Welcome to Litsy!

Playing catch up. All ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️s! (I know. I cheated with #LetterX 🤪) #LetterV #LetterW #LetterY #LetterZ #AlphaberGame

Yesterday‘s Salvo‘s purchases for under $24 & the sunset from my balcony after a storm. The shop is so close to the library where I was returning books that I wasn‘t able to restrain myself. I got a little wet. I intend to turn the bottom & top books into scrapbooks by adding pics & journaling. I think I may already own 2 of these but for $1 each I was willing to take the risk. The SOA DVD is because I‘m partial to a bit of Jax on lonely nights 🔥

I didn‘t know anything about Sara and Gerald Murphy before this book! Rich people‘s stories are not usually my thing, but I really enjoyed this and got totally sucked into their lives and lifestyle. Have been lost down the rabbit hole reading about them since finishing the book.

#lunchtimeread first one for a while.
Really enjoying this 😁

Fascinating historical fiction bit with slightly patchy writing. First part was fascinating then fell into epistolary style which fell a little flat. Glad I read and interesting in knowing more about this couple (wish I had read earlier in the holiday and we might have side tracked to see more of the places mentioned ##

Started off great , but slowly became boring. It's well written, just not as interesting as I was expecting it to be. The Murphys are an interesting part of the Lost Generation , too bad fhe second half portrayed them in a modern tabloid style .

Interesting, page turner

To think I actually considered bailing around page 70🤦🏻‍♀️

A story so rich in love and friendship; a testament to marriage.

Another gem found buried in the B&N bargain book section💎

Cool end pages

The wealthy, 1920s, movers and shakers of the art world . . . sounds promising, I'm going in 🤞

#CurrentRead

Another “meh” book club pick. This one is a historical fiction novel in the Jazz Age that centers around the Murphy family and their circle of artistic friends (including Scott F. Fitzgerald and Hemingway). At least there were queer characters in this, which was refreshing for me.

Does anybody else stay in book clubs just for the company (not for the books)?
#catsoflitsy

Here are some of my favs of the year. I didn‘t have one clear cut favorite, just a lot of books I really liked! #2018favorites

I must admit that I did not know anything about Gerald or Sara Murphy, the couple who owned the Villa America on the French Riviera. They had quite the circle of friends that they entertained there, including Hemingway, Picasso and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. This was a historical fiction novel about their lives. Now I need to read Tender is the Night which is supposed to be loosely based on the Murphys.

V for my #litsyatoz challenge!

I expected this to be a 5 star read, but it was a bit of a let down. The last 100 pages were perfect, but it took awhile to get there and I think the author could have woven a more cohesive story in the beginning. The Hemingways, the Fitzgeralds, and the Murphys are entertaining to read about but their antics grew old and it wasn‘t until tragedy hit that their self reflection kicked into gear. This is a very tentative pick for me.

#bathandbook is very colorful tonight! 🛀 ♥️

Two books about #famous people that I‘m dying to read. Villa America is about Gerald and Sarah Murphy and their home on the coast of Antibes, where they entertained Hemingway, Picasso, and the Fitzgeralds, to name a few. The Importance of Being Kennedy is a fictitious diary of a nanny who cares for the Kennedy children, including Rosemary, Kick, Bobby, and JFK. If you‘ve read either of these I‘d love to know your thoughts! #aprella

Another recent #bookoutlet purchase that @Reviewsbylola suggested I buy... Admittedly, I didn't thoroughly read the description before buying as it was only $0.79 🤦🏻‍♀️ but luckily, it sounds great! Historical fiction surrounding Sara and Gerald Murphy and Villa #America - the estate they built in France and filled with company including Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. I love reading about this era and the dazzling lives they led ✨
#nuyear

Leaving on a road trip at 2:00am and I'm ready 4 hours early because I couldn't sleep. I've been reading this book all afternoon and evening and it's boring so I'm hoping it will make me sleepy so I can get a nap in before I go (don't worry, I'm not the driver, so if I don't sleep the worst that will happen is that I'll be cranky).

Someone is making it difficult to read 😺

Consecutive pages, same character, name spelled differently. Drives me crazy 🙃

I'm in need of#comfortreads tonight after my disappointing book mail. Usually my comfort reads are historical mysteries, but tonight I'm going with this because it's been sitting on my shelf for months and it has a beautiful cover and end pages and looks indulgent. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint!
#anditsaugust @RealLifeReading

#MakeAWish I wish I had time to read all these books (and all the others that didn't make it into the picture)! 😂😂😂📚📚📚

#gypsykatsbirthdayweek @GypsyKat

I received an order of books from Thriftbooks... But I'm scratching my head because I'm fairly certain that I ordered the hardcover of Villa America not paperback, plus this copy is an ARC - which doesn't seem like something that should be sold/resold and not something that I want to pay for when it was free for the original owner.

I'm such a sucker for fiction about the Lost Generation. Instead of being Hemingway/Fitzgerald focused, the story centers around the Murphys, a couple I hadn't heard of until this, but they are the inspiration for Tender is the Night. The change in main characters makes for a nice change of pace from the exhausting Fitzgerald and Hemingways. There are a few nonfiction works about the Murphys and I am excited to dive into them! #LitsyAtoZ #LetterV

#BookNBrunch! #LitsyPartyOfOne edition! (But in our case, two). I awoke in a cheery mood on this sunny Sunday, and felt compelled to prepare a feast: vanilla buttermilk waffles with pure local maple syrup, cheesy scrambled eggs, extra crispy tater tots, maple sausage, crispy bacon, & English Breakfast tea. Yum! 😋 This has been another presentation of: #MrBookBookBabeKitchen. Happy reads & happy eats!

The prompt today has reignited my excitement for a book on my TBR. I bought this awhile ago and it's just been sitting on my shelves. Look at those gorgeous endpapers! 😍 Let me know if you've read it! #marchintoreading #setinthe1920s

Kindle at the pool. My favorite thing!

Day 9 of the #booktober #bookphotochallenge had me looking for my #firstlitsypost. I love the @LitHousewife WAS my first comment, mirroring our early blogging days. In only three months this has far and away become my favourite social media site and all the good people here who love books and a bookish life as much as I do. It has been a part few months for me, and this place is a bright and shining light. For that, I think you fellow Littens.

settling in for the evening with this

"Gerald felt that Esther's formidable brain and patchy attention to her personal appearance were her way of exerting some form of limited independence, as if her physical and mental geography were the only terrain that she had under her command, and she would command ferociously."

One of the best historical novels I've read this year. I loved being lost in Gerald and Sara Murphy's world. Their parties, the gorgeous location, the endless drama all made for a great beach read. I especially loved their fabulous entourage complete with famous people like the Fitzgeralds and Hemingways.

Took me a while to get in to this one, but now I'm hooked. Hope the characters continue to draw me in to their world right to the end.

So #Coale chose "Villa America" yesterday as his next read. I saw him cuddling with it last night ?. He couldn't get it out, so I provided the assistant he required. Love this little guy! We are a #bibliofamily for sure ?.

This book was spellbinding - the premise is a historical fiction about the Murphys, great friends to Fitzgerald, Hemingway and the like. But it‘s so much more than that. It gets to the essence of being loved and loving in return, finding yourself, and having to do all of it in secret sometimes.

"She was so, I don't know, naive? Basic?" Oh, I do so hope that this isn't an anachronism, and that the descriptor "basic" was being used in 1925.

Fun Friday Photo! One sleepy dog, and one of the books I'm currently reading. This is my 8 year-old golden retriever Ravel (with crumpled, annoyed, you-woke-me-from-my-nap face). He's much more into music than books 😉