Welcome to Litsy!

⭐️⭐️out of 5️⃣ Folks, it was pretty unpretty.

I really wanted to read this for years, so I eventually bought it and…didn‘t read it for years. Worth the wait! Fully weird but also relatable, and suspenseful in a way I was not expecting. I loved her writing.
(BTW, this is a pomegranate tree. What I lack in ability to accompany my Litsy posts with anything but screenshots and audiobook cover images, I make up for with extremely literal book posing. 😆)

"Trishiffany" has officially dethroned "Renesmee" as the worst literary name I've ever heard.

"Back out in the hallway, she felt the weight of the entire building above her, as dense and impenetrable as the core of the planet. It pressed down on her, deflating her: just a pair of frightened, bloodshot eyes roving amid the remains of a skin-colored balloon."

"Yet even so, she carried the Database around inside her; it floated in her brain like a net for catching and killing any glistening idea that came along."

"He looked like Abraham Lincoln but without the conviction."

"The person who interviewed her had no face."
Today in notable first sentences.

#currentlyreading this weird and wonderful short novel (novella?)

Booze and book club tonight. If we hadn't had book club I'm not sure I would have understood this book! 😂

I read this for book club. My honest first thought upon finishing was... that was weird. It wasn't boring, I didn't hate it and it helped that it was a fast read but it was just weird. It is entirely possible I'm just not smart enough to get it and that's ok too. 😁

Weird and tense and oddly sweet!

This book was weird and anxious and poignant and wonderful!
- @malloryomeara

I figured my office was a great place to set up a picture for this review. I didn't love this one. I get what Phillips was trying to do and I appreciate her message, I'm just not about the level of weird. Just tell the story and let it speak for itself in my mind. But a good premise and she does make you think. Especially for those of us who are bureaucrats...

This was harder than I thought! Day 4 of #fallintobooks - occupation in title @RealLifeReading

Not a bad month.

Two book clubs this week. Happily cramming.

What an odd, dark little book. I loved every minute of it. Note to self: Read more Helen Phillips.

My library choices yesterday. I've listened to And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer but I couldn't resist bringing the hardcover home.

Hope this little gem is worth the read.

It's been praised to the skies and blurbed by Ursula Le Guin but I found it only average. It starts well but the tension seemed to drain away rather than build in the second half and the key mysteries at the heart of this dystopia we terribly easy to predict. The writing is good but the story itself had little real power to surprise

This book was short interesting and weird. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Full review at http://whatchatreadin.blogspot.com

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐If you like asking yourself the "Fates and Furies" big question of can we ever really know our spouse - you'll enjoy this. Or just read it because there is a character named Trishiffany ?? Totally enjoyable

Husband: "Looks like now that the house next door is sold, we'll have to go back to wearing pants..."

Ooohhh - this reminds me of Murakami! 😀Not moving until I finish it! Bitsy probably won't move either 😀

Yep, I already said it in my other posts while reading, but this is one quirky & often just plain odd book! It's smartly written, slightly creepy & full of dark humor. I don't know how to describe it beyond the book description w/o giving anything away but I liked it, the main character Josephine & the short strange ride it took me on. Somewhat futuristic & dystopia, it defies being put into one genre. Will definitely read more from this author.🤔

This was today's lunch and tonight's blog post: Mark Bittman's Fish (in this case Onaga (red snapper) in Tomato-Fennel Broth (with bread for sopping). Really quick, easy and it tastes incredibly good. Paired with my lunchtime reading-which is quirky and absorbing. #soupersundays booksandfood #litsycooks

This is definitely a quirky one! I'm not quite sure what to make of it yet.

Very weird short novel about a woman named Josephine who starts a job at a mysterious office building where she spends all day inputting numbers into a database. Weirdness ensues.

Decided to start this book because apparently I am only reading short, weird books in October?

Finished this while having lunch at Cafe Lalo (grilled goat cheese and fresh mint with roasted rosemary potatoes and salad and an iced soy latte). This little book is so very strange in that it juxtaposes the absurdly mundane with the absurdly impossible. Beautifully and simply written, a poignant reflection on the potential of the surreal and sublime that lurks under the surface of life's apparent monotony. #KateDFisherCuisine

Reading while my hair color cooks. #ReadEverywhere

#tfw when your outfit, lipstick, and nails all match your book. #selfie

Starting a new book on the subway downtown to meet @LBApple for lunch.

Popped into one of my all-time favorites (the location on 114th and Broadway) and picked up a new paperback. #getindie

3.5🌟I love Helen's sense of oddity. 🙃 I also love her brevity. The first 75% of the book was predictable, which is why I knocked some stars off. The last 25% was very fun. I came to love Joseph and Josephine even without ton of character development.

She is now an auto-read for me. Also check out her short story collection Some Possible Solutions!

Gosh this was a strange and wonderfully odd book. I'm pretty sure I didn't understand it. Gripping and frightening though.

This book was weird and awesome. Definitely reminded me of a Welcome to Night Vale type environment at some points. I was concerned at first the book would just be weird with no real plot, but about half way in the plot grabbed me and I was sucked in to the end. Definitely recommend this weird little read!

A fable. Modern setting. Symbolism augurs possibility of sinister fate. Sprightly word play lightens vague menace. Brief and bewitching.

As her third cocktail arrived, she thought guiltily of her Puritan ancestors, walking clear-eyed & clean-livered through fresh fields. She pressed her bag against her liver; a honeybee buzzed inside her. But the wooden bar was so beautiful, glass bottles the colours of precious metals & now she was shaking hands with joy, hands shaking with joy.

"He looked like Abraham Lincoln but without the conviction."

[image from Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman]

Only a few pages in, but there are already plenty of hints as to where this quirky tale is headed...
Onward through the gates!
😎

"The person who interviewed her had no face". Ok, that's an interesting first sentence. #24in48

Idk if this was the best choice for a desk lunch or the worst...regardless, the book was great--paranoid and very weird--and the salad wasn't too bad either.

Did this book remind anyone else of Welcome to Night Vale? I'm a fairly regular listener and recently read the book and I can't help but think of Night Vale while reading this book! I'm about half through but I'm loving it!

I need a break from heavy topics after Imagine Me Gone before I dive into A Little Life. Workplace settings are my thing and so excited for this! Especially since the description says "Phillips enters the company of Calvino, Murakami, Bender and Atwood..." Can that company get any better?