Welcome to Litsy!

I saw @Amiable posted her favourite reads from past #AuldLangSpine matches, and I love the idea! As I look forward to reading from @CarolynM's list in 2025, here are my faves from my past awesome matches:

@MeganAnn - The Girls at the Kingfisher Club (historical fiction meets fairy tale retelling at its finest)

@sprainedbrain - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

@monalyisha - World of Wonders (so good I've read it twice now!)

Cont'd

When I was young, I loved Faerie Tale Theatre, especially The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I watched it all the time. The tagged book was a decent retelling set in the 1920's.

The pic is me and the hubs dancing our first dance at our wedding.

#luckyinlove #dancing

#WeeklyForecast already has some March challenge reads!! It has been really working for me to have several challenges that just don't carry over. If I don't get to them, they go back on the shelf for some other month. However, I am not ready for it to already be the third month of freaking 2023. What the heck.

Lots of home time right now, so checking off books between painting the bedroom and other renovation projects!
@Cinfhen

I'm behind with the #FairytaleReadingChallenge, but l still want to try to catch up.
This was supposed to be read in May...

#julyjourneys #dance
This is a fairly good book a retelling of the dancing girls fairytale (they wore out their shoes every night) but set in 1920's NYC
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Thank you @j9brown ! The books look lovely (the tagged book has been on my radar forever!), I am excited to read all of them. We went to a gin tasting last weekend, so I have some new gins to make some cocktails with. And those stir sticks! 😍 I‘m about to have my husband make me a gin & tonic just so I can use them! (Gins in the back are from my own collection and not part of the swap 😂)

What starts out as a seemingly tired retelling quickly turns into a book you can't put down. The character development is exceptional and the story keeps you guessing.

12 sisters live in the attic of their controlling father‘s house & sneak off each night to dance @ clubs during prohibition til their dad decides to marry them off.
Definitely enjoyed taking a ride with these ladies. A bit slow @ 1st, but TBF if you‘re going to have 12 characters with more personality than “pretty girl #6” it‘s gonna take a minute.
#fairytalereadingchallenge
Artwork: https://www.deviantart.com/vasylissa/art/Flapper-Girl-712808568

I only read about 50 pages of this one before I gave up. The book is a retelling of the fairy tale, "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." The premise was promising; I always love to read books that give fairy tales a new spin. This book, though, seemed lacking to me. It was just boring and the father was awful; he was trying to marry off his daughters with no regard for their welfare. ??

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 27 #bookstoread #tbrpile

#LMPBC #GroupC #Round8 Titles tagged in the comments.

I loved this book. I was unprepared for the child abuse/neglect, reproductive coercion, and domestic violence, so I feel compelled to give that warning. I found it a pretty stressful read, as I was worried about these twelve vulnerable girls and my OTP. But this is an achingly beautiful story about identity, dancing, sisterhood, duty, survival, and making a home for oneself. I want to spend much more time with Jo, her sisters, and a few good men!

"It had been a long time, and they were different women now than they had been, but she could still single them out of the hundreds; she knew just how they held their shoulders, how their fingers behaved in their partners' hands...It was nice that she could still look out for them, even if they weren't hers anymore."
This book is making me tearful, nostalgic, and jealous of folks with sisters (or siblings in general, even). But I love it. ❤

"Araminta was beautiful and sweet, with large, sad eyes and a serious mouth; a beauty of the old kind, the sort Jo remembered seeing on magazine covers, a beauty their mother must have seen, to give her a name so out of fashion, fit only for a princess in a tower. Of course, princesses in towers got rescued. You never heard of a dragon succeeding before St. George. You never heard of the prince coming through the briars to find a pile of bones."

"She caught him looking at her a lot that night, in a way she wasn't used to seeing. A lot of gents looked at you a certain way when they were guessing their chances for a kiss (zero), but this wasn't it. He watched her like he had come home after a long absence and had missed her most of all."
I was so stressed about the fate of my OTP that I had to skip forward and read the last few pages to make sure things end up alright. ????

I picked these up from the library today, so I'm ready to dive in in preparation for February's #litsyatxreaderssociety meeting. 📚✨

I REALLY jived with this book and it's quite a quick read. I love reading books set in the Prohibition era. It's just utterly fascinating to see the period of rebellion & transition. I was concerned that a cast of 12 would just be too much for me to keep straight but other than Josephine and Louise, they mostly are just mentioned or are the driving force behind a decision. When they are brought up, it's emphasized which of the siblings they are

Random book that I found on display at the library and I'm always down to try a book set in Prohibition.

I really enjoyed this one although I was afraid that it was going to be overwhelming on audio with all of the different characters. The narrator did a fantastic job keeping everyone separate. This is a fairytale retelling of “The 12 Dancing Princesses” but set in the 1920‘s. I‘ve never read the original fairytale but I‘m fascinated by anything 1920‘s/jazz age so I gave this a shot and was pleasantly surprised. Now to find the original fairytale.

Finished my audiobook piddling around the house . . . Will I make it to 24 hours?? 🤔🤔

#24b4Monday #readathon

Best late birthday present: books I‘ve been wanting to read for AAAAAGES! 💝

Thanks @DebbieGrillo for the tag, and @Cinfhen for the game! These are my #Top6Reads of the first half of 2019. Anyone who hasn't shared, consider yourself tagged if you'd like!

“The girls were wild for dancing, and nothing else. No hearts beat underneath those thin, bright dresses. They laughed like glass.”

I was completely surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. From start to finish, I fell in love with the 12 Hamilton sisters. With a monstrous father & a pure love for dancing, these girls fight for their future and find their true selves.❣️

I finished my 6th audiobook for #BookFitnessChallenge - which I reduced my goal to! 10 audiobooks was just too high!!

This book was really good and I really enjoyed it on Audio. I was never bored and tried to find activities to do so I could listen! It‘s about 12 sisters in the 1920s who just want to go dancing and have a strict father (some who have never met their dad). It‘s apparently based on a fairytale.

I was too frustrated to keep trying to make this look nicer. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Did a lot of walking. Had to go on a walk with each dog because I couldn‘t walk them at the same time.

Tried running a little longer because my end goal is to run 2 miles without stopping.

Finished 1 audiobook. I started the tagged audiobook and it is so good!! I‘m only 2 hours in and hooked!

Week 5, I won‘t be running, I‘ll be biking and walking!

#bookfitnesschallenge

1. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club has really stuck with me.
2. I'm having trouble caring about my latest book club pick, The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe. I think it's just not for me.
3. The new Erin Morgenstern!
4. My usual goals: read at least 50 books, and read from a diverse selection of authors. I've already read 39 books, and am doing pretty well diversifying my picks!

#thursdaysurvey @laurenslibrary

Sorry but Squidapus and I can't gush about this book enough. I was actually tearing up towards the end. My heart felt for Jo the eldest so badly and the sacrifices she had to make and things she had to do to make sure her sisters were safe and protected from their father and why she took them dancing. I won't spoil things but I loved the fairy tale ending, which could mean Disney or Grimm's. Squidapus says you'll have to read it to see which!

Wow. This book was incredible. Squidapus was drawn into it almost immediately by the direct and evocative language, the writing that allowed 12 sisters to all be recognizable individuals with so few words. A 1920s speakeasy reimagining of Twelve Dancing Princesses, with significantly less medieval misogyny (misogieval?). This book made even Squidapus' cold heart ache for these trapped and unwanted sisters. He cannot recommend this enough.

Squidapus is gonna take a little break from all the crazy fantasy and sci fi works he's been consuming lately and try out this retelling of an olde fairy tale about twelve sisters growing up in the roaring 20s. Who knows, maybe there's some magic lurking in it's pages?

A wonderful tale of courage, resilience, love. All of the sisters were a whole character with layers and colours. The atmosphere of the 20s New York and use of the fairytale take you in and don't let go until the last paragrah. Loved it.
#booked2019 @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

Part 2 of the hockey double feature. Hawks in Montreal. So far the book is good. Also new spring inspired nails. #readingandwatchinghockey

Saturday 🏒 game. Go Penguins.
New book
#readingandwatchinghockey

Jazz Age, NY, retelling of a fairytale. This is my next #Booked2019. 12 #tinydancer
#marchintothe70s
@Cinfhen
@Lizpixie

1. Gin is a food group, right?
2. I'm trying to buy less, so I haven't bought one yet. But I've been using OverDrive more so I'll tag the first one I borrowed in 2019!
3. 15, I think. Not bad for a non-American!
4. I collect old Nancy Drews, and vintage Shakespeare editions.
5. Yes! Not sure where yet, but my parents are taking the whole family on a trip at the end of the year!
@MinDea #HumpDayPost

My second read for #NewYearWhoDis and I LOVED it. A beautiful, engaging story of twelve sisters longing for freedom who find release in the dance halls of prohibition era New York. There is a magical quality to the writing that pays homage to the fairy tale inspiration. But there is no magic here, just a fascinating group of women and girls who use their passions and wits to survive and find joy in a seemingly hopeless situation.

I can‘t sleep so figure I might as well jump into the #24B4Monday #readathon

Finished this on Monday and forgot to post a review. This was definitely a #blameitonlitsy pick although I don‘t remember who recommended it first. I absolutely loved it! I loved getting to know the Hamilton sisters and I loved the way they followed their passions both by sneaking out to go dancing and in the ways they found their feet after leaving their father‘s house. This is now one of my favorite books!
💛💛💛💛💛

Final time for #24B4Monday was 15 hrs + 15 minutes. Not too bad with a nasty head cold- I guarantee I slept more than 24 hours before Monday so there is that 🤣😴
I did read two complete books and got about two-thirds of the way through the third (tagged book) so I‘ll probably finish that one today.
Thanks for a fun readathon!! @TheReadingMermaid ❤️📚✨

These boots are made for walking — or they will be when I break them in. Today — OUCH! #audiowalk #weekendlibrarian

Starting this today. Shown with the chosen bookmark of three muses.

A story about 12 sisters (yes, I typed that right, 12🤤) who have a terrible home life. Disregarded by their tyrant of a father for not being sons, they are basically hidden away in the upstairs of their mansion, starved for outside experiences and love/affection.
They begin sneaking away at night to dance in underground style clubs. Music and dancing is their escape.
Great storyline! (Hard for me to keep all the 12 sisters straight)

This was a fun and light story. What's not to love about a flapper retelling of the twelve dancing princesses. I have only one sister and she was too much growing up. I don't think I could have handled eleven. The narrator did a fabulous job of keeping the characters separate and distinct. #2017christyread #audio

I'm excited I finally found my very own copy of this amazing book! It's a nonmagical retelling of "The 12 Dancing Princesses" set in 1920s New York, and it blew my mind a couple years back.

Also pictured: my ridiculous new slippers in anticipation of the coming cold.

#SizzlinSummerBooks

Although l love #Retelling these are the only two l own. Recently bought and haven't read yet

It's only day 4 of July and I'm already behind on the photo challenge. I'm using this foe both #starsandstripes and #redswhitesandblues #jubilantjuly

Mark the date and time: this is the book I'm going to obnoxiously send to everyone I know and like because it's just. That. Amazing. The last book like this for me was Station Eleven.

Seriously you guys, this book is killing me with feelings.

The best beverage to sip while reading this gorgeous and fizzy (yet weep-inducing due to its glorious perfection), retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses (set in New York during the roaring 20s), is of course, champagne. #sorryaboutalltheparentheticals

Girls at the Kingfisher Club is a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses, which was one of my favorite fairytales as a child. Valentine does a wonderful job subverting the fairytale narrative and offering instead a novel about women claiming independence for themselves in 12 different ways.

(and Genevieve Valentine is the name her parents gave her. So cool, right?)
#marchintoreading #setinthe20s

Pic: Mr. C0zy and I dressed for his MBA dance.

#marchintoreading #setinthe1920s A Jazz Age retelling of one of my favourite fairytales, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Twelve sisters sneak out from under their father's control to dance the night away at speakeasies.