Welcome to Litsy!

Finally some nice weather after the wildfire smoke took over and then a few days of much needed rain. Going to try and get some pages in this evening. Not sure if I'll like this book as I've never really found a book I liked that passes over a very short amount of time (I believe 3 days in this book) - but still excited to dig in!

#JoysOfJune #Readathon #FluPandemic #BackyardReading #EveningRead

A little late to be posting but I'm going to join this readathon and hopefully finish The Pull of the Stars this week. It's a busy week with the husband on night shifts and the little guy only having a few weeks of school left plus his summer activities kicking off - so it will definitely be a challenge. Hope I'm able to find some time for reading this week!

#JoysOfJune #Readathon @Andrew65

#bookmail! Mostly these are for my irl book club, but the top one is just because it seems interesting. #thriftbooks

Dublin, during the Spanish Flu. Julie Power is a nurse working with expecting mothers who have the flu symptoms.

This is not a book about the flu, but it lures in the background and reminds us of how in some ways not much have changed in a 100 yr and that lives goes on.

This is a book about motherhood and women‘s health. About poverty.

I loved to read in the author‘s note that Dr Lynn was real and I would love to learn more about her

Birdie asked, Aren‘t you in favour of votes for women, Mr Groyne?
He let out a scornful plume of air.
I couldn‘t make myself stay out of it. Haven‘t we proved outlet worth to your satisfaction yet?
The orderly grimaced. Well you don‘t serve, do you?
I was taken aback. In the war? Many of us most certainly are serving, as nurses and drivers and -
The orderly waved that away. Don‘t pay the blood tax, though, do you? Not like we fellows do.

This is a book that I would never have picked up if it wasn‘t for my bookclub peeps recommending it. At first I thought it was just okay, the first section peaked my interests enough to keep me reading but about half way through the second section it was building on me , then couldn‘t put it down for the 3rd and 4th parts. 4/5🦖

This also fit the “hello - new to me author” prompt for the #roaringwolf months prompts @Roary47 @Littlewolf1

So fortunate to have received this book from a Litsy swap. My first 5 star read of the year. A beautiful and engrossing story that takes place in Ireland over a 3 day period in 1918. This book is set on the maternity floor of a hospital during the Great influenza outbreak. This book is not.light and fluffy. Although fiction, the characters ring real and true and the journey that each goes through is spellbinding.

My #BookCupidSwap gift from @candority is a delight. I LOVE SweetTarts (and chocolate). I am very much looking forward to reading this book. The only other book I have read by this author is Room. Thank you so much for the beautifully wrapped, thoughtful swap treats. Happy Valentine‘s Day, Littens. 💕💕

Thirty meant maturity, a certain stature and force, no? And the suffrage, even, now they were extending it to women over thirty who met the property qualifications. Though the prospect of voting felt unreal to me, since the United Kingdom hadn't had a general election in eight years and wouldn't till the war was over, and God alone knew what state the world would be in by then.

In Dublin in the midst of the Spanish flu pandemic, Nurse Julia doggedly tends to women in the maternity ward with the help of fiery young Bridie Sweeney.

Read January 22-26
Rated 4.5/5 ⭐️
Book 7/60

Considering when Covid started, it was compared to the Spanish Flu, this is the time to read this book. The 3 days this book covers are full of anxiety and dread. It was so easy to get lost in similar feelings. Experiencing the loss, but hope on the fever maternity ward made the battle of the frontline workers all the more real.

To anyone fighting for lives during these times, ❤️🙏.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#poutinepenpals - such an amazing package. Thank you so much. I LOVE the snowman ornament and cannot wait to tuck into the book!!

The Pull of the Stars (New York: Little Brown; Toronto: HarperCollins Canada; London: Picador, 2020).
Dublin, 1918: three days in a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu. A small world of work, risk, death and unlooked-for love. In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new flu are quarantined.

There was a bit too much detail in the birthing of babies than I like to read/hear about. Ugh! The story was good, but I was a bit disappointed in that the influenza seemed more of a background than the main part of the story, which was the women having babies. There was an author‘s note at the end, and I was interested to learn that the woman doctor was the one real person as a character in the book

Can we just talk about how beautiful this cover is?

I cannot wait to dive into this one.

Anyone else a sucker for a pretty cover?

💔

Winter is back, but this time with 53 km/h NNW winds. I was pretty impressed with the fortitude I was showing in going out until it became apparent that it‘s nothing compared to what some of the women in this novel go through 🤐

Did anyone listen to this on audio? The narrator reads sooo slowly and takes huge pauses between sentences. I never do this, but I bumped the speed up to 1.25x and now it sounds normal? Genuinely wondering if they either intentionally had her read slowly or even slowed it down in studio, maybe they were worried listeners would have a tough time with her Irish accent?? Story is great so far though, and at 1.25x speed it‘s a great listen too 😂

Haven‘t been here for a few months, but for this public health/OB/infectious disease oriented person interested in Ireland‘s history of orphanages, mother baby homes, and all, it was a wonderful read. Did all the things good books can do for someone, you know what I mean. A note of caution for those with Covid tragedies, I‘m so sorry. And, this one may not be the best book for you now. A respectful bow to Donoghue‘s diverse talents.

Hachette Book Club Brunch is underway! Virtual style. Milo Kitty doesn't normally get to attend when it's in New York City, but today she is all in!

#bookclub #catsoflitsy

This book is set in an Irish hospital during the 1918 pandemic and follows a maternity nurse over a 3-day period. The story is engaging and very poignant during this 2020 COVID pandemic, but I found the writing to be somewhat immature and the plot to be somewhat incomplete, or not fully fleshed out. Interesting but not a pick for me.

Not meant to be published until next year, Donoghue sent in her final manuscript for this book in March 2020. Then Covid struck. Her publishers rushed it to print. Set in Ireland during the 1918 flu pandemic, the book takes place in a maternity ward over the course of three days. It is revering, graphic, and brims with life and meaning.

Set over three days, in 1918, in an overcrowded hospital maternity ward, in Ireland, in the midst of war, revolution and a pandemic. It‘s graphic and ugly. It‘s full of death, while being full of life. It‘s beautiful in the way death and tragedy and pain and new life can be. So full of love and most importantly, hope. Humanity is resilient and life goes on. “We somehow muddle along, sharing the earth with each new form of life.” You will ugly cry.

Sundaying. I really love this book, so far. Even though she doesn‘t use quotation marks. That usually makes it a bail for me. So you know it‘s good.

I‘m only 30 pages into this novel set in 1918 Dublin and already we‘ve had flu wards, lack of PPE, hand washing, face masks and relatives prevented from visiting loved ones in hospital. Not sure if it‘s comforting or sheer madness to read this book right now! Donoghue must feel so strange having spent the last year writing this book .....

Such a great book! Not WOW but still WONDERFUL
I love that it highlights the unsung heroes...NURSES 🙌🏻 Set in Ireland, 1918, during the Great Flu where both war & pandemic are straining hospital beds and physicians abilities. Honestly, history repeats itself. With all of our technology & medical advances the difference between life & death can still be attributed to the dedication & vigilance of nurses. Narration was AMAZING 🎧💗

First book finished for #Bookspinbingo. Loved this- for some reason I cannot seem to get enough pandemic books!

My Giller prediction for The Pull of the stars is on my blog: https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-pull-of-stars-by-emma-donoghue.html...

#shadowgiller

Well, I thought I‘d have a longer wait for this one. Now I must reconfigure my reading plans!

About a third of the world‘s population died of flu in 1918. This novel is set during 3 intense days in a maternity/fever ward in a short-staffed Dublin hospital during that deadly epidemic, just before the end of WW1. Feminist & other social justice issues are at the forefront, plus I learned a lot about midwifery. The #audiobook is read by Emma Lowe, subtly changing accents for the various Irish characters. #LGBTQ

The human race settles on terms with every plague in the end, the doctor told her. Or a stalemate, at the least. We somehow muddle along, sharing the earth with each new form of life.
Bridie frowned. The gripe‘s a form of life?
Dr Lynn nodded and covered a yawn with her hand. In a scientific sense, yes. A creature with no malign intention, only a craving to reproduce itself, much like our own.

(Internet image)

Nailed up under a street lamp, a new notice, longer than usual. The public is urged to stay out of public places such as cafés, theatres, cinemas and public houses. See only those persons one needs to see. Refrain from shaking hands, laughing or chatting closely together. If one must kiss, do so through a handkerchief. Sprinkle sulphur in the shoes. If in doubt, don‘t stir out.

(Internet photo)

Dyed some table runners today. #audiocrafting