Welcome to Litsy!

Boy, this is a tough read. I hope for most readers it is unimaginable to consider they might be the closest confident of someone who desperately, and for so long, wants to die by suicide. …It was not unimaginable to me 😢

Más te vale escribirme cartas. Le dije que claro, que sí, pero serán un rollo. En mi vida no pasa nada emocionante. No tiene que pasar nada emocionante para ser vida. Replicó.

A heart rending story of sisters Elf and narrator Yoli who desperately wants to stop her sibling from killing herself. Told with humour this book is however desperately sad as it wrestles with the dilemma of an individual choosing to end her own life. Elf is a talented concert pianist whose skill brings joy and the sisters grow up incredibly close in a very male religious community. A brilliant book but I was releived to put it down.

My second Toews. I noted a bit of overlap with Fight Night-fiction but clearly pulling inspiration from Toews‘ real life. Yoli‘s brilliant concert pianist sister tries to kill herself. Yoli flies from her messy life in Toronto to Winnipeg to be with her sister and mother. But what her sister Elfrida really wants is for Yoli to help her by letting her go. I‘m very glad I‘d previously read Hello I Want to Die by Anna Paperny for real life insight.

Book 8

I listened to All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews. Growing up in a strict Mennonite community, sisters, Yoli and Elf, grow up to grapple with different challenges: Elf, the depression that claimed their father, and Yoli, the inability to maintain romantic relationships. A melancholic story of sisterhood and love, All My Puny Sorrows is beautifully-written and worth the read. TW: suicide. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💰Only $1 each at the library. 💰

I‘m pretty sure the tagged book was never read. Still had the receipt in it as well as a bookmark from the store (Wellesley Books in Wesllesly, MA) plus a pristine postcard of Boston.

📕 All My Puny Sorrows
✍️ Atkinson, Kate
🎥 All About Eve
🎤 Angel Olsen
🎶 All I Want by Joni Mitchell

#ManicMonday #LetterA
@CBee

#ReadCanada #Manitoba - Interesting view of a loving supportive sibling & daughter. Kind family, artistic genius, mental illness, depression, difficult request, support, doubt, fear, suicide, deception, loving relationships. I did not feel that her sorrows, as the healthy sister, were so puny. There were great moments, but it just dragged on to long for my attention. Not great for me; lost interest, but read to the end. Half read/half audio 🎧

Starting #Manitoba for my #ReadCanada Challenge.
🤞🏻 #WomanAuthor

What a great book.

Two sisters raised Mennonite. They lost their dad and a cousin to suicide. And talented, tortured Elfrieda wants to die, too.

Doesn't sound like something you'd want to rush out and pick up, but the story is beautifully and, believe it or not, humorously told.

I love a book with quotable quotes and this one was full of them.

PS - the sun is trying to peek through today. We'll see what happens

Did YOU know that hobo is an acronym??

I sure didn't.

or staring down demons

An unplanned trip to the bookstore yesterday yielded these items 🙂

Have you read these books? If so, tell me if I should. 😆

I found these hardcovers for $1 apiece and so I figured I should buy them (obviously.) But are they worth the read or should I put them in our LFL? I‘ve never read Toews before but I want to, so I‘m leaning toward keeping the tagged book for myself. The other one I‘m less sold on. It is a Reese‘s book club pick, and her books tend to be hit or miss for me.

Happy Canada Day to our friends to the north, from your problematic downstairs neighbors. 😳😂

@KVanRead is hosting a giveaway to celebrate!

1. I‘ve tagged one of my favorite CanLit books 💔
2. Margaret Atwood
3. Poutine! 😋

Good but it didn't blow my socks off as I anticipated.

I have an older sister I adore. She is so strong and capable but when she hurts I want to tear the world apart until I find what can make it better. So I cannot even begin to tell how much I hurt for Yoli who loves her sister Elf and wants desperately to keep her alive when all Elf wants is the opposite. So much heart in this book. It was difficult to read at times but also difficult to put down for too long.

This has been patiently waiting for me. I'll finally start reading it! #CanLit

This was the selection of books I pulled from my shelves last night. They were the ones that most spoke to me as ones I wanted to read now. ☺

You can see the cover for the If Tenderness Be Gold book is messed up because it's a PDF but the text of the actual book seems to be perfectly fine.

Oh my, she can write 😍😍😍
Intense subject of emotional health and self harm which is hugely upsetting and triggering, however, she writes it in such a way that it is simply part of the characters and story. Yet it isn't trivialized.
This is the first Toews I've read... Will deffo be reading more. ☺😊😍

O heard review of her latest book on radio4 and then spotted this at the library. 😊😊

I really enjoyed the flow of this book, and the topic raises a lot of issues and questions surrounding the treatment of people with mental health problems and the idea of assisted suicide.

I didn‘t find it funny as some of the blurbs suggest, at least not in a laugh out loud way. But the author tried to keep the topic lighter which is always a good thing when it‘s so heavy.

Overall I think this is a super important read!

#MentalHealth

Some Saturday night reading!

I am three chapters in and not too sure what I think so far. The characters have aged so much between chapters and lots of things have been mentioned and then not touched on again that I‘m struggling to keep track. I like the writing though, and the concept is interesting :)

Really loving this one so far.
#womenwriters #aroundtheworld #canada #readharder #mennonite

#MOvember #sorry All My Puny Sorrows ! The story of two sisters Elf & Yoli. At a critical time in their lives .. deep & humorous. I read this for #booked2019 last winter & it was a Litsy gift. It‘s a book that has stayed with me , rich with beautiful images , the glass piano. I will read more by this author ❤️

Day 1: #7covers7days #covercrush

I‘m tagging @silentrequiem to share some cover love. Post a cover you love each day for 7 days. No explanation. Tag someone else to join in the fun! And thank you for the tag @gradcat! Had fun browsing my shelves for my favorite covers. 💕

Squidapus found the book very engaging with a prose that came exceptionally close to the panicked thoughts one has when dealing with suicide. He's also reaffirmed that when review outlets say something is funny or "uproariously humorous" what they really mean is you might occasionally smirk once or twice. A very good character driven story that was still enjoyable even though Squidapus doesn't value family in the same way and related more to Elf.

Woof. That one hit a little too close.

Time for a bit of a departure. Squidapus has been reading nothing but sci fi and fantasy so he figured an interlude would be nice. A book that deals heavily with suicide and the feelings that drive you to it. It caught his eye so we picked it up ages ago. Guess it's time to finally read it!

Have one of those families that manage to laugh during difficult times? Yeh, read this. The audio book is really, really good-- she captures the teen voices perfectly.

#LMPBC Round 6 - #GroupB
@mynameisacolour @Kaila-Ann @EmilyM @suvata

Group B is looking pretty solid. Great picks so far.

@Mynameisacolour Is this book one you are good with? #LMPBC #GroupB

I have posted individually, but here are my finished books for #Booked2019 Spring
#NightOrientedtitle Hours Before Dawn
#CliFi Boca Raton
#IndigenousAuthor There There
#FeaturesAMusician All My Puny Sorrows
#SocialMediaFocus Friend Request
#FoodOrBeverageOnCover Bitter Orange

1. All My Puny Sorrows ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2. The Hours Before Dawn ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
3. Coming in third There There ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All the rest were fair to middling ...

It‘s been a little while since I‘ve sobbed while reading a book. This is such a beautiful story of loss and grief, and at the same time of love and life and resilience and hope. I kept thinking of the Woolf quote: “I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual.” #LitsyAtoZ

“Airport, car door, buy a shower curtain, get divorced.” This book is wrecking me. It‘s so incredibly sad, but also has lines that make me laugh out loud.

Loved this book. Exhibiting zero willpower, I started this the same day I finished my first Toews, Women Talking, and it confirmed that I‘ve found a new must-read author. I just really, really love her settings and characters, and her brilliant way of reflecting how the heartbreaking and the hilarious often coexist. (Also really enjoyed the audiobook narrator.)

#Booked2019 #FeaturesAMusician
5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ lovely quotes & images throughout... the glass piano ... “Dear Child” ... The starlings departure.
Yoli and Elf ... Yoli‘s humour got me through this one. So beautiful..... Thankyou @LeahBergen

From : All My Puny Sorrows ... “By Private I mean to say unknowable. Only the music knew and it held secrets so that her playing was a puzzle, a whisper, and people afterwards stood in the bar and drank and said nothing because they were complicit. There were no words. “

#LostTogether #TimbitTunes I‘m savoring this beautiful book for #featuresamusician

( ... it was the same bishop who had reprimanded my mother for wearing a wedding dress that was too full & billowy at the bottom. How am I to interpret this excess ? he‘d asked her . )

What is it about these lines that fill me with shame & sadness .... that a woman could be shamed for this .. for wearing something beautiful...
this quote has deeply resonated with me....

a beautiful book ( ... and funny too , just like life ✨

I have begun this one for #featuresamusician #booked2019 @LeahBergen so beautiful & upsetting ...I‘ve had tears already. What a lovely gift , & I‘m only finding out what I have now ♥️👍🏻

Thankyou Leah X such lovely gifts to receive , looking forward to the books & chocolate ( maple crunch ☺️) & tea ! And such beautiful bookmarks..., feeling well & truly spoiled to pieces. Happy Christmas to you & yours 👍🏻♥️. Thankyou 😘, Cathy XX

So many great finds today the Friends of the Library bookstore! Anytime I find a copy of All My Puny Sorrows there, I always buy it so I can gift it to someone since it is one of my all time favorite books. And I was happy to finally find some older John Boyne books as well! 😍

First, let me thank everyone who entered my #2x2giveaway with a recommendation of a book with a major musical element. My TBR stack has grown so much!

Second, let me apologize for setting the wrong date as the deadline for the giveaway. If you‘ve been waiting anxiously for me to announce, I‘m sorry! Life got in the way!

And finally, congrats to @Lindy , who the RNG has chosen as the winner!! Send your email addy to divadianepoetry at gmail !

How the f had I never read Miriam Toews before? As a daughter of a dad who committed suicide, who respects his choice, and reserves the right to both ache with his absence and also crack jokes about him/it, I felt, first, so held and taken care of with her gorgeous, perfectly petty sense of humor, then gutted by the book‘s final line, in the acknowledgements, “and finally, to my beautiful sister, Marjorie Anne Toews: comic genius, badly missed.”

The first 100 pages or so had me intrigued, but my interest waned after that. I guess it was just a little too bleak for me right now. It did have some great moments like this one here.