This was brilliant.

A creepy suspense novel set in a hotel in Luxor. Starts innocent enough and then gets dark really fast, approaching psychological horror.

The protagonist is a woman in her 80s who has been hotel hopping and meddling in others' beeswax since the death of her husband. SHE IS ABOUT TO MEET HER NEMESIS.

Highsmithian was right. This was right up my street.

@Prairiegirl_reading Also cosy fantasy plans ahead........

@Prairiegirl_reading This isn't the whole lot, but I have something of a collection of Japanese and Korean cosy healing fiction... my plan is to read the lot and make a video about which are best... it may take a while though hehe

Read books. Be kind. Stay weird.

Also cake.

A slow-paced, contemplative novel about life running a bookshop. We meet various characters and discover the roots of their hopes, wistfulness and melancholy.

More vibes than plot, this was nonetheless a cosy read.

A major theme was work and the way it can both drain or enrich a life.

A sweet, gently philosophical read that celebrates books and coffee.

Clayton Stumper turned up in a hatbox on the fellowship's front porch as a baby. Instead of actually having a heart-to-heart with him before her death, his mother Pippa sets him a treasure hunt to unravel his past. Maybe she just thought he could do with getting some fresh air?

Adorable, but a little boring. If you like low stakes and very little plot, this was a fun meander. Wholesome, but I generally need more meat to sustain my interest.

https://youtu.be/Lp9ZLO-1nSw?feature=shared

Women's Prize Longlist 2025 has been announced! Here's my reactions and thoughts...

https://youtu.be/7xvHgxRPXt4?feature=shared

Probably should have waited until morning to upload, but I'm impatient! Haha.

Female authors for the TBR 🔥🔥🔥🔥💕💕💕💕

When your human cushion stands up but you weren't finished using them.

#catsoflitsy #picklescat

https://youtu.be/Yp4nmwyEP5k?feature=shared

Made a video about the International Booker Prize Longlist which was announced yesterday.

The two books I'm most excited to read are Hunchback and Solenoid, but there are so many books on this list that have intrigued me!

Check it out 😊

While at times this was a bit cringe and at other times tonally jarring, the world still needs more of this sort of thing, and so I'm rounding up to 4 stars!

Voyage of the Damned is a fantasy murder mystery set on a boat. Characters from 12 different provinces (that seem to be based off Crash Bandicoot levels) are off on a pilgrimage, and it's not long before they start getting butchered.

Fun, violent & cheesy with an overall positive message.

I love the new bag design! 😊

https://youtu.be/UARJ-hx2zso?feature=shared

Check out my saltiest video yet.
Over 30 minutes of ranting about books.
I am exhausted 😅😅

This was poetic and lovely but also made me feel like I can't read.

Once she even switched POV mid-sentence.

It's like Sylvia Plath and Charles Dickens had a baby prose-wise.

Timescale-wise, this is not technically possible. I checked.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DeWitt's debut was grim and grotty.

If you like books where people take lots of drugs and alcohol and poop themselves - and you've already read Trainspotting - then this might be for you, but it wasn't really my cup of tea.

Reasonable writing, but no redeemable characters and written in the second person, which should never be attempted.

Read his other stuff instead.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have flu and I am not coping.

Only managing to read about a chapter at a time.

Can't even get to the shop to buy more Lucozade and chocolate milk.

Please send sympathy addressed to Rae Towers.

😵😵😵😵😵😵

And we have another new arrival @mojopie 💕💕💕

Please welcome Eilise too! 😊

Picture of Pickles, just because 😁

EVERYONE! Give a warm Litsy welcome to my friend Laura! @emo_baggins 💕💕💕

This is her cat Fang who is the sweetest boy!

Also, she runs a bookshop, and is therefore awesome.

She heard that a few of you haven't been enjoying The Blade Itself but I promise she's not here to make trouble........

😶‍🌫️🍿🍿🍿

Rae's number one rule of how not to be pretentious when writing a novel is:

NEVER use the second person!

Someone should probably also tell Rae that referring to oneself in the third person can be just as annoying 🤣🤣

I'm not sure if this is a difficult book to read or if I'm just really poorly 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣

New favourite book!

Don't watch the video unless you've already read it (major spoilers!):

https://youtu.be/riYGi8zxB0Y?feature=shared

ALL THE STARS!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

January wrap up

https://youtu.be/ZhNwjswtHds?feature=shared

A heartbreaking, vulnerable, raw, intimate, powerful piece of writing.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

THOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!

#catsoflitsy #picklescat

I just spent over an hour writing down my thoughts on Goodreads if you want to know what I thought in full, but in short:

This was a spectacular piece of writing about infatuation, obsession, misery, loneliness, emptiness, selfishness, relationships, & staring into the void.

Having said that, the MC is a toxic, judgemental, superficial narcissist who behaves in some truly unforgiveable ways.

And I'm not sure it was intentional.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://youtu.be/Up09ywcvGYQ?feature=shared

Building my 2025 TBR video 😊

Reading with my emotional support pear 🤣

Smol furry tyrant 💕💕

#picklescat #catsoflitsy

If you're looking for a book to get more people on board with current social justice discourse, this is not the one.

There's certainly lots of food for thought and I agree with most of what's being said, but there isn't enough empathy with opposing views to truly build a bridge.

Ironically, I found Shahvisi a lot more convincing in later chapters when she loses some of the certainty and allows more nuance into her arguments.

Also, cake!

There's no copyright on plots, but nicking a good one can still have consequences... Jacob Finch Bonner is about to be massively inconvenienced.

This is a slow paced thriller that didn't quite manage to build enough claustrophobic dread and tension to make it worth my while.

Also the premise relies on "The Plot" being truly original and mind blowing, and it just... wasn't all that.

Not a bad read, but... unsatisfying.

Look who I met again! 💕💕💕💕

Read this book everyone!

Please don't break my heart, book! 😇🩵

https://youtu.be/VrZKST6vl0g?feature=shared

Made a video about representations of mental health conditions in fiction.

This fantasy murder mystery gets the Rae stamp of approval!

Din and Ana are great characters and this book works as both a mystery and fantasy read.

Fungalpunk detective noir!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Look who misses me 🥹🥹💕💕

#picklescat #catsoflitsy

The best versions 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Flatlay Friday!!!!
#flatlayfriday

Some recent acquisitions...

Grasby is back with another unnecessarily convoluted murder mystery.

As with the last one, I couldn't actually tell you who did the actual murdering. It was clear as mud what was happening by the end.

And yet, I really enjoy these because Grasby is such a character. They are genuinely entertaining.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://youtu.be/a_WvQb9ED4I?feature=shared

My Top 10 Reads of 2024!

#roll100 for 2025
Let's do this!!!!!!!!!

First picks are:

Divided, The Pisces, and The Memory Police

Thank you all for your kind words 💕💕 I truly appreciate it.
Have finally managed to distract my phone into letting me download the Litsy app. 🤗🤗🤗
Grandma Eunice was a big reader. She liked her murder mysteries a bit more brutal than I do. For such a sweet person, she really did show a concerning interest in serial killers 😂
I'm reading the second Frank Grasby at the moment. It's farcical and joyous.

Today we said goodbye to the most wonderful Grandma I could ever have asked for.

Goodbye, Grandma Eunice. We all loved you so very very much 🩵

Quietly touching.

A mother tells her daughters about dating a famous movie star (before he became a star.)

Usually, this kind of slow-paced, deliberately heartwarming, nostalgic type of storytelling is not for me. I steer away from the saccharine.

Ann Patchett creates a wonderful sense of place, her characters are believable, and her writing is lovely.

By the end, I did have an emotional response and it wasn't the one I was expecting.

My new phone won't let me download the Litsy app. Even when I disabled all sorts of security. This is going to make it really difficult to keep up on here 😢

I'll keep trying to get things sorted out, but in case I don't manage it, this is my Insta - https://www.instagram.com/rae.lovestoread/profilecard/?igsh=ejE1a3BrNHB4OGlt

And obviously I'm RaeLovesToRead on YouTube and I have Goodreads too - will post below 💙

Got my #Christmas Crime challenge underway!

M = Mansion (The 31 Doors by Kate Hulme)
A = Agatha Christie (And Then There Were None)

Surprisingly similar concepts! 😅

Reading this directly after And Then There Were None was probably a mistake.

The Thirty-One Doors was far too complicated. Everything from the plot to the house lay-out needed simplifying.

It was atmospheric, with decent writing and lots of good ideas, but it needed a fair amount of smoothing out, because now I have a headache!

The quirky house locked door murder mystery with a creep factor genre is my thing, but this was hard work to read.

#flatlayfriday once more! I'm at Gladstones reading murder mysteries 🔍

Masterful.

Up there with Roger Ackroyd.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This hefty and magical work of literary fantasy is a masterpiece.

Full of atmospheric moments, superior world building, gorgeous prose, and wry Georgian character, Norrell and Strange exudes quality from every pore.

Unarguably a slow burn, this book will linger in the mind long after reading.

I hit a massive reading slump around page 700, but it picked up again by the end, and I will never forget Norrell or Strange in all their eccentricity!

Guess who's back? Back again. Rae is back. Tell a friend.

💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕