Welcome to Litsy!

Most well-known as the creator of Bojack Horseman, Raphael offers up a great variety of themes and styles in this short story collection. It was great as an audiobook listen, read by a variety of actors, including James Urbaniak and Natalie Morales. The rock band drama “Up-and-Comers“ and the marriage tale “Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion“ highlight his ability to insert the absurd into a recognizable narrative to create something special.

pink books of February 🎀📚💕

#12booksof2022

September's pick was this funny, bittersweet collection of short stories from Bojack creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

It won me round to the short story medium with its zany style and cyclone of emotions. Definitely one of my fave books of the year.

Here is my #top22of22 @Cinfhen 😁

But Rae, there are only 20 books here, I here you say... true, but I'm leaving space for Ship of Destiny which I'm halfway through and probably Stay Up with Me because it's great so far. Or maybe I'm just dazzled by the cover. It does have a gorgeous cover.

Faves on this list?

- The tagged
- Liveships trilogy
- The Glass Hotel
- The Circle
- The Master Key
- Murder in Mesopotamia

All cracking reads 😊💕

“And I thought about how, actually, if you wanted to, you could say the same thing about life. That life is terrifying and overwhelming and it can happen at any moment. And when you‘re confronted with life you can either be cowardly or you can be brave, but either way you‘re going to live. So you might as well be brave.”

- 4⭐️

I am posting September's Bookspin board this time because I NEARLY got a Bingo.

I think I must be pathologically averse to completing challenges 😆

Onwards! 🛡⚔

#bookspinbingo

This collection of writings - mostly short stories - was beautiful and quietly devastating and spectacular.

I laughed out loud. I cried in public.

I don't even usually like the medium of the short story, but these tweaked my heartstrings every which way.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

All the stars 😭

Thanks for the tag @Yuki_Onna 😀
I have done this one before, but I am reading new books now so here they are in emoji format...

🛶⚓🐉🌊🏝

🤵🏼💕👰🏾‍♂️🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐🪓🩸

☀️ = 🤪

(I am also reading The Right to Sex, but all the emoji combos I came up with were very poor taste... 😅)

Also, I can think of more shoddy sequels that I'd like to re-do / get rid of, than standalones that need sequels 😄

Woke this morning to BookMail!

Why do I have a feeling this one is going to break me?

Probably the best anthology I've ever read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A book of quirky short stories. I enjoyed the tone, but some stories were better than others. Standouts were “A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occassion” and “Rules For Taboo”

Checking off my #bookspinbingo board

I didn't plan to read this short story collection about love during Valentine's Day week—it's just when my hold turn came up. Yay, me!

While I'm not generally a short story fan, I enjoyed this collection more than most. ⬇

👍

Thanks for the tag @MoonWitch94
1. I read the tagged book back in December and the first story in the collection made me LOL. With more to follow. Highly recommend!
2. I read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson last month. Sobbed! But I cry easily. Still, beautiful!
@TheSpineView #two4tuesday
Tagging new followers @QueenVisenyaT @FairyFiona @LitTraveler @dwRavenPuff

Not funny, but sweet.

I give the Acknowledgements page of a book a cursory glance, at best. However, I did happen to see this, which I found humorous.

Three of these stories are outstanding: "Missed Connection-m4w", "You Want to Know What Plays Are Like?", and "More of the You That You Already Are." I also enjoyed "We Will Be Close on Friday 18 July." The rest of these stories are boring. However, if Waksburg (whose humor writing I first discovered in a McSweeney's collection) writes any more books in the future, I will definitely check them out.

It's weird to classify this one. I'm not sure if I enjoyed it, but there was an interesting phenomenon of curiosity that kept me going. I was amazed how outrageous premises could be normalized in a few pages then it's business as usual.

Relatable 😕

I‘m a little late to the party! Thanks for the tag @Lynnsoprano !

1. I‘m guilty of it! I‘m definitely drawn to the cool ones.
2. I had to buy this. I‘m going through withdrawals after finishing BoJack Horseman and this book is by the creator.
3. I allow myself an hour a day- half an hour of local and my man Lester Holt on NBC.
4. Guilty! 🙋🏻‍♀️
5. @Come-read-with-me and @AJBowers wanna play?

#friyay intro

Between pick and so so. I *liked* for the most part but felt these generally leaned too heavily on sounding clever rather than having real depth. Favorite story was A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion

Thanks @merelybookish for putting this on my radar. If you like your collection of short stories equal parts absurd, out loud laughter, parts where you think what the hell is this detour we‘re in, part hit you in your feels then you‘ll love this book. My favorites were the one about the theatre, their powers are only powerful when they‘re drunk superhero story, the story told from the cutest dog‘s perspective, and the one about poor average 👇🏼

I LOVED these stories! They are insightful, funny, and delightfully absurd, about relationships between lovers, exes, friends, siblings. People we know, falling in love, making mistakes, missing someone. But each longer story has a bizarre twist. A couple planning a wedding fight over how many goats to slaughter, a group of friends get super powers, a scientist creates a door to the opposite world where his opposite wife is not pregnant. 👇

Met some friends at a wine bar last night. There was a wall of books. Interesting, but not for perusing!
Just started the tagged #tob long list book on audio. The first story about planning a wedding had me LOLing! I doubt it will make the short list but it's a fun listen so far!

After hearing great things about this book by my friend Karen and then seeing it on the longlist for the Tournament of Books, I decided to try this one in audio. It was a great decision, what a fun read (I even liked the satire, a rarity for me.) Different actors read different stories, sometimes in teams.⤵️

I'm glad I pushed through this one, the last story made it worth it. A lot of the stories were odd and a little off putting. Maybe I should have expected that considering the author created Bo-Jack?

Maybe you are right to be cautious. You have been lied to before, after all. Your heart is weathered & scarred, mishandled by many, eroded by time. You‘re no dummy & yet repeatedly, you stumble over the cracks of your cobblestone heart, you let your naked foolish hopes get the better of you. Perhaps every can of cashews has a fake snake lurking, but you keep opening them, stupidly, because in your heart of hearts, you still believe in cashews.

“Move across the country and hope the Sadness won‘t find you, won‘t follow you like a stray dog from coast to coast. Hope the Sadness isn‘t just a fog on a leash, shadowing you always...Hope that you are not the Sadness‘s home, anywhere you go, no matter how far, no matter how quickly-the Sadness lives in you. Hope to God it‘s not that.”

I know virtually nothing about this book but pre-ordered it only because it is written by the creator of Bojack Horseman, one of my favorite shows of all time. It‘s awful and wonderful and I‘d call the show a guilty pleasure but I don‘t feel a bit guilty about loving it! 🐴💛🐴💛🐴