Welcome to Litsy!

A comfort reread🐙 (I'm finding it hard to read new books. My brain wants to read things it already knows it loves, for some strange reason)
In a completely unrelated message 🙄: everyone, please vote! 🗳

Pulley‘s talent as a writer is on full display in her debut which is a multifaceted examination of fate, destiny, identity, tradition, and revolution. Like many of her books, the pace is slow but always building so that you want to keep reading. I absolutely loved the character of Keita Mori while I found plenty of others not like which is the mark of a good writer. Anyway, a very satisfying read.

I started this one last night and really like it. Pulley‘s writing rewards a slow read—just like in The Kingdoms, every word matters. The pace might not be for everyone, but it works for me…at least when it‘s one of her books.

I couldn't decide, I really couldn't. Therefore, I took inspiration by you Littens and started to have one BotM in Fiction and one in Non-Fiction. I don't read as much Non-Fiction as many of you lots, but still more than I used to. Let's see how this works.

Also, I love this book.

Bookish Song Nr. 55 - Diamonds

Well, I still seem to suffer from a huge Book Hangover, so I can't stop listening to the cover version of Diamonds by Steam Powered Giraffe. What a perfect song for this perfect book. And yes, it has to be cover version, not the original.

I might have already found my book of the year...

Wow, I have such a bad Book Hangover from this 😭 The story itself would already have been a 4/5 rating, but I listend to the audio book and fell in love. I hardly give out 5 stars, but this combination totally earns it. Every time I started listening to it I forgot the whole world around me, there was nothing else. Natasha Pulley is now on my list of favorite authors for sure and an auto buy as well.

Somebody breaks into Thaniel's room to give him a watch. After the watch sounds an alarm which saves him from a bomb attack on Scotland Yard, Thaniel tracks down the watchmaker, a Japanese immigrant to 1880s London.

An entertaining adventure except for the final resolution for Thaniel, Mori, and Grace, during and after the premiere of “The Mikado“, which felt a bit flat.

Low Pick, High So-So

#BookedInTime @Cuilin @dabbe

#lunchandabook

Atmospheric is a good description of the writing here, but also romantic and downright good stuff though it took a while to take. I was wondering at the 1/2 way point of the book if I cared, because there is an odd dislocation to Pulley‘s story, but I was brought back and repeatedly hooked by the description of setting and original turning of events.

Starting some new evening classes and because of the busses (I have to take two) I'm here about an hour early. Better than being late!

Going to try and relax and start reading this ... Or I might doom scroll

Bit of everything here. Fantasy. Mystery. Literature. A real hybrid.

#fiction #bookreviews

I feel like my brain is just skipping on the surface of this book. Something about the writing just doesn‘t work for me 🤷‍♀️

Trying to finish this by Sunday for a book club.

Hi. My name is Sharni and I have more prints than I do wall space (also more books than shelf space).

(Print reads : Don‘t tell me - just intend to)

I'm really bummed about this book because the premise was so good, the execution just didn't hold up. I made it about 3/4 in before setting it aside. The dialog is disjointed and everyone sounds the same. The characters are not fully developed and the main ones do things that make zero sense. The biggest complaint is that you start to think it's your lapse in attention or your failure to keep up with the story but that's not the case.

#BookMail at 8.34am. 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Perfect timing, I was going to meet a friend at 9.30am.

One for my signed editions shelf, one for said friend. Said friend just couldn't make today's coffee date, her child has a cold and couldn't go to school. So she'll get the book another time.

#GhostCat insisted on being in the shot. She nearly sat on the book at one time.

I mean - what‘s not to love???

“It was much better to think that anything could happen, even if it couldn‘t.”

Featuring half of my (lockdown) purchase from LittleStarsStories 🐙

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 56th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

#CuriousCovers
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

Something that looks like #circles 😂

Day 8

Today I finished moving back home... couldn't resist grabbing a final few books before the rest of my stuff went into storage.

Anyone read these? Did I make the right choice?

Reading this as an ebook. I'm not used to reading on my phone but my library doesn't have it physically so I'm using overdrive.

One book starts with a little breaking and entering - nothing is taken but the dirty dishes are carefully washed and put away and a most unusual watch is left behind... and in the other - an unexpected encounter in a hat shop completely changes the life path of Sophie Hatter. HOW LUCKY!!!

I don't think I've ever been as attached to a book as I am to Watchmaker. Sometimes I open it up just to read a few paragraphs and bask in the language and ambiance.
I mean, look at how much you learn about Thaniel in that paragraph.

Thaniel receives a watch anonymously that ends up saving his life so he seeks out the watchmaker. Mori is like no one he has ever met before, incredibly talented and seemingly able to answer questions before they are even asked. Is he simply a good watchmaker or is there more to his story? I thoroughly enjoyed this book even if it didn‘t completely work for me. I really want a mechanical octopus now and would willingly sacrifice my socks to one.

I really enjoyed this. I feel like some things maybe didn't quite add up, or maybe I just didn't quite catch everything. Even so, I liked the setting and story.

Some of my favourite 2020 reads - these books got me through lockdown... I leaned back into fantasy books - in all it‘s different, glorious sub-genres (for me it was mostly a mix of historical fantasy and urban fantasy)

I thought that the book started strong and I couldn't put it down, but then it all kind of fell apart. I also really disliked how the only female character of importance was written. Since it's the author's first book, I will give her another chance and hope for the best.

How many stars can you give? This book gets all the stars. It was both magical and so very human. Loved the characters, the premise and the writing. Made me laugh, made me cry. Going off to buy her second book. #LMPBC round 10 pick @thegreensofa @LapReader can't wait for you to read it.

2020 has gifted me with great insight into my reading loves... I really enjoy historical fantasy...

Sometimes the fantasy element is very light or more of an everyday magic...

I haven‘t read The Devil and The Dark Water yet because it‘s a big book and I‘m very behind on my GR challenge but soon!

You‘ve come home from a long day at the Home Office (Telegraphy Department) to find that your flat has been broken into... nothing has been taken but your dishes have been washed and a velvet box tied with ribbon has been left next to your bed...

Do you have a favourite book set in the past? This book starts in 1883 and I ❤️ it!

#3Books that I've gifted to others.

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

What‘s the last book that kept you up?

I loved these so much that I‘m still thinking about them more than a month later...

I‘ve been low key obsessing over this book since I read it... so I got myself a copy... it‘s a hardback without a dust jacket but it has deckled edges - so it‘s kind of fancy - maybe it‘s business casual? idk.

I think I need to just get the reread happening...

Thank you for the tag @PickwickPlockPlock

Here are my #top6reads of the year so far (I tried to pick more recent releases rather than old favourites)

What are your favourites @runswithscissors007 and @Flingogal

Gosh, what an intricate and planned plot which seemed so randomly drawn out!

I liked the style, and the characters were both likeable and believable. Added to that the magical elements and it's a winner!👍👍🥉😊

What a cover!
Looking forward to reading this.
Plus the author is local to me 😊😊😊

This was only going to be a so-so until about two thirds of the way through when it really picked up momentum and you started to see some of the story lines weave together. I devoured the last third in more or less one go.
Also, it mentions LMH, so yay!

This is so very true. It‘s a bloody long walk from LMH to anywhere in Oxford.

Ever been so obsessed that you buy postcards via redbubble of your new favourite book and have to work out where the nearest post box is to your home?

#BookBrag @SumisBooks

📘 I have some Michener books published in the 1960s.
📘 The last book I received is an Axiom's End. Just a few weeks old.
📘 I have no idea. I would guess it is one of my signed books.
📘 This is so subjective. My favorite is The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.

@Crazeedi @wanderinglynn @4thhouseontheleft @EadieB

This book is like the mechanism of a clock : precise to the second, extremely complicated, each fear connected to another.... And if you take one off... Skip everything!

#readingchallenge2020 #litsy #litsybook #book #bookly #goodreads #stayathome #lettura #bookworms #toread #iorestoacasa #ioleggoacasa #ioleggo #Iread #natashapulley #thewatchmakeroffiligreestreet

May was quite the month for reading! 18 books! I nearly destroyed my living room taking this photo but am pleased to report I didn‘t drop any books (there was several tense moments)

I loved discovering Natasha Pulley in May. I think a reread is in my immediate future... my inner fangirl, long dormant resurfaced in May for these books - and stayed for Uprooted, Alanna, Sophie and Howl and Nick and Charlie...

How was your month?

Every once in awhile you find a book that just sings to you. I‘m so glad that I read this and I‘m also pretty psyched that my favourite local bookshop delivered the sequel today so I don‘t have to relinquish these characters just yet...

Sone elements of this book really appealed to me but ultimately I found it a confusing and unsatisfying read 😔

I'm back! I took a mini-hiatus because things have been crazy lately. Yesterday I hosted the #readathon on Instagram and I seem to be coming out of my funk!

1 - The tagged book on audio and Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix.
2 - The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and a few other books in an Audible sale.
3 - I was in a reading slump, but probably Steelheart and Firefight by Brandon Sanderson.

#weekendreads