Welcome to Litsy!

When Burl Spoon's daughter Dee Dee goes missing, the trail leads to the Begley family. Soon two rural Kentucky crime families are at war, exacting a terrible cost. The author has an impeccable ear for dialogue--as someone raised in eastern Kentucky, I could hear these characters plain as day. Highly recommend for fans of S.A. Cosby and Eli Cranor.

3.5

The characters were wonderfully vivid. The grinding poverty and desperation were very well described. It is unfortunate that this feels more contemporary than it should.

If we hold fast to grammar and the idea that grammar rules have never changed and therefore original intent and meaning can be deduced through written text, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Maine become unconstitutional and cease to exist in modern America. Just think about that for a minute.
#CeceliaWatson #Semicolon #law #grammar #punctuation #WestVirginia #Kentucky #Maine #WTF

Read for my library's book group.
Packhorse librarians in 1930s Kentucky: what's not to love? (I was half expecting the library service to launch a volunteer recruitment drive on the back of this. 😆).
I enjoyed it, especially the growing friendships between the women. I did think a major plot point was superfluous, though, and I greatly prefer my characters to have nuance, rather than be straight-up goodies/baddies (all the more so these days).

February #wrapup

Life has been full of distractions and I‘m finding it hard to focus on my reading. I was lucky to finish these books last month, mostly for book clubs and buddy reads. I enjoyed all of them.

An historical fiction inspired by the blue-skinned people of Kentucky, coal-mining and the Pack Horse Library Service. Cussy Mary is a kind and intelligent person who happens to have blue skin. For this, she suffers as a social outcast. She creates a life for herself by bringing books to the Appalachian people and is also known as the Book Woman. A story of resiliency and tenacity in the face of unrelenting discrimination.