Welcome to Litsy!

4.25❤️ it looks like this is getting mixed reviews here, I fall better inline with the GR reviews. I loved this. I do think the blurb is misleading. Calling it Orphean is not right. Our MC Rainy does lose his wife and goes on an adventure but the adventure is him finding himself. The book is written in a Greek tragedy vibe and style which I loved, and once I got over the expectations of the synopsis I really loved the whole thing. #ToBlonglist

Lake Superior is 350 miles (563 km) long (east to west), and its greatest width is 160 miles (258 km) from north to south

I am not a Midwestern girlie, and I have a hard time with distance. So reading this I have been curious as Rainy is spending weeks sailing around Lake Superior. I have always heard it is "big" but - greater than the combined areas of Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire!

"He lifted his head. "Yes, that would be nice - I'm sorry, I don't mean to be such awful company. It's the times. The times are so unfriendly. Play me something, would you, Rainy?"

A poinent passage that feels too close to reality right now.
#ToBLonglist

#FirstLineFriday @ShyBookOwl

"Here at the beginning it must be said the End was in everyone's mind."

I am really liking this one.

Set in a dystopian American future, Rainey and his wife are tucked away from the more severely affected areas of crumbling society in a small coastal town. But when a stranger comes to stay, the wider world follows, causing an event that sends Rainy to escape by boat. Enger is a fantastic writer, but his epic storytelling took precedence over building some of the relationships between characters. All the same, I was swept away and enjoyed it.

I really liked this, thanks #tob2025 longlist! I was avoiding it based on the blurb, which made it sound like Rainy is pursuing a runaway wife through a dystopian landscape both twee and surreal. This is misleading, as Rainy‘s wife dies 80 pages in, and the surreal elements are mainly due to the unknown and therefore somewhat terrifying motives of others and not to an anthropomorphized Lake Superior.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was on the #ToB2025 long list, but it didn‘t really work for me. Set in dystopian version of the Great Lakes, MC and his wife take in a boarder who it turns out is on the run and that sets off a chain of unfortunate events. My issue was that it wasn‘t clear what the MC wanted other than avoiding bad things, so not really compelling. And the resolution seemed to come out of nowhere. 🤷‍♀️ Glad when it was done.

I‘m not ready for October to be over, but this is November‘s #bookspinbingo list! @TheAromaofBooks

Some authors have a way of stringing words together that make you catch your breath. Leif Enger is one of those authors.

I savored every word of this ugly/beautiful story about not giving in to despair.