Welcome to Litsy!

I quite enjoyed this Aussie novel that reminds me of The Virgin Suicides, one of my fave coming of age books.

Sisters Tikka & Laura are friends with their neighbors, the three Van Apfel sisters. Mr. VA is a Jehovah‘s Witness and tries to force his religion on his daughters (including physical abuse), but middle sister Cordelia is especially rebellious. Years after the girls disappear, Tikka and Laura are still trying to figure out what happened.

The final book in the loosely connected Night trilogy- this was not an easy or enjoyable read. It‘s dark & philosophical begging the reader to ask why, how?! An elderly man who has physically survived the concentration camps but who is haunted in his everyday existence is hit by a cab in NYC leaving him once again fighting for survival. Dark & depressing. Not a book I‘d easily recommend.

Happy Weekend, Litsy!

So this week I finished my first Robin Hobb, and was very tempted to dive straight into the next book. But at 29 hours, I‘d best go for a break in between times!

Lots of nonfiction, thanks to #AuldLangSpine and #NaturalLitsy. And why have I not read Dorthe Nors‘s fiction yet?

And started Frankly in Love as an attempt at QuietYA for #Booked2023. I had no idea about David and Nicola Yoon‘s story.

Another #blameitonLitsy choice - my first book by this author. A quick easy read - Jurassic Park lite - totally enjoyable- very likeable lead character. - familiar storyline . A good choice for the last book in my marathon week as back to work today. This was a great way to #Jumpstart2023 for me.

Thank you Ann Patchett for recommending this nonfiction #audiobook gem. Buck travels from the Monongahela to the Ohio and down the Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans on a flatboat in this epic adventure full of interesting characters and fascinating history! Flatboats preceded steamboats, and Buck writes about the settlement of the West but doesn‘t discount painful parts. I even learned new things about the towns that surround mine on the Ohio!

Well this book wasn‘t very nice. It was just okay. I wanted to shake Anna and say, when an older guy starts off negging you, it ain‘t going anywhere good. Bonus tip: he probably has a wife.

HOWEVER, when I wasn‘t reading about the banal and totally predictable relationship, I got to hang with Anna at opera school and that part was cool and different than any book I‘ve read. Still, this is a low pick #BorrowNotBuy.

Part memoir, part history, Fisher dives into addiction. This book is refreshing because he tackles addiction not through the lens of a specific drug but instead takes a broad look at American addiction. He shares his own story as a physician with a substance use disorder. He developed a problem with alcohol and speed during medical school. The memoir never overtakes his other research, which I appreciated. Pick for sure. 👍🏻

When did I start being able to relate so well to middle-aged women losing their minds? #perimenopause

It‘s 2017 and Hillary has just made ⬆️ speech and, like many liberal white women, Sam didn‘t see it coming. She feels betrayed and buys a run down but architecturally beautiful home in a bad neighborhood. As the plot unfolds, you find out the other factors that led to her breakdown and flight from suburbia. Part of the book follows Ally ⬇️

This novel is part literary thriller and part coming-of-age story. Libby‘s mother puts her little sister Ellen out of a dark rural road after an argument. Ellen gets picked up by a bad man and leaps from the car. This sets in motion a chain of events that draws in their whole community.

Libby reminds me of everything I hated about being 15, perhaps that‘s why I disliked her. She tries to involve herself in things she‘s too young to understand. ⬇️

This makes me a little bit happy. #squee Wish I had time to reread #carryon and #waywardson before I get into the third one. #maybeoneday #rainbowrowell