Welcome to Litsy!

You can love someone while also being so wrong about them, failing to see them in their fullest self because your own misshapen expectations dampen their light. Susan was forever doubting her husband, forever wishing he‘d be more talkative and more genteel. In doing so, she appeared the biggest fool for not seeing all that she had. Oliver repaid the unintentional slight by watching her survive but never changing course enough to let her thrive.

Right after college I worked for the English Dept and one of the profs gave me this book! I loved it and it got me back into reading after being in school! #giftedtome #aboutabook

@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This book is so long but so good. The narrative is told by an aging man who is spending his time chronicling the life of his grandmother. So we read a little about the man‘s condition and relationships, but mostly we are immersed in the storyline of his grandmother and her adventures settling in the American west. I really enjoyed following the story, and found the characters to be so realistic and compelling. It‘s heartbreaking in the best way!

“In this not-quite-quiet darkness, while the diesel breaks its heart more and more faintly on the mountain grade, I lie wondering if I am man enough to be a bigger man than my grandfather.”

That closing line is just one of hundreds of gems in this Pulitzer-winning novel. I am in awe of Stegner‘s craft. A master of dual timelines - so seamless! I didn‘t love this as I did Crossing to Safety, but really liked it and am very glad to have read it.

This was between a pick and a so-so for me. Parts of it I really loved, but parts were too slow. I guess I‘ll stick to reading Crossing to Safety over and over.

@Eggs Thanks for the tag!

1. Pretty good. I don‘t set a number of books I want to hit, but I did set some others such as wanting to read a few books by Wallace Stegner. Read one so far this year, Crossing to Safety (loved it), and plan to start tagged soon.
2. I wanted half the books I read this year to be ones already on my shelves prior to Jan 1. Right now I‘m closer to a third so definitely could work on that.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

A very interesting article about Wallace Stegner's uncredited quoting of Mary Hallock Foote's journals and letters in his Pulitzer Prize-winning Angle of Repose: https://www.altaonline.com/books/fiction/a39179237/wallace-stegner-mary-hallock-...

I very much enjoyed the novel, but now it seems I might enjoy Foote's Reminiscences even more.

(Image from the article.)

Thank you so much @AmyG this is amazing. The book sounds really moving - and rooted in the landscape - which is totally my jam. Thank you sweet friend ♥️

I went to the library today, and I couldn‘t resist these books. I have a giant stack of TBR at home, but am still too greedy to borrow some 😅

Day 12 #12Booksof2020 @Andrew65 You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers today.

This man knew how to write, knew how to develop characters, and knew how to paint a picture of remorse and landscape. I will definitely read more of Stegner in the new year.

This is how a book of dual timelines should be written. The narrator interprets artifacts of his deceased grandmother. Pulitzer Winner. Idaho

I‘m DNF‘ing at 96 pgs. I don‘t like the strange construction of the dual timelines that aren‘t exactly dual timelines. And neither story is compelling enough to keep me going.

I had no idea this won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize until I finished. The story is told by a man who is dealing with his new circumstances, being in a wheelchair and requiring help. He is writing the story of his grandparents: the grandfather, an engineer working in mines in the newly opened west of the 1800‘s. His grandmother, an aspiring socialite, fighting the life her husband is able to offer. The novel is humorless, but rich in detail. #doublespin

Still working on my June #doublespin (tagged book) but here is my list for July‘s #bookspin. Thanks so much, Sarah, for organizing this. I‘m still madly in love with this idea. It‘s helped me move books off my shelves.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it—I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me—I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want. This is day 12! #bookstoread #tbrpile

“My grandparents had to live their way out of one world and into another, or into several others, making new out of old the way corals live their reef upward. I am on my grandparents‘ side. I believe in Time, as they did, and in the life chronological rather than in the life existential. We live in time and through it, we build our huts in its ruins, or used to, and we cannot afford all these abandonings.”

A disabled man tells the story of his grandparents time in the wild west. He recounts their struggles in mining towns. I didn‘t like the modern day sections as much. I loved seeing life in the west from a woman‘s POV, especially when I realized it was based on a real woman, Mary Hallock Foote. The ending felt rushed. It‘s such a long book and it was disappointing to get to the final stretch and see the events only through her grandson‘s guesses.

Back to reading in the school pick-up lane. Enjoying this so far, although it is slow in places and has whiffs of taking itself too seriously, of Great American Novel ambition. But there's enough to keep me engaged.

Hit up two used bookstores today and pleased with my haul. I was hoping to find a copy of Crossing to Safety, but only could find the tagged book by Stegner. Maybe another day?

When you realize the definition for angle of repose is a metaphor for everything in life: marriage, work, family, society and your own damn self.

“Before I can say I am, I was. Am or was, I am cumulative too. I am everything I ever was...I am much of what my parents and especially my grandparents were-inherited stature, coloring, brains, bones (that part unfortunate), plus transmitted prejudices, culture, scruples, likings, moralities and moral errors that I defend as if they were personal and not familial.“

“That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air...Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year's mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.“- Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose ❤

This is Stegner's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about retired historian Lyman Ward, who decides to write the story of his grandparents who were pioneers in the American west. What ends up emerging is a portrait of four generations in the life of an American family. I liked it a lot, although I enjoyed Stegner's "Crossing to Safety" just a teeny bit better.

I love when my mom comes to visit!

1. ANGLE OF REPOSE by Wallace Stegner. 2. Greece

I‘m maybe 1/4 into this and I see why it won the Pulitzer. I feel kinda sheepish that I‘d never heard of it til Goodreads recommended it to me.

(Non sequitur image: flower 🥐 and my new shoes.)

"Touch. It is touch that is the deadliest enemy of chastity, loyalty, monogamy, gentility with its codes and conventions and restraints. By touch we are betrayed and betray others..." #pulitzer #epicreads #favoritefiction

@Moray_Reads I liked this prompt! Definitely describes my reading ... short stories, spiritual reading, classics, literary fiction and contemporary fiction... and more 🙂📚

I liked the beginning and middle more than the ending - the letters between Susan and Augusta became tedious. I think it was most impactful to realize that being a human has always been hard - it was hard in the 1800s and it is hard now. All humans crave the same things and sometimes we get them and sometimes we don't. Also, a great read for west coast Americans - all very historic places! #angleofrepose

Giving it a go as a recommendation from a trusted bookish friend. Interesting so far.

Winter sunset today in #Vermont. #WhyILovethe802 #skyporn #sunset #grateful

Today's author spotlight: Wallace (Earle) Stegner! The native Iowan died in Santa Fe, NM, in 1993 at 84 from a car accident. He's considered "The Dean of Western Writers". He won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize and the 1977 National Book Award. He taught at the U of Wisconsin and Harvard, and, at Stanford, he founded the creative writing program. His students included: Sandra Day O'Connor, Ken Kesey, and Larry McMurtry. #AuthorPotpourri #TheMoreYouKnow

That is exactly how I feel. This book, while well written, never really intrigued me. It was ok while I was reading it but very easy to ignore the rest of the time. Part of the problem was the two different storylines. Both were interesting and worthy of a story but I would just be connecting to one person and time only to find it had disappeared into another. Frustrating and unfulfilling.

This book, oh my! Is it just me or do you want to point out how GOOD Oliver is..come on Sue, you found a good man.

I have 72 pages left in this big boy. The type is small, its pages thin, and its taking forever. I will throw myself a party when I reach the last page. Its great writing, but pretty dreary.

ETA: Holy moly. Theres a lot that goes on in the last bit. So glad I get to discuss this one with a group on Thursday!
#bookclubbook

Very detailed characterizations and wonderful descriptions of several different areas in the West, when mining and railroads were opening the West to more settlers. There is a lot to ponder in this book including the roles of men and women and what history can teach us about ourselves.

In the midst of this book for our book club! It is a lengthy one (569 pages) and descriptive. For all those that do not understand what an angle of repose is...this explains it well. 😁 #YouLearnSomethingEveryDay #YoureWelcome 😜

I was impressed with this book; I admire Stegner's writing as masterful. But this was so long and so sad; maybe it needed to be to have me understand the grief Grandmother experienced. Weighty stuff, this one. I have to say I liked Crossing to Safety more but I think this one might stay with me longer. Terrific "making of the West novel" and the modern parts felt quite modern despite it being late 60s/early 70s.

I said I waited for spring, and feared it. Blessed rose garden is one reason for my fear, for every time my lights on it I will remember everything. It the one rose that remains, the old Harrison yellow on the Piazza corner, has the to power disturb me more with its promise of life than all the others with the reminder of death.
Esther assisting. This is a roiling boiling trouble of a book.💔

"he sat down quickly on the Bendix crate to bring himself closer to my level."

Uh, what is a Bendix?

"Masterful... Reading it is an experience to be treasured."

Library book sale! Did I buy too many deep/heavy books? I put back so many, too. Always somewhat a mystery "why did I choose THESE?!" The Stegner was the only one that I wholeheartedly committed to.

For several weeks now I have had the sense of something about to come to an end - that old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air. But different now.
page 500
#iloveschoolsupplies
#iloveautumn

"That old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, pobligations gathering, books and football in the air... Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year's mistakes had been wiped clean by summer."

Feels appropriate - today is my first day back teaching! Doing 11th grade English and Spanish 1.

Went to the used bookstore to get the copy of The Middlesteins that I recently saw - they didn't have it. Also - if you put the word "song" in your book title - I'm gonna buy it.

"Salt is added to dried rose petals with the perfume and spices, when we store them away in covered jars, the summers of our past."

I fight my way through all the Giants and the Wizards, I cross to her castle on the sword-edge bridge, I let myself down hand over hand into her dungeon well, and instead of my reward, a living woman, there is a skeleton with a riddle between its ribs. Page 512.