Welcome to Litsy!

A magnificent book and a remarkable human. If only stories like this were mandatory reading.

Very interesting book. Found it in Waterstones and picked up on a whim. If you like interesting books about famous corpses this is the one for you!

#25Alive!

TBH, I changed my mind multiple times today about my pick for my favorite book of 2025. I read SO MANY great books this year (James, What Moves the Dead & Zorrie were just a few of the contenders) but as I said when I picked it as my December #12BooksOf2024 this book just came off my #BOTM TBR at the last minute & stole my heart. Touching, about loss, grief & regrets—it still made me smile & feel uplifted. It‘s my #FaveBk24 💙💐💙

I loved the Arc of the Scythe series, so of course I wanted to read this volume of short stories that Neal Shusterman and a few other authors wrote taking place in the Scythe world.

I was surprised that the other authors just co-wrote with Neal, I was hoping for some completely different voices. They all have the feel of the trilogy. But they were mostly enjoyable. The only one I didn‘t like was Perchance to Glean, about dreams.
#doublespin

A group of college friends come back together to throw “funerals“ for each other in times of crises, so that they always know they're loved. An entertaining read that had many resonant passages for me, but it felt a little lacking in real depth somehow. Perhaps it's because we spend time in the minds of five different people and it's not that long a book. Or perhaps the echoes of “The Big Chill' and “Peter's Friends“ make it feel too theatrical.

#25Alive! Day 16: #FaveBk24 or my #Top24Of2024 - how about you? Here‘s my post: https://wp.me/pDlzr-qU9

“We've reached the tipping point,“ Naomi said, pouring a shot of Don Julio; it burned with a smoky finish.

“How do you mean?“ Jordy asked.

“I just figure at a certain point, life takes more from you than it gives.“

I wasn‘t going to read this, but then it made the #ToB shortlist. I still wasn‘t sure but thought if I borrowed it from the library, I could bail.

I ended up really liking it and it didn‘t feel (quite) as long as it looked.

Thanks #ToB - you made me read and enjoy a fantasy book about teenagers, with ghosts, magic and weird creatures, where I didn‘t always understand what the heck was happening!

Henry liked it too! 🤪

Best case scenario: I'm glad to have re-read it, and I feel better about it than I did the first time. My hunch that I'm more invested in Susan Sto Helit as a character, than Death, proved true. If I think of this as one of the Discworld Death books, it feels like there's barely enough of him in it, AND I run into the same problem I've regularly had with Death's books, 1/?

I went back and forth between the ebook and January LaVoy's awesome narration with this one. Overall, it's a soft pick for me. I like some of the things Link does with these characters, but the novel just feels really long. My favorite thing about this novel was listening to the audiobook for how January LaVoy transitions from teen voices to kid voices to adult voices and trying to figure out what she's doing in her body to create each.