Welcome to Litsy!

@BarbaraBB thank you for this recommendation - you were right, it was so good! The ending was 🔥 and just what I hoped would happen 🫢 #TBRtarot #animalmaincharacter
Edited to add: watch the triggers in this one!

#BookReport for July

The Axeman‘s Carnival was my favourite. Woodworking, Fundamentally & Better Days were all terrific too & I wouldn‘t be surprised if they all feature in my best of 2025.

I adored this - one of my faves of the year so far. I think it‘s one worth listening to on audio, although I now can‘t get the bird out of my head! Miaow.

Tama, a magpie, is rescued by Marnie and becomes a social media star as he can talk. Marnie‘s husband is the local celebrated ‘axeman‘ but is also an angry man and takes it out on Marnie.

It was quite obvious where the story was going but, OMG, it was still so tense towards the end.

Tama is a magpie, adopted by a couple who turn him into a social media hype. Because Tama can talk, which means repeating things he‘s heard and remembers. The things he says are so funny (you recognize them from earlier conversations and they come up at the most awkward moments) and in combination with the sadness of the couple‘s daily life, it makes a book unlike any other. Brilliant.

#ReadTheWorld2025 book 21 #NewZealand

The talking magpie narrator explaining the ways of birds and people is an appealing hook that frequently had me laughing out loud and is also an effective counterpoint to the harshness of conditions of the human characters. What could have been very bleak became much more palatable, but no less powerful. I loved it. A definite contender for my book of the year so far. #NZfiction
Have you read this one @Centique ?

This book felt like a hug around my heart.It was such a delightful read.I loved getting to know all of the dogs and their human's through the eyes of the bookstore owner.As with the best of heartfelt reads there were happy, joy filled moments also balanced by some of the more poignant and sadder moments that come from loving dogs and bonding so closely with them when they have such infinitely short life spans in comparison to yours.🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

https://youtu.be/MX2j6NSO100

Introduction
Mystery guest
Weekly review
Shawn has bookmarks for sale
Loop Tracks by Sue Orr
Where I Live Now: A Journey through Love and Loss to Healing and Hope by Sharon Butala
Dream State by Eric Puchner
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia by Joan Chase
The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 5 by Beth Brower

Amazingly enough, my IRL bookclub has picked a Persephone book for our current read (after 27 years together). And no, it WASN‘T my pick. 😆

I was going to ask you, @Centique , if you‘d read this classic New Zealand coming-of-age novel but I see you are the only other person to post about it on here! I‘m really enjoying it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.25/5)

💛 Hauntingly beautiful, poetic writing
💛 Intriguing studies of isolation, identity, and alienation
💛 Some of the stories had a dystopian, “Twilight Zone“ kind of vibe that I dug
💛 Definitely one to come back to - additional readings will enhance the experience

From #mounttbr

#xmaschacha #wintergames2024 #doublespin