Welcome to Litsy!

#7of10 #TenBeforetheEnd

#52Bookclub #AcademicThriller

I think this was the right book for the right time. A fast romp of a read that I had put off due to all the hype. Next up Rock Paper Scissors which will likely be my last of this list and the final prompt for 52 Bookclub.

@ChaoticMissAdventures

Self-proclaimed troublemaker Peter Staley was diagnosed as HIV+ in 1985. Shortly thereafter, he poured himself into the AIDS activism movement to fight an unresponsive government and greedy pharmaceutical companies. I appreciate here that he tells not just that story but the after, when he found himself miraculously alive, and what came next for him. Thanks for the rec, @TheBookHippie !

My second year in a row finishing the #52bookclub reading challenge

Who‘s gonna participate?
Can‘t wait for Pop Sugar to share the list! This is my favorite time of the year! 😃🙌🥳💃💃
#52bookclub #52bookclub2025 #readingchallenge #bluekish

I enjoyed this story highlighting traditions of Hanukkah, Ramadan and Christmas all set in a small snowed in Canadian town. If this was a real place I would want to visit.

5 out of 10 for #TenBeforetheEnd @ChaoticMissAdventures

49 out of 52 for #52Bookclub #HolidayIDontCelebrate

I was finally able to fill one of the more difficult #52bookclub categories, “Author debut in second half of 2024.“ I've read a number of novels by Andrew Pyper, but this is his debut under the pseudonym Mason Coile.

This short novel is a spooky haunted house story featuring AI “monsters“. I didn't enjoy it as much as the other Pyper works I've read, but as it was set on Hallowe'en day, it was a good one to read this week.

An enjoyable historical novel set in 1920's London. It started slow but I liked how the various plotlines eventually wove together, and I also found the morally ambiguous characters (which, frankly, were almost all of them) interesting.

My first book finished for #HauntedShelf! #Flerken @PuddleJumper
#52bookclub (A revenge story)
#AfterDarkBingo #BodyCountBingo #PumpkabooHunt #GottaCatchEmAllSpooky

Charles de Lint is the author I most associate with “urban fantasy“, though the term has evolved since he published his first books. This collection of stories from his Newford series delves into the lives of city dwellers, including the artists, the homeless, and the marginalized. I love de Lint's beautiful writing and the mix of fantasy, folklore and horror.

This book was super tricky for me. I actually almost gave it up about a third of the way through, because I was just kind of bored, but I persisted, and it was...fine. The premise seemed interesting, but what really bugged me was bad editing! Plenty of unnecessary repetition -- like the time Elsy leaves a ten dollar bill on the table (to pay for lunch) twice in the span of about three paragraphs.

Sigh.

This novella is the second in Malka Older's series, which is a mix of cozy mystery, romance and science fiction. I liked this one much better than the first, as it provided more details about the interesting setting (Jupiter and its environs) and the mystery was better developed.

#gottacatchemall (prompt 74. Corvisquire: Second book in a series) @PuddleJumper
#52bookclub (prompt 52. Published in 2024)