Welcome to Litsy!

1. Tagged book was my favorite for August.
2. I like all the formats, but I seem to be reading mostly ebooks from Libby these days.
3. Mysteries
#wondrouswednesday

Thank you so much for sending this book my way @AmyG ! I‘m very excited to read more by Waters since loving Fingersmith. I‘m so grateful to you for this gift! ♥️

This was an interesting and enjoyable read. The main character is a bit of a brat, but she‘s young and naive and realistic in her flaws. The author pretty much says as much in her afterword.

I learned a lot about the theatre life and lesbian life in 1880s and 90s England, as well as the workers‘ rights movement and some … new vocabulary. 😯

I do have another Sarah Waters book that I probably won‘t finish for #authoramonth but will read someday.

#AAM This was perfect! I loved getting a glimpse into late 19th century queer London, and finally reading one of our first proper lesbian romances. These characters and their story struck me as sweet, but not in a sugar-spun, wholesome way. I‘m not sure what the quintessential queer romance story is, but it‘s not waltzing with Prince Charming and some chipmunks in the forest. 👇🏼

#whereareyoumonday I‘m in St. John‘s Wood this morning. Only more as it looked in the 1890s, and less with Abby Road Studios and the like…😁 @Cupcake12

This is the second Sarah Waters book that I tried to listen to, and I couldn't get past 4 hours.
She's not for me.

#authoramonth2024

The beginning was a bit slow however, after soon. the story broke my heart more than once. How difficult it was for those who were part of the LBGTQ+ community in the past. My compassion for Nan Astley was deep throughout the book. I loved the middle to the end of this. I was very proud of Nan as she made her speech to Florence! The novel was well worth reading. I certainly will read more of Sarah Waters works. 4.5/5

#theater #storysettings @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I got off to a slow start with my TIPPING THE VELVET reread thanks to a couple of busy days, but I could hardly bear to put it down yesterday. At this point, it looks like it‘ll end up staying in my permanent collection after all, but I‘m pretty sure I remember liking the end less than the middle, so we‘ll see.

It‘s mighty nice to read with Casey again, even if he‘s less snuggly than the dogs I spent the last month with. His face is tops.

I‘m still in the mood for 19th century queer stuff, despite a disappointing last read, so it‘s time to revisit TIPPING THE VELVET! In general, I WANT to like Sarah Waters a lot more than I actually DO like her, but I enjoyed this one back in 2007. Hopefully it‘ll also do it for me here in 2023.

I don't normally read such 🌶️🌶️ books.
I really enjoyed this. I saw a review on GR about how this was not historically accurate 😂 let me tell you that is not the point of this book. Nancy is a mess. But she is also a butch lesbian trying to make it in 1890s England. Born in a poor oyster village, she follows a love to London and that is just the beginning of how loves and crushes and sex turns her life round and round. I was absorbed from pg 1

Made a dent in my audio but didn't finish, maybe made a huge mistake in my kitchen? Definitely not for everyone. I will decide in a few days.

I am so ready for summer, and I think my house is ready to get me outside too, I am bored and redecorating for the 5th time this winter. My new obsession, peel and stick wallpaper. My walls are too textured and it keeps falling off so I am attacking my appliances 😂
Send help to get me to stop.
Reading the tagged while I try this on the fridge next.

#manicmonday #letterT @CBee @The_Penniless_Author

📖 Tipping the Velvet
✒ Laini Taylor, Masako Togawa
🎬 (The Muppet) Treasure Island
📺 The Traitors
🎤 Tiesto
🎶 That's the way it is (Daniel Lanois), Time to Pretend (MGMT), Team (Lorde)

If any of you haven't yet seen The Traitors (BBC iPlayer) OMGYOUHAVETOWATCHIT 🙃🙃🙃🙃

The narrator of this novel,set in Victorian England,is the young working class woman Nan who follows her first love Kitty, a male impersonator popular on local Theater stages, to London.She eventually joins Kitty and the two become famous.It imagines a small lesbian community that Nan briefly becomes part of.Eroticism and passion are themes in the bk.Barely a pick-too much backstory&sex-but an original and passionate debut that deserves praise.

I finally read this. I've had it for ages. It was both exactly what I expected and a total surprise. I got so frustrated with Nancy in the middle section, making choices I was sure would end in disaster. And they did! She won me back though and I loved the ending.

#goodreadsreadingchallenge2022 #book5of40

Have been looking through my "notes and highlights" on Goodreads and found some beautiful writing from Sarah Waters ? I forgot how well she writes - I have at least 2 more of her books on my shelf to be read.

My first finish for #20in4. This book was okay, but boy did it need an editor. It could have been 100 pages shorter. There were several times that I sped up the audio.

This was my #bookspin for July

#couple #curiouscovers @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

This is a remarkable book. The writing is exceptional (and, as you're probably already aware, explicit at times) and follows Nancy on a journey of discovery and survival. It's a fascinating exploration of Victorian subcultures and the contrast between the poverty and terrible conditions the poor lived in, and the decadence and indulgence - sometimes to the point of being abusive - of the rich.

#ReadHarder challenge 23: a debut novel by a queer author and challenge 24: a historical fiction novel not set in WW2

Day 1: The Favourite

#RememberNovember
@Klou

Happy Friday, and happy almost-Pride-month!

1. ❤️ the tagged book! If you don‘t know what that title means (like I didn‘t), please google and enjoy. 😂

2. Indigo 💜

3. My mom skills 🙂

4. @Chili @HOTPock3tt 🥰

#FriYAYintro

#7days7books day 6

Books that left a lasting impression on me.

Tipping the Velvet fell into my hands at exactly the moment I needed it in my life.

If you‘d like to share your 7 books we‘d like to see them!

Having read subsequent works by the author before this one I can definitely tell this was Ms. Waters' debut and that her obvious talent has only become more polished with each publication. In fact, by Fingersmith it was pretty much honed to perfection. In this one she hasn't yet got that tight control of the narrative & it gets a little unwieldy at times. But she can't half spin an engaging & compelling tale!

Starting this one today. It's weird, I always thought I'd read this already but apparently not. Sarah Waters is not likely to disappoint.

Has this been a movie/on TV? That's maybe why I feel familiar with it. 🤔

Several thumbs,toes and ears up for this glorious book. Fun,moving romantic, unabashedly lesbian and all heart from beginning to end, well deserving of its classic status.

Fun fact: I did not know what ‘tipping the velvet‘ meant until this book. Yay for learning new things! 😂

Loved this book from start to finish. In retrospect, this is not surprising as I do enjoy a good Dickens-esque, sprawling Victorian London drama. This is that, plus a lesbian coming-of-age story. 🙌🏻

Excellent writing and a wonderful cast of supporting characters. Nan is not always a likable heroine, but she‘s so entertaining.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a beautiful and delightful story of how heartach, strife and personal choices can influence who you become. This was a delightfully queer story that was at times a bit slow but overall enjoyable. Sarah Waters is magnificent in her work i highly recommend!

So I am up to pg 250 and it is excellent!

I have started a jump.rope routine in addition to running. #BFC19 (are we still doing this?!) And today was my second day.

3 hours so far in #24B4Monday

I have been trying to finish this book for over a month and it usually takes me less than a week to finish a book. I can't read more than a few pages before I get bored. I realky enjoyed Waters', The Paying Guests, but this one just isnt't grabbing me the same way. I feel very indifferent about the MC, Nancy. That is never a good sign for me.

#7days7covers #covercrush

Everyone join in that hasn‘t already 💕

Atmospheric and explicit about lesbians in the late 1800s. Well written but unless I missed something- did the cover designer read this book?

I will look forward to The Paying Guest and Fingersmith.

How I hate to point this out but the typo count is up to 7 or 8.

And I just found out what Tipping the Velvet means. 🤭 I won‘t be saying it in public anymore. 😉

Liked, but didn‘t love. The book‘s descriptive power is its strength as well as its weakness. I felt really sucked into each of the settings, but I needed a more compelling plot to pull me along. At almost 500 pages, it‘s a little too long. She could have sacrificed one of the subplots for the sake of a tighter narrative.

I did really enjoy it - I just wanted more from it. This was her debut, so I may give The Fingersmith a try.

I‘ve been meaning to read this for years. Glad my book club selected it this month.
Whether I will actually get to go to the meeting or not, who knows? It‘s 2 days after my due date.

Liked it but the end felt contrived to me. I read an interview with her that said this is not really based on any historical record (of the LGBTQ community in Victorian London). Glad I read it, but the ending fell flat for me.

I suppose I was due to be disappointed by a Sarah Waters novel. Based on the description and the author, I was sure I would love this book but...eh. I didn‘t feel any connection to the characters and considered abandoning the book before I finished it. Ultimately, there was enough to keep me reading until the end, but not nearly enough for me to recommend it.

The main thread is life, love/romance and exploring sex between women in 1890‘s. What I liked about this story is setting. Late Victorian London is depicted in a very vivid and colorful, vibrant manner. What I didn‘t like is a little frivolous depiction of a main protagonist - Nancy. She is without any deeper characterization, and because of that - her responses in a different situations are quite unconvincing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Although I will not be at home this weekend, I still hope that I‘ll be able to read for hour or two ....

My pile: Tipping the Velvet, S.Waters
Black Water, J.C.Oates
When Churchill Slaughtered Sheep and Stalin Robbed a Bank, G.Milton

#24in48 #readathon

#musicalnewyear #cabaret
I have this waiting for me on my shelf. I‘ve loved Fingersmith and The Little Stranger so far.

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post here and I‘m really still just figuring out what I‘m actually doing 🙃 One thing you should probably know from the get-go is that I not only purchase books for actual reading purposes; I also purchase and collect books with beautiful covers. The above image is of one such collection and features Virago‘s ‘Coming of Age‘ series, which is absolutely devine 👌🏼😍

#comingofage #virago #tippingthevelvet

I‘m still not sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the Victorian setting, but I also found many aspects of the women‘s ability to find each other and freedom to express themselves rather unbelievable. I didn‘t like the main character through much of the story, but in the end I did believe she was finally realizing her mistakes and making better choices. Overall, it‘s another book I can appreciate reading due to the #1001books list.

#backlist
#oldbooksthatrock
#riotgrams