Welcome to Litsy!

I liked but didn't love this one. Set in a small village in the Highlands, Ruby moves into a cottage for a year to figure out her future and work on a cookbook. She ends up getting involved in the town tourism politics and finding community with the townspeople. Her relationship with Brochan was a bit frustrating to me, fighting over secrets held back in a way I felt was unnecessary. Overall I loved the Scotland setting & found family aspects most

4th & last stop: a sunny day in #Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 (Victoria Street)

The Future Future: great cover, very weird concept and terrible execution. Zero stars. I just flipped through the second half and it got weirder and weirder.

#holiday #scotland

🗺️ Kirkwall, Orkney-Islands (Home of sheep, cows and some puffins)

We went on a biking 🚴‍♀️ tour and had some time in the biggest city, Kirkwall. It was sunny ☀️ and the Scots were very warm & welcoming.

#TheBeeSting didn‘t convince me. The ending was a terrible punch to the gut. #PaulMurray

#holiday #sightseeing #scotland

Quintessential nature writing and my favourite nonfiction of 2024 so far. I‘m so glad I finally got around to reading Nan Shepherd‘s classic about the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. Her exquisite prose is so evocative that I was frequently transported off into reveries of my own encounters with the natural world.

To one who loves the hills at every season, the blossoming is not the best of the heather. The best of it is simply its being there—is the feel of it under the feet. To feel heather under the feet after long abstinence is one of the dearest joys I know.

Touch is the most intimate sense of all. The whole sensitive skin is played upon, the whole body, braced, resistant, poised, relaxed, answers to the thrust of forces incomparably stronger than itself. Cold water stings the palate, the throat tingles unbearably; cold air smacks the back of the mouth, lungs crackle.

“How could we imagine flavour or perfume without the senses of taste and smell? They are completely unimaginable. There must be many exciting properties of matter that we cannot know because we have no way to know them.”
[This passage reminded me of Ed Yong‘s wonderful book on animals‘ perceptions.]

Friday Reads May 17: Asian Heritage Month; mythology; nature writing; art; picture book biography; Indigenous authors and more in this week‘s YouTube episode:

https://youtu.be/Zo93j5HoVKo

FYI:

#LMPBC Round 20 Group G

@KateReadsYA @jamiearc

@suvata has mailed a book to @jackobotts

Enjoy!

Read in May 2024 for Litsy Markup Postal Book Club #LMPBC Round 20 - Group G (Gothic Horror)

• Dark and atmospheric • 5 Stars • This book reminded me of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle which is one of my absolute favorites.