Welcome to Litsy!

I have a cold (surprise surprise after two horrible weeks at work) and it's my week without my girls so I'm trying to force myself to rest. I bought this because it was heavily discounted and I had been browsing in a bookshop to pass the time and it seemed depressing to buy nothing at all - does that sound demented? I just don't have the budget for new books when even simple children's books cost what I used to pay for new books for myself.

Prose over plot. I'm not sure I always knew what was happening, but I ultimately did enjoy it.

Next up . . . Random kindle pick. Don't even know what it's about. An actress I guess 🤣

I enjoyed reading this because there were some great characters throughout the story

https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8054/9781529112139

#fiction
#actress
#families

I picked this up after seeing a recommendation from Ann Patchett. The #audiobook was fantastic!! A great character study.

Bear with me a moment: reading AE is a little like listening to Bach. There's the (erroneous!) sense that it all just pours out and that not a word or a note could be other than what it is. Bach helps me to stay at my desk: this book made it difficult to go back.
It's a story of the relationship/history between Norah and her monstrous but loving famous actress of a mother, Katherine. I think I'd have liked the audio (read by the author) even more.

I wanted to love this, the writing is excellent, and normally this is enough for me, but here something is lacking and I was bored. Reading about half through my mind started wandering.

"it remains a very strange thing - the ability of a man like Boyd to assume that it is their interest which makes something interesting. As though if he shuts his eyes, the world would be really full.
Anyways, she shot him for it. There was always that yo consider."

Ready for #BookspinBingo with @TheAromaOfBooks

I have a lot of backstock for January, things that have been sitting in my house for a decade that I need to get to. Excited to start trying to read more then I buy (I say this every year... )

I am enjoying this immensely. The writing is dazzling and the audio edition (read by the author) is an impressive performance. It‘s perhaps not a book that will appeal to a large readership but I feel like I‘ve found a little gem. 💎

I just finished Actress. I liked reading about the Irish theatre scene and places I've been to, but it's not my favourite of her books.

Eeny meeny miney mo

Eeny meeny miney mo

A beautiful story of a mother-daughter relationship. Lovely, nuanced writing. Norah reflects on her relationship with her mother, tells her mother‘s story of what she remembers of her as a woman, a mother, rather than a celebrity, weaving together her own. It reads like a memoir, a biography, as Norah tries to work out and understands her mother‘s past - onstage vs real life. Heartbreaking, and lots to think about.

#ReadingEurope2020 #Ireland

I didn‘t love this one. The beginning was engaging but it dried up. It didn‘t really delve into either the primary topics.

A beautiful piece of fiction. There was something very intimate in the writing that made me feel like I was talking with a friend. It won‘t be for everyone - lots of meandering prose rather than fast-paced plot - but I thought it was wonderful.

This is off to a great start with some beautiful writing 🥰

Quiet, introspective, astonishingly well written, intimate, and poignant. To me what‘s most moving about this White mother/daughter tale is that this daughter‘s reckoning of her famous actress mother is taking place just as she has outlived her. Every remaining day in her life is one her mother never lived and there‘s no longer a road map — not that it was a good one but it was there. The pacing is deliberate and takes a bit to settle into. ⬇️

People ask me, ‘What was she like?‘ and I try to figure out if they mean as a normal person: what was she like in her slippers, eating toast and marmalade, or what she was like as a mother, or what she was like as an actress - we did not use the word star. Mostly though, they mean what was she like before she went crazy, as though their own mother might turn overnight, like a bottle of milk left out of the fridge.

#FirstLineFridays

A daughter looks back on her mother‘s life, the once upon a time famous actor Katherine O‘Dell. She‘s trying to figure out her mother, where she came from and how things could turn out the way they did.

This has many moments of pure brilliance. The writing is excellent, it has humour, it tugs at the heart strings. But I still felt there was something missing. Someone in my book club suggested it was missing a plot...

So, I loved this. A deft, heartbreaking character study and breathtaking writing. Highly recommended.

A woman reflects on her mother, who was an actress in Ireland. How it effects her Life. How her mother was. Historical fiction.

I am going slowly because every damn sentence is perfect.

I was on the fence about this novel. Contemporary/historical fiction just isn‘t my jam, but this book‘s binding was exquisite. It was such a physical pleasure to hold that I read it anyway. The story concerns a daughter‘s relationship with her actress mum; it reads like a memoir. #indiespensable

My #Indiespensable subscription finally arrived! 😍 Chocolates didn‘t survive long enough to be part of the picture 🤣 😋 🍫

This was not a story that I was particularly drown to, however the writing was amazing. I am looking forward to reading her other books. 3 🌟

The audiobook of this mother/daughter novel was just so wonderful.... Anne Enright‘s beautifully melodic Irish brogue brought the story to life perfectly. Every lovely run-on sentence captured each scene and intimate moment, bringing humor and warmth to these complicated characters. Loved it.💕
Thank you so much @Lindy for putting this audio version on my radar!

#MayTBR
-Currently listening to Actress and loving Anne‘s beautiful Irish voice...🍀
-Valentine on audio for #readwithmrbook #debutnovel
-The Switch is an #ARC I was sent recently
-Going to try the Jane Austen on audio for #Pemberlittens
-The Glass Hotel is sitting at the top of my #nightstandTBR
-Looking forward to seeing which order the numbers are drawn for #bookspinbonanza .... hoping to get to at least 3?

Norah is the daughter of a legendary Irish actress. In this beautifully written novel she tells the story of her mother's life and career as she understands it, first as a child then with greater insight as she grows and matures. There is a lot to think about here - performance in art and life, the consequences of fame, public v private life, the institutionalised misogyny that was finally exposed by the #metoo movement. 👇

Currently reading

We don‘t have enough money to heat the house all the way through and, as you know, it is not a big house. I should write a book about that, don‘t you think, that‘s much more real, the question of who is to blame for the cold.

Listening to Anne Enright perform her idiosyncratic sentence structure in the pitch-perfect voice of Norah is an absolute delight. It‘s intimate, funny and dark. There is so much nuance in this story of a mother and daughter, family secrets, misogyny, bad sex, Dublin, mental health, and the way our lives are performances. An outstanding #audiobook for lovers of character, language and place.

Easter #audiowalk. The snow flurries have ended but the wind is bitter, so I will finish listening to the final 40 minutes indoors. 🐇

My top is finished! 14 different audiobooks saw me through the process. #knittersoflitsy

…we kissed endlessly on a window ledge on the corner of Suffolk Street, where I left my bag behind, so drunk was I with kissing, the memory of it lingering for years, even as the window was knocked into a doorway through which people walk now, right through the ghost of our kissing…

(Internet image)

Seen on my #audiowalk today. Time to take down your advertising, pal!

Some people dress their pets for special occasions. Some people dress their trees. #audiowalking

1 I have reading piles squirrelled all over the house, so HUGE ❤️ 2. Made up word Scrabble ❤️ 3. We‘re watching Freddy vs Jason tonight! ❤️ 4. Is it April? 🤣

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

So I invited Holly Devane out to the house in Bray...

There was talk...

Lazy brunch, lazy Sunday, lazy family-distance weekend #2

I've been sitting on this galley since January. Excited to dig in and get back to my #WomensPrize longlist reading. Bonus: counting it for #ATY2020 favorite prompt from a past challenge (nominated for an award in a genre you enjoy) @BarbaraBB

Been reading this while being socially distance. The writing was wonderful but the story was just ok. A touch surprised it‘s up for the Women‘sPrize.

Anne Enright has created a unique world with her brilliant storytelling abt Katherine o'dell, flame haired 'irish' darling of stage and screen in the 50/60's, and the relationship with her daughter who narrates her mother's tale as she deals with an uncertain phase of her own marital and maternal role. Capturing the fragility of fame the story is compelling evoking the contradiction of tenderness and frustration in a mother/ daughter reltionship.

This book was slow and introspective and ultimately lovely. Because of its pacing it does require a certain level of patience and concentration, but it‘s very worth it. I really recommend the audio. The author reads it herself and it is wonderful. ❤️

New fave display at work for St. Patrick‘s day! Listening to Actress on Libro.fm right now. Read by the author and it‘s so soothing and lovely. Things In Jars by Jess Kidd is another favorite so far this year!