Thank you so much to my secret santa #santathing 🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄🎅
All three books sound great so can't wait to dive in.

I've been AWOL from Litsy for months as I've been at the bottom of a HUGE reading slump, but have kept the pages turning whilst I've been away. 86 books read this year and am hoping 2020 will be a better reading year.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays Littens! Hope Santa brings everything you wish for xxxx

@jhod I'm so sorry - my horrendous book slump has caused me to forget about sending you the next installment of #whodunituk. I'm so so sorry. I promise (hand on heart) that I'll post it on Monday.
I also want to apologise to @Christine11 and @RachelO because I can't commit to another round of #LMPBC.
And if anyone finds my reading mojo, please send it to me. I'm feeling kind of lost without it 😭😭

I am at the bottom of a mahoosive reading abyss and just can't seem to drag myself out of it. 😫😫😫

I look at my bookshelves and have no desire to pick up any book and begin reading. What is WRONG with me???

A hauntingly, heartbreakingly beautiful story. The writing is atmospheric, evocative, bleak and very, very dark in places and the translator has done a superb job. This is a stand out Scandi-noir novel. One of my favourites of 2019 so far. 5🌟

Read via the Pigeonhole app.

A brilliant, engaging account of an epic adventure along the 1300km Kwanza river, by kayak and by foot. This has everything you could want; enough background and history to bring context to the modern day, recounts of the preparations for the journey, which makes the failings throughout that little bit funnier (dodgy tents and fake leather Italian loafers!!), rogue hippos and even more rogue police and bureau officials.

5🌟 Read via Pigeonhole.

Fast paced, heart stopping, twists and turns. Everything you want from a good thriller, along with characters that grab ahold and don't let go.

A fine example of the genre.

4🌟

#Pigeonhole #LitsyAtoZ #F

My current reads :

1 #whodunitUK - The Escape
1 audiobook - The Angel of Darkness
2 #Pigeonhole - Freefall and Kayak the Kwanza
1 #MountTBR - Why I'm No Longer ....

A great read tackling the emotive issue of organ donation and transplantation. A young woman with everything to live for suffers a near fatal heart attack and needs a heart transplant to prolong her life. Cue a major lifestyle change and the revelation that fate had something else in store for her.
This is an extremely powerful book that delivers a very important message - but not in a preachy way.

4🌟

#Pigeonhole

Oh no, no, no. As per usual these days, a formulaic psychological thriller with extreme plot twists, unreliable female narrator (why are they always FEMALE??), a whole host of unlikeable characters and bad people doing bad things.
If this is your bag - go for it because you'll LOVE it. If you're after something a little bit more original then read something else.

#Pigeonhole
#lifestooshortforbadbooks

Some beautiful poems in this short, little book.

"There are flowers in your chest: water them, with love, with laughter, with believing in yourself in spite of the voices in your head that tell you that you are not enough.
There are flowers in your chest: make a garden of the world, with your words, with your breath."

Only picked this up because of the cover and title. Stunning in its simplicity.

4?

Read this in part via #Audible and also by my physical copy of the book. This had been on my TBR shelf for just over a year and I'm so glad I got around to reading it. All at once, it is heartbreaking and laugh out loud funny - the audio in particular was fantastic as the narrator brought all the characters to life so successfully that I think my enjoyment of the book was enhanced by listening. This will definitely be one of my top books of 2019.

Gritty, realistic, frenetic but above all, authentic.
This story follows Ryan, a 15 year old small-scale drug runner, who becomes a part of something much, much bigger when his best friend is stabbed to death on Gallowstree Lane.
It is fast paced and though told from multiple POVs, it is not confusing. The writing is concise, extremely believable and topical.
4🌟

Hmmmm ..... light hearted fluff.

3🌟

#Pigeonhole #52in52-2019 #publishedin2019 #popsugar2019 #aboutafamily #LitsyAtoZ #K

This is very powerful account of growing up as an autistic young person who, while trying to understand and cope as a 'neuroatypical', also identifies as a girl, despite being born male. Her voice is so authentic and at times, it is very hard to read as Dale is honest about her struggles, both mentally and physically. But this should be a compulsory read for anyone who wishes to bring some humanity and compassion 👇👇👇.

Oh no no no no no.
This just wasn't for me at all; I couldn't even bring myself to read it all. Bailed at 34%.
Full of angst and screaming WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME????
This is poetry for the self absorbed, selfie taking, social media obsessed generation.

#NetGalley #1stbailof2019 #DNF

Forgot pics but @Christine11 your next #LMPBC book is winging its way to you and @jhod the same can be said for the next #whodunituk book.

#HappyReading

This was simply brilliant - Billy's love story to Scotland. Made more poignant by his honesty about Parkinson's Disease and how it affects him.
Gordon Kennedy narrates the audio and is he perfect choice, a couple of times, I almost forgot that it wasn't actually Billy speaking. Glimpses of comedy gold throughout.
A sure fire 5🌟 end to January.

#52in52-2019 #strongsenseofplace #popsugar2019 #bookbyamusician

I am gutted that I've finished the series 😞😞

Want to go back to the beginning and read them all again.

Snape 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I got so emotional reading that part.

I'm giving this 5 shiny Swords of Gryffindor 🗡🗡🗡🗡🗡

#52in52-2019 #book2relatedtosametopicgenretheme #popsugar2019 #inspiredcommonphraseoridiom
#afterallthistime #always
#LitsyAtoZ #H

I love love love the cover of this NetGalley ARC. Reading out of my comfort zone with more poetry.

#NetGalley #Poetry #whatbecomesofthebrokenhearted

Worth every millisecond of the 27 hour, 15 minute audiobook. I have so much love for this book, and so much admiration for the three women whom the story revolves around. It's extremely hard to read (or listen to!) in places, as the hardship, abuse and torture experienced is just diabolical and it's hard to believe that this is not fiction but actual fact.
A definite 5🌟
#52in52-2019 #multigenerationalsaga #popsugar2019 #asianauthor #LitsyAtoZ #C

Inspired by our binge watching of the films over the last week (Deathly Hallows Part 2 this evening), I am going back to Hogwarts for the last two books in the series. Intended to read the whole series last year but never got around to the last two so it's now time to rectify that. I don't know if I've ever been so excited to start a book 🤗🤗🤗

Great artwork, intriguing premise, hard to follow ... and not my cup of tea. But extremely quick to read, on Kindle Unlimited so essentially free, and fulfilled prompts for 4, yes 4!, challenges. 3🌟

#52in52-2019 #somethingnew (My first ever comic read) #popsugar2019 #anownvoicesbook #ReadHarder2019 #comicbyanLGBTQIAcreator #LitsyAtoZ #W

Beautiful, elegant, effortless... that is all.

I don't usually read poetry but this short collection was simply stunning. 5🌟

#52in52-2019 #mostlyblackcover #ReadHarder2019 #collectionofpoetrypublishedsince2014

My favourite kind of Saturday afternoon - tea, chocolate and #LMPBC book. Bliss.

#unpopularopinion

OMG - overlong. Like seriously, get over yourself and get on with it. I stuck with it because there is so much love for it ... and the denouement was good ... but it wasn't worth the slog it took to get there. A blatant reminder of why I don't like fantasy.

2🌟

#52in52-2019 #NYPLstaffpicklist #popsugar2019 #imaginarycreature #fairy #LitsyAtoZ #M

@RachelO - before I jump the gun completely and assume that something is mine (I have done it before), would you confirm if the book sleeve is mine to keep? It is really the most beautiful 'William Morris' inspired material (and I just LOVE William Morris) and I would be absolutely thrilled to own it - but I don't want to get too excited if it goes with the book.
Although, just to add, I am excited to read this book!

#LMPBC @jhod choice.

@Christine11 - I apologise for the delay in getting this next #LMPBC book to you. The two week Christmas/New Year break really broke my reading schedule. This will be in the post to you today.

Thank you @RachelO for sharing your choice.

#LMPBC #52in52-2019 #FarEastAsianauthor #popsugar2019 #amateurdetective #ReadHarder #cosymystery #LitsyAtoZ #Y

Finally been and collected the last of my Christmas book haul. Despite being told on numerous occasions last year that I had more than enough books, they still made up the majority of my presents, along with book vouchers, a bookish cushion and an 'I'd rather be reading' t-shirt.
One of my challenges this year is to not buy books until I have read the majority of the ones I own. Whose bright idea was that??

#christmasbookhaul #dontblameme

This was one that, despite being entertaining and engaging, didn't live up to the hype. It had the potential to be so much more. #unpopularopinion
But it was a quick read and ticked off prompts in two challenges.

#Pigeonhole #52in52-2019 #weirdorintriguingtitle #popsugar2019 #debutnovel #LitsyAtoZ #2of26

Didn't think this could live up to the hype ... but it surely did.
With its cast of completely likeable, if not lovable, characters, this had me smiling, laughing and crying along with them. It warmed the cockles of my heart 😊❤
An easy 5🌟

#Audible #52in52-2019 #popsugar2019 #readharder2019 #LitsyAtoZ

What an absolutely stonking start to my 2019 reading, with this historical fiction set in Sweden in the late 18th Century. Character, setting and writing are all so well done, and it's pace, although leisurely in some parts, kept me hòoked. My first read of 2019 and it's 5🌟 from me!

#NetGalley #ARC #52in52-2019 #prompt42 #popsugar2019 #setinScandinavia

Current reads as we reach the end of 2018. Don't think I'll get any of these finished before we ring in 2019 but I'm hopeful 😊😊

#currentreads #needtospendmoretimereading #LMPBC #whodunituk #Pigeonhole #NetGalley #Audible

WHAT'S IN THE GODDAMN BOX?????

This is an absolute car crash of a book, in every which way. It's violent, gory, more than a little disturbing, you're never quite sure what has happened, what is happening and what is going to happen ... and yet you can't tear your eyes away! Even at the end, I'm still not entirely sure WHAT WAS IN THE GODDAMN BOX!!!
A short, quick read but with too many typos and grammatical errors.
3🌟

I have so many thoughts and feelings about this book, and I still cannot completely and adequately put those thoughts and feelings into words, but suffice to say, this book should be compulsory reading material for every member of the human race. That is all.
5🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks to #NetGalley for the copy but no thanks to life for getting in the way of me reading this earlier

I saw an ad on Facebook this week for 'A Box of Stories', essentially £10 for 5 completely random books (all new). I took a chance and ordered them, they arrived today and I'm pleasantly surprised. Don't think I would have picked any of them up from a bookshop but there's only one of them that I don't think I'll read (Girl on the Net - not my cup of tea at all). Not a bad bookhaul really for £10. Happy Christmas to me!! 😊😊😊

A delightful story about an old man who, found wanting of Christmas spirit, takes up a friend's suggestion to hire some children for the Christmas holidays to inject some life and laughter into his quiet, lonesome world. What follows is a truly wonderful, albeit a little predictable, tale of the true meaning of Christmas. This was a free download on Audible and you would be a fool to miss out. It was an absolute pleasure to listen to this.
5🌟

Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.
Poo-tee-weet.
So it goes.

What the hell have I just read??? This was so far beyond absurd, I'm not even sure I can form a valid opinion of it. Even James Franco seemed to have plenty of WTAF moments while performing the audiobook version!
No, no, no ... this was not for me.

At once, a superb blend of historical fact and fiction, we follow exceptionally well developed characters in a novel where the writing and imagery is as delicate and elegant as the porcelain whose history we are examining.
A must read for any fan of historical fiction. 5🌟

#Pigeonhole #NancyBilyeau

Really charming memoir by a British ex-pat who emigrated first to Australia then settled with her family in Tasmania. The writing is eloquent and frequently funny and makes this a very easy, entertaining read.

4 🌟

#Pigeonhole #FionaStocker

This is simply outstanding. I loved every second of this audiobook, although certain parts were heart breaking to listen to, and included vivid descriptions of abuse and rape. I came away from it with nothing but respect and admiration for Sandra Pankhurst - she is one hell of a woman!
5 squeaky clean, bright golden stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

A truly lovely read with captivating characters and depictions of London during the Blitz that are so realistic, it's almost like you are experiencing it with the characters.
An absolute treat .... just in time for Christmas 😊
🎵5 gold stars🎵 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Feel like I've missed out on something here - just 'meh'. Don't know whether it was just the wrong time for me to audiobook this but I just wasn't feeling it at all.

Families - you can't live with them, you can't live without them. That is, in a nutshell, what this story is all about. Despite a mother with mental health issues and a peculiar brother, whose suicide is the crux around which the rest of the story revolves, it is essentially an exploration of the depth of guilt, animosity but above all else, love shared by family members.
'You are all pebbles from the same beach
4🌟 for audiobook version

A rollicking romp through a plague-filled London. Slightly overlong, I would've struggled with the physical book, but the narrator of the audiobook (Napoleon Ryan, if you please!) was so fantastic that even the more boring parts were entertaining enough!!
🌟🌟🌟🌟

1968: a Russian boy escapes from the Soviet Union on a boat, after the KGB murders his father. The timeline splits at this point - one boat heads to America and the other to England. We follow the dual timelines of Alex/Sasha through 3 decades until the final denoument back in Saint Petersburg.
This was a gripping story with great characters and, at times, very clever writing, but the ending was a total cop out and very dissatisfying. 🌟🌟🌟

Very powerful and poignant story (with some quite graphic descriptions of abortion - trigger warning) but the reverse timeline was too much of a distraction for me. Although it became clear at the end why this narrative was required, I think the revelations could have been dealt with in a different way, that wouldn't prove a hindrance to the story. Despite that, a 🌟🌟🌟🌟 read. Not quite classic Picoult but well worth a read.

@jhod @Christine11 @RachelO

I've missed the sign up for round 4 of the #LMPBC and from the looks of it, none of you have signed up either. If you missed the notification, would you like to do another round with the four of us? I really enjoy this as I end up reading books that I would otherwise not look at.
If you're not bothered, don't worry. It was just an idea as I was gutted when I realised I'd missed out 😥😥

Started this yesterday on Audible and Will Patton is a phenomenal narrator. I'm LOVING this Shining sequel.

Why o why have I not read this book before? 42 years old and I'm in love with a children's book 💖💖

#Pigeonhole #secretgarden #betterlatethannever

An engaging enough story but with some major, MAJOR flaws, and an ending that was a complete cop out. My opinion: a poor man's Da Vinci Code / Angels and Demons.
🌟🌟 only - and that's being generous.

#Pigeonhole