Welcome to Litsy!

#bookreport/weeklyupdate
How to tell I‘ve been off work…..most of the week anyway.
Julia was a low pick.
The Missing Ones- new detective series 👍🏻
Water- brilliantly written, look forward to the next one.
Amy & Lan- good light read.
Murder- fun, true crime like novel.
Just started beyond that, the sea.

I have no doubt work will massively impact this week‘s reading.

I see that I've just equalled last year's books completed total (as recorded on Goodreads), though surprisingly a couple of thousand more pages already read than last year 🏆📚📖🏆☺️

I‘ve reviewed almost all of these! 🎉 Five-Star Weekend was a 5⭐️ book, and Games and Eden both received high marks from me, too. (I just finished Games. Review soon!)

Awe, Owl, and Lies were all enjoyable! Passing for Human, a graphic memoir, was such a personal story, and I enjoyed it…I think…but I‘m totally unsure how to review, so I probably won‘t.

Brides and Glow were just okay. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #BookReport

I have reviewed every book in this #BookReport! First time I can say that in months! Some weeks you just have it together, so that was a really nice change. Favorites on top. I enjoyed the ones in the middle as well. Two on the bottom were just okay.

🤞🏻 for another good week next week! I‘m reading a short story collection (Days of Awe by AM Homes) and started a #roll100 audiobook (Lies I Tell by Julie Clark). Hoping for another Le Guin too!

Everything was a pick this week, but some were more enthusiastic than others. My favorites were Messy Roots, a graphic memoir from a Gen Z Wuhanese immigrant that covered her childhood plus the effect Covid and Asian hate crimes had on her, and Con Queen, 💯 bingeable true crime about a person who impersonated major Hollywood producers.

Looking forward to Birnam discussions starting next Saturday at #CampLitsy23. More #BookReport ⬇️

Really good reading week except for The Guest, which is my new worst book of the year! 1⭐️ is generous. 🙄 Read @Hooked_on_books review.

On the great side is Burgess, a wonderful gift from @BarbaraBB 😘 Strout is just wonderful! The book about the Shakurs blew my mind. A part of Black liberation history I knew little about. I was afraid Unfortunates would skew YA, but the mix of zine-style visual arts and heavy emotional topics work for me. ⬇️

I lost a friend this week and just got back from the funeral. It was a beautiful service but also sad.

Hostile was funny and refreshing! Love Sam! Sorry was a great story about siblings and parents and love and codependency. Mother is relatable to any daughter who didn‘t appreciate her mom enough growing up. Weyward was a challenging but heartwarming witchy read about the bonds of women in families and how we protect each other. ⬇️ #BookReport

Someone was kind enough to write my memoir, and I‘ve included it in this #BookReport! 😂 Maybe it‘s yours too? 😏

Love Songs was fantastic. Reviewed and great if you love stories about families! Devil is my favorite of the three I‘ve read for #AuthorAMonth, but the two stories were a bit disjointed. Paved: wow! A revelation! I had no idea that parking shaped so much of the post-WWII building in America! Why we don‘t have ⬇️

Another week another late #BookReport! 😂 Chrysalis: review posted - loved it! Oak Flat had beautiful art! The landscapes looked organic and alive and just leapt off the page. Homegrown: Toobin does it again! One of the best narrative nonfictions this year. It‘s about McVeigh, the OKC bombing and the legacy it holds in the alt right and even mainstream right today.

Traffic: interesting about Buzzfeed and Gawker‘s strategies for going viral and ⬇️

So this is the #BookReport I would‘ve posted last week had I not been in the hospital. 😂 Three #BookspinBingos in April! 👍🏻

The Wager was a great adventure narrative nonfiction pick and one I‘ll relisten to with my dad. Unsettled was haunting and makes me excited for Fuller‘s latest at Camp Litsy in August! Liars blended science, nature and sociology well and linked human behavior with evolutionary tactics. ⬇️

A bit of a late #BookReport because I was very sick Sun-Tues. These are just what I read through Sun.

Old Flame was exceptional! It took on adoption, friendship, creativity, and motherhood just beautifully! I wanted it for #CampLitsy23, but there isn‘t a UK pub date. ☹️ JBLAH took on disability in the gay community with humor and heart. Pathogenesis is a must read for medical history and anthropology nerds. 🙋🏻‍♀️ more ⬇️

Another week with a #BookReport and no reviews! 🤦🏻‍♀️ However I hope to make it up by posting about #CampLitsy later this week. Stay tuned!

A lot of #LikeNotLove books this week, so no hierarchy. I finished another for #AuthorAMonth, and it was a so-so. I read two books about the medical profession and was really moved by both. Chin-Quee did an excellent job of expressing the depression I felt during my training and how isolating it was. ⬇️

Happy Easter y‘all! It is dogwood/azalea time in my neighborhood, and hopefully I can share some gorgeous pictures next week!

I‘ve seen several people review Biography of X, and for me, it was a 5⭐️ brilliant book!! The new T. Egan history/true crime and Chung memoir were fantastic too.

Comedy and Community were both very cute! Adelaide did not work for me, but I think it‘s more to do with the character than the writing. #BookReport More ⬇️

Yay Spring! Great on top, good in the middle, so-so on bottom. Ari‘s memoir was sensational! Thank you @squirrelbrain for the rec of Marriage and the credit I used to by Lobster! I enjoyed both. I preferred Out There (speculative) to Cursed Bunny (MR/horror), but glad I read both. Henry Clay my dog was named for the 19th c politician from KY, so I had to read the bio. Lapidarium is a must read if you enjoy geology or gemology! #BookReport

I had a decent week despite being knee deep in Passover preparations 🤪 Best of the bunch was Stone Cold Fox but the ending was a letdown. Suburban Hell was fun on audio, Little Monsters was ok, Ladyparts was wayyyyy too long plus I found the author difficult to root for, On Division was awful 😖 and Kaikeyi was actually very good, just a bit too winded for me.

Last week I made a #BookReport and didn‘t post it. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I read some exceptional books this week (top) and some very good ones (middle). Bottom row is 👎🏻

Poverty and Flight both taught me a lot, and Singer‘s Gun and Done reminded me that I do enjoy a good mystery now and then. Ducks (review soon) is one of the best graphic memoirs I‘ve read! Pilgrims reminded me of the power of a good story, and I loved the ace rep in Mermaid.

Audiobooks are getting me through life right now. 😂 I‘m so glad I was able to catch up on a few reviews today, and I had a really great birthday weekend overall!

Best on top! Two fantastic short story collections and Hello Beautiful. The rest are in no particular order. #lazy 😉 The Exceptions was a great look at sexism in STEM academia, but it got a bit long. The Lipman was some fun 🧠🍭, but the Shapiro was really hard/dark. #BookReport

So my disabled mom fell. She didn‘t break anything, but things are hard right now. I have a bit of time to read but not much for social media. I will be back eventually, though!

Best on top, other picks in the middle, ones I didn‘t love on bottom. More discussion of Madam ⬇️.

I‘m glad to have read one for #AuthorAMonth and hope to get to Mice this week! My #doublespin (Pachinko) was good. It was 💯 worth it to splurge on High! #BookReport

This was a difficult week for me, so I went through a spate of bails. However, I did manage to finish seven books, including a fantastic reread of Anthropocene and some other enjoyable books, too. I am loving the daffodils. Molly is going next Sunday for pictures with the Easter bunny and is getting a new outfit for the occasion! Hard times pass. Fortunately, there are always books, dogs, and friends. 💜 #BookReport

Another busy week! I had two bails halfway through. Maame I‘m going to come back to with my #LMPBC group, but I just wasn‘t enjoying the new Moyes. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I really loved the two business entertainment books about CBS and HBO (top row), and Silent was an enjoyable suspense novel with a great narrator. I‘ve been hitting the memoirs hard this month! Pat, Unraveling, Sleep (review soon) were great, but Dyscalculia wasn‘t my jam. #BookReport

Best on the top, especially Molly! 💜 I had my first February 5⭐️ (Hijab), and while I genuinely enjoyed a lot of the books I read this week, the new @SGJ book is the only other over 4⭐️ read. I rarely like second books in trilogies, but it was fantastic!

The rest, minus BFF, were between 3.25-4⭐️. Some were really unique (Employees and Bug), and I learned a lot from Moons, Savage, and the Wood.

I‘m picking Eagles for you, Cindy! #BookReport

Busy morning, but I will try to get to the three reviews I haven‘t written (books on bottom). I‘m glad my filling for vegan rice paper dumplings is done!!

Best on top. Reading Erdrich has been such a joy this month! Delay was one of the best memoirs I‘ve read in awhile. (I‘m going for quality over quantity in that genre this year!)

Scattered and My Volcano fall into the wonderfully weird category! ToBAF for sure! #BookReport

Happy Lunar New Year. All the Hope of the year of the Rabbit. I am happy that my new year finds me preserving the 3 to 5 pm weekend hours for reading.

This was a great kickoff to the year! Two 5⭐️ books already, Plainsong and Night Watchman, and both from challenges, which is why I do them! 🤩 My other two #ALSpine reads, Bell Jar and Ghosts, were great also. I made my #roll100 goal of one each from print and audio even though they weren‘t fantastic. (Climbing Mount TBR one book at a time!) Babel is a new fave from the #tob, but Age of Vice was a bust. Review of Drinking Games soon. #BookReport

My last #BookReport for 2022🥰 I ended the year with some decent reads….I especially enjoyed BOTH of my #ReadingTheAmericas books😁and my #LastFirst The Exiles (and Demon Copperhead) are FABULOUS so far 🙌🏻
Happy New Year friends xxx Can‘t wait to see what books are in store for 2023😁

A Christmas evening #BookReport about a fantastic week! All picks! Two 5⭐️ and a 4.75⭐️ on the top row. Touch was a close runner up. I had a couple of light listen audiobooks (Mustique and Feldmans) and two nonfiction that gave me a lot to this about (Fire and Wizards). Fire and Wizards sounds like an unauthorized HP spin-off! 🤣 Dr. No and Aesthetica were light picks, but I may have gone in with expectations too high. Merry Christmas!! 🎄🎅🏼

Big reading week! And already two bingos! #BookReport

Bottom row is to be reviewed, but Violin and Island aren‘t my favorites on in the #tob shortlist. I did enjoy my M2M reread though. Driver‘s is one of the best celebrity memoirs I‘ve read this year.

I enjoyed both #AuthorAMonth and #Bookspin, which I finished for the year this week, and I really want to thank Soubhi and Sarah for running these every month! 👏🏻💜

Bring on Christmas! 🎄🎅🏼

I stayed up last night finishing the AWESOME O‘Farrell, so I‘ve been dragging today! Iykyk 😂 Other favorites on the top row.

I am still trying to figure out what to write about The Friend, and I finished it Tuesday. She‘s another author whose backlist I want to tackle.

Just finished Jaded Women. Too many characters to keep track of! Mona went into hibernation for #Peru #ReadingTheAmericas2023. I liked the photo with the holly tho. #BookReport

A really fantastic reading week. All picks. The print books were especially on point, but my favorites were What If 2 and Other Birds. One engaged my brain and the other made my heart sing! The Kleeman was amazing too; I couldn‘t put it down. I think One‘s Company will have a lot of Litsy fans when it catches on. Review of Off with Her Head tomorrow! #BookReport

Also two #BookspinBingos! I‘m having my highest avg print pages per day this year! 🎉

I missed doing a #BookReport last week, so this is a combo of the last two weeks. My four faves are on top, including my first 5⭐️ of September Best of Friends! Life on the Mississippi was incredibly fascinating, too.

I haven‘t reviewed Jillian yet, but I think you‘ll enjoy my photo essay with Molly when I write it! 🤣 Also, I‘m one free space away from a bingo, and I might‘ve just bought three new books. 🤓 Pic soon!

Some weeks are #reread weeks. Iykyk! I revisited the King, Taylor, Lawson, and Irby, and my thoughts on them all continue to be positive.

Last White Man was a disappointment. I always think I‘ll enjoy Hamid more than I do. Raising Lazarus was better than Dopesick, and I recommend it to all the other Littens interested in the opiate crisis.

I was interested in Celebrities, but the library #audiobook just cut out in the middle. Weird. #BookReport

Rogues and Nightcrawling were my top two this week, but I enjoyed everything! I‘m still four reviews behind (including my top two 😂), but hopefully, I can get caught up tomorrow. 🤞🏻 Hurricane Girl still has me thinking more than her prior books. I‘ve finished my first #AuthorAMonth choice (Ghost) and have checked out another from the series. #BookReport

Have a great weekend y‘all! 🇺🇸🎆🎇

Moshfegh is an incredible writer, and Lapvona is an immersive world that I couldn‘t put it down. I stayed up until 2 AM Saturday to finish. Every print book I read this week was awesome, but special shout outs to The Displacements and Tracy Flick. Highly recommend both!

On the audiobook side, I‘d recommend Cabin Fever to everyone. Top notch narrative NF!! Let‘s Not and It All Comes were my favorite fiction audiobooks. #BookReport

I‘m having trouble concentrating on print this month so I only finished two books for #CampLitsy. I enjoyed our How High discussion and can‘t wait for True Biz!

I am digging fiction this month, and I really enjoyed The Midcoast and Remarkably Bright Creatures! Counterfeit was enjoyable for a summer light fiction day. The Guest Room was fine.

I haven‘t felt like writing reviews of the other two NF books. Maybe today. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #BookReport

I didn‘t think I had read so much this week, but here we are! I read four amazing essay collections: Happy, Bethlehem, Embrace, and Patriarchy. It‘s a genre I don‘t read enough of for how much I enjoy it. The Bohjalian was disappointing, and while Rabbit Cake was good, it still didn‘t live up to my high hopes. Maybe I just don‘t like juvenile narrators. Good Eggs was a wonderful surprise, and I‘m excited to discuss Basic Black today!! #BookReport

What a week! All fiction! 🤯

The Ozeki and the Egan were long and totally worth it! I still haven‘t reviewed the Egan, but it was totally right book/right time.

Red Island House and Yerba Buena were disappointing, but I enjoyed Carol and my reread of The Smash Up. Cats suffered from a poor narrator, and I just finished If, Then a few hours ago. It‘s more literary than sci fi, which was a bit bait and switch. 🤔 #BookReport

Slow reading week, but some FANTASTIC books!! I‘d recommend all these completed books to various readers in my life.

The tea: I wasn‘t invested in Libertie. It was just too slow. Piper‘s book was self involved navel gazing, but since I own it maybe I‘ll come back. 🥱 Tagged ⬇️

I‘m enjoying my 5th yearly reread of All Grown Up. I truly get something new each time. This year it‘s very personal, and I doubt I‘ll share.

Happy weekend! #BookReport

It‘s been a slower reading week for me. NonFiction just takes longer to digest.

I hope to finish Islands of Abandonment this weekend, and maybe also Lab Girl. They are both excellent.

I picked up the second Percy Jackson to give my brain a break, but honestly I think I‘m going to bail on it… not connecting, so it‘s probably destined for my LFL.

Doing my #BookReport early b/c Molly & I are TIRED!

Best of the week are Matrix 🙌🏻 (read my review) and Several People Are Typing.

The two bails…I really tried. Vessel suffered from poor translation. People We Keep was not my book.

I really enjoyed the 100 pages I read of the Rooney today! I know @Cinfhen says she skews young, but I can see my younger self in her books. Last Flight I‘m have trouble getting into, but it‘s my #bookspin. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Second week in a row that I‘m doing a #BookReport with Molly sleeping on top of me. While she‘s good for snuggling, she makes it hard to be productive!

Best of the week was definitely Sorrow and Bliss 💜

I‘m trying to let Molly sleep (we don‘t quite have a rhythm), so here‘s my 3 AM, in the dark #BookReport @Cinfhen 👍🏻🤗

Other than my bail, I didn‘t have any stinkers this week, but the standouts were definitely The Lost Family and Rewind.

I‘m enjoying my current read but not loving it. I was all hyped up for it, so maybe that‘s my problem…or maybe I‘m feeling so much joy that I can‘t relate to grief. 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️

I, like you Cindy, must tackle my #ARC #MtNetGalley this week!
Going to have to put my #pagecountphobia inducing Outlander aside, and try and finish my 4 #ARcs before month end. (Who am I kidding?) 😳
Good week of reading though…💕
#bookreport & #weeklyforecast

Definitely haven‘t been reading much for some reason. I mean I do have great books to finish and attractive stacks of TBRs. I think it‘s just my mood right now. @Cinfhen

#bookreport #weeklyforecast
- Loved the 3 I finished this week.
- currently loving Animal on audio, and finally trying Outlander (as one of the longest book on my TBR for #pop21 advanced) and the #pagecountphobia is real! 😳
- Next up are a couple of recent releases, calling me from my nightstand!

#bookreport & #weeklyforecast in one!

The Sea Prayer was a beautiful, heartbreaking picture book I read for #pop21
Liked The Atmospherians, as odd as it was!
Addie was a re-read for a bookclub this week (this time on audio).
I enjoyed The Maidens for its setting, but can‘t seem to really get on with thrillers right now… good not great…🤷‍♀️
And the new Casey McQuiston was such a disappointment, as I loved RW and RB, and this was really meh! ☹️

#bookreport & #weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

I adored both books I read this week…. Two ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads! Deborah Levy is a recent favorite of mine, and The Guncle was a delightful surprise… laugh out loud funny and ugly cry poignant, all in one read…. 🌈

Only just started my Claire Fuller, plan to really get stuck in on my next day off.
I have a couple of ARcs to read- Both late, one end of May, one June 1st release. 🤦‍♀️One day I‘ll catch up!

#weeklyforecast & #bookreport @Cinfhen

- A great reading week. Enjoyed all four books I finished.
- In progress, Part 3 of Deborah Levy‘s ‘living autobiography‘ is excellent so far, The Guncle is fun on audio, and I‘ve just started the Claire Fuller, but the first chapter has me invested….

#bookreport & #weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

Finished 3 this week... All great reads.....
Only just started all my in progress but so far so great... 💕📚

#bookreport @Cinfhen
I‘ve been a bit of a flighty reader this week..... picking up and putting down so many things. But did manage to finish 3, plus really enjoying all 3 in progress. 💕📚