Welcome to Litsy!

This book gutted me, and no pun intended - it‘s so well executed it felt like nonfiction. Ansel Parker is on death row with 12 hours to live and no justification to consider him anything less than the murderer he is. Nothing changed my mind about him. But his mother, his wife and her family, those murdered girls who never saw their potential realized - they are unforgettable.

Nov #BookSpin Cat: Needed 90 days for Oct TBR @TheAromaofBooks

Book scavenger hunt - purple
#hauntedshelf @PuddleJumper #flerken

I am between So-so and pan on this. I just do not understand the hype and rave reviews. This really didn't work for me. 1 petty complaint- Lavender, Saffron, Juniper, Rose, then move on to Sunshine, Blue, & Harmony. The names Kukafka picked for this was insanely distracting. I can't get past it and I hated it.
1 big yuck I didn't like how the author tried to tag in how Black and Brown people have it worst in the prison system, when she put this👇

Listening to Notes on an Execution

I have a fairly uncommon name and it is incredibly jarring to hear it in a book, especially as a character that I would never be. I am anti-prison and the guard here who seems to want to help a psychopath escape has my name.

People named a super common name probably do not notice when characters have their names, since so many around them also do, but who is in the uncommon name group stumbling on characters?

I‘m not sure how I feel about this book. I may have to sit with it for a bit. It was dark and haunting but I also feel like it could have gone more into depth from certain perspectives which is unlike me. I usually like getting right to the point. I‘m glad I read it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

4 Stars • Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka is a gripping narrative that explores the lives of a serial killer, Ansel Packer, and the women connected to him. The story delves into the final hours of Ansel's life as he awaits execution, interweaving the perspectives of his mother, Lavender; a police investigator, Saffy Singh; and Hazel Fisk, the twin sister of his ex-wife. ⬇️

Wow! This book! 📚 #10 #2024

I generally liked this one but felt the second half dragged a bit and it felt longer than it should have been (and it‘s not a long book). Definitely an interesting framework and provocative theme; would say it‘s a low pick for me. I really love the purple, though.

#bookreport
Started & finished Damaged Goods
Hibernated Notes on an Execution
Started Matrix, Storm Front & Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain

#weeklyforecast
Finish Matrix & possibly Storm Front
Continue Time Traveller.

#bookreport #weeklyforecast

Finished What Writers Read & A Taste for Poison.

Start Notes on an Execution

I had picked up and put this one down a while back for reasons I couldn‘t remember, so I was intrigued to retry based on @Deblovestoread ‘s #AuldLangSpine list. I ended up thinking it was quite good. I liked the writing, and after getting off of my “I don‘t want to hear the backstory of the murderer” high horse, I just went with the flow of the story and in the end appreciated each part of it. Thanks for the great pick, Deb!

My first #auldlangspine read from @CBee ‘s list! I loved this book because it told Ansel Parker‘s execution story through the women involved in his life. Even though you know how it ends it was still riveting. ( Yes, I‘m supposed to be working, but I had to finish this one. 😜)

My boss insists I read this so we can discuss. Has anyone else read it?

#12Booksof2023

I didn‘t read a lot of books in July but this one definitely stood out. It‘s the story of a man hours away from his execution after being convicted of murder. He doesn‘t want to die, he wants to be remembered but the story isn‘t really about him, it‘s about the woman whose lives he touched—past and present. And their stories make for very compelling reading in this Edgar Award winning book. My favorite in July.

@Andrew65

Christmas book haul! 🎅 Very excited about all of these. Which one should I read first?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday week!

#sorrynotsorry #bookhaul because if there is an incentive to buy books (Teacher Appreciation 20% off or 10 times the Plum Points) it is like a siren call.
Oh, who am I kidding.

This is a dark, exceptionally well written novel which is very different from anything I've read in a long while. The victims themselves were not well explored but, that in no way detracted from the effectiveness of the story. I never understood how Ansel Parker was able to do what he did yet, his story was still sometimes sad and ultimately powerful. This is one of those stories I will not easily forget; it left me with plenty to think about.

My FICTION bracket for August: The tagged book was my pick for the month. The author did a fabulous job with multiple perspectives of the women in the life of a serial killer as he counts down the hours to his execution. In the end, though, I had to give the edge to July‘s book to move on. My reading heart has belonged to Dennis Lehane for a long time now.

It‘s weird to say I enjoyed a book about a serial killer, but there you have it. It‘s well written and I really appreciated the perspectives of the women in Ansel‘s life. Thanks to @CBee for putting this on my radar with her review!

Staying at a VRBO rental while visiting family in Port Ludlow, WA. Trying to read but I keep getting distracted by the gorgeous view of Ludlow Bay. 😍

Danya has a real talent for drawing creepy characters, in this instance a serial killer. The novel is really engaging in the way it probes the varying perspectives of the killer & victims.

Raises great questions about personhood, justice, nature & nurture, and good & evil.

Ansel Packer is on death row, hours away from execution for murders he committed. As the hours tick down, Kukafka takes readers back and forth through time telling Ansel‘s story through the eyes of women who knew him—his mother, a police officer, and his wife‘s sister. This story is a powerful and haunting look at the lasting, corrosive power of neglect, abandonment, and violence. Very well written and a good read.

Up next….I‘m a couple of chapters in and so far it‘s really good.

Only one thing to do the day before an 11+ hour flight ahead of six weeks abroad excavating—go to the bookstore! I‘m only taking the tagged book, going to save the two ARCs for when I get back. I‘ll be posting a little less frequently but I‘ll still be around with updates on my reading and maybe a picture or two of the excavation. I hope everyone has a great summer of reading!

I don‘t even know how to write a review that will do this absolutely brilliant book justice. Just a million wows and all of the stars.

This was beautifully heartbreakingly good. 5 🌟 read. The story of a serial killer waiting for his execution. Told in alternating chapters from his pov and from the pov of women known to him or affected by him. I liked the idea that no one is wholly good or wholly evil. We are made up of our experiences and the experiences of those around us. It made me 😢

Not sure why I picked this audio up after finishing The Sun Does Shine. I am still thinking on Bryan Stevenson‘s quote “We are more than the worst thing we‘ve done” from the forward of Ray Hinton‘s book and I read Notes through that lens. This was a #blameitonlitsy book and appreciate the reviews that lead me to it. 4.5 🌟

All my boxes ticked. Great story telling, Great characters, great writing , psychological, thriller, Serial killer.
Ansel is on death row. As we look back , his history becomes complicated, his thoughts difficult to hear. Everyone his life touches is wounded. A heartbreak of a story. I couldn‘t put this down, a fascinating read.

I couldn‘t put this beautifully written book down. It‘s a story of one man‘s life, his mother, his wife and her twin sister, and a childhood friend who‘s now a cop. Who is this man, and how did he become a man who at age 17, murdered three girls. And then what happens to him over the next thirty years. This book asks a lot of questions, and it will be with me for quite awhile.

I couldn‘t put this down, and when I wasn‘t reading it I was thinking about it. Ansel Packer is on death row; we meet him as the clock starts ticking down to his execution. Yet we don‘t really meet him. He doesn‘t get to keep our interest. Instead we‘re taken back to meet his mother, and then the women whose lives have been lived alongside and around his, and their memories of those whose lives have been ended. Excellently and powerfully done.

Interesting novel about a man on his execution day. The story goes between the murder and 3 other woman that were affected by his actions.

(Finished listening to this while driving through Stowe, VT on my way home.) A killer sits on death row and as the hours count down we learn about his life and the lives of those he played a role in. I was completely immersed in the story and found myself feeling compassion for everyone in the story, including the killer. The audiobook was great. There was a minor thread, the killer‘s theories on life, that I would have loved to explore more.

Just finished the tagged book but I‘m also reading & listening to the other two books. I seem to have picked 3 books to read at the same time that involve prison, inhumane conditions & some horrid experiences. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Thanks to @Lindy I looked for the non-fiction No Friend but the Mountains by Boochani. His description of surviving a boat that‘s capsized with refugees aboard was so intense… and that‘s just at the beginning of the book!

I‘m so curious whether this author ever lived in Vermont. She keeps referencing Lake Champlain (above) and the Adirondacks of New York (the mountains above). She also references Northern Vermont University (NVU) which is 20 minutes from where I currently live. That university was only recently rebranded with that name. There is a writer and artist retreat right next to NVU (the Vermont Studio Center) and I wonder if she spent time writing there.

Housesitting, knitting, listening to this audiobook, flipping back and forth between Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins. My Lyme-brain is pushing me a bit too hard to do too much. I usually prefer to focus on one thing at a time.

A perfect reflection on the current multiverse trend

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Normally, I‘d prefer a nonfiction book about such a topic, but Kukafka nailed the characters and atmosphere. It feels real. Told from multiple perspectives, including that of fictional serial killer Ansel Packer, and the women who are/were in his life. As the time to his execution ticks down, you‘re taken into his mind. Meanwhile, the female voices provide the other side; the rational perspective. Unique and completely engrossing.

Is this a thriller? Certainly no whodunnit because we know from the start who did it. He‘s on death row, hours before his execution. So maybe no thriller, but definitely one of the best books I read this year. Is it possible to pity a serial killer? Danya Kukafka made me in what is best described as a psychological drama. Wow.

(Pic: French Alps)

So I'm in the minority of people who didn't like this book. There are 3 POVS, 2 being of women from this serial killers past. And I feel like a lot of it was glorifying the serial killer. Also he was a serial killer and I felt as though the book is saying he shouldn't be on death row because he did a bad thing but isn't a bad person? Which is easy to say, until it's your loved one who was killed. 2/5

The story of a serial killer on death row and the women caught up in his crimes. This was excellent. I couldn‘t put it down. Our sympathies switch as we hear from each character & the countdown to his execution builds suspense. Beautifully written, it reads as a literary novel but has some crime elements & plenty of tension. Much to discuss, it‘s a good one for book club.

Not an easy read, but compelling.
I appreciate that it gives you a raw look at a number of minds without judgement or justification, or a final tied bow of conclusion.
I am glad that it focuses more on the women adjacent to a killer's life, rather than the actions of that killer.
Appears to indict not just US's criminal justice system, but also social institutions and the cracks kids fall through. Left to wonder if things could be different.

"...a group of men grieving over something more despicable than themselves."

Perhaps it's odd that I didn't expect a book with the word 'Execution' in the title to address the topic, but I'm pleasantly(?) surprised to find such a powerful passage against capital punishment and incarceration, especially as it aids and abets systemic racism.

Well, even with being sick, I read this in a day. It lived up to the reviews. Ansley Parker is on death row and today is his execution. The book goes between him and the women in his life. It was really good to me.

2nd book in #winterreadathon @Andrew65

My next read. Have heard good things about it. Libby hold that came in, hopefully, I will get to read a Christmas book before Christmas 🙂

Are we on book 4 already? Great idea starting this book off with such a loaded question @BooksNBowls !

#LitsyloveWritesNBooks #ReadwithFriends

This book reminded me some of Rene Denfeld‘s The Enchanted in its theme, though it is written in a much more straightforward style. It‘s similar in that it doesn‘t shy away from the ugly and it tries to give a balanced view of how a killer might be made, without ever excusing the crime or the criminal. Not a standard mystery, but still gripping in its way as it counts down the hours to the state execution. This is a #BlameitonLitsy book for me.

Love a weird first line!