Welcome to Litsy!

Aww, Barbara @BarbaraBB you are just the loveliest! Thank you so much for this package of wonders. I look forward to reading both books - extra special as they‘re from the other side of the world. Thanks my friend x 😘

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 63
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

Children know that friends can‘t be made, only found— or lost again 🚬🍷🎨

Today, I am reading this fantastic book while doing some laundry, and I‘ll probably write some #LitsyLove letters as well.

I told my husband and friend who lives with us that if they disturb me (for something other than an emergency), it would be at their own peril. 🤣

This book revolves around two long-married and intertwined couples who have known each other since their twenties. When one of them dies of a heart attack, the group loses its anchor. Not knowing how to deal with this loss, they fall back into old student habits. It‘s as easily imaginable as real what happens to the three of them.

#ATY2020 Book set in a global city

2nd review is another genre i love, middle class English families in crisis and tessa Hadley does this style of book with skill. Here the sudden death of a man in his 50's triggers the story of two couples from the 1980's where they all meet until the present day. Galleries, wine, london apartments, affairs, difficult children general middle class tropes, it should make all my hackles rise but do you know what it's a secret pleasure ☺

Decent novel about life, love, tragedy and all that good stuff. Well written and interesting but it did fizzle out at the end; perhaps that's the point, life eh?
Odd adjective 'tarnished gold' at the beginning. Pure gold never tarnishes but I guess most jewelry isn't pure. Still, I'd have gone with brass.

Four adults, two couples, who have all know each other since before they were married. Something happens and it changes the dynamic.

I think I liked it. Though liked may not be the right word.
I didn't like the characters much but feel that was a typical response. I did like the way in which the story panned out, and the ways in which we flicked back to the past. And I felt the ending was correct!

You know how it is... return a library book and check out three more!
Couldn't walk past this as I'd heard an article about it a month or so ago.
I don't think I've read any others by her.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Really a tough book to both love and review. I certainly pushed hard against it to begin with. I didn‘t like the people, I didn‘t like the central premise, it seemed all a little “upper middle class problems” however.... the writing is very good, so much so I was making plenty of use of the Kindle highlighting function. In the end the writing sustained my interest rather than the plot.

I struggled a bit with this book as the characters all felt very flat to me. That, along with the sleepy, detached tone, took away from what was otherwise some lovely writing about the complex relationship between two married couples. Unfortunately, this book felt more like a story of ideas than a story about people. #indiebuddyreads 3⭐️

This is a really difficult book to review. It‘s beautifully written and it‘s an insightfully observed examination of the nature of long term relationships, both romantic and platonic. Because so much of it is grounded in the everyday, it lacked a bit of pace, and the characters were predominantly unlikeable. It‘s carried by Hadley‘s skill as a writer, and her insight into the human condition. #indiebuddyreads

#indiebuddyreads

Two couples have been friends for years. Then one of the husbands dies, destroying the status quo. Scenes from the past and present intersperse, showing the precarious and complicated ways relationshiops develop, stagnate, and evolve.
Hadley's writing is lush, painting quiet vivid scenes. But I never connected with the characters, or even quite believed in them. Also it suffered from reading proximity to Normal People. But I'll try her again. 3 🌟

Miraculously on time for this weekend‘s #indiebuddyreads

Book club challenge this week to post a photo of your TBR #indiebuddyreads

Next up on audio. Tessa Hadley seems like a novelist I should like. So we'll see... (Reviews on Litsy are mixed.)

Finished this late in my (Sun)day and the sun cast some shadows at the perfect moment for me.

My daughter bought me a three month subscription to Parnasus book club. This is the first novel that was sent in January. I am excited to dig in. I have not heard much about it.

My son is in Edinburgh this weekend .. just sent me this pic ... Royal Circus Gardens ...( I‘ve never been to Scotland ) I must tell him to get that book .... looks like a lovely shop

The Guardian Reviews this week: more books I'm wondering about reading...

www.guardian.co.uk/books

Has anyone noticed the #Libby update? This kinda stresses me out!

I just got my first book from Parnassus!! My daughter gifted me a three month subscription. After I finish the 5 books I am reading right now this will be next. I had a year subscription to BOTM in 2018 and have yet to read one of them.

#humpdaypost @MinDea
1. Anniversary dinner last week (16yrs), at a very fancy sushi place... complimentary dessert was an amazing ginger honey cake with crispy Asian pear & almond milk sorbet... plus Handmade chocolates 😋💕
2. ⬆️ my first Tessa Hadley...
3. Ten US states.
4. The William Morrow Agatha Christie paperbacks.
5. A trip home to England...

Abandoning at page 80. I'm finding these characters somewhat pretentious, privileged, and cold. I'm so bored. I can't muster the desire to keep reading, knowing that this is a character-driven novel.