Welcome to Litsy!

4.5⭐️ I really liked the book. This was chosen for my Monday library #bookclub meeting for this month. This was one of those books that I had borrowed a number of times but never got around to reading. I was really surprised as to how much enjoyed it. #2025 #historicalfiction #fiction #lgbt #literaryfiction

#weeklyreport #bookreport

Recently Finished: Finally finished The Lake House on Wednesday

Currently Reading: Just finished Learned by Heart this evening and will be working on The Tattooist of Auschwitz tomorrow (Monday).

Upcoming Reads: Will be starting The Sentence by Louise Erdrich tomorrow (Monday) and Maria this week; might start the other two.

An unexpected highlight of my #Interrail trip was Innsbruck in #Austria, a small city surrounded by beautiful mountains. The view of the city and the surrounding nature was spectacular.
My trip back home was awful - two delayed trains and an accident right before Hamburg. It took me 2,5 hours longer than expected.

Learned by Heart: 3 stars

I‘m generally pretty hit-or-miss with Emma Donoghue‘s novels but I‘m enjoying this one!

(I‘ve liked Slammerkin, The Wonder, and Room but bailed on a few others).

@Soubhiville you‘re just the sweetest ♥️ Thanks for sending this to me and of course I love the dachshund card ♥️♥️♥️ #litsylove #soubhirocks

Eliza Raine, the orphaned daughter of a white East India Company surgeon and his Indian common law wife, carefully follows the rules at her boarding school until Anne Lister arrives and changes her life forever. Alternating between her 14 year old POV and letters from the adult Eliza, this is a heartbreaking and poignant depiction of first love in a world of restrictions. Definitely read the afterword for the true story behind the novel.

This was gorgeously written but very sad, made all the more so when you realize Eliza Raine's story is true. Set in the early 1800s, it follows Eliza, an Anglo-Indian orphan, and the now-famous queer icon Anne Lister, as they meet at boarding school when they are 14 and fall in love. The book is meticulously researched, with fascinating and excruciating details about being a young woman of colour in England at the time. Heavy, but beautiful.

"My dear Lister,

Last night I went to the Manor again."

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

#hearts
#LuckyinLove

💛💛💛

Yet another quiet, tender novel by Donoghue that I loved & found very affecting. It tells the story of Anne Lister ("the first modern lesbian", as she has been called) & her friend & lover Eliza Raine as they room together in a girls' school in their teens. The detailed author's note at the end made me feel especially sad for Eliza, who was Anglo-Indian & wholly in love with Lister. Donoghue depicted Eliza's inner life with sensitivity & care.

I can see why this would be a hit or miss book, but I enjoyed it. A fictional account of Anne Lister's time in boarding school and the girl she rooms with who falls for her. It is a quiet novel but well written and easy to follow.

My dear Lister,
Last night I went to the Manor again.

#FirstLineFriday @ShyBookOwl
I am enjoying this slow contemplative story about Anne Lister (known know from the Gentleman Jack series) and their time as a young student in boarding school.

The beginning of this sapphic historical coming of age is very good, and I loved this author‘s writing as I usually do. The end left something to be desired for me though, and I was left unsatisfied. I‘ll keep reading Donoghue‘s books though, because sometimes she hits every note right for me.

I have the hardcover from Aardvark but it‘s currently in a box, so I did the audio. Good narrator.

I‘ve read many books by Emma Donoghue and for some reason this just didn‘t land with me. While I enjoyed the descriptions of life within an early 19th century girls boarding school (rules rules rules!) I just found I didn‘t fully engage with the characters. That said, Donoghue is a master of writing a story in which the characters are constrained to a very small physical location.

I love this author and this might not be her best book but her writing is magic even if the topic she chose for this is a bit bland compared to some of her others. Still giving it a pick.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#Aardvark @AardvarkBookClub September pick.

I love Emma Donoghue‘s prose, and picked this up because it is based on the life of Anne Lister. While the writing is lovely, and the characters well-drawn, I was a bit disappointed. Donoghue focuses her novel almost entirely on the teenage years of the characters. While this will appeal to many, the novel reads as a YA romance. I rarely enjoy YA books, and romance is not one of my favorite genres. It‘s a well-written book, just not for me.

Well written gay coming of age historical fiction novel. I am just not the right audience for this book. Like The Pull of the Stars, this reads (to me) like a YA novel. 3 🌟

This story is based on the lives of the real Anne Lister and Eliza Raine and tells of their forbidden love affair as teens in a boarding school. I really enjoyed how Donoghue depicted the characters and captured the setting and morals of the time. This is really Eliza's story and I do wish slightly more had been revealed about her after Anne left the school, but perhaps not much more is known. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC. 3.75/5

Wow, I am so disappointed in this book. Given her other novels I expected far more substance. Not that there isn‘t some beautiful prose, but it seems like a short story spun out to novel length. I kept listening for some amazing revelation.

Still looking forward though to what she publishes next.

I am at the 50% mark and so far the story doesn‘t seem to be going anywhere. So weird because I‘ve really enjoyed Donoghue‘s previous novels. 🤔

After reading the author‘s note, I realized this story and subject is close to Emma‘s heart and very much captivated her. I wish it had captivated me as much too. Normally I appreciate deeply researched HF, but this felt like she was trying to stay so true to the real story of Lister and Raine, two teens involved in a same-sex romance in 1805 England, that I didn‘t feel as emotionally connected to them as she wanted me to. #aardvark

I am an unabashed Emma Donoghue fangirl and when I heard that she was returning to her sapphic roots, I was even more excited for this. Donoghue‘s prodigious research coupled with her beautiful, creative mind is such a marvelous combination. Like others, I wish there had been more about how we got from there to here, but for me it was because I wanted another 200 pages of this heart-wrenching love story.

At an all girls catholic school at the beginning of 1800s. The girls have found their place, when new pupil Anne Lister arrives shaking things up and changing the dynamics between the girls in her class.

Another catch up September review
#SummerEndReadathon @TheSpineView
#RushAThon @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

Based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply, and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th century York, Learned by Heart is a heartbreakingly gorgeous novel from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder.

#aardvarkbookclub #aardvarkbookbox #learnedbyheart #emmadonoghue #historicalfiction

#SummerEndReadathon

Anne Lister fascinates me as do most women who live outside of societal norms back in the day. Donoghue has done her research and given us a tale of her first love during her year boarding at Manor School. 4 🌟

When Clarissa, your current buddy read, is mentioned in the book you just started.

My Dear Lister,

Last night I went to the Manor again.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

This bittersweet, coming of age sapphic romance between Eliza Raine and a young Anne Lister is so well done. The tone of the book follows the story arc, buoyantly dancing along at the start and getting heavier as the book moves along. I really enjoyed it, which doesn‘t surprise me—Donoghue is so good.

I'm very pleased that I enjoyed this book more than the author's last book, Haven. However, this is still a low pick.

Donoghue presents two timelines here, one at school and one ten years later. The story unfolds beautifully at the boarding school, but like others, I wanted more information about the missing years.

Heartbreaking story that was clearly well researched, but I'm greedy and wanted more details after boarding school. 😉

Updating my September #Aardvark guesses based on today's new clues! 📚

When I review a book, I use LOTS of post-it notes. Loved this novel. Review in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/08/17/emma-donoghue-historical-novel/

I liked this, but didn‘t love it. It‘s based on the true story of Anne Lister (Gentleman Jack) meeting Eliza Raine at a girls‘ boarding school in the early 1800s.

There are two timelines as Eliza looks back to 10 years ago when they met at school and fell in love, and whilst I liked the school part I felt there was too much unexplained in the intervening years up to the situation that Eliza found herself in.

#netgalley Pub 24th Aug in the UK