Welcome to Litsy!

Need a short book to round off the year?
I‘ve got some recs for you in the latest edition of my newsletter.

https://ifyoulovethatreadthis.substack.com/p/if-you-love-short-books-read-these

So glad I finally got to this book on my shelf. I love the way Offill uses short paragraphs and sparse writing to explore such deeply human experiences - relationships, parenting, pain and loss, love. I think I liked this one even better than Weather, and now may have to pick up Last Things because I love her writing.

I read this in an hour. Marriage is hard and often lonely. We‘ve been through the ringer lately and this really captured how that can feel. Including the moments of levity that still break through. It may not be for everyone, but I found this to be a truly stunning book.

I liked it. Quick read but sharp and well observed. Some bits date the novel somewhat, but overall the story is good

What I found inside of my sssss box @SpeculativeSpringSwap box 🤗📚❤️

@kdgordon88
@Avanders

A strange little book about a marriage and motherhood and the loss of self. Interesting and odd.

American fortune cookies.

I didn‘t hate this but i‘ve taken Offill‘s other works off my tbr. I think she‘s just not for me. This is very abstract and somewhat enjoyable but the abstraction felt almost haphazard.

I was sure I wouldn't like it, I didn't think the structure was something I could get on board with, but I quickly realized I was wrong. Quick bursts of thoughts, sometimes random to each other but never random to the overall story. Loved it!

Such a simple sentence but it stuck with me because it resonated. Made me smile.

Finished this morning just in time to return to the library before the due date. Love that I‘m “rediscovering” my love of libraries.

#circles #curiouscovers @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

A fresh take on how to do a book, the writing is broken up into stanzas, making it a extended poem in feel. The skill needed to do so is only out done by the wonderful characters involved in this story about a marriage on the rocks, and the attempt s to fix it.

Yup, this one is just as good as I remembered.

I wouldn‘t have read this book on my own, but it was the first pick from Susan Orlean through the new Literati Book Club for adults. It was a fast read and I really enjoyed it! 🌟🌟🌟🌟!

Oddly structured, which I can imagine being divisive, but I am so here for this. It paints a picture of a marriage with lots of detailed, miniature portraits of ‘everyday‘ issues and what they mean. The prose was effortless and I read it in almost one sitting

I really enjoyed some of the authors insights into marriage, relationships and love. But the reason I read this book is because it said multiple times it was funny! I didn‘t find it funny, I just found it sad.
It is so hard to find a book that actually makes you laugh!

Oh my god! The baby‘s asleep and it‘s still warm/light enough to read outside! Miracle of all miracles!

This book is beautifully strange. Told in snippets that can seem a bit random, but they come together to tell the story of a marriage that I‘m sure a lot can relate to. If you appreciate literary fiction and complex interpersonal relationships, this one‘s for you. 4⭐️

Now, I want my library to buy Weather, her latest.

Still processing this one!

Read by the author, this novella comes in at about 3 hours.
A story of a woman, a wife, a mother, her struggles, her thoughts, a marriage, a life. An honest look at the interior reaction to challenges of life. Feels like a friend sitting down to give you a glimpse of her story.
I would recommend it.

Next up for my #audiocommute

An unusual, short book about marriage and love and parenting and philosophy and life and space. Unexpected - and somehow strangely haunting and familiar.
Book 3 of the #readathon #deweyapril

Three questions from my daughter.
Why is there salt in the sea?
Will you die before me?
Do you know how many dogs George Washington had?

Don‘t know.
Yes. Please.
36.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much @BarbaraBB for passing on your copy of Dept. of Speculation! I'm looking forward to discovering Offill. I love the gorgeous bookmark and the card ❤️❤️ Thank you!! 😘

This was a re-read for me and I thought it was pretty much perfect the first time. I liked it even more this time. Can‘t wait to meet her in April!

Big oof. #marriage

This book is set up with short chapters and paragraphs that read like their own little book, interesting and I love the main characters inner talk. #terribleatbookreviews

1. Mostly physical books but some e-books (most of my romance reading is in e-book format)
2. My name is Carolyn, I am a bookshopaholic
3. Occasionally
4. Audible
5. Tagged book was the last one I picked up in the bookshop yesterday

#thursdaysurvey

Took my breath away. This style of writing won't be for everyone one but i adored it. I felt like i was reading someone's journal. You follow unnamed characters through the ups and dkwns of their relationship.

Great short novel of a marriage, told with unflinching honesty. It describes beautifully being single, to marriage, to disenchantment. The narrator is unsympathetic & the story depressing at times but it‘s told with great skill, unswerving truth & dark humour. Not a word is wasted, every aspect rings painfully true & it‘s layered with repeating themes & motifs. Much is left unsaid, but you can imagine her eye roll t times. Feels fresh & original.

A beautifully written, often very humorous, stream of consciousness about a marriage. I loved this.

"The reason to have a home is to keep certain people in and everyone else out."

While sparse, this book is at times funny, wise, heart-breaking, sharp, and poignant... which is no mean feat!

It has a strange way of tapping into some wonderfully observed truths about life, and at the same time I feel as though we're only privy to brief glimpses of the characters.

It's a definite pick, and I'd give it a solid 4 stars!

I'm a sucker for a Donald Barthelme reference! It reminds me that I should delve back into Sixty Stories soon- it's one of my favourite collections and I haven't revisited it for a long time.

As for the tagged book: I love Jenny Offill's distinct style. Insights are gleaned from succinct vignettes that are brief little windows into these characters' lives at various different stages.

Third page in and I can't stop giggling... I think I'm really going to enjoy this one! 😂👌

I‘m so divided over this book. It‘s a beautifully written story of a relationship, but...

Initially it reminded me of that TV licensing advert that rattles thro from first date to dividing up the CD collection, in the course of one meal.

When I settled into the pace and style of it, it‘s almost like the meditation exercise where you watch your thoughts floating through your brain, and send them off again. An entire novel of puffs of thought. 👇

Bingo

11 pages in and I‘m sold.

I‘m so sorry, Metaphor, I forgot how much you could make me feel. How in a book told through the woman in a marriage how you could be used through proverbs and little stories for readers to glean all the feelings one might feel in the arc of a relationship. From meeting, to falling in love, marriage, becoming parents, infidelity, and survival. The lust, the infatuation, the fear, the loneliness, the sheer out of your fcking mindedness. A pick!!!

Last month, Metaphor, I had this epiphany where I realized I loved authors who were poets because what they couldn‘t explicitly say outright they conveyed through you. At first, I thought this was lovely but last month I read Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Baldwin, and Joan Morgan, masters of using exact language to tell intricate hows and whys. Now, I resent you a little and it seems, with the tagged book, to have grown into full blown hatred. 👇🏼

When I follow up happy hour with the book store I try to stick to the remnants section! I have officially run out of space on my bookshelf, so I need to read some things quick and pass them on so I have room for these and my #BOTM books that should be coming soon!

1. Love the Merriam word of the day!
2. Added the tagged book to my wishlist
3. 20, adding Colorado this year!!
4. No
5. Someday...
#HumpDayPost #tbr

A darkly comic drama of a marriage and a life and of dreams unfulfilled. It‘s a slim book but one that will pickle in my brain, I think. Offill‘s language is sparse but very specific, charming at turns but also frustrating for its singular point of view. More of an academic read than one for fun but that‘s not a bad thing.