Welcome to Litsy!

My first audiobook of 2025 was a #1001books listen. I liked this one better than the previous book I listened to by this author, but her style is not apparently for me. I felt like this book had somewhat disconnected storylines, left too many things unanswered, and ended rather abruptly. I guess that makes it true to life, but I‘m not sure what I am supposed to take away from it.

#audiobook #Reading1001
#TBRTakedown January 2024

This was a quicker listen than I expected. I started it a few days ago, but when I got back to it today I listened straight through to the end. I‘m not much of a reader of espionage novels, but I appreciated the tangle of events and explanations this one explored. I‘ll definitely be interested in picking up another of Le Carré‘s novels.

#audiobooks #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown December 2024

This is a tough book for me to review, and I‘ve actually waited a few days thinking about it. It has some really interesting aspects in the way it‘s told by the son of a couple who were convicted and executed for conspiring to steal secrets for Russia. Yet, it was also complicated to follow as it jumped back and forth in time. Additionally, I wanted more of the sister‘s story.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown July 2024

There has not been enough hammock time this summer, but today I finally got a bit with Gandalf for company. I found this book an interesting examination of character and commentary on aging alone, but it was a rather slow and melancholy read for me. I was glad that it ended with a bit of hopefulness.

#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown June 2024
#1001books #HammockReading

This was a disturbing story. I was fascinated throughout the first part as Grenouille learned all about scents (and horrified by one scene), then a bit lost by the hermit in the hills portion, and again intrigued by the next section. Then things got crazy! I have no words for the ending, but I was completely engaged in listening.

📷: Happy beagle photo to balance out the creepy murders in this story.

#1001books #audiobook #TBRTakedown April 2024

It took a long time for me to become invested in this story of a Bengali couple that moves to the U.S. and starts their own family. Yet, in the end I really enjoyed reading Gogol‘s story.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown March 2024

There are some wonderful descriptions in this memoir, but I didn‘t quite get any point besides sharing of a particular time in English history. Without any connection to the author, I would prefer a story to experience a period of time.

#memoir #nonfiction #1001books
#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown February 2024

I didn‘t particularly like this book, but I found it written in an interesting way that worked well on audio. I was intrigued enough to look up more about Kesey and the 2011 documentary using some of the Merry Pranksters‘ video footage. I‘m slightly more interested in reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo‘s Nest with this background on the author but still baffled by the idea of a continuous acid trip road trip and parties offering basically free LSD.

I completed 45 books from the #1001books list this year for an updated total of 253 out of 1,318!

A few were rereads but from long enough ago that I didn‘t have dates in Goodreads. As usual, there were books I just pushed through to finish as well as fantastic reads.

Several were read for the #Reading1001 group, including 13 for #TBRTakedown. Many others were read with or for various readalong groups and challenges listed in the comments.

I‘m just not a fan of Virginia Woolf‘s style. This is beautifully written with detailed descriptions from the perspective of various characters, but I was again disappointed by the lack of plot. I didn‘t especially care about any of the characters except for the story of Septimus and Rezia, and theirs is just sad.

I read most of this on #SerialReader but also listened to an #audiobook version. It was easier to follow the characters in print.