Welcome to Litsy!

One of my closest friends (pictured) received news that his mother has terminal cancer. He‘s amazing & so is she.

She had him when she was 16. She worked to give him & his 4 younger brothers a full life. She‘s 54-years-old, & a hospice nurse. She lost her mom young & volunteers with kids who know that same loss. She teaches yoga. She goes zip-lining. She dances freely & grows beautiful flowers.

There‘s a GoFundMe to help with medical bills.👇🏻

“I began reading books, reading books to delirium. I began by vanishing from the known world into the passive abyss of reading, but soon found myself engaged with surprising vigor because the things in the books, or even the things surrounding the books roused me from my stupor.“

This was my #doublespin book for #bookspinbingo. It is credited with launching the popularity of the memoir. It takes place in Pittsburgh. Since I do reside in Pennsylvania, I was interested in the setting. The writing was beautiful, and I loved the many references to books and the love of reading. However, at times, I was just not interested, particularly when baseball was the topic. It was between a pick and a so-so for me. @TheAromaofBooks

“So God must sit in heaven, at a card table, fingering a heap of stripes- hairlines, jawlines, brows- and joining them at whim to people a world. I began wondering if the stock of individual faces on earth through all of time is infinite. “

“She drew plans for an over-the-finger toothbrush for babies, an oven rack that slid up and down, and -the family favorite- Lendalarm. Lendalarm was a beeper you attached to books(or tools) you loaned friends. After ten days,the beeper sounded. Only the rightful owner could silence it.”

“”When you open a book,” the sentimental library posters said, “anything can happen.” This was so. “

A fellow Friends of the Library volunteer pushed this in my hand with a “you have to read this one”. I couldn‘t be rude, but so far, I am not sure about”having to read this”. 🤔
#currentread #bookspinbingo

Here they are! Both are on my MtTBR. Determined to make it happen this month!
@TheAromaofBooks #bookspin #doublespin
#bookspinbingo

1. I love reading memoirs and biographies, especially Beverly Cleary's, Lois Lowry's and Annie Dillard's.
2. Probably realistic fiction or historic fiction. I can never choose one. DiCamillo, Williams-Garcia, Woodson, Hesse
3. Joseph Campbell
#wondrouswednesdays
Thanks for the tag @DarkMina @Eggs
Play along! @Kristinreads @Prairiegirl_reading @AutumnRLS

#QuotsyMar21 Day 8: #Private

First read this as part of an Intro to Nonfiction course my freshman year of college. Dillard reflects on her childhood in Pittsburgh, PA in the 1950s and 60s. I might be biased since I too grew up in western PA and even lived for a time in the exact neighborhood (Squirrel Hill) that Dillard grew up in, but I found this book enchanting. Dillard's narration has a sort-of abstract, meandering quality that perfectly captures the mindset of a 👇

1. Strawberry Shortcake & My Little Pony
2. Yes!
3. Smurfs
4. Cheese and crackers
5. No, I always brought lunch
6. I walked all the way until high school
#YourStory @nu-bibliophile

I didn‘t love this book. It‘s a series of dreamlike vignettes that lend a more novelistic feel than non-fiction. Indeed, one of the reviews on the back described it as a ‘metaphysical memoir‘ - I prefer a more straightforward autobiographical style.

#wil I learned a lot about rocks, birds and the polio vaccine... and also a new word, sempiternal, meaning everlasting.

#nfnov
#readingtheUSA2019
#pennsylvania

#weeklyforecast

You can see from the sticky-out bookmark that I‘m getting there with Ducks..... 700 pages in. Managed to renew it again at the library, which I didn‘t think I would be able to, but I still want to get through it soon.

Just started An American Childhood for #nfnov and #readingtheUSA2019, and the other two books also fit both prompts.

Will also try to start The Romanovs on Kindle for #nfnov and a #buddyread with @Caroline2

"Those of us who read carried around with us like martyrs a secret knowledge, a secret joy, and a secret hope: There is a life worth living where history is still taking place; there are ideas worth dying for, and circumstances where courage is still prized."

"Whole stacks at the library held books devoted to things you knew nothing about. The boundary of knowledge receded, as you poked about in books, like Lake Erie‘s rim as you climbed its cliffs. And each area of knowledge disclosed another, and another. Knowledge wasn‘t a body, or a tree, but instead air, or space, or being—whatever pervaded, whatever never ended and fitted into the smallest cracks and the widest space between stars."

“I grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1950‘s, in a house full of comedians, reading books.” To be honest, I loved this book and was disinterested in it by turns. Still trying to figure out why.

This is my book club‘s selection for the month. It‘s just not for me.

I listened to this book for a challenge I‘m doing. The criteria was a book that takes place in your hometown (or close enough for me). The beginning was slow and at points I wondered if people who were not familiar with Pittsburgh would still enjoy this. The author had a good number of funny and/or insightful comments sprinkled throughout, which I think makes it worth the read. I‘ll give it 3 1/2 ⭐️s

It made it to four different states and back home again! @Beckys_Books @DarcysMom @slategreyskies

#lmpbc was fun, thanks all!

1.Little Women and Nancy Drew 2. Books, always had a book in my hand 3. Kraft Mac and Cheese 4. Rainbow cookies. (I need a vegan recipe)

Such a great read to finish #LMPBC #GroupC and with that it's on its way back to @Lissa00

Thank you @slategreyskies and @DarcysMom and @Lissa00 for selecting such memorable reads!

Started my last #LMPBC #GroupC book today. Not making much progress since it's DAYTONA RACE DAY!! Have my fantasy team selected, and the wreck at the end of Stage 1 caused me to bring in my garage driver.

🌟🌟🌟🌟
#LMBPC
#GroupC
#nonfiction2018
#192019Challenge #1987

I am about 10% in and don't want to put it down!
#LMBPC #GroupC

@slategreyskies I wanted to get this out before the craziness of the holiday so it is going in the mail today! #lmpbc #groupc

Serious reading is just so hard sometimes #catsoflitsy😹😹

It‘s November 1 and I am officially starting my #lmpbc book! Excited to see how this works😁 @DarcysMom @slategreyskies @Beckys_Books

I am presently at a reunion of Coast Guard Brats on Governors Island. The house they are letting us use as a base camp is, on every other weekend, the Book House. It has a table with bookmarks and bookish pins, author photos on the walls and this interesting poster.

"Consciousness converges with the child as a landing tern touches the outspread feet of its shadow on the sand: precisely, toe hits toe." (11)

The pain of awareness - I have only rarely felt it - that desire to live the moment so fully that it becomes a permanent part of you.

This book, autobiographical about the author's childhood growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950's, is gorgeous. The vignettes she writes of, in essay form, and her amazing gift for descriptive language make this one of the books that has stayed with me most throughout my life. Perfection.