Welcome to Litsy!

"Tolkien, serving as an Army signals officer with the Lancashire Fusiliers, was posted to France in June [1916] and saw himself in action on the Somme. In November 1916 he was invalided home with 'trench fever', a bacterial disease which almost certainly saved his life: before the war's end, his battalion was all but annihilated."

Although I'm now out from under, Skye is determined to be a book model today! #CatsOfLitsy

I've included a Chunkster Challenge for my 2026 reading, and I'm starting with this three-volume box set of Tolkien's poetry, with sage comments by scholars Scull and Hammond.

Across the three books, that's cxvi+1501 pages, so I'm unsure that I'll get to the other chunksters on my list, but it's the taking part that matters 🙂

Part 2: In addition to my favorite of 2025, I had some memorable reading experiences. I read Swann‘s Way with a group of classics lovers from around the country. I also read the whole Thursday Murder Club series and loved it.

6) Stoner by John Edward Williams

7) Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

8) Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin

9) The Mythmakers by John Hendrix

10) The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali  

Merry Festivus everyone! 🕯️🎁🎄🕯️

My #Christmas #BookHaul Pride of place to The Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien, a three volume box set edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond ❤️📚❤️
Christmas Mouse was crocheted by my son, and has interchangeable clothes for year-round adventures. They look like a Clanger to me 🌛🌝🌜😊

@Gissy Thank you so much for the lovely Jolabokaflod gifts! This is a book I‘ve truly been looking forward to along with delicious chocolates, hot cocoa mix, bookmarks, ornaments, and this most adorable little cat calendar. I am headed to church now but will absolutely be perusing the sections of this book a bit when I get home later tonight.

#JolabokaflodSwap

repost for @Daisey

Happy December! I completely forgot to consider posting in advance, but I will be doing my annual reread of Letters from Father Christmas if anyone wants to join me. The schedule is just a general plan to spread the letters out over the days between now and Christmas. Please share your thoughts as you read!

#JRRTolkien #Christmas #Reread #TolkienChristmas #BuddyRead

Happy December! I completely forgot to consider posting in advance, but I will be doing my annual reread of Letters from Father Christmas if anyone wants to join me. The schedule is just a general plan to spread the letters out over the days between now and Christmas. Please share your thoughts as you read!

I‘ll only tag everyone on my #FellowshipOfTolkien list on this first post.

#JRRTolkien #Christmas #Reread #TolkienChristmas

I‘ve read a few books about Tolkien, Lewis, and the Inklings, and I still thoroughly enjoyed the style and perspective of this book. It‘s not strictly a graphic novel biography as it alternates full pages of text with panels and also includes a few narrative fantasy elements, but it is full of factual information about both writers and their friendship. The art was also great.

#NonfictionNovember #NFNovember #GraphicNovel #FellowshipOfTolkien

Sunday morning #BookAndBreakfast

This is a fascinating look at the relationship between Tolkien and Lewis with pages of text and illustration interspersed with full graphic novel panels featuring a lion and wizard. There‘s a lot about their beliefs and writing styles more than events of their lives.

#Nonfiction #NonfictionNovember #NFNovember #BreakfastWithTolkien #FellowshipOfTolkien

Today I learned that J.R.R. Tolkien & Edith (his future wife) spent time in tea shops as teens throwing sugar cubes into the hats of unsuspecting ladies.

This is a graphic novel biography of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and so far I‘m intrigued by how it‘s put together. It‘s also nice to read something a bit lighter about them.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #Nonfiction #TodayILearned #NonfictionNovember #NFNovember #GraphicNovel