his sister.

A book about a man‘s journey but also about the people staying behind, and how hard it is to be a woman in a man‘s world.

After I loved Clear so much, I picked this up. It starts just as beautiful but then it didn‘t hold my fascination until the end. It‘s still a soft pick with an interesting and beautifully written story.

I now have read all the three books I have packed for my five-days-holiday 🙈 Audiobook on my phone it is for tonight.

#bookspin and #doublespin were two unfulfilled prompt challenges - probably going with these. @TheAromaofBooks

struggling a bit with @booked2023 this season but realised I hadn't posted about this #bookbeginningwithw earlier this yr. A really compelling novella abt the exploration of the west of USA in early 1800s. A widower leaves his dtr on a mad trip to discover dinosaur bones reported in the paper while at home the risks are as great as he discovers. Well written + references the theft of native land well
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @alisiakae

📕 West by Carys Davies
🖊 Ware, Chris
🎬 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
🎤 Ware, Jessie
🎶 We Belong - Pat Benatar

#ManicMonday #LetterW
@CBee

A low pick for me, maybe too high expectations - I expected to love it; it was just good 🤷🏻‍♀️

Widower Cy Bellman heads into the American West, searching for living dinosaurs. His lonely young daughter is left behind in the care of her aunt. Despite the wide open spaces and big themes, this is a subtle novella, albeit with a surprising end. It would make for a great book club discussion.

Did I love it? No. It might just stay with me though.

My weekend reading.

City of the Beasts is my son's. He liked it better than I did, but still thought the depiction of the native people of the Amazon was insensitive. ("Did they have to be called yellow on every page?") I thought the writing was a bit stiff for Allende.

West was surprising. It had a satisfying ending that didn't go the way I thought it would.

In 1815 a widower leaves behind his home in Pennsylvania, to travel west to Kentucky in search of giant animals he heard about.
He leaves behind his 10 year old daughter who is certain he‘ll return and keeps waiting for him.

This is quite a dark and atmospheric read about the early days of the US. I felt for the daughter, not for the silly father! Thanks again Cindy 🥰

10-year-old Bess‘ father leaves her in the care of her aunt while he goes in search of mysterious, enormous animals he has read about. We follow Mr. Bellman on his rugged, horseback adventure and keep up with Bess as she grows to age 12. Quite interesting story told in a novella size. #MountTBR

I enjoyed this book tremendously. The characterization, as well as the descriptions of the land, is so well done, especially given the brevity of the book. More please!

Novella that just doesn't live up to the hype. A father leaves his 10 year old daughter with his sister so he can explore the west for huge animals that are rumored to exist based on the fossilized bones that were found. Basically didn't like any of the adults in the book. The only two tolerable people were the daughter and the young Indian boy who guides the father. Author can write, just disliked the story. 🌟🌟

I enjoyed this and wish it had been longer. Cy Bellman reads in the newspaper about enormous ancient bones and heads west to find them, leaving behind his 10 year old daughter, Bess. The story alternates between Bellman‘s journey and Bess at home, lonely and waiting for his return. This book has been on my mind because of my current read tagged below. #LLB19 #amrbooktbrtemptation

Read in May.

Book: West by Carys Davies

Film: The Unforgiven

Song: John Wayne is Big Leggy by Haysi Fantayzee

#ManicMonday @JoScho

The plot was great just incomplete. I don‘t see what all of the fuss is about this book!

This novel is slight and quiet, but still manages to discuss big ideas, draw vivid portrait of a place, and construct characters with depth. This is a novel you savour sentence by sentence, and are compelled to read on. In many ways this isn‘t a new story; it leans on the western genre to tell a familiar tale of fated journeys, American exceptionalism, and the arrogance of the white man in the face of nature, and those who have come before.

Um this is quite good aye?

Recommended by a friend.

I had high hopes for this book when it started, but it seemed to just peter out. It‘s pleasant enough, and “worthy” in its theme of extinction and collective loss.

It finally feels like Autumn in Australia 🇦🇺 🍂 and cool enough to go to the beach 🏖

Darker than I was expecting, with unexpected menace lurking behind the nostalgia. Its the twinned stories of Cy, widowed & seeking out to adventure 'west' in search of creatures from a former era & Bess,his 10 yr old daughter left behind. Written with a sparse beauty it deftly draws us through the landscape. With themes of 'difference', fears of the unknown & a passion to find the unfindable - a historical novel with lots of modern day relevance.

1. The tagged book is my book club‘s choice for this month, I‘m liking it so far.

2. I don‘t think the 1995 adaption of Pride & Prejudice with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth will ever be beaten.

3. Goodreads

#WeekendReads
@rachelsbrittain

Book outlet haul! 🤗
Have already started reading West and love it.

Next up on this semi-relaxing Saturday!

What are you reading this weekend?

Just finished West, and the hype was valid. The imagery, the characters, the encroaching menace, and ending were just exceptional. (That ending!!!) It‘s a fast and powerful reading experience and I will never forgot some of the descriptions and characters in this book. Hat tip to @SavidgeReads and Russell from Ink and Paper Blog for recommending this during our City Lights stroll! You were both right.

Still kind of processing this book, but I really liked it. The writing is very sparse and to the point, but it was still emotionally engaging for me. Part adventure, part coming of age, and part tragedy. Which is sort of the story of the American West, now that I've written that...

I picked this up because I read a review in the Daily Mail and it sounded interesting, glad I did! Curious about this author's short story collections.

A gift from someone who knows me well. How gorgeous is this cover?!

WOW! This slim novel really packs a hefty punch 💥With striking prose and vivid imagery, one feels like they‘ve journeyed out West on the same nonsensical quest that Cy Bellman traveled. Believing that dinosaurs may still exist, Bellman a widower and father of a young daughter leaves home in hopes of capturing the majestic creatures. Bess his lonely daughter most now face the loss of both her mother & father while he goes out West. 👇🏼

So this book was calling to me this morning and so far it‘s fabulous. Thank you to the awesome @Jess who gifted this book to me and another thank you to @dariazeoli for the wonderful holiday card!!! I love the design and heartfelt wish xx what could be better #GoodBooksAndGoodCompany ❤️💚❤️💚❤️💚Thanks again, #LitsyFriends you guys are the most generous and caring people on the planet 🙌🏻#FeelingBlessed 😊

So much packed into fewer than 200 pages! Loved it. Will read it again.

It‘s raining 🌧 outside so I‘m all snuggled up with a new 📖 and my Daisy 🌸 🐶

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️One of my favorites from this year. I had never read Carys Davies before, but I immediately purchased two of her short story collections. It‘s also one of the rare books that my husband and I both read.

A short and sweet Western. It both felt small and personal as well as grand. The writing was understated, but gave a fantastic sense of place and character. #western

"You had so many ways of deciding which way to live your life. It made his head spin to think of them. It hurt his heart to think that he had decided on the wrong way." ❤️

So, yes it‘s a short worthwhile read. Here‘s a quote I loved:

Sometimes, to encourage himself, he laid his head against its soft, leaflike ears and whispered: “Remember there are no gods. We have ourselves and nothing else.”

I‘ve been doing something (exciting, can‘t wait to tell ya‘ll) that‘s kept me from reading as much 😳😰. So many books I must catch up on! Here is a short one to kick start the great Catch-Up. So far it‘s beautiful but I‘m still trying to figure out why. Why am I reading this? What does it mean? 🤔 Why is it published? Why did this father really have to leave his daughter to go do this thing?

First book of #24in48 completed!! Beautiful compact book. It reminded me of Days without End by Sebastian Barry in it's tone and setting. Makes me want to read other books by Cays Davies.

#HeatOfJuly playing catch-up #BeWithYou “I rose and rubbed my limbs, slapped them awake, trying to ward off a rising hysteria. This is what it will be, every day, without him. I felt a wild-eyed tightness in my chest, like a scream. Every day, without him." [Song of Achilles] and can‘t wait to read WEST, which was gifted to me by the adorable @Jess #WildWildWest

Loved this little gem of a book. Recommend for fans of News of the World.

Short chapters, back and forth perspectives, and beautiful writing. What more could you want.

Such a big tale packed into such a slim book. A very thoughtful and well constructed story.

In 1815 a silly man leaves behind his young daughter in Pennsylvania, and his widower grief, traveling afar in search of live dinosaurs. Davies spins a spare novel out of the essential American threads of idiotic settler maleness, racism, sexual violence, and genocide. Oscar Wilde said “I cannot think otherwise than in stories.“ I say that from here on in I shall be unable to think about America without casting my thoughts back upon this novel.