Welcome to Litsy!

28-9 Jan 25 (audiobook)
I loved this gentle story of belonging, homesickness and regret.
Like so many Irish, Eilis leaves her home and family to seek work elsewhere, in this case, Brooklyn. She suffers tremendous isolation and homesickness but eventually starts to find her feet in her new home, excelling at work and at night school and maybe falling in love. But tragedy sees her return home to Ireland and reconsider the life she could have there.

#25Alive #Dreams a photo of a postcard in a book about Coney Island. This is of the park called Dreamland . It was the last of the early parks built, opening in May of 1904. Completely destroyed by fire in May of 1911 .

Finished this book on Christmas Eve and it was a good end of year book. It is a gently told story of Irish immigrant Eilis Lacey who seems to passively greet most of the happenings in her life, both good and bad. While she can be frustrating at times, I think that‘s because Toibin draws her so realistically, flaws and all. His writing is utterly absorbing and made Eilis‘s experience very vivid. I think the sequel will find its way onto my TBR!

“Back when the world was ours, and nothing could stop us.”

“A vibrant ode to childhood and togetherness.“

A nostalgic celebration of summer in Brooklyn, where kids find joy in the streets and community.

Bit of a rainy day but the Brooklyn Book Festival is on!

Great as always, even in the rain. Came home with 5 new books for the TBR pile!

I don't know what I expected but I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued.

It‘s possible this is the book that proves I never quite learned to read straight nonfiction without a narrative thread running through it. I went into this very interested, and at times I found myself captivated by the piece of history being revealed, but then I‘d struggle to focus, or find myself wondering about the author, or about bias in the writing.

#SummerSouls #Rollercoaster I am fascinated w/all things NYC & Coney Island in particular. This book is a tale told in postcards from its grand times in the 1880s to WWI . There were 3 large amusement parks that eventually were lost to fire. Nicknamed Sodom by the Sea w/ rail connections hundreds of thousands would come per day.There is a record that 1 day in 1906 200k postcards were mailed from Coney. I treasure this book I‘ve had for decades .