Welcome to Litsy!

As usual I'm late to the party. To catch up, here are my January through June #12BooksOf2021. I love looking back like this, I was reminded of some really good books I read this year. @Andrew65

I just recently finished up these two great LGBTQ books! One cool thing about them is they are both written in epistolary format! 😃 The tagged book most definitely made me want to reread some Walt Whitman! 😍💕📚

Happy Friday! 🎉 Reading on the balcony with my buddy before work! 💕📚 I have fallen really hard for this book! #catsoflitsy #littenkitten #roxas

To be honest I don‘t even know why I added this book to my TBR in the first place. It was a fine book, I just don‘t like romances that have no other plot. Ugh, and now when I try to post the picture, it‘s just a black box.

I had the hardest time finishing this book, not because the plot is bad. I think that the letter format made that the reading felt repetitive. There is a limit of how many Hi Kurt that I can handle. I'm not the biggest fan of poems and they reference a lot of them so if you don't like poetry this isn't for you. I did enjoy that there is a lot of good discussions about PTSD with Mark's storyline.

This was beautiful. And so, so painful. And full of growth and hope and love.

Once you suspend disbelief that high school boys can write letters like this, you can really enjoy the prose of this book. Two school pen pals fall in love, but there are many dark issues in this book besides the love story: homophobia, drug use, abuse, hate crimes. I was frustrated that many of these issues aren‘t reconciled or consequences dealt to the abusers, but the book will give you all the feels and emotions. I truly enjoyed it.

I‘m about halfway through this YA romance. It‘s entirely told through letters between a repeating high school senior and his sophomore school pen pal. Once you get over the “there‘s no way these kids would write like this” impossibility of the story, you can just go with it and enjoy the beautiful prose. So far, I‘m enjoying it. It makes me want to read Walt Whitman‘s poetry.

This was a lovely ode to classical poetry as much as it was to the power of human connection. Adam especially just broke my heart to pieces, & Jo‘s narrative voice made me laugh. Are there other books that have done this, & possibly better? Maybe. After all, I do wonder if the epistolary format was the best way to go. But the writing is beautiful & the characterization makes you ache in the best way possible. A gripping story. ★★★★☆.

#currentlyreading | in the mood for a soft YA romance & this seemed to fit the bill!

Unfortunately this book fell way short of the hype I had seen for it. I liked Jo and Kurl and was willing to put aside some of the minor issues I had with the story/format... until we got to the last 100ish pages, when all hell breaks loose plot-wise and things take a turn for the way too angsty and intense without proper time given to dealing with it appropriately. A lot of the writing throughout is beautiful, though, so I‘ll give it that.

At the Good Reads YA Edition event at the Vancouver Writers Fest, moderator Shannon Oziny said (of the passage Henstra read from the tagged book): I know we‘ll be touching on some difficult topics today but, as a librarian, the most difficult is that scene of kicking around a library book. #VWF2019 🇨🇦

I stayed home sick today (which is no fun as I‘ve been feeling terrible for days). But at least I have a sweet Elwood and this lovely book to get me through the morning. An epistolary novel featuring a self-described Walt Whitman fanboy? Yes, please.

I absolutely loved this book! The characters are complex and endearing and I did not expect some of the events to take place. In hindsight I could see it but it wasn‘t too obvious and the epistolary style is refreshing and makes it feel unique and genuine! I also really enjoyed all of the literary references! I highly recommend it! #bibliophile #YA #lgbtq #mustread

I couldn‘t just pick six favorites for halfway through the year, but more people need to read the tagged book; it is gentle and fierce and awful and beautiful, and I loved every brilliant page. I feel like sometimes adults writing teens want everyone to be “good” so they ignore sex and sexuality, but here the author doesn‘t do that. Jonathan knows who he is and isn‘t afraid of expressing his needs and wants.

Started this one today. Moved to a new place across the country. Needed a break so I went down to the local bookstore down the street. This jumped out at me... reading this curled up in bed is much more appealing than unpacking 😂 #YA #LGBTQ #pridemonth #bibliophile

The entire book is read as letters which start as a class assignment between Adam Kurlansky (Kurt) and Jonathon Hopkirk (Jo) but turns into so so much more. At first, it seemed strange to write about parts where they were actually together, but that became inconsequential to the telling of the story, which is bold and uncomfortable and beautiful. The originality of its format only lends to the quality of the book. I am so glad I found this book.

Pride month is coming up, so I‘m devoting June to reading only LGBTQIA! My goal is to read at least 15, as I am currently in the middle of both CC‘s newer novels.

I‘m happily surprised to find out that there were a lot of new releases this year, especially in YA!

I just finished this one. It was beautiful, at times very sad and troubling, but ended hopeful. 4/5 stars.

This was my first read. Started early.

#pridemonth

Oh wow, this audio book is so beautifully read I don‘t ever want to stop listening ...

Assigned as pen pals in English class, Jonathan & Adam start writing letters to each other. At first, they don‘t really know what to think of each other or the assignment but they soon become friends & then fall in love. Along the way they must deal with family secrets, bullying & homophobia. This is a frank, well-written & engaging story of friendship & first love. Jonathan & Adam are great characters. Recommended for 9th grade & up.

This. Book. Is. Fantastic.

“...hardcore Whitman fanboy...”

Love that Whitman is featured so prominently. “Song of Myself” is quoted several times in the first few pages so yeah, I downloaded it so I can read it as I go along.

Another preorder arrived this week. I love it when you read the inside flap and think to yourself, “Wow, this sounds good. Past me was really smart to preorder this.” Here‘s hoping that past me was right. Even though we are getting close to the end of the year, kids are still reading, still looking for another good book. So, I‘ll preview this one and get it into someone‘s hands ASAP.

All the stars to this one!! Thanks @lbschool for this free review copy for our #bookclub! Sarah Henstra CRUSHES this YA novel written entirely in letters back and forth between two boys. What starts as an English assignment turns into something much larger than either boy thought. Family, relationships, death, abuse, music, all of it. I‘m in ❤️ with this book! Coming out May 2019!!! Put it on your radar!