#EuropaCollective ✨December 2024✨ REMINDER

Hope you all are as excited as I am for our next pick, Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre! Read the book sometime in December, post your review &/or any thoughts along the way and be sure to tag the group. All are welcome!

I‘m planning to take a break from Litsy in the new year. If any of you would like to take over hosting duties and keep the group going, please be my guest.

Finally had a few hours to devote to this short mystery. I liked it and look forward to watching the adaptation that aired in 1978 as part of the ITV Armchair Thriller series (and later on PBS Mystery!). YouTube link in comments below.

#NunLitQuarterly

Blue box day! Some gothic and witchy goodness for October. #BOTM

I so loved this quiet novel. A masterpiece of interiority.

#Booker2024 #NunLit

Outstanding family memoir/history. Cockerell goes with an unconventional structure using all primary sources to tell the story and it is so effective. I thought I‘d just be reading a chapter or two, but ended up not wanting to put it down.

#BaillieGifford2024

Enjoyed our latest #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub read. I was charmed by Verily and found her wartime experiences as wife and mother fascinating. A big “eek!” to the farmhouse part about mice running over their faces during the night.

This got me wanting to rewatch the pictured reality series where “one modern family takes on the challenge of domestic life on Britain‘s home front.” Thankfully my library had a copy!

#NunLitQuarterly 🔔 October 2024 reminder 🔔

Happy Fall, Sisters 🍁

Hope you‘ll be joining me for our next pick, Quiet as a Nun by Antonia Fraser—a “mixture of puzzle, excitement, and terror” according to P.D. James. Read the book sometime in October, post your review &/or any thoughts along the way and be sure to tag the group.

All are welcome!

Delivery! Just in time for the weekend.

#BOTM folks, looks like this is a new add-on option so you may want to wait and add it to your October box.

Not quite a love for me the way Bewilderment and The Overstory were, but I liked it very much. Wouldn‘t be sad if we see this on the shortlist tomorrow! #Booker2024

So much kidnapping! Another fun, outlandish (acrobatic brothers 😂) mystery with Nancy and friends. #NancyDrewBR

All about Maine with today‘s little #bookhaul. And both continuations of series!

I thought that this was rather wonderful though I am partial to the precocious, “not quite normal” girls of literature. Love Gardam‘s wit and the dialogue felt warm and authentic. Also enjoyed all the details of navigating adolescence during the early years of WWII.

#EuropaCollective

The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction longlist was announced this week (link in comments below). Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen is the only one I‘ve read so far (definitely recommend) and tagged (692 pages!) is the one I‘m going to get started on next. Barbara Demick says it is “fascinating, essential reading.” I‘ve been wanting to read Nguyen‘s memoir since it came out and was already planning to get Question 7. I also ordered Melting Point.

What a debut! So very good. I‘d be happy to see this make the #Booker2024 shortlist.

#EuropaCollective ✨September 2024✨ REMINDER

Hi Collective!

Our next pick is Jane Gardam‘s 1971 coming-of-age novel (her debut) A Long Way from Verona.

Read the book sometime in September, post your review &/or any thoughts along the way and be sure to tag the group.

All are welcome!

#WhereAreYouMonday - Southlake, Texas

This evening I‘m reading tagged work of investigative journalism by the cocreator of the Southlake podcast. I‘m only 60 pages in, but good so far.

Heavy stuff. Didn‘t quite reach the heights of There There for me (loved that one), but still very good. Only my second from the #Booker2024 longlist (after James).

I loved her debut so surprised that this is just a lukewarm pick for me. Gorgeous cover and a quick read (more enjoyable than The Alternatives), but I thought Sam was frustrating/annoying and I wasn‘t a fan of the ending. I‘ll still read whatever Phillips writes next. #CampLitsy24

Up the Dunnets! Fun and charming read. I‘m sure my young, eldest of four, Boxcar Children-loving self would have adored it. I liked their “rules of the barn”and all the housekeeping (barnkeeping?) details. I had to look up bully (canned corned beef?) and found the haybox fascinating. The adults in this book (including the parents) were an odd bunch. If I were Sue, I think I‘d be put off a conventional life/future as wife and mother after this!

Loved it!

A pick, but I didn‘t enjoy it quite as much as I thought I would. This falls in the middle of the bunch for me. I liked it more than Butter and All Fours, but not nearly as much as Clear and James. On to Bear! #CampLitsy24

Mixed feelings. Probably between so-so and a pick for me. I wonder if I‘ll lean more one way or the other after our book club discussion this evening. I was mostly enjoying the first half (the fish out of water stuff was fun), but the romance not so much. And the writing was a bit off-putting—lots of odd/clunky similes and metaphors.

I‘m hoping it was worth reading just for the fact that it led me to these two other books! #BOTM

Just wow. One of the best graphic memoirs I‘ve ever read. Not to be missed!

#BOTM delivery on this dark, rainy Monday. I wasn‘t overly excited about the August choices, but thought these two were worth a try. And fun that they threw in a free short story (by Abby Geni)!

The second part of my Booker longlist order. Now I just need some time to read! #Booker2024

I‘ve been so bad about posting reviews lately (see my profile page for link to my goodreads if you want to follow everything I‘m reading), but I‘ve been so good (or maybe bad?) at acquiring new books.

Very appealing Booker longlist this year! This is the first of two orders I placed the day it was announced. I‘d already read and loved James and had Wandering Stars waiting on my shelves. Can‘t wait to dive in!#Booker2024

Totally gripping and absolutely terrifying!

Really good. I had high hopes after loving Long Bright River and this did not disappoint. #BOTM

#bookhaul Part 3

#bookhaul Part 2

#bookhaul Part 1

Went a little crazy with the book buying this month!

So nice and heartwarming. I‘ll be reaching for the sequel, The Power of Cake, when I next need my spirits lifted.

#NunLitQuarterly

Gentle, amusing, filled with delightfully eccentric characters. Quite enjoyed my visit to the 1950s village of Goatstock where ladies wear proper hats and aged animals are cared for.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

July #BOTM box arrived today 💙 Great options this month!

What a great read! Tore through it. #CampLitsy24

Enjoyed my bookstore visit today. So excited for all of these! #bookhaul

This was a real slog for me. Would not recommend. Happy to have finally finished! #CampLitsy24

Not for me. Had a feeling it wouldn‘t be, but wanted to give it a try just in case. #CampLitsy24

Now I have to decide if I want to push on with Butter. I‘m at the 120 page mark and not enjoying it all that much. And it‘s quite long! Kind of surprised since I tend to really like Japanese lit. 🤔

#NunLitQuarterly 🔔 July 2024 reminder 🔔

Dear Sisters,

Our next pick is the “gentle, funny, feel-good” epistolary novel Best Wishes, Sister B by Fran Smith. Read the book sometime in July, post your review &/or any thoughts along the way and be sure to tag the group.

All are welcome!

Delightful read! Sweet, charming, funny. Though a different time and place, it reminded me a bit of the play/movie Barefoot in the Park.

#PersephoneClub

This was a good one! Loved getting to know the residents of Dalton, Maine. Just ordinary people living ordinary lives. So glad we‘ll be getting more of them in Bowring‘s next book (out Sept 3) Where the Forest Meets the River.

I agree with the Anne Tyler, Mary Lawson and Richard Russo comparisons. I also think if you like Kent Haruf you might really enjoy this.

#EuropaCollective

Finished a bit early since I‘ve got a busy week ahead. I so enjoyed my time with this novel. Such a rich reading experience. Kind of sad to say goodbye to these characters after 1349 pages. Tackling one part each week was just perfect. Thanks so much to @Lindy for hosting and the rest of the #SuitableBoy2024 gang!

June #BOTM has arrived! Just went for the thrills this month.

Gosh, this was good! I just love her writing style. Penelope Lively says “saying most by saying least” is what Davies does best and I couldn‘t agree more.

#CampLitsy24

Really enjoyed this. Had me planning my next art museum visit. #WomensPrizeNF

#EuropaCollective ✨June 2024✨ REMINDER

Hiya Collective!

Our next read, a debut, takes us to 1990 small-town Maine. One reviewer said that Bowring is “operating in Richard Russo and Anne Tyler territory.” High praise!

Read the book sometime in June, post your review &/or any thoughts along the way and be sure to tag the group.

All are welcome!

Restless indeed! I thought this was terrific. Captivating and heartfelt historical fiction inspired by the life of Grenville‘s maternal grandmother. Now I‘m very interested to read One Life: My Mother‘s Story, nonfiction about her mother Nance.

#WomensPrize

Enjoyed the heck out of this horror debut! Thrilling, culty, creepy. I look forward to whatever he writes next.

Entertaining, personal, nostalgic trip through the tunes of the ‘90s.

Inspiring graphic memoir.