Welcome to Litsy!

I wasn‘t the reader for this and I knew that going in. But I‘m always open to new reading experiences, so I gave it a go after it made the #NYTTop10 list for 2024, as well as the #tob longlist. It‘s an alternate history of present day Mexico City, then Tenochtitlan, full of historical figures like Cortes and Moctezuma. I don‘t know enough about this period to know what was reimagined or not. I was lost most of the time.

I listened to a couple of hours of this on my long drive yesterday and was blown away by Sophie Amos' narration, I read most of this with my eyes but do rec. the audio.
#ToB long listed this was dark, fairytale like and incredibly well constructed. It isn't going to be for everyone, there is a lot of going back over a story, and very unreliable narrations. But I didn't feel at all that it was too repetitive and i enjoyed the creepy dark vibe

Whew, this is one ANGRY 😡 book!

It chronicles the end of an abusive marriage (not physical, verbal) from the POV of Jane, a wife and mother. It‘s told in a stream of consciousness style and I found myself breathless with fury while reading it (why did she even get together with him in the first place?!) but I couldn‘t put it down.

It‘s supposedly semi-autobiographical and I hope the ex-husband has read it.

This is a play-in book for #ToB.

I am looking for all the French novels you loved! Last year my favorite book was My Husband. Next year I want to read a bunch of French books. I have and will read all of the Valerie Perrin books that are available in English, I am working my way through Edouard Louis, and Philippe Besson. I need more modern day ladies!
All suggestions appreciated.
Photo from UK Vogue

This one was just ok to me. I found the central story of a man struggling to get through a breakup fairly dull. And by the time we got to the former girlfriend‘s breakup aftermath, I just didn‘t care. Where it shines is with some of the supporting characters and stories, like the flatmate Andy ends up with and the houseboat bit. I don‘t think I would have made it through in print. #TOBlonglist

I liked the message of this book but found the reading part so boring 😴😴

Just not for me I guess.
#ToB

Now *this* is why I love #ToB so much!

This is a book / author I‘d never heard of and wouldn‘t have thought of reading. I wasn‘t sure at the start - the dialogue felt stilted and the storyline a bit simplistic but I soon became completely engrossed.

A Hollywood screenwriter refuses to kills off his gay characters, and weird s*** starts to happen. There‘s body horror / psychological horror but also a warm heart to the story.

#ToB books picked up from the library yesterday. Two are on the shortlist - I‘m not overly enthused about the Link as I bailed on the only other one of hers that I tried ( and it‘s a chunkster) but it‘s a library book so 🤷‍♀️.

The tagged didn‘t make it onto the shortlist but it was waving at me 👋 from the new books shelf and I do like the sound of it, so couldn‘t really say no.

After Manhunt, I wasn‘t sure about GFM (I found it one note), but she proved to me with book 2 that she can really write. She tells the harrowing, capital H Horror story of a conversion camp here and writes the characters with more depth than the typical horror book. And I kept seeing villain pastor Eddie as looking just like Mike Johnson for some reason.

#TOB longlist