Welcome to Litsy!

Definitely going to have to re-read this one in hard copy form. The audiobook was good, but it‘s the kind of book where you say “wait, what?” and have to flip back to an earlier part of the book to tie threads together. I‘m eager to read all the rest of Helen Oyeyemi‘s books. What a unique talent! The magical realism feel won‘t be for everyone, but the writing is so good and engaging. Weird in a wonderful way. #52bookclub2023 #startswithG

This book is so quirky, and so fun! I‘m listening to the audiobook, read by the author. The only thing is, I may need to re-read this in book form, because I feel like I missed a few things. I‘ve been meaning to read Helen Oyeyemi for a long time - glad I finally picked this one up. #startswithG #52bookclub2023

What a strange little story... there wasn't much by way of plot and it had that magical realism thing going where you feel totally lost and just have to accept that you have no idea what's going on at times...
Despite that, I really liked it? It made for some entertaining #audioknitting as i finished a pair of socks and started a new pair

#gingerbread #divinedecember @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

The opening lines were fantastic, and I want to like this one but am really struggling after the first couple of chapters.

This was my official #BookSpin for February and I am really glad I dove in. Like most magical realism, it‘s best not to try and make it make sense. You have to let it show you what it is. Go for the ride. The story of the ladies of the Lee family is not one I will soon forget. It‘s complex and as dense and sweet as the gingerbread they bake. I‘ll tell you this much, if Oyeyemi is driving, I‘m getting in the car. I look forward to more of her work.

Here they are, my choices for #LMPBC Round 14 Group X! @DinoMom @ShelleyBooksie @michellelav

My official #bookspin is a book on my GoodReads Want-to-Read shelf. So, I went to the library and was gleefully pulling books from shelves like some low-rent Belle in Beast‘s castle…anyway, I‘m leaning toward Gingerbread, but Hag-Seed has been on my GR TBR the longest since I knocked out The Nix this year. So we will see what grabs me!

Watched Gingerbread Miracle ✨
#wintergames2021 #mistletoemaniacs

Long time no post and I miss Litsy! Have had so much going on with work and ailing cats (here‘s the relatively healthier one, #percycat). I just finished this meandering, bizarre novel and have no idea what to say about it. I didn‘t love it but didn‘t hate it? The writing is very good but the story pretty much feels like I imagine being on psychedelics is. None of it made any real sense to me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

First Hallmark movie of December! #WinterGames2022 #MistletoeManiacs

This isn't the easiest to get into. But like all the other books by this author, if you stick with it, the story is actually quite good. This is a soft pick for me. The author reads the #audiobook which actually works pretty well. I like this cover but I'm not 100% sure what it has to do with the book.

So I truthfully couldn‘t tell you the plot of this bc there isn‘t one really and what little there is doesn‘t make any sense. Trippy & odd but beautifully written at least. I kept waiting for an a-ha! moment but it never came.

My latest set of #tailoredbookrecommendations has arrived and I don‘t think I will continue this second subscription. I switched from print books to email only after the last debacle, but I‘m rather disappointed. I specifically asked for no YA and two of these are considered YA. There‘s nothing wrong with YA. I just have a ton of YA fantasy on my shelves still unread and don‘t want to add to it. Plus, the Oyeyemi has terrible reviews. 😔 *sigh*

I will always read Oyeyemi even when she frustrates my rigid mind. The story is like a fog, but then it‘s cotton candy, but wait no, you‘re caught in a spider web, and while you‘re glued there, a spider tells you how she came to be. Lol. This book is about capitalism? The rift between the poor and the rich? A mother daughter story? A family history? There‘s some dolls that are part plants and are alive and have thoughts? There‘s... I don‘t 👇🏼

Reading this was like having a conversation with someone much smarter than myself. I periodically lost the thread, picked it up every once in a while and felt smart too, then lost it again and began to wonder if there was ever a thread to begin with.

I love Oyeyemi's playful use of magical realism, but it worked much better for me in her earlier novel White Is for Witching, which I adored. 👇🏼

Another #festiveflicks read.
#fantasy @Traci1 #audiobook

I'm not smart enough for this one. The fairy tale style went beyond me. There was so much symbolism in everything that the characters did or said that I struggled to get close to them. Maybe at a time when I was able to focus a bit more, I might enjoy it more. I'm sure others will enjoy it very much, but it was tough for me.

Nope.

Starting a new one! Haven't read Oyeyemi for a while and thought it was time. Her covers are so beautiful.

I like it. I had the 🎧 and that made it great.

I love gingerbread. The actual soft cake rather than ginger snaps. Those can be nice, too; as long as there‘s some hot tea to dip them in. I also love magic realism. I miss Dinesen.

🍊🍊🍊

OK well I really don‘t know where to start with this book. Even though I have finished this book I feel non the wiser as to what I have read. I feel as though this book doesn‘t flow and that it jumps all over the place. When I did think I was starting to understand this book the story change. So I felt as though I was just in a world of confusion.

My Rating: 2⭐⭐

I enjoyed some parts of this book more than others. I understood some of it but parts confused me. It was an interesting ride but made me furious as well. None of the characters were exactly likeable but I just hated some of them. This was literary fiction with magical realism - not exactly my wheelhouse so I may not be the best judge.

Thank you @Shakespearience ! I love my swap gifts! #whiterabbitswap @LibrarianRyan

Many twists and sudden genre shifts, wicked sense of humor and beautiful writing, and interesting themes including immigration, class struggle, and familial discord. Recommend to anyone who likes magical realism and doesn't mind their fairy tale influenced stories taking some wild liberties.

Starting this beauty today! 🍊 #currentlyreading #bookspin

Fairy tale references, Brexit commentary, talking dolls, a changeling. This book is decidedly weird and not really about anything. I finished it because there‘s something oddly compelling about it, though I certainly wouldn‘t recommend it. The author reads it and her surprisingly childlike voice fits well with the material.

I'm excited for my #BookSpin reads! Gingerbread will be my first, and Lychford my #DoubleSpin. Thanks for hosting @TheAromaOfBooks! 🍊

I don‘t even know

Today‘s first #HolidayShow viewing. The world of gingerbread building is so far not as friendly as the holiday baking shows! #WinterGames #TeamElectricSex
@LibrarianRyan @StayCurious @Clwojick

My lovely friend made this for Sunday nights picnic aka my early birthday celebration - as she knows that I am a huge fan of gingerbread (and by extension, gingerbread man giant cakes) - it was so lovely sitting in a park, listening to Christmas carols - with my friends, eating cake! We all work in a library - so the picnic food was 👌 (because library people take food very seriously!)

Christmas gifts I bought for my husband arrived today. Shall I wrap them or read them?

Currently reading

Odd, delightful, confusing. I just love Oyeyemi's voice and how she weaves these strange books that are like fairy tales and contemporary stories all at once. There were some parts of this story of 3 generations of women from a maybe fictional country that had me puzzled about what was happening and what significance there was, but also I loved the writing throughout. There's something being said here about immigration that I'm not catching too.

Spending the day at home as I'm sick but I am excited to be in my new house my partner and I just bought and to start the latest Helen Oyeyemi book. I love her writing! This is a little glimpse of the backyard, where it is raining buckets as you can see.

I'm not sure what I just read here, but it was certainly different. I've heard it referred to as magical realism, but there was no consensus reality operating here at baseline. It was like reading a transcription of a night's worth of dreaming, with people, locations, ideas all flowing in and out with no purpose. The writing is beautiful and Oyeyemi is clearly brilliant, but if you want a book with an actual plot, I would not pick this one up.

I started this last night and am enjoying it more than I thought I would - I was not a fan of the last one I read by her. It probably helps that I consider gingerbread to be a magical food myself! Looking forward to fall starting tomorrow and all the tastes and smells that come with that.

A gloriously imaginative magical realist take on aspects of the Hansel and Gretel story with a mysterious unchartable country, changelings, and lots and lots of gingerbread. It took a few chapters for me to really get into, but by the flashbacks I was totally hooked.

This quote killed me ?

"... who turned Sherlock not even in the pursuit of justice, necessarily, but out of sheer disbelief that his mate kept denying that he'd been subject to at least three instances of attempted murder."

Day 7 #7Days7Covers #CoverCrush
Another book I own ( unread) that was gifted to me by @LibrarianRyan ) ♥️

I‘m inviting @TrishB to join me and anyone else who wants to share their favorite book covers.

Also a shoutout to all the illustrators and graphic designers who create these magnificent works of art. I know we aren‘t meant to judge a book by its cover but they make it so damn hard not to.

Sonic break

Up early enough to get in a little reading with breakfast this morning

1. Gingerbread, Dead Astronauts, and Polite Society

2. Maple

3. "This is sounding exactly like the time you kept saying 'It can't be the gingerbread,' when it was the gingerbread. It really, really was." - Gingerbread

#weekendreads

New book and a bath bomb to match

This book was beautiful and exquisitely written but also was somehow hard for me to get through. Oyeyemi creates an abstract, whimsical, gritty, deeply complex reimagining of gingerbread narratives in fairy tales. I loved it at times and was dying for it to end at others.