Welcome to Litsy!

I love removing the jacket and finding that the book itself is just beautiful.

I also love how much I adored this book!

Part of the mystery I figured out early on, but didn't entirely figure it all out which made for a touching ending.

A book about a book club whose theme for the year is "the book that matters most to you." Everyone picks well-known classics except for Ava who chooses an obscure book with a mysterious author.

#dollartreefind

“There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.” Marcel Proust

I can‘t believe Round 2 of #CoverToCover #LitsyGoesPostal is coming to a close! I just got my books and journals back! They are so much fun to read & make comments on them. Soon we‘ll start Round 3!

I can‘t believe Round 2 of #CoverToCover #LitsyGoesPostal is coming to a close! I just got my books and journals back! They are so much fun to read & make comments on them. Soon we‘ll start Round 3!

#literaryluck #tbrshelfie

I was in Laguna yesterday, I needed a Me day, and I couldn't resist the lure of the Friends of the Library so I popped in and bought this stack for $12.50 to add to my always growing tbr pile.

My #bookaweek stack!
@TheReadingMermaid

Already behind and only 3 days into the #ReadingResolutions challenge!

Day 2: Shelfie Saturday Vader is one of my boy‘s piggy bank and he ended up in my library. @Jess7

So good!! I almost stayed up late again last night to finish but I can‘t do that two nights in a row. At its heart, it‘s a story about mothers and daughters.

“What the mother knew was that she couldn‘t go back home. She would save her surviving daughter by staying away, and letting her guilt over what happened be hers alone.”

So I‘ve been looking forward to this book for awhile. It‘s about a woman who joins a book club and each member picks a book for their month, a book that matters most to them.
Anyway, for January they have to read Pride and Prejudice, which I LOVE. So when I read that the main character decides to watch the movie instead of read it I AM SHOCKED. I hope she at least picks the best version. Does she? NO. Which I find out on the page pictured. Argh!!

4/5⭐️

Another book club pick. I loved it! Likely not a re-read for me (hence 4 instead of 5 Stars) but it was a very enjoyable read and even had an unexpected twist at the end that made me like it even more. I would definitely recommend this one.

#catsoflitsy #kindlesoflitsy

Unexpectedly enjoyable! This book is outside my usual wheelhouse, but my mom loaned it to me and I️ have always been a sucker for books about book clubs.

#TBRtemptation post 10! Ava's 25-year marriage has fallen apart & her 2 children live outside the country. She joins a book group for her love of literature & sheer desperation for company. Each person presents the book that matters most to them. Hers is a childhood one that helped her before. Meanwhile, her daughter Maggie lives in Paris with a destructive man. Ava's book & Maggie's decline rekindle their relationship. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

I love the concept of the book group having themes for the year. The stories wove together beautifully. An enjoyable book.

Picked up my next in-person Bookclub book. Gotta finish 3 others first!! #FriendsWithBooks #GetIndie

Finished this book tonight just in time for book club tomorrow. I really enjoyed this book and all the different stories. The author does a great job weaving them all together in a mostly believable way. We did something similar in my book club a couple of years ago - we re-read books that were important to us. It was such a fun way to revisit past favorites.

Here it is: the rare JSW PAN rating. Usually I will just bail on a book I don't like, because life is too short and my TBR is too long. But this is for book club. So : one plot twist I called early enough that it was unsatisfying to see it happen. The other twists felt too easy and unrealistic. Book club discussion should be interesting. 😏

It doesn't work that way.

It's a book about book clubs and books. But much more than that friendships, divorce, mother daughter relationships told in different points of view. The change in POV are not distracting though, it adds beautifully to the expertly woven tale. #booksonbooksonbooks #booksaboutbooks 📚

#TBRtemptation post! Ava's 25-year marriage has fallen apart & her 2 grown children are living out of the country. So she joins a bookclub for her love of reading & sheer loneliness. Over the year, each member will present the book that matters the most to them. She rediscovers a mysterious book from her childhood that helped her through traumas & family deaths. It's for Maggie too, her daughter in a bad relationship. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

It is a warm enough day for a walk so it is time to start feeding the local Little Free Library again.

Really enjoyed this one. The drug scenes were so painful to read tho. I'm so in love with books set in Paris lately, I really want to go. I had a smidge now of trouble with the ending but won't say why because...spoiler lol but overall, really enjoyed it. I loved the concept of their book club as well.

I bailed on Lemony Snicket...just not my thing. So this came available from library so I'll start this tonight.

Between life & holidays & vacation & the flu I've been MIA from Litsy & reading in general. But finally I'm feeling like myself & am back. this book was the perfect book to remind me why I love books & the book community - there are so many books that matter! Books that are there when you have loss or are lost or are just searching for something. There are old friends & new discoveries & each of us have our own books that matter the most.

4⭐️ Pleasantly surprised with this book! It starts out a bit slow, probably for the first half, but it picks up significantly for the back half. An added bonus is the actual discussion of the books in their book club- although I don't really buy that the most influential books of everyone's' lives are these massive classic tomes 😃 Good read overall and I would recommend.

First fiction book of the new year... and what matters most is that I finish it this weekend! Huge stack of books waiting and thus far I'm only so so with just under half the book to go.

Pretty good...a little different than what I expected ( a book about books) but a good family drama non the less.

Just got this off of my hold list at the library. Good thing I just finished a book.

So. Good. Following mother and daughter on their journeys to self-discovery was definitely an emotional ride, but so enjoyable. There were some great twists at the end of the story that really tied everything together (and I, as usual, didn't see them coming until they punched me in the face). I finished the book over a week ago and I haven't stopped thinking about the characters. I love it when a book lingers. Highly recommend. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

"I never thought a book could help with, you know, life. But honestly, when I reread this one for tonight, and I thought about time travel and stuff, it actually made me feel better. Or maybe understand something?" • • • • • I don't want this book to end!

"No one who reads can ever be bored." You got that right! This book has thrown some curveballs at me that I did *not* see coming! Well done Ms. Hood, well done!

I've been in a book slump. Can someone 🙋tell me if this is a good one to get me out of it?! #bookslumpcure #catsoflitsy #littens

This little kitty and I started a new book based on a recommendation by Alice Hoffman. So far I've been completely sucked into the lives of these characters. #catsoflitsy #authorrecommendation

You can tell I've been in one spot all day. My coffee cup from this morning , my Snapple in between and my alcoholic beverage of choice tonight . It was a good day :))

Possibly only listening to find out which book each book club member chooses as #thebookthatmattersmost Which book would you choose?

What a wonderful premise-a book club devoting a year to books that matter the most to them. The intertwining of the book club and stories were perfection.

I almost returned this to the library unread but saw enough positive reviews that I gave it a chance. So glad that I did! It was a great character-based story with enough of a thickening plot to keep me turning the pages. Love, loss, and redemption are explored beautifully; in addition there is the added bonus of the ongoing book club theme. 😍

I think this would appeal to book groups. My first Ann Hood. Not my last.

Great idea for a story that falls a bit short.

Got this book at an author's luncheon where Ann Hood spoke - she's warm, funny and master of the anecdote. Intrigued by book concept but the outset will make book lovers cringe - a woman who doesn't read joins a book club and balks at actually reading the books! Glad I stuck with it; thought it got better by the middle, and I appreciated the setting in Providence, RI, a place close to my heart.

Enjoying this on a Saturday afternoon!

After joining a book club in her attempt to find companionship, Ava embarks on a quest to find the author of a book that helped her get through tragedies that occurred when she was young. Ava's story runs parallel with that of her daughter's, Maggie, who makes one bad decision after another while she is in Paris. This search will unravel secrets from Ava's past and will ultimately help her reconnect with her daughter in a tale of love & redemption

So the book that matters most is definitely not this one. I gave it my best and reached 26% but I just cannot stand the vapid characters and the insipid pseudo-literary book discussions. Life's too short to keep reading an unappetizing book! (And no, the main character did not read Pride & Prejudice; she watched the Knightley version on Netflix 😳)

This does not bode well...

That awkward moment when you are 4% into an ARC from NetGalley and you find this mention of Proust. Mind you, it's supposed to be a novel about a book club. I'm wondering if the issue (lack of knowledge about Proust) is the author's or the characters'...

The Book That Matters Most by Ann Hood is less about books than I expected. I love the idea of a book club where members pick “the book that matters most” to them. This story, however, introduces other side stories and a mystery about Ava's childhood. I wish it stayed closer to its main premise.

Love novels about books ,book clubs & Ann Hood is wonderful.