Welcome to Litsy!

People of the 1800s must have been GAGGED when this book came out. Wells takes aim at several societal institutions, which may be why it‘s hard to nail down a central theme. Also, it‘s hard to escape the times in which this book was written. That said, I think it‘s a scathing indictment of “civilized” people. For all your pretenses at being better than anyone else, your behavior is no better than an animal‘s. 245/1,001 #1001Books

What if you killed someone? What if no one knew the crime had been committed yet? With an axe hanging like a pendulum over his head (will it land, will it miss?), our narrator returns home after killing a one-night stand. How does one deal with this internal knowledge? What does it reveal about oneself? 244/1,001 #1001Books

Not a bad #BookSpinBingo month. I finished the tagged for #FoodandLit, #Rwanda. The Book Censor's Library was my #DoubleSpin and also fits #OffMyShelf - #InvolvesBooks; The Colour and Dance on the Volcano were for #192025; Indigenous Pacific Islander anthology worked for #FictionalTraveler and was my #BookSpin. There are a couple of #1001Books, and several for a global reading project.

Most importantly, I have two bingos!

I had a hard time with this book. It did not hold my attention well through long sections, then something rather bizarre or violent would happen and I‘d get caught up in the story again for a while. It also took a long time to get the characters straight.

When I finished, I did listen to a podcast episode that discussed a few aspects and gave me a bit more to think about. (Link in comments)

#audiobook #LMMAdjacent #1001books

I‘m a bit late starting, but I got caught up listening to the first few chapters of The Mill on the Floss while taking a walk with Luthien today. I‘m not sure what I think of these two siblings yet, but I‘m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

#HashtagBrigade #audiobook #1001books

Parts of this book were bleak and I was almost constantly listening with a slight feeling of dread about what might be about to happen, but I also enjoyed it. It actually ended on a more hopeful note than I expected through most of the story. I felt it described the setting of 1860s New Zealand and the gold rush very well.

#ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #NewZealand #audiobook #1001books #TBRTakedown

A fair amount of reading was done in March. While many books are in the 3-star range, I did really enjoy The Odyssey (read over two months). I finished ny #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin, read a couple of books for #192025, read two books set in big cities for #FictionalTraveler, a couple of #1001Books, and I even got a Bingo.

And I thought the book tagged in the comments was bleak. This has most of the same plot points – family tragedy, religion, poverty -- mixed with an older protagonist and therefore adds exploitative and unhealthy sexual behavior, all wrapped in a light stream-of-consciousness delivery. And yet, with all these elements that should keep me at a distance, should make it nearly unreadable, I never avoided picking it and cried many times while reading.

For the most part I really enjoyed this one. There were so many interesting characters, and I enjoyed seeing Nicholas grow. I also appreciated how the different storylines came together for both him and his uncle in the end.

#WhatTheDickens #1001books #audiobook

This book was a fascinating read. There were times I was a bit confused by the different timelines, but I was always curious to know how they would come together. It has some wonderful descriptions, and I felt so much for these characters. We also had a great book club discussion about it.

#LitsyBookClub #1001books