Welcome to Litsy!

2⭐
Not a happy moment in the book. Lots of triggers.

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

Reading this for my f2f bookclub and not loving it. All the characters are miserable and I am too with a horrible cold.

I adored this book. It was funny and quirky and just when I thought the worst had come for poor Penny, I turned the page and her story got more outrageous. It was a fun read overall.

I know this one was too aggressively quirky for some reviewers, but it hit me just right at the time I was reading it. I felt so much kinship with the MC, her loneliness and her struggles to communicate. My pick for August.
#2023readingbracket

Oh my goodness 💔 this book 😭

I recommend going into this one cold, guys. I was glad to know very little about it going in, as it‘s a very difficult book to categorize and the publisher‘s blurb seems to be setting wrong expectations. For instance, “the Dog of the North” is a van, but this is NOT a “road trip story”.

All I‘ll say is it‘s an emotional journey for the MC, Penny Rush, who is quietly neurodivergent and extremely lonely.

#womensprizelonglist

A bit of a disappointment to have this be my last 2023 long list read. It was fine but not memorable and compared to the other books on the list not nearly as creative or well crafted - though not as bad as Pod!
It felt as if the author was trying too hard to find cute silly ideas to bring in, and overall the atmosphere made me feel a bit grimy, but nowhere near as visceral as Children of Paradise.

Penny is at loose ends when her husband leaves her and her whole life blows up. She ends up following the wind a bit in a madcap adventure involving some very interesting people. This is whimsical and funny to balance the sad parts, but it‘s also a bit uneven in the writing, starting oddly flat and not so much ending as just stopping. Low pick for me.

Real weird!

This was just what I needed. So nice to laugh! A crazy ride filled with offbeat, endearing characters. Really enjoyed.

#WomensPrize