Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#chivalry
blurb
bibliothecarivs
post image

Random book from our personal library.

#knight #medieval #england

Leftcoastzen Lovely! 4mo
6 likes1 comment
review
Bookwomble
post image
Pickpick

The lovely Aubrey Beardsley frontispiece and title page of Beatrice Clay's retelling of Arthurian stories.
Although written for older children of the Edwardian era, and therefore removing certain "unsuitable" elements, it's not as moralistic as I'd feared it might be. Her afterword about knightly privilege being predicated on exploitation and enslavement of peasants is rather forward-thinking. 4.75 ?

Bookwomble The summary of one of my favourite Malory stories, Sir Gareth and Linette, the "Damosel Sauvage", has whetted my appetite for more Arthurian tales ?️ 5mo
CarolynM Beardsley ❤️ 5mo
The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble I felt like that after reading Arthurian tales too. 5mo
tpixie Beautiful illustrations! 🖤🩶🤍 5mo
28 likes5 comments
blurb
Bookwomble
post image

This 1934 edition of Beatrice Clay's Stories from Le Morte D'Arthur and the Mabinogion is an Edwardian retelling of the main Arthurian stories. I've had it for decades, so it's time is come to be read!
Written for children, the first 1901 edition left out Morgan le Fay, what with their relationship being "complicated", I suppose, but this reprint of the 1905 edition incorporated Morgan in suitably bowdlerised form.
⬇️

Bookwomble While it's a neat little edition, it's also a cheap reprint, without the original Dora Curtis illustrations, which the internet suggests are rather good, so that's a shame. 5mo
Leftcoastzen Still , very pretty! 5mo
Bookwomble @Leftcoastzen It has a nice Aubrey Beardsley frontispiece, which is some consolation 😊 5mo
30 likes3 comments
blurb
BarbaraBB
Tournament | David Crouch
post image

#ToB25 makes me so greedy. So many books on that longlist appeal to me and so many Littens recommend them… I can‘t resist and bought these seven. For now! And I already had 8 more on my TBR-shelves so that makes 15 🤦🏻‍♀️

The shortlist always follows way too soon after the announcement of the longlist so I‘ll never read them in time but hey, maybe they all end up on the shortlist 😉

Megabooks I just finished Good Material and really enjoyed it! 12mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Cindy loved it too so I have high hopes! I bought Model Home because of you too! And I am now reading this one, not sure what to think of it yet 12mo
squirrelbrain We‘ve picked pretty similar books to read! 12mo
See All 11 Comments
Megabooks I got Wolf, too thanks to Cindy! 12mo
sarahbarnes A few of these are on my list at the library too! 12mo
Hooked_on_books I‘ve been wildly trying to acquire as many books as I can from the list, too. 😂 We all understand each other! 12mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks Couldn‘t resist that one either after her love for it! 12mo
BarbaraBB @Hooked_on_books I love that. No one in real life understands! (edited) 12mo
Suet624 It‘s a book frenzy! 12mo
BarbaraBB @Suet624 It is, FOMO all over 🤦🏻‍♀️ 12mo
AshleyHoss820 So many of these books have been on my GR TBR too! 😍 12mo
67 likes11 comments
blurb
squirrelbrain
Tournament | David Crouch
post image

The books that I bought from the #ToBlonglist all arrived over the past few days. 😊 Plus, today, I got both books that I applied for on NetGalley, Lazarus Man and Model Home so I‘m thrilled about that!

Just need to find some time to read now - too much work as usual. Even audio isn‘t working - over 2 hours of driving a day but colleagues seem to think it‘s acceptable to ring for a ‘chat‘, as if I don‘t have 15 books to get through! 🙄

squirrelbrain See, Holly @Hooked_on_books - we‘re both as bad as each other! 🤪 12mo
AnneCecilie Looking forward to your thoughts on The History of Sound. Read somewhere that it‘s being turned into a movie featuring Paul Mescal and that piqued my interest 12mo
Hooked_on_books I love it! I managed to pick up Poor Deer and History of Sound as ebooks from the library. I also bought Lesser Ruins (and Short War), and they‘re on the way. And Bury Your Dead is on hold for me in print from the library. I‘ve read Yr Dead. I‘ll be interested to see what you think. I thought it was an interesting idea but it didn‘t completely work for me. 12mo
See All 20 Comments
squirrelbrain I think @BarbaraBB felt the same way as you about Yr Dead, @Hooked_on_books - I bought a used copy for Qd or Qe as I didn‘t have particularly high expectations. Same with The Material, although they both look almost new. 12mo
squirrelbrain @AnneCecilie - I saw that too, somewhere! And there was a pretty good review of the book in the UK press this past weekend. (After I‘d already ordered it, so I was relieved! ) 12mo
vlwelser Colleagues are problematic. I had to take a con call on the train yesterday. They should know that's reading time 12mo
AnneCecilie That‘s even better. I‘ve seen any reviews. Norwegian press doesn‘t do reviews until a book is translated into Norwegian, if even then. After reading some very spoilery reviews online, I don‘t read them anymore 12mo
BarbaraBB Great haul! I bought 7 while I still have many of them sitting on my shelves too, so no way ‘ll finish them before the shortlist will he announced - which is always way too soon! I‘ll share my purchases too! 12mo
squirrelbrain @vlwelser - I shouldn‘t have complained - just got stuck in a traffic queue for an hour and a half on the way home…. 🙄 Listened to plenty of my book though…. 12mo
squirrelbrain @AnneCecilie - I‘ll let you know how it is when (if!) I get to it. 12mo
squirrelbrain Looking forward to seeing your haul @BarbaraBB - I didn‘t order 2 more books yesterday, definitely not! 🤪 12mo
BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain Which ones did you definitely not order 😉?! 12mo
squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB - definitely not Liars, or The Book Censor‘s Library! 🤪 12mo
BarbaraBB Good choice not to order them 😂. I read Book Censor, it‘s very good, and Liars is patiently waiting on my shelves! 12mo
squirrelbrain Can you believe bookshop.org cancelled my order for Book Censor today?! @BarbaraBB I think there must be a problem here in the UK as it‘s not even available on Amazon. 🤷‍♀️ 12mo
BarbaraBB I bought it in a Dutch online store and had a look but they are no longer selling in it either. Maybe it‘s been banned 😉 12mo
Suet624 @AnneCecilie it‘s the first story in the book that‘s being turned into the movie. The book overall is fantastic. 11mo
Megabooks Cuckoo is really strange. Finished this morning and still thinking about it. 11mo
Megabooks That‘s a lovely stack too!! 11mo
squirrelbrain I‘m kind of looking forward to it, Meg, as I‘m sure it will be way out of my comfort zone. I did eventually bail on Manhunt though, when it was on the list. 😬 11mo
64 likes20 comments
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Tournament | David Crouch
post image

I am considering getting into TOB. It looks like it is 16 books from the previous year. I have been really confused about this event because they use pretty much the same symbol as the French Rugby team 😂

If you participate can you tell me what guy you into it and how much you participate? I read the website looks like random people are judges and 16 books are placed in brackets which the judges select a winner from.

ImperfectCJ There are two events each year, the main ToB in March and Camp ToB in the summer. During the main event, as I understand it, the judges are authors. During the summer event, it's just discussions led by fairly random people (I led one last August, and I'm fairly random). We usually have a shadow ToB on Litsy, which @BarbaraBB spearheads, I think. I usually try to read from the longlist and then try to complete the shortlist. 12mo
ImperfectCJ I hope I'm not making up any of this. @Megabooks and @squirrelbrain are also involved a lot, if I remember correctly, but I cannot remember the hashtags to search and confirm, so hopefully others will correct my mistakes. 12mo
Megabooks I'll chime in about what we do here on Litsy. So the ToB folks come up with a longlist, and we all get really excited(!) and start reading amazing books. Then about three weeks later they come out with the shortlist and those are seeded into brackets similar to the March Madness US NCAA basketball brackets. Most years @Barbarabb has taken their brackets and had Littens vote on the brackets the ToB chose and then we all have fun discussing 12mo
See All 15 Comments
Megabooks their votes versus our votes etc. On the real ToB website they have judges (often famous authors) judge the battles and have side commentary, too. Last year, we were collectively so disappointed by the ones the official ToB chose, Barbara, @squirrelbrain and I ran a full parallel ToB where we made our own brackets (based on Littens input) then ran a whole separate ToB here. It remains to be seen whether we'll do that full parallel 12mo
Megabooks ToB this year, but for now, we're just all having fun pursuing the longlist and over spending on books! 12mo
ImperfectCJ @Megabooks Thank you so much for chiming in! I will enthusiastically second the "we all get really excited." I really have no idea why I get so into ToB as compared to other book events...maybe it's how accessible it is? It feels like we (the readers) are invited to participate as equals in a way that we aren't with other competitions (or "competitions," since ToB is kind of tongue-in-cheek). 12mo
Bookwormjillk I like ToB because the books tend to be a little offbeat and it doesn‘t take itself too seriously. 12mo
Ruthiella What I love is the transparency of the judgment and the commentary on the official website. You don‘t get that with other book prizes. The parallel ToB that @BarbaraBB @Megabooks and @squirrelbrain often organize on Litsy is also great because there is usually fantastic discussion and insight. It can make m understand better why I liked or even dislike a book. 12mo
Megabooks @ImperfectCJ @Bookwormjillk @Ruthiella I love what you‘ve all said. ToB often picks a wide variety of offbeat books - some well known and others I have never heard of often in translation or from small presses. And it does have a very transparent and participatory vibe. It‘s just plain the most fun of any award! 12mo
ChaoticMissAdventures @megabooks @ImperfectCJ @Bookwormjillk @Ruthiella Thank you all so much!! I am thinking I am going to need a lot of distractions this year, and ToB dropping the same time the Women's Prize is a lot. Maybe the perfect amount. I guess I can read a few men in March/April I was honestly offended 😂 to see that Chain Gang All Stars didn't get past the fist round this year in ToB I love that book so much, it would be amazing to talk/defend book to people 12mo
Megabooks Yes! There are some short list completists 🙋🏻‍♀️, but even more people join on the books that interest them the most. There are no “rules” for participating on litsy. We just try to have the most fun possible! Very low key on participating but very engaging discussions too! 12mo
BarbaraBB @ChaoticMissAdventures all said above makes me excited for another tournament! @Megabooks has explained it all: it‘s very low key and we read great books. And I am with @Ruthiella that our discussions add so much to the books. The shortlist will be dropped shortly so there‘s still a lot of time to read the 16 finalists - if you want. The tournament starts in March.if you‘re interested, we can tag you to keep you posted about our Litsy tob? (edited) 12mo
ChaoticMissAdventures @BarbaraBB I would love to be tagged! Thank you so much. I am excited for all the distractions to come! 12mo
squirrelbrain I‘m late to the party today so there‘s nothing else I can add to others‘ comments. I‘m sure you‘ll love it if you join in - it feels like you‘re a ToB-type of reader! ☺️ 12mo
ChaoticMissAdventures @squirrelbrain give me a random list of books and I will read them! 😂. And I love that we get to talk about them, I always get more out of books with group discussions. 12mo
25 likes15 comments
blurb
squirrelbrain
Tournament | David Crouch
post image

Give me a list and I go a little crazy…. 🤪

These are the books from the ToB longlist that I want to read and can hold of. I bought 8 😳 and the rest are through various library systems, digital or physical.

I also really want to read Colored Television but it‘s not cheap here, plus I‘ve put in requests on NetGalley for Model Home and Lazarus Man.

Send help….. 🤓🤪😳

Leniverse Ooh, I haven't looked at that list yet. Not sure I should 😅 12mo
Leniverse Ok, I looked. 🙈 Several were already on my radar, but I've added three that I hadn't heard of before to my tbr. The Book Censor's Library, The Invisible Hotel, and Lesser Ruins. In total I have read 11, have 5 more, and would like to read another 8-16 😅 12mo
sarahbarnes So many of these are on my want to read list, too! I just threw together a quick list on my phone…20 books. 😆 I‘ll see which ones I can get from the library and go from there! 12mo
See All 20 Comments
BarbaraBB I think I have my Christmas gift for you, if you want it! 12mo
BarbaraBB And you are incredible! All those books! Love it! One day you‘ll be a longlist completist 🙌🏽 12mo
Megabooks I almost made a spreadsheet, and it made me think of you! 💙💙 I hope you get approved for Model Home because I really enjoyed it! 12mo
Cathythoughts Great list. Thanks Helen. 12mo
squirrelbrain I bought Lesser Ruins and can get Invisible Hotel from the library, so I‘ll let you know… @Leniverse 12mo
squirrelbrain Aw, thank you! @BarbaraBB 🥰 12mo
squirrelbrain The only problem with making a spreadsheet Meg @Megabooks is you end up buying too many books! 12mo
Deblovestoread All your TOB posts are fantastic! 💜 12mo
Chelsea.Poole These lists always make me abandon all reading plans and pick up unexpected books. Which almost always helps me discover something I wouldn‘t have otherwise, so I use that as my excuse! 🤓 12mo
Ruthiella I‘m afraid you are beyond help! 😜 Here‘s hoping you get your hands on a reasonably priced copy of 12mo
squirrelbrain @Chelsea.Poole - I love this list because the books are not mainstream (most of them) and they‘re often much more diverse than the heavily promoted books. Yes, there are some duds on occasion, but more often we find some gems. 12mo
Avanders 🤩🤩 12mo
sarahbarnes I‘m on a long library hold list for Colored Television. This is a fun list! The joys of the TOB long list - such a treasure trove. 📚 12mo
squirrelbrain It‘s the best list, I think! @sarahbarnes 12mo
Suet624 @Chelsea.Poole The TOB has consistently had me reading fantastic books I‘d never have known about otherwise. 🥳 11mo
65 likes20 comments
blurb
squirrelbrain
Tournament | David Crouch
post image

This is going to have to be two posts…. Too many books to fit on one picture. 😬

These are the books on the ToB list that I already own and want to read.

Next, the rather extensive list of the other books from the longlist that I want to read.

Bookwormjillk I love the cover of Wolf At The Table 12mo
Ruthiella I‘ve only read the Khong title and it didn‘t work for me, but I‘m definitely an outlier. I will for sure pick up Extinction of Irena Rey, even if it doesn‘t make the shortlist. I‘m super intrigued. (edited) 12mo
squirrelbrain I‘m reading the Khong now @Ruthiella - part one was fairly standard fare but I‘ve just moved onto the part with Nick and it seems to be developing in a different direction…. 🤔 12mo
See All 7 Comments
squirrelbrain @Bookwormjillk - I do too! That one was rumoured for the Booker so I got it on audio then. 12mo
Caroline2 Oh I have Husbands, Extinction and Wedding too 😃 👍 looking forward to hearing what ya think. 11mo
squirrelbrain @Caroline2 - I finished The Wedding People last week and loved it - in fact I nearly bought it for your birthday! Irena Rey is meh, with about 10 minutes to go on audio. 11mo
Caroline2 Oh good to know. I read You are here last week and loved it. I‘ll wait for Irene then 😂 11mo
58 likes7 comments
blurb
squirrelbrain
Tournament | David Crouch
post image

Taking my cue from @BarbaraBB these are the ToB longlisted books that I‘ve read, in some kind of order of favourites first.

I also bailed on Glorious Exploits and hibernated Intermezzo as it wasn‘t working on audio. I‘m not going to buy it and I‘m currently on a VERY long waiting list at the library so not sure when I‘ll get to finish it.

Next I‘ll post the books that I want to read…

Sorry if I‘ve forgotten to tag anyone!

BkClubCare I am using #ToB2025_LongList but as I type that I wonder if I have the right year… ugh. Will fix if not right? (Maybe just #ToB_LongList or even w/o the hard to find underscore space 🙄 #ToBLongList ?) Tagging is always a challenge 🏷️ 12mo
squirrelbrain @BkClubCare - they definitely call it 2025 so you‘re OK there! But #ToBlonglist is just fine I think - the shorter the better! 12mo
squirrelbrain @sarahbarnes - forgot to tag you - sorry! 😔 12mo
See All 10 Comments
sarahbarnes Thank you! I‘m interested in a few on your finished list that I‘m in line at the library for, too. 😊 12mo
Megabooks Man, I looked yesterday, and it wasn‘t there! I‘ll have to look through it today. Great graphic, Helen! 12mo
Megabooks Can you drop the link here? I can‘t find it. 12mo
BkClubCare @squirrelbrain - yep, adding to my posts… 😊 12mo
Megabooks @BkClubCare Thank you! I eventually got on my laptop and found it. 12mo
Ruthiella I am most interested in your number one 12mo
66 likes10 comments