Welcome to Litsy!

The above are my very favourite reads this year. Highlights✨accepting I can read and love Bridgerton as much as I want✨yet still finishing and loving the Women‘s Prize for Fiction shortlist - a huge achievement for this girl who has always been afraid of #booksthatwinprizes✨being part of my first book group; this year‘s choices have brought vampires, Japanese work culture, time travel, flesh-eating and more, and I‘m all for it!✨Happy New Year✨

So disappointed that I didn‘t enjoy this after having been intrigued by an interview with the author. I found the writing impenetrable and it brought back all my fears of #booksthatwinprizes! That said it was really good to discuss it in our book group; so interesting to get other takes on the same book which really makes me think beyond my initial “I don‘t like it” reaction - half of us enjoyed it, the other half disliked!

I was brave and tackled #authorswhoscareme and #booksthatwinprizes (or are nominated...) with this and I‘m glad I did; I enjoyed the writing and to an extent the story. I liked the flashbacks, and how the events that led to the dystopian future we find Snowman in are explored, but I‘m not sure this stands out over other dystopian fiction I‘ve read. That said it was just getting going when it ended. So am I invested enough to read the next two?!

I‘m currently slogging through Bring up the Bodies (@cathythoughts) and there‘s no way I‘ll finish by Monday, so here is my #18in2018. I‘ve had such a good reading year, mainly thanks to Litsy. I‘ve tried new authors, some authors I‘d been scared of and a few of those #booksthatwinprizes that I‘ve always avoided. My top five are tagged below. Can‘t wait for 2019!

I unexpectedly loved this book; I loved Pi and I loved Richard Parker. I know I didn‘t take from it the deeper meaning the author no doubt intended; I admit the first and last sections lost me somewhat. It is for reasons like that that I am still scared of #booksthatwinprizes. However I loved this book simply because I loved the story of the boy and the tiger, whatever the deeper meaning might be 🐅

This was lovely, I really enjoyed it, despite it being one of those #booksthatwinprizes 🤭. Underpinned by a remote village‘s fear of a mysterious sea serpent, this is really a love story; both of love found and love unrequited. Beautifully written and gently told it encompasses an English village, Victorian London, medicine, poor housing, fossils and friendship; with a cast of quirky characters I loved. Recommended 🐍

I love historical fiction and I love the Tudor-era and its been bothering me that I‘ve never finished Wolf Hall. Possibly because I‘m frightened of #booksthatwinprizes 🙈. Anyway, despite the fact it weighs my bag down like a brick on the commute, I‘m diving in!