Welcome to Litsy!

I loved this. The story unfolds slowly, bit by bit, and the detailed descriptions of motherhood, of colours and sensations and experiences are beautiful. I really really hate Margot! A book to make you hold your own child(ren) tightly and appreciate anew the privilege and joy of being their mother. I miss my babies!

I was trying to control my desire to buy this book with money I don‘t have when I discovered joyfully I could get the ebook through the library. I devoured it do desperately and every single page was incredible. I‘m going to read every single thing of hers I can get my hand on forever.

#wintergames #holidaybookdragons

The Bonne Maman advent calendar is ready for tomorrow!

Bieker does dark really well. An abusive husband and father dies. His wife takes the blame for his murder while his daughter slips into the night and starts over in San Francisco. Told in (excellent) alternating timelines the daughter (now a mother) unravels when she hears from her estranged imprisoned mom. She also writes about her father‘s abuse and her escape.

I love this author. This is from the backlist.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

So, I‘m unsatisfied with the ending. I felt like all the action in the book was off-screen. There was build up and build up and then…time jump, stuff happened and now here are the consequences. And I would have liked more closure for, well, everything. I enjoyed it enough, I just wish there was more to it.

3.5/5 🌟

This Japanese novel is anything but cozy. It follows a young woman, pregnant out of wedlock, facing her parents' disapproval and surviving an abusive, alcoholic father. Her journey through childbirth, work struggles, and finding childcare is raw and challenging.

It started strong, but by the end, my interest had faded.

I was over 3/4 through this when I correctly realized an upcoming twist. After that it was wondering how it would go down if and when Clove came to understand the situation. The ending was fine and changed from pure entertainment (as if growing up in domestic violence can ever be fodder for entertainment) to a story with a message.

I found this galley proof of Hunter‘s first novel in the bargain carts at The Strand this summer. I loved The Harpy so it caught my eye. It‘s a slim, sparse account of a climate apocalypse that feels pretty realistic at this point, and the aftermath, told by the narrator who is a new mother. I liked it; a low pick.

An exploration of motherhood…after a childhood of living through and “surviving”(?) domestic violence. My goodness this was hard to get through. Reading a child‘s plea to her mother to please leave was heartbreaking.
This one made me cry and rage at the same time. My goodness, the things women have to do to keep themselves alive!
“The world is not made for mothers. Yet mothers made the world.”