Welcome to Litsy!

I nearly gave up on this in the first few pages because of the wildly descriptive beginning. Then I read this was adapted from a play by Keane, so I was able to see that as the stage directions for Act 1, Scene 1. And then the action started. The love triangle was not for me, but I very much liked Aunt Anna Rose.

#midwintersolace #litsolace

Brooklyn botanic garden does a Lightscape winter walk at night for a couple months every year. I love going and getting some hot chocolate (with baileys!) and wandering the exhibits.

I‘m a member and like doing walks around there any season tbh, it‘s so close to my apartment.

@TheBookHippie @Chrissyreadit

Read this in September with the #hashtagbrigade
While the conversations we had discussing it were entertaining, the novel itself was a bit bland. All of the characters were pretty unlikeable and it was hard to sympathize with them

A deceptively sophisticated book about unrequited love, self-sacrifice, and the seemingly impossible task of trying to be true to oneself while doing right by others and becoming part of a community. The protagonist is a smut writer dealing with the impending death of a beloved aunt on the one hand and birth of an unwanted child on the other. Full of fantastic dialogue and insightful observations that feel wholly organic, never forced or tacked-on

I just love the way Pym describes characters and her writing.

At a book sale Leonora Eyre meets Humphrey and James Boyce, uncle and nephew. They get entangled in each others lives, while we also meets other people close to them.

The first part of this sentence reminds me of the first sentence in Pride and Prejudice

Chipping away at this book, hoping I can review it in time.
Taken secretly by my dh today while waiting for the food to come.

I‘m trying, team #Flerken!

#HauntedShelf

The New York Review of Books usually hits it out of the park with their reprints and this novel by late author John McGahern is no exception. Set in Ireland during the 70's, a struggling writer publishes erotica to make ends meet while caring for his ailing aunt. Enter a one sided affair with an older woman and our protagonist drowns himself in drink as he reflects on his life in this literary book of love, loss, and longing.

#ReadAway2024

Read as a chapter-a-day with the #HashTagBrigade or I probably would have dropped this one. A group in the 1920s on holiday on the Italian Riviera sounds good in theory but this was really a bunch of annoying & unlikable people who mostly whined & talked around things. There was no fun on this trip! Luckily it‘s a short book & @BarkingMadRead is good with entertaining hashtags. 😉
Would I read more from this author? Maybe?🤷🏻‍♀️

Elizabeth Bowen‘s prose is exquisite. There are occasional sentences that are absolute perfection. Unfortunately, there were many more sentences (at least for me) that were absolutely cryptic. Even after rereading them more than once, I still had no clue what they meant. And the fact that I didn‘t like most of the characters in this book didn‘t help. ⬇️