Congratulations to the author of this month‘s #europacollective book!
Perfect timing! 😃
I‘m just about to start this and looking forward to it after other Littens‘ reviews thus far.
pickToo much work means I‘m too tired to read much. I am reading some great books but they‘re all rather concentrate-y and lack of brain-space means I‘m flicking through magazines or vacantly watching TV.
This, however, grabbed me from the start and I flew through it. It‘s certainly not a ‘fluffy‘ read though, covering 3 sisters who endured an abusive foster home and now, many years later, hear that a body had been found at the house.
pickMei is the titular mongrel - a child of a Japanese mother, who she loses when she‘s just six, and a white father. Yuki leaves Japan to study music in London and falls in love with her older teacher. Haruka works as a hostess in Tokyo‘s sex district.
I loved this tangle of narratives and couldn‘t put it down at times.
If you liked #womensprize nominee River East, River West then I think you‘ll like this too. For me, this one is slightly better.
pickI‘ve been on the fence about this, but the author is at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in July and I‘m trying to read as many authors as I can before I go.
It was the AI Detective in this that was putting me off, and to start with it made the book feel quite YA, with it being a hologram. After a while though, the twisty storyline overtook that element, and the AI became less ‘obvious‘.
There is a sequel, which I now think I‘ll read.
We were supposed to be going away today for a few days camping, but there is a weather warning for torrential rain for all 3 days we were planning to be away. A tiny campervan and a wet Labrador don‘t really mix so we cancelled.
Went to the shops instead! The Alternatives is for #camplitsy of course! I‘m going to re-read Brooklyn before Long Island. TM Logan is one of the authors at the Harrogate Crimewriting Festival in July.
Hey, #europacollective Littens - this looks great! And it‘s free!
Hopefully the link below works:
https://www.bookpassage.com/event/anne-berest-postcard-online
Unfortunately the timing doesn‘t work for me (it‘s way past my bedtime here in the UK!) but hopefully some of you can make it.
mcctrish, Caryl, GatheringBooks, tpixie, kspenmoll, Gleefulreader, LeahBergen, TheBookDream, DrexEdit, Sapphire, TheKidUpstairs, Aimeesue, TrishB, Deblovestoread, charl08, Adventures-of-a-French-Reader, Tamra, lauraisntwilder, Chelsea.Poole, Cathythoughts, BarbaraBB, jlhammar, CSeydel, Sparklemn, JuniperWilde, AllDebooks
pickYet another fabulous Kim Stone book from Ms Marsons. I always think there‘s got to come a time when one book isn‘t as good as the previous one, but they‘re always better.
This one is particularly twisty-turny, in both the cases featured. The titular storyline concerns young girls competing in beauty pageants and, of course, anything to do with mothering brings up issues for Kim.
Published at the end of the month.
#netgalley #guiltymothers
pickWe‘ve been watching the Netflix series Homicide: NewYork, which features Butcher in her role as a Death Investigator in the city and hubby said ‘I bet she could write a good book‘. So of course, I looked it up!
This is a tough read, covering some very gruesome discoveries and 9/11, as well as the author‘s own mental health struggles, but I flew through it in a couple of hours. Highly recommended, if you‘re not squeamish.
pickThis is a collection of over 50 short stories and poems, by women from various #readingoceania24 countries, including #newzealand, #fiji, #tonga, #papuanewguinea and, the one I‘m going for, #samoa.
Thank you so much for sending this to me Holly @Hooked_on_books - I really enjoyed it and also felt like I‘d learned a lot about the different cultures. I did prefer the more ‘modern‘ storytelling rather than the fables but there was a great mix.
pickOn the face of it, the blurb of this book made me think I wouldn‘t like it, but I was also weirdly drawn to it. I thought, as it‘s a library book, I could bail (me, bail?! Ha!) but I ended up loving it.
The MC, Cyrus, is a recovering alcoholic who decides to write a book about martyrs and spends time talking to an artist whose last installation is her dying days in the Brooklyn Museum. I loved Cyrus, despite and because of all his weirdness. ❤️
pickThanks for putting this on my radar @Megabooks - I loved it!
This time the author looks at the biases caused by our own over-thinking brains, particularly in this social-media obsessed age. Although I don‘t do that much social media, I do more than my fair share of over-thinking so I felt very seen, and also very re-assured.
As usual, I loved the author‘s narration on the audio.
pickI loved this, and it may even make my top picks of the year.
I couldn‘t imagine that a book about a woman giving up life to live in a convent retreat would be very interesting and, really, not much happens but I still adored it and didn‘t want it to end.
This is the first book I‘ve read by this author and I definitely want to read more - luckily the friend that gave me this one also gave me another, although she didn‘t think it was as good.
pickA rather intriguing style, with unreliable narrators and unfinished sentences. I rather enjoyed trying to decipher the audio recording, written as heard so you almost had to read it aloud.
I think the reason that I liked it, not loved it, was there was too much going on. I really enjoyed learning about the protagonists‘ weird relationships, but the background plot on the island itself felt like a step too far. (Trying not to give spoilers! 🤪)
pickI liked this but, like @TrishB , I didn‘t love it as much as I thought I would.
Even before I started it, I felt like the premise was very similar to Audrey Magee‘s The Colony. Although some of the writing was beautiful, the story fell far short of Magee‘s book. For me, there was little tension in comparison and there were a few points where there was a disconnect in the story - even the whale itself didn‘t quite draw everything together.
After announcing the 6 fabulous books for #camplitsy24, Meg, Barbara and I thought you might like to see the 10 books that ‘nearly‘ made the list. (In no particular order)
James was by far our runaway winner, with 4 in 10 Littens voting for it. Next were Bear and Clear, with around a quarter of you voting for each one.
The other 3 winning books gained just a few more votes than these 10, so a close-run race!
We‘d love to hear your thoughts!
Two books given to me by a friend / neighbour. Stone Yard is brand new - she loved it but ‘never keeps books‘. Great for me! 😃
That inspired her to get the other book, which she found rather depressing and didn‘t enjoy as much, but it‘s a free book, so….
(We did just give them our barely-used travel crate for their new puppy so a fair exchange I think! ☺️)
Bought this on Saturday morning at The Stripey Badger bookshop in the Yorkshire Dales but couldn‘t post about it until now, for two reasons:
1. To celebrate #camplitsy24 launch weekend, we actually went camping and had no phone or Wi-Fi signal.
2. Can you imagine if I (as a camp host!) had actually posted this longlisted book yesterday before most of the camp books were revealed?! There would have been rioting in bookshops around the world! 🤣🤣
I‘m thrilled to be hosting your August #camplitsy24 books!
First, we‘ll be heading off to Ireland to read about 4 gifted sisters in The Alternatives, then heading to the Pacific Northwest to read Bear, which was our second most voted for book, after James.
We‘ll confirm all of the dates for each book shortly.
That‘s all 6 books revealed now, what do you think of our final two, and of the full selection for camp? 🏕️
Here‘s my #womensprize shortlist, in approx order, although I can‘t choose between the first two.
I have to say I‘m slightly disappointed in the longlist this year. Usually there are at least 5 / 6 books that would make it onto my personal favourites list for that year - this year only 2. (Defence and Brotherless Night)
I‘m not a completist, as I bailed on The Blue Beautiful World, which means it will make the shortlist, along with Hangman! 🤣
LeeRHarry, Deblovestoread, Leniverse, charl08, rmaclean4, BarbaraBB, jlhammar, ChaoticMissAdventures
pickThis is one of those books that you feel you can‘t say you loved, because of the subject matter (suicide). But I did love it.
It‘s very dark but also darkly humorous in places. Looking back on it now I can also see a sense of hope there too.
I can‘t wait to what this author writes next.
#womensprize
Looking forward to celebrating with our May birthday babies soon!
If you‘d like to be added to the list to receive #birthdaylove on your special day, just email your Litsy name and birthday to litsybirthdays@gmail.com and the Birthday Fairies will do the rest!
🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚🎉📚
I‘m so excited that we‘ve launched #camplitsy24 - here are my 4 nominations.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else picks, and to my TBR list growing exponentially!
If #camplitsy24 is new to you, take a look at @BarbaraBB ‘s post from earlier today and make your own 4 nominations. We‘ll then all vote for 6 books from the long list and discuss them throughout the summer here on Litsy.
pickThe next book, after Water, in the ‘four elements‘ set by John Boyne.
This one, about a gay footballer caught up in a sexual assault scandal with a 19-year old girl, is as compelling as the first book. I couldn‘t put it down and read it in one sitting (it is only short though!)
There was one bit that just seemed a bit OTT! But then what do I know about this murky tabloid world?! Be interested to hear what others think…
Out 18th April in UK.
pickA lovely book, about what lessons we can learn from the books taught in the UK school system.
Many of the books were ones I *hadn‘t* studied, or even read so, beware, this book if full of spoilers!
I really liked that though - the plot spoilers and the author‘s explanations and analysis drew me to the books and made me want to read them all!
#netgalley Published last week in the UK
Just arrived in Manchester ahead of the Percival Everett author event this evening.
Meeting @TrishB and @Oryx later - currently having a lovely lunch in The Portico Library cafe. (Sweet potato, peanut and chilli soup) 😋
The library itself is over 200 years old - most of the books are ‘out of bounds‘ but still wonderful to sit amongst them.
pickI rather liked this #womensprize long lister to start with….but then the perspective changed to a second-person narrative, the chronology jumped (I think?) and it all got a bit magical-realism.
On reading GR reviews, this seemed to confuse other reviewers too, but then they all said it came together at the end. 🤔 Well, it didn‘t for me so please can someone who‘s read it let me know what on earth went on?! 🫤 (In spoilers below please!) 🙏
pickClearly this is a tough subject to read about (a primary school shooting) but it‘s more about the aftermath than the event itself.
Was Marty actually in the hall at the time - was she running to escape or was she running towards the school? And what effect will all the truthers and conspiracy theorists have on the village?
It‘s a very similar style to Girl A - quite steady with a slow reveal rather than twisty-turny edge of your seat stuff.
These are my choices for the Women‘s Prize for NF short list. TBH, I‘ve liked everything I‘ve read, but these just edge it. I don‘t think they‘ll all be in the actual shortlist, as I‘ve included 3 memoirs.
I‘ve hibernated 2 - VC and Britannias and haven‘t yet read enough of Shadows and Young Queens to include them in my list but I‘ll continue on regardless with those two, even if they don‘t make the shortlist.
Not so much of a big win in today‘s LitsyToB24 semi-final - 60/40 in favour of Wellness.
The Rachel Incident has been storming through the brackets up until now, but appears to have finally met its match in Wellness. Which did you vote for and are you sorry to see Rachel go?
Look out later today, when Barbara will be posting the results of our zombie 🧟♀️ votes - who will Wellness go up against?! 🤔
bailedIt‘s official…I‘m going to be a non-completist of this year‘s #womensprize for fiction!
The first 20% of this was OK then it lost me completely. I looked it up on GR to see if I could glean any clues, only to learn that it‘s book 3 in a series. (Although some called it a ‘companion piece‘ not a sequel and others said it stood alone just as easily).
I also read that there was a glossary of characters in the back so I thought that might be ⬇️
Hello, fellow #LitsyToB24 Littens! We‘re getting close to the end now…Today‘s semi-final result is a clear win for Hello Beautiful, with 75% of the vote.
I‘m sure this is what most of us expected, or are you surprised by this result? Tomorrow we‘ll find out the other semi-final result, along with which Zombie this one will go up against. Which Zombie are you hoping for to go up against HB, or should that be which do you hope HASN‘T been picked?!
pickI chose to read this #womensprize nominee next as I didn‘t think I‘d like it, and I‘m saving the ‘better‘ books for later… 🤪
I haven‘t read any of Enright‘s other work, but I understand that women‘s intergenerational trauma is a theme in her writing. This book also includes a male POV as we hear from an impoverished poet who abandons his family, his daughter Carmel, and her daughter Nell.
Won‘t be my fave on the list but better than expected!
Went out last week to an Indian street-food restaurant. (Not in India - we were on holiday in the English Lake District!).
The food was fabulous (the owner / chef had spent some time in India), dogs were welcome and, best of all, I got to try nimbu pani!
Their version was a mix of lemon and lime juice, with a hint of spice. I could definitely taste cumin in there - delicious!
pickThis #womensprize long listed novel apparently started life as a series of short stories and, part-way through the book, this was an issue for me and I even considered bailing.
The ‘8 lives‘ are arranged non-chronologically which makes for a more challenging reading experience and the initial set-up seemed rather tacked-on.
However, towards the end, everything drew together satisfactorily and my opinion changed to a pick.
pickI actually really liked this, which surprised me as there had been some mixed reviews on Litsy, so I had considered waiting until the #womensprize shortlist came out before reading it.
I particularly liked where the author pointed out all of the omissions in Orwell‘s work, where he‘d left out Eileen to suit his own narrative.
I didn‘t like the author infrequently inserting her own life into the book - either go all in or not at all!
pickAnother #womensprize long listed book that I really liked.
It follows the lives of two people in Shanghai. Alva, a teenager in 2007 is disgruntled when her white American mother marries a Chinese man. Lu Fang is her new stepfather and we see how his life was affected by Mao‘s Cultural Revolution.
None of the characters are likeable and it‘s really rather a sad book, (I‘m not selling it, am I?!) but I do recommend it.
pickI was worried that this #womensprize for NF long lister would be a bit dry but it wasn‘t. (I‘d tried to start Vulture Capitalism which I found difficult to get into so thought this may be the same).
The author uses real-life people and their stories to discuss the impact of AI, both good and bad, which makes it an interesting and accessible read.
Covering areas such as facial recognition, health apps and crime statistics I‘d recommend it.
pickThis is a ‘re-imagining‘ of Huckleberry Finn, from the POV of the slave, Jim, or James as he calls himself. I read HF before this and I think it‘s worth doing so.
The first half of the book faithfully follows the original and is satirically funny. The second half becomes a lot darker and is where Everett gets his message across about slavery.
Looking forward to seeing the author next month with @TrishB and @Oryx
Published 11/04 in the UK.
so-soThat was…. different. 🤔 My least-liked book on the #womensprize long list so far.
An unnamed man returns to unnamed country (in Africa) to find his brother, who may be dying. Along the way he meets many people, who aren‘t named and who he should recognise but doesn‘t, who all want to tell him their stories.
I liked the stories at the start but they became very repetitive and the way of naming characters was frustrating ⬇️
pickMy favourite so far from the #womensprize long list. Set in Sri Lanka during the civil war, from the 1980s onwards, it follows 16 year old Sashi as she tries to train to be a doctor against a background of fear and violence.
Powerful and raw, this feels like non-fiction at times. So much so that I looked up whether the author had direct experience of the war and she hadn‘t.
The audio narration was also fantastic.
Our final first round bracket for #LitsyToB24, and The Rachel Incident wins, with a 60/40 split. Both of these books were looking back at your younger self - did you identify with either / both of them?
Thank you for all your comments on the first round - now is the time to vote for the quarterfinals! Here‘s the link - please vote this weekend and Meg will take over on Monday with the next round‘s results.
https://forms.gle/BnGAYebiyBjwiGuGA
A significant win for All The Sinners Bleed in today‘s #LitsyToB24 bracket - by 17 votes to 4, meaning Sinners had the most votes of any book in our first round. Are you surprised by this outcome?
We put these books together due to the element of mystery in them, and also the question of whether crimes had been committed. Did you feel that either book was a typical mystery or crime novel?
We‘d love to hear your thoughts on both books!
These were the two #litsyToB24 books that were left over when our matching fairy (aka Meg!) had finished her magic. Therefore we don‘t have a common theme for these two - unless anyone has any bright ideas?! 💡
Also, we had another draw today, with 7 votes each. (The lowest voter turnout of any bracket!)
This time, we chose The Birthday Party to continue on because it gained more Zombie votes than Julia. Do you agree with our decision?
Another very close-run vote for today‘s bracket in #LitsyToB24, but Wellness just wins it by 11 votes to 9.
We chose to bracket these books together due to their unique storytelling about a couple. What did you think about each portrayal - did they ring true for you?
Both could also be classed as a depiction of American life. Were there any parallels here between the two books, or did the dystopia in Biography make them completely different?
Today‘s #litsytob24 bracket has another runaway winner!
Hello Beautiful gained 16 votes, with only 3 (Ruth, Holly and Debra)voting for Lovesick Blossoms. Personally I liked both of these books, but we had to pick just one, didn‘t we?! How difficult a decision was it for you?
We put these two books together due to their portrayal of entangled relationships - how do you think each book dealt with this theme?
pickI liked this, but not as much as the other HF that I‘ve read from the #womensprize longlist.
The novel is based on the life of the author‘s own grandmother, living in Australia at the end of the 1800s, up until just after WWII.
Dolly moves around a *lot* and this lends a restlessness to the book as well - it almost felt a little rushed in places as we were never in one place long enough to learn about it, or the people that lived there.
pickThis #womensprize for NF long-lister is still a pick, but I chose the wrong format (audio).The author describes so many paintings and I wanted to see them - not the best idea when you listen whilst driving, as I mostly do. 😬
Even when I was at home, as all of the artists are Dutch, I couldn‘t find many of them as I didn‘t know how to spell their names. I‘ve reserved the (digital) print copy so I can re-read but it‘s not available until ⬇️
pickThe MC talks to her young child as she struggles through the change in her life since giving birth to him, along with coping with a seemingly absent husband who prefers to work long hours.
I don‘t have kids so can‘t speak to the veracity of this novel but I certainly found the MC‘s stream of consciousness thoughts really stressful to read, but incredibly compelling.
Another great read from the #womensprize long list.
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
