Welcome to Litsy!

Yes, the cover is terrible, moving on! Not enough space to review here, so let's just hit the highlights: Surreal horror; 'non-fiction' book within a book; occasional natural sciences geeking out moments, lesbian characters; dealing with grief, life choices; dream sequences, epileptic rep(?), smidgen of erotica 🫣, all about the side tangents/digressions. Warning: suicides, one moment of unexamined racism(?). I liked it, not sure others will.

Begin Rant:
I'm all for a 'book within a book' narrative, and I appreciate formatting that makes a clear distinction of the transitions between 'books' but THIS (shown above) is just objectively a BAD font choice. I understand the aged typewriter look, but on top of gently fading parts of some letters, (consistent for all passages of this 'manuscript' so far) you thought making the text TINY was a GOOD idea?! 😤
Okay. Rant over.

Love the moments I get insight into why I'm drawn to haunted house/spooky location books...something about the very absence of life in such places gives them creepy character. I love the idea that they're actively seeking life,
"...the hunger of abandoned places..."

This book just sings along - does it sing you answers? Nah. Does it matter? I don't think so!

I made it!!
#scarathon @Clwojick #24B4Monday

Woo hoo....almost there...
#teamslaughter #scarathon @Clwojick #24B4Monday

"She was wearing black jeans and one of her black smocks, and her hands and arms and face were a smudged riot of yellows and browns, crimson and gold, orange and amber and a vacant, hungry shade of blue, as though she‘d begun, prematurely, to bleed autumn."

"No one we knew ever believed that there was anything between us but the sex and some virulent allure, my dirty dishwater circling the drain of you."

Creepy, atmospheric, and very well-written. I don't always love when books have writers as their main characters (just bc it's so common) but Kiernan's main character felt so authentic. The story is told in journal entries and excerpts from a book the main character is reading; it's about a writer renting a creepy house in RI with a dangerous supernatural history while she ruminates on the recent loss of her girlfriend.

Sarah Crowe left Atlanta to live alone in an old house in rural Rhode Island. Within its walls she discovers an unfinished manuscript written by the house's former tenant who was obsessed with the ancient oak growing on a corner of the property. As the gnarled tree takes root in her imagination, Sarah risks her health and her sanity to unearth a revelation planted centuries ago. #maybookflowers #unreliablenarrator

An excellent, clever, very elusive sort of horror novel with a fascinating ending, and which really deserves a better cover than it's been saddled with here. Definitely recommended.

Bunked off all my other reading for this, because I am such a fan. It's great so far, but I do think the book deserves a better cover than this.

#allhallowsread I think Caitlin Kiernan's #scaryreads are under appreciated. I recommend checking any of these out for a great, creepy #scaretober read.

I've never read anything by Caitlin Kiernan before this. What an engaging writer; I would definitely read more by her! This haunting story of an author's growing psychosis while living in solitude in the Rhode Island woods made for a great #scaretober pick. (TBH, I bought this book on Amazon during a night of wine drinking, and forgot I had bought it until it showed up. Thanks, drunk me!) #lgbtq #horror

The cat decided to join the dog and I. Can this morning get any better??? #catsoflitsy #dogsoflitsy #snugglesforeveryone

Some favorite things this rainy morning. #dogsoflitsy #chihuahuasnuggles #usedbook #soymocha

I finished The Red Tree 2 weeks ago and was disappointed in the ending but, upon reflection, it was very strong. My opinion has flipped. It's interesting how that can happen; an effect of powerful writing. It's a raunchy, ghostly story with a hard-ass unreliable lesbian narrator.