Welcome to Litsy!

I'm not normally a big fan of epistolary novels, but I enjoyed this much more than I anticipated, on a very visceral level. I actually found myself getting angry on behalf of Ella and her friends and family. I don't think a work of fiction has ever done that me.

So aside from those works by my favourite authors, what were my favourite reads of this first half of 2024? Observe! I call this the 'I had fun' category.

Absurd and disturbing and fascinating all together.
I mean, anything so centred on words, language is a good bet for me to love, and this is indeed as of now, a 2024 favourite.
To start with such a fanciful promise and then follow it to what history grimly indicates is the next step and then... 1/?

Alabama, here we come! 😊 #airplanereading

Third #roll100 done for Feb. LOVED this. Really clever, interesting, and scary

A perfect way to spend an afternoon. ❤️🌈❤️

This is a clever satire about an island named after a man believed to have come up with a sentence using all 26 letters in the English language. After many years, the tiles holding the letters begin to fall and the tyranny of the local government mandates these fallen letters not be used in any way. Dystopia at it‘s finest. #Pop23 ~a book your friend recommended

I've been wanting to read this for over a year... very excited!

This hit totally different during the current world of banning books and transgender people.

#temptingtitles #withaveggie

First Read of the year! :)

Thank you @DebinHawaii I could not put this book down! Yes I unwrapped the book turned to page 1 and only came up for air to feed the cats! @MaleficentBookDragon thank you for running #jolabokaflodswap

A quirky book in epistolary form in which the correspondents have to use fewer and fewer letters in the alphabet to communicate with each others.
#roll100

Written in epistolary, this is the story of the island of Nollop, where Nevin Nollop came up with the well-known sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The sentence is memorialized on a statue of Nollop, but as the letters start falling off the placard, the island officials ban them from use.

A fun #Epistolary read. #Bookmoods

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

A clever story about letters (alphabet) told in letters (by correspondence) that amazed me! I had been wanting to read this since I first heard about it many years ago. Something about this year has me finally inspired to read these longtime-tbrs. This one is fun; lucky but fun. #DogsofLitsy #EstherAssisting She is such a good model for me.

This was a fun book! The writing was a little formal but I think it gave the author a little more leeway as letters started to disappear.

My brain isn't up to much right now. This was enjoyable overall. ⭐⭐⭐

This was a love letter to language and an interesting commentary on blindly following a government/religion that doesn‘t make sense. Fun to read - but near the end it got a little difficult.

Regret waiting so long to read this! Laugh out loud epistolary dystopia? The ridiculousness made great laughs. If all dystopia was like this, I‘d read more dystopia!

What a charming little book. A novel in letters, about letters. But about so much more. It was a great story to get lost in for a little bit. And it really helped with my reading slump.
#NovelNovember Time: 6:01
@Andrew65

Spending my Sunday morning with this little gem.
#NovelNovember Time on the clock: 2hrs

@Andrew65

#two4tuesday
@TheSpineView @KarenUK
Yes, I know I‘m late but I cannot avoid a direct challenge.
1. I pass most every book on, but ask for them back if it is dear.
2. I wish to replace this book which I did pass on but never had it returned. Somehow hard to find a nice hardback.

We must respect that silence and make our decisions and judgments based upon science and fact and simple old-fashioned common sense; a commodity absent for too long from those in governmental elevatia, where its employ would do us all much good

Although it took a few passes to understand what was being communicated when a letter disappeared from the story, I thought it was a really creative way to demonstrate that a letter was no longer allowed in the town, which also trickled down to the pages of the book. It also did a great job touching on the topic of censorship.

Overall this was a fun read and I‘d definitely visit it again in the future.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Such a clever little book! Nollop‘s high council tries to control the island‘s inhabitants by eliminating the use of letters as they fall from the Nevin Nollop statue - supposed author of the famous pangram. This isn‘t just a love letter to words and language, but a creative, and disturbing, way to illustrate how quickly the world can fall apart. An odd combination, perhaps, but it works.

#bookclubbook

📖🍷🛀🕯 Just got caught up for my weekly #bookclub discussion tomorrow. Why do I procrastinate? I‘m the leader FFS. 😏 I need to prep the discussion points, too, and there‘s SO much to talk about!! I‘m absolutely in love with this clever little book! It‘ll for sure be a favorite read of 2020, and one I know I‘ll recommend often.

#bookclubbook #bookandbooze #bookandbath

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Such audacity I had thinking I could grab a few book club chapters this morning!!

90% sweet, 10% naughty. Champ has gotten so big, I tend to forget he‘s just 9 weeks old. 💚🐾

#dogsoflitsy #champ #bookclubbook

My IRL book club selection is marked up and ready! Technically, it‘s a private fb group comprised of a few of my high school friends, all scattered through KY and TN. I‘m the organizer since I‘m the only mega-book-nerd/control-freak. 💁🏼‍♀️ I think we‘ll fly through this one. Looks fun!

#boolclubbook

Delightful. Playful with language with some important things to say about freedom and opposing arbitrary government which gave some parts a darker fine then I was expecting.

I don‘t remember who recommended this book, but I‘m glad they did! It was a fascinating MG dystopian about government taking away letters and language that felt super relevant right now. My biggest con was how many ableist slurs there were. Like, wow, so many.

1. Ella Minnow Pea
2. John R. Erickson: Hank the Cowdog series
3. Elementary
4. Eagles
5. Every Time I Hear That Song: Blake Shelton

#LetterE #ManicMonday @JoScho

2020 Reading Challenge
8. A Book with a Creative Title

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Goodreads Review Below ⬇️:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3227298726

As a lover of words, the English language, & the CHANGE we can create with these letters given to us, I could not put this book down! It‘s witty, it‘s charming, it‘s also terrifying to think of a government with total control over the specific letters used by the people BUT... that‘s a discussion for another time...😛😶 It took me half a day to read this cover to cover, a perfect stay-home book to keep your mind occupied! 📖

This short epistolary novel tells the story of the island of Nollop where the residents are banned from using certain letters of the alphabet after they start falling off a sign. I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn‘t strike me as funny or cute. 3⭐️ book 29

Work holiday today, so I spent some time reading the wonderful comments in my #postlit book!Thank you so much to @ScientistSam @daniwithtea @irre @Kappadeemom @RiotMom @StellarDoc @melyndarae @goodthinkrebel @ReadingsByTheC @trazo @aroc @CareBear for all of your wonderful insights and impressions! I have enjoyed this bookish journey with all of you! 🤓💛Thanks @CareBear for the awesome bookmarks and for sending all the books my way-it‘s been fun!

Quick and smart read. A lighter, epistolary version of 1984, if you can imagine that.

This kooky and winsome epistolary novel requires a substantial suspense of disbelief. As letters of the alphabet fall one by one from their revered founder‘s monument, residents of the island of Nollop are forbidden to use them by a government that is chilling and comical in its stubborn adherence to dogma. If you‘re willing to hang your hat on this silly premise, it‘s an amusing ode to language and a cautionary tale of unyielding totalitarianism.

Would you look at that? I have a palindromic amount of followers! That‘s neat. Thanks, pals! 🙌🏻🥳

My page count was pretty typical this month, but three 5⭐ books? Unheard of for me! What a great month!

The Miserable Mill ⭐⭐⭐
Shoggoths in Traffic ⭐⭐
Mister Hadj's Sunset ⭐⭐⭐
The Brutal Telling ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ella Minnow Pea ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ⭐⭐⭐
Recursion ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Echo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Austere Academy ⭐⭐⭐
The Ersatz Elevator ⭐⭐⭐

Very clever and silly; it was a fun little read. I‘m not sure it deserves all the gushing I‘ve seen/heard about it, but I‘d say it‘s worth knowing about. #rorygilmorereadingchallenge

Oh. My. Word.

I will be recommending this book to everyone with a love of the English language. I can't wrap my head around how he wrote this.

Reminded me a bit of Flowers for Algernon. Saying how is a spoiler, but those who have read both will understand.

So glad that Anne Bogel pushed this to the top of my TBR. It may be one of my all-time favorites.

And I think I can finally declare my reading slump over. What a great day! 😁

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Y'all. 30% in and I'm in love.

☑ An amazing, original premise
☑ Rich, descriptive language
☑ Epistolary novel

#currentread #currentlyreading

Three of my bookish love languages wrapped in one book. ♥

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Clever. Silly. Reading this wasn‘t a bad way to spend a few hours of my time, but it could have been better. It was just okay. 🤷🏽‍♀️

#booked2019 #FoodOrBeverageOnCover #catsoflitsy #Phoenix

I really enjoyed the way this book was written. I loved the fact that it had a decent amount of words that I was not familiar with so I could expand my vocabulary. The council‘s rules and reasoning about the sign was absolutely ludicrous, yet scary. I loved that the people fought back for their beloved home. 3/5 ⭐️

I'm really liking this book but it feels like it's taking me forever to read. 😜 Oh well, just keep reading!