Welcome to Litsy!

My husband and I have decamped from the city for the foreseeable future as we‘re both working remotely from now on. I‘m a mood reader and I hate not having access to all my books, so it was really hard for me to decide what to bring. I tried to keep it lighter with fantasy and escapism. Given how insanely stressful dealing with this crisis at work from an HR perspective has been, I haven‘t been able to read much anyway. Hang in there, all 😞

This was a really good book. But it‘s a new type of book for me since it has a lot to do with the Wild West and the making of America. It‘s a beautiful family story but it goes through the war between the Indians and the Americans . It‘s a touching book. I recommend it because it‘s a different type of book but it‘s a bit gorey and I didn‘t like some scenes. But otherwise a good book #4 read a book about a historical moment( fiction or non-fiction)

Some books featuring #theend
Have read all of these 😁
#maymoviemagic

#attheendoftheday #musicalnewyear
Not my favourite Barry, though, as always, beautifully written.

Not so sure about the 'natural' dialog but I do want to find out how it ends.

I've been meaning to read a Barry novel for a very long time and then this popped up on my #NewYearWhoDis list and it was a perfect opportunity. Unfortunately I really did not like Barry's writing style, aka lots of rambling. The characters were one-dimensional, even the love of the MC's life, which is crazy. And other than one war scene after another, where was the plot? To be fair, books focused on the actual fighting of wars aren't my thing.

Barry gives a very believable voice to this unique individual during the American civil war. So much happens in this biographic fiction and yet there is never a page-turning urgency because of the measured style of the narrator (sim. Remains of the Day). It sheds light on a society experiencing growing pains - strangely tolerant, and yet violent, in which families can be chosen and bonds of affection drive desperate and enpassioned behaviour.

"Souls ain't like a great river and then when death comes the souls pouring over the waterfall and into the bottom land below. Souls ain't like that but this war is asking for them to be. Do we got so many souls to be given?"

Today I found an award-winning book I've never heard of at a friend's house... Barely 300 pages so a short but hopefully sweet read.

Currently, and inexplicably obsessed with covers like these at the moment. All are TBR on my shelf.

"Things go on like that. Lot of life is just like that. I look back over fifty years of life and I wonder where the years went. I guess they went like that, without me noticing much. A man's memory might have only a hundred clear days in it and he has lived thousands. Can't do much about that. We have our store of days and we spend them like forgetful drunkards." p.88

"Time was not something then we thought of as an item that possessed an ending, but something that would go on forever, all rested and stopped in that moment. Hard to say what I mean by that. You look back at the endless years when you never had that thought. I am doing that now as I write these words in Tennessee. I am thinking of the days without end of my life." p. 46

"But I had no idea what I looked like. Children may feel epic and large to theyselves and yet only be scraps to view." p.5 Thomas McNulty, our narrator, has a very distinctive voice. It's easy to hear an old fashioned American drawl as you read.

I feel like this book just wasn‘t working. The plot, grammar, etc was just off putting

The period writing was engaging and the characters were developed, but it lacked narrative drive. It felt like I was just drifting from scenario to scenario. I didn‘t like the end, just too tidy for me and seemed abrupt. Maybe it was left open for a second? But that cover! I have a thing for the American West.

This book is fantastic. It‘s told very simply, from the perspective of our narrator Thomas, and it‘s filled with atrocities that he was a part of during the American Indian Wars and the Civil War. Parts are painful to read, but at the same time the writing is gorgeous and the story of Thomas and John‘s love for each other and their adopted daughter got me right in the feels.

Narration on this audio version was so good!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Early morning #audiowalk with this lovely book. I was hoping to avoid the rain expected at lunchtime, but still got rained on a little bit, and it was glorious. 😃

I started this audiobook this morning... and I‘m almost halfway through it.

So, so good! 😍

Loved this wrenching novel. Two men, Thomas and John, are trying to build a life. They fight grueling and dehumanizing battles that horrify us, and that they don't attempt to comprehend. They just want to get home, to lead everyday, boring lives, together.
Totally different to anything I've read recently, and completely worth the gut wrenching/crying parts!

This is Book 15 of my #52Booksin2018

You know when you appreciate the writing and descriptions so much, but you didn‘t really enjoy the story.....well that. Some of the writing was beautiful, but the whole book was told in a monologue and this put me off by half way through. Some bits of the story seemed a bit implausible for the time too.
Third Barry and least favourite so far.

There is some lovely writing in this book 💕

#lunchtimeread
Today‘s pick off the pile by daughter. I‘m looking forward to this one 😁

Reading another of last year‘s #Manbooker long list books. This one seems to be a love it or hate it book. So far I am in the first group.

This book was a wonderful surprise, beautifully told and, in my opinion, completely original. It's not every day that writers combine violence and tenderness so effectively. The best of the story is in the telling of it (if you insist on extensive character development, this might not be the book for you), so I recommend listening to the audiobook read by the Irish-accented Aidan Kelly. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Oh, to write like Barry.

#Marchmadnesschallenge
Entering the home stretch so I‘m going to group some together so we can feature them all without flooding feed all day.

These three were all Man Booker Nominees last year. Exit West was shortlisted the other two were longlisted. I Loved Home Fire and Exit West. Days Without End was brilliantly written.

Which ones should participants read and why? Make your case for any or all of these books!

This should be a fabulous book. A gay (trans?) love story set amidst violent conflict in the mid-1800s. But it just felt told at a remove and I couldn‘t bring myself to care about the characters, even with the fabulous Irish-accented reader.

Beautiful, poetic novel about 2 men who join the American army in 1851 & fight the Indians & in the civil war. Many bleak battle scenes I found strangely slow and hard to read. But the original voice, uneducated but memorable narrator & sense of compassion make it a strong book. The unorthodox family seemed too ideal and the love story lacked dramatic tension but was told with powerful nuance & restraint. A slow burn for me. Wanted to like it more

It was a mighty queer thing to see a piano in the half-true desert.
Hey, John Cole, what in the name of tarnation that piano doing there in the dust?
Must be looking for a saloon, he says.

My library haul today highlights some of my goals for 2018. One is to utilize the library more. I‘ve been doing better lately but I realize there‘s always room for improvement. 😄 So today I checked out two books I would have typically purchased: Saint Maizie and The War Bride‘s Scrapbook. My other goal is to pick up more books on a whim. I never do this. I don‘t typically grab a book unless I‘m already familiar with it. The Barry is new to me.

3/5🦑. Meh
I started this book a few weeks ago and decided to finish. The scenes will of violence written by Barry were good. I just didn‘t buy the storyline and I needed the characters to be more viscous.

This is a Civil War novel with one prevailing message: War is Hell. I like to describe it as “LA CAGE AUX FOLLES meets The Red Badge of Courage”. You‘ll have to read it to understand. I‘m being light-hearted but this book has some very gruesome scenes in it. Still, the writing was so darn good I couldn‘t put it down.

😢

#quotsydec17 #ride

I‘m reading the Kindle book and listening to it on Audible at the same time. I‘m a total sucker for narrators with an Irish accent - really enhancing my experience of this book.

Enjoyed this book, quite a factual style book, very interesting setting.

Book with beautiful writing, interesting story, but the love part of the story is very unconvincing ...

#quotsynov17 #lost

I really wish I had bailed on this one early on. I kept wait for it to get better and it failed spectacularly. The entire romance between Thomas/Thomasina and John Cole was completely unbelievable in 1850s America.

5 ⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤

My first Sebastian Barry novel and definitely not my last, this book blew me away with its beautiful language accompanied on audio by Aiden Kelly as Irishman Thomas McNulty. It's gritty and gruesome and gorgeous all at the same time, but would have been hard to bear if not for gentle and touching penmanship of Barry.

#ReadingOnRoam

@deweysreadathon starting in just under 2 hours. I have Days without End lined up on audiobook to start with.
Happy #readathon to all and anyone joining from #ATB

#deweysreadathon
#deweys24hrreadathon
#deweys24hourreadathon
#30daysofreadathon
#ReadingOnRoam

My library is awesome! They were culling their collection of well loved copies of books and some duplicate mass market paperbacks. As a thank you for being a volunteer, I got to take home some.

Why haven't I read Sebastian Barry before? A very detailed historical fiction with amazing wonderful prose, the book is told through the perspective of an orphaned Irish immigrant and his life through the mid 1800's. From his start as a female impersonator to enlisting as a soldier for the American army, the protagonist finds hardships and love in this compelling novel. The author truly deserved the two Manbooker awards.

“Time was not something we thought of as an item that possessed an ending, but something that would go on forever, all rested and stopped in that moment.”

So far I am finding this to be beautifully and brutally written. It really does have an ethereal, endless feel to the writing. I‘m struggling some with the numerous depictions of cruelty towards the Indian tribal members, but I also appreciate the unflinching honesty of it.