Welcome to Litsy!

“ I always reel for a few days after I witness someone‘s personal truth. I walk around feeling like I‘m wearing their #essence like a tight sweater.”

#InQuotes
#Essence

A day late! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Other people you know seem to change quite easily. They have no problem at all with succeeding at their careers and buying apartments and moving to other cities and falling in love and getting married and hyphenating their names and adopting rescue cats and, finally, having children, and then documenting all of this meticulously on the internet. Really, it appears to be effortless on their part.

It was a two-box kinda month for me too @Reviewsbylola ! (How are you?) I decided to add in All Grown Up because it doesn‘t look like I‘ll get my original copy out of storage anytime soon. I think I‘m going to start The Push this afternoon to go with Black Buck. Definitely some good #botm options this month!

ICYMI: I read this book every year (4 times now) and each year I see something new reflected back. These are the quotes that resonated with me this winter.

In the past, my highlights were ones where she looked back at mistakes she‘d made or bemoaned why people are so obsessed with her being single. This winter, I relate to the times where the MC asks, what‘s next for me? How do I get unstuck? There are no answers, but the questions are enough.

This is one of my favorite books to reread in the winter. I read it when it first came out in February 2017 and have read it at least once a year since and each time I get something a little different from it. A bit like holding up a mirror once a year. After the rollercoaster of 2020, I‘m very curious to see what I think/feel.

Quick read, enjoyed it.

#Sweater
#WordsofOctober

#boundtogetherjune #sunglasses

On my tbr.

decent book. could've been longer/the themes could have been developed better, but i enjoyed reading

My second completed BOTM backlist book for January... I‘ve *already* read my March 2017 selection! 😂

Yes, this book is about a woman who is single and childless by choice as she turns 40. No, I can‘t really relate to those particular traits, but the book deals with a lot more: drug use, alcoholism, sexual abuse, rape, family relationships, childhood illness, sociopolitical issues, money, and death to name a few.

More in comments... ⬇️⬇️

#unpopularopinion I found the main character here immature, annoying, and selfish. She was the source of her own unhappiness and malaise in most cases and I was tired of the book long before I reached the end. Full review at https://booknaround.blogspot.com/2020/01/review-all-grown-up-by-jamie-attenberg....

Jack is as unimpressed with this book as I am. I am going to see Jami Attenberg with @Reviewsbylola next week so I‘m trying to read one of her books first. This one is so depressing that I have to bail. I‘m moving on to Saint Mazie. 🤞🏼 My daughter told me I wouldn‘t like this book and she knows me well!

“I always reel for a few days after I witness someone‘s personal truth. I walk around feeling like I‘m wearing their essence like a tight #sweater.”

I didn‘t care for this book, but I remembered writing this quote in my notebook 📒

#Fallisbooked

I feel like this was as if Miranda from SATC never met Steve and chose to remain single and childless. And that was great with her. We follow Andrea, 40, in NYC as she navigates all the judgement being thrown at her for choosing to be single and childless. This was a hard look at life in general and how we all get to a place we never thought we‘d be at. The good and the bad. I really enjoyed this book.

I alternately loved and was so annoyed by Andrea in this novel. I enjoyed how it was told in vignettes.

I can see that this is clever and well written but I actually hated the main character and her actions. So not for me. Glad I borrowed it from the library rather that buying it!

Novelist Jami Attenberg lives in #NewOrleans now, so I thought of her for today‘s #LetsTravelJuly prompt. Here are a few of her books and a pic of her with her dog, Sid, the best dog in American literature!

I follow Jami on Twitter, and she tweeted that All Grown Up was on sale on Amazon for $2.99. (Buy it! It‘s worth it!)

Anyway, I have a paper BOTM copy, but it‘s in storage. I looked for an e-copy at the library, and this is what came up in the search! 🤔🤔

I actually could‘ve used the other book a few jobs ago! 😂😂😂

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • I really enjoyed this book! As a single woman in my 30s, I definitely related to some of it, especially the parts about friendships. A quick and satisfying read.

#MusicalNewYear #WhenIGrowUp

I really enjoyed this snarky comedy about a 30-something, single, child free woman adulting her way.

I like this book more every time I read it. It‘s about how being grown up can be f***** up. Are you a grown up? What makes you one? Is the line age, maturity, accomplishments?

I guess I can relate to the MC because I am near forty, unmarried, and child-free by choice.

The book is non-linear, so if that‘s not your bag, then skip it. 4⭐️

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎁🎉🎅🏼 #merrychristmas

#MonthofRereads #BOTMchallenge flashback

I‘m pleased to report that this book was nothing like I expected it to be. (Yes, I judged it by its cover.) It‘s so much darker and sadder and heavier than it appears, dealing with topics like rape culture, drug addiction, sexual abuse and terminally ill children. Attenberg‘s writing is sharp, witty, honest and darkly funny. I loved being inside the main character‘s head as she navigates friendship, family, work, life and death.

One woman‘s observations on life, family, and relationships. Living in NYC, the narrator, while trying to assure us she is fine being single and forty, contradicts herself at every turn. At times I found her acerbic wit entertaining but at others, I found it downright depressing. Amusing quick read, but I don‘t feel like I ever engaged with the characters. However, it made the Tournament of Books Long List, so perhaps I‘m missing something. 🤷‍♀️

#SundayInTheSunroom

I‘m waffling back and forth between enjoying this book and finding it incredibly depressing. Anyone else react to this book in such a way?

I have no idea why but for some reason I thought this was a light-hearted comedy? But yeah, I was mistaken on that. I was pleasantly surprised - I liked how the timeline flipped around with little references to vignettes that came up later in the book.

1. Tagged!
2. Total silence for print, for whatever reason I‘m able to tune out background noise better when I‘m reading an ebook. 🤷🏼‍♀️
3. I had to look it up, tiger. 🐅
4. Nope.
#sundaysurvey

I almost lost interest halfway..

I was surprised at how much I loved this. Disturbed and a little annoyed at how often I related to Andrea. (Big, big differences but a lot of little things are the same.) A quick read, an emotional read, and a really apt look at families.

This book. I would like to give this book to every man who ever claimed to want to understand women and what we go through. There‘s a fundamental truth in these pages.

Escaping to the patio to read this beauty.

I‘m just getting back in to the readathon right now. I slept until 7:30, then went for a group hike and ran errands but I did listen to a book while in my car. I‘m starting up again at just over four hours read. #readathon #reversereadathon #deweysjuly

Finished Force of Nature and going to start book two of the readathon. Chosen because it‘s short and because I love Jami Attenberg. #reversereadathon #readathon #julydeweys

I have no idea how to put into words why I loved this book so much. Andrea is, for the most part, an unlikeable character. But she's been dealt a tough hand in life and something about these moments shook me.

On Sunday there's lasagna. ❤️

Jami has organized a writing challenge over on twitter: To write 1000 words per day for two weeks. It is mostly for accountability reasons - there aren‘t any prizes. It starts tomorrow. I have my new supplies and my Pinterest inspiration all ready to go!! #1000wordsofsummer

Day 2: All Grown Up #4newfavesin4days I want to tag @RebelReader if you haven‘t already been tagged

I dunno, this book has great characters and interesting developments and it's well written and I have no idea why it didn't really land for me.

I really loved this book. I could relate a lot to Andrea about 90% of the time even though 10% of it I thought she was an awful human being. I loved the depiction of a girl who doesn‘t want children, has no idea what she wants jn a partner, and the only passion she has for something, she essentially has a love hate relationship for.

While this isn't as funny as the marketing would want you to believe, it's very sharply observed. I read it one sitting and found some sections quite moving.

I found this perfectly okay. I did not find the MC the easiest to love, but I liked her voice, and I was fine with the all-over-the-place vignettes style. Having just recently read Jami Attenberg for the first time via Saint Mazie, I can say that (between that book and this one) I certainly enjoy how she writes, so I‘m glad for that discovery. :)

I‘m really enjoying these two so far. Two main characters trying to figure out life and find their own ways. I can always relate. Of course they are cracking me up with their mishaps and insights. Very much worth the lack of sleep.

WAAAHH. That was a fun group! To celebrate the paperback launch of Jami Attenberg‘s All Grown Up, Books Are Magic also brought in Rumaan Alam (Rich & Pretty; That Kind of Mother, forthcoming), Mary HK Choi (Oh, Never Mind; Emergency Contact, forthcoming), and Maeve Higgins (We Have a Good Time Don‘t We?; Maeve in America, forthcoming) to each contribute their 2 cents on how it feels to be an adult or if they‘re still growing up. 😂

Have not read this yet, but I think the MC would qualify as a #bachelorette . #FierceFeb

Nope. Not for me. I hate books told in vignettes, and I really hated the narrator‘s voice. couldn‘t get on board with spending two hundred pages in her head, knowing I would quickly forget about the book when I set it down. I could tell this one would have n staying power with me and life is too short to waste reading time.

It took me a little bit to get into the stream-of-consciousness style of the book, but I ended up really loving it.

Not the typical type of book I go for. But fun stories about a woman living her life and sometimes making a mess out of it. We can all relate to that, right

My book, my wine, and my pup. I'm ready for Saturday night!

The dog took my spot on the couch and now I have to go back to work but all I want to do is snuggle up and read!