Welcome to Litsy!

From the delightfully absurd to the poetically observant in a single page. LOVE the writing.

"...and a bobcat's your emotionally distant uncle."

What a glorious update to an old turn of phrase! ?

Aaaannnd here we have a cornerstone of what is wrong with the modern education system. Teachers way more interested in obedience then being challenged, then dialogue/discussion/disagreement, then acknowledging when a child gets it right, beyond what the text provided in class might say. 🙎🏼‍♂️

Valente‘s books always have a deep undercurrent. This time, it‘s empathy & connection; the fluidity & complexity of being; and the cycle of creation & destruction. It might sound mean to say that my favorite part of this book is the acknowledgments…but if, like me, you‘ve read Osmo Unknown from cover to cover, then you understand. The book is lovely (if a bit jam-packed). The acknowledgements, though, are *gorgeous* — tender, inspiring, & timely.

Honestly, how powerful was James Joyce‘s writing that I can‘t read these two words together without thinking of his short story, “The Dead”, from Dubliners?

“The history of every person is the history of the love they‘ve known and the hate they‘ve grown.”

I waffled between a Pick and a So-So. It‘s crammed full of delightfulness, as Valente‘s books always are, but it felt a bit too… crammed full. (Autocorrect wanted me to write “delightful mess,” which is a good way to describe this book.) I enjoyed it but wanted more. I never could really feel the characters deeply, and it seemed like some threads got dropped. But it was a lot of fun! And heartwarming, and about stories!

“What is that smell?”
“I don‘t know. It‘s like…cinnamon and birch bark and lavender…and something else. Crusty bread, maybe. Nutshells. It‘s…really nice, though, isn‘t it?”
“Just about the best thing I‘ve ever smelled, actually.”

I‘m going to need a candle inspired by this passage, please. Stat.

“No one will ever ask you anything, ya dropped egg,” Bonk mumbled. He scrabbled in his pocket for a biscuit, found one, called it his precious baby darling, and nibbled at the edges.
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Bonk is a whole MOOD. 😅

The ferryman‘s name is Black Sausage.

I‘m excited to find my Finnish Duolingo lessons having a practical application! 😆 Especially since, as a vegan, “sausage” isn‘t a word I thought I would have much use for.

I was right to be excited about this.

Middle-grade Fantasy is absolutely Cat Valente‘s forte. I‘m so enchanted. ✨

No ide what I‘m getting into except that it‘s a Cat Valente book! 😁 …and apparently not a graphic novel. For some reason I thought it was, and that‘s why I got it in paper, not Kindle. Or maybe it‘s illustrated?

My husband wouldn‘t stop talking to me so I went with something that didn‘t require such careful attention. 😅