Welcome to Litsy!

I know that Elizabeth Strout won the Pulitzer Prize and is a great author, but I found this book super bland and boring. I enjoy books that are people stories with little plot, but this was just… so dull to me. For those who like her, can you explain why? I don‘t mean that in a snarky way; I genuinely want to understand who to recommend her books to when my store opens. Thanks!

I raced through this novel, there‘s just something about Strout‘s writing that captivated me

Lucy Barton is looking back on her life and especially focusing on a time she spent in hospital when her mom came to visit even if they hadn‘t spoken in years. Her mom tells her stories about people from her childhood. In between Lucy will tell other stories as well

About mother-daughter relationships and their complexities

I hope this isn‘t true

This was so beautiful. It made me very sad in places but I loved it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'm really not the audience for delicate, slice of life literary fiction but the first person format made this more relatable, even if still kind of obscure. I may read the sequels because I'm curious about the lockdown story.

#BookSpin #DoubleSpin #BookSpinBingo

Also read from my #BookSpin list: Horizon, Some Desperate Glory, Wonder Engine and The Operator (DNF)

4⭐️/5⭐️

I liked Oh, William! so much that I went back to read this book, which came first. I don‘t feel like I read them out of order. It didn‘t really matter. It‘s a quiet book. It‘s not so much about plot as it is about family and the unspoken issues families navigate as they try to come to terms with themselves, each other, and their shared histories.

.

Thanks to a slow week at work I managed to finish a book in four days, something I haven‘t done in a long time.

I really liked the MC, the book has so much depth. It‘s sad but also not. I really don‘t know how to describe it other than I liked it a lot. It made me reflect a lot on Strout as a writer.

I‘ve read Olive Ketteridge and I‘ve been looking forward to meeting Lucy Barton! I enjoyed Lucy‘s life and the way Strout chose to tell her story. It‘s a sad story but I really enjoy her characters, relationship dynamics and storytelling. #Pop23 ~a book you bought from an independent bookstore #ReadHarder23 ~read one of your favorite author‘s favorite books (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

@Victoriahoperose and @KadaGul I chose…poorly.

It didn‘t feel like this book explored any topic deeply enough for me to understand if there was supposed to be a point.

Now, on to American Gods.

Oh gosh. Just lovely 🥰. A book club friend has chosen the latest Lucy Barton for us to read this month. I was sure I already had a couple of books in the series on my #tbr shelves…
And there this one was, patiently waiting for me 🤗👏.
I‘m delighted to have read it & will now get onto the next one, Anything is Possible, which is also on my shelf.
Winning 🙌

Pretty much read this great little book in one day , again I can‘t believe it has such a low rating on this app ! It‘s an extraordinary book ! So full of human observations , behaviours and wisdom. I adored it and can‘t wait to dive into the whole series !

Sarah Payne the day she told us to go to the page without judgement , reminded us that we never knew, and would never know, what it would be like to understand another person fully. I see more and more she had to tell us that.
We think we always think.what is it about someone that makes us despise that person? That makes us feel superior? 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Yes mollie and I have a lazy morning and oh my goodness ! What a book 📖 loving 🥰 it ! Is it me or does Lucy ring bells with Middle Aged ladies . Yep that‘s me 😆

Well, I wanted to like this book, but I have to admit my favorite thing about this photo is my sweet MaciGrace, who is laying on top of me under the covers. I just was underwhelmed. I feel somewhat guilty for not loving it, but just didn‘t connect.
#TBRTarot. #bookspin

@BarkingMadRead Maybe it‘s the name. 😏😕😉

Well, this never happens! This is my #bookspin for December and it has a blurb starting with “It”. How cool is that?!

#TBRTarot

Lovely, just lovely! I adored Olive Kitteridge and now I‘ll be thinking about Lucy for awhile. Looking forward to read sequels.

#bookspinbingo
#litsylovereads

I adore Lucy and her outlook on life. I remember LOVING Olive K, and didn‘t love this quite as much - BUT I know these are two very different characters and I can‘t really compare them. Anyway, I‘ll continue the series for sure - very much invested in Lucy now ♥️

As a stand alone book i am unsure of how much i would recommend. as part of the two part series - i highly recommend. i loved the olive series so much and this was not that…so took a bit to adjust.

“Sarah Payne said, If there is a weakness in your story, address it head-on, take it in your teeth and address it, before the reader really knows. This is where you will get your authority, she said, during one of those classes when her face was filled with fatigue from teaching.”

I adored Lucy Barton and her Pearl Tull mannerisms, her juxtapositions, and hospital-bed views. A wonderful lead-up to Oh William! for the #Booker2022 longlist.

Started this today. Part of my path to Oh, William! on the #Booker2022 list.

I didn‘t like Olive Kitteridge and I haven‘t read Strout since then, so I was worried I would hate this. I‘m relieved at how much i enjoyed the 1st 25 or so pages.

This is a hugely popular novel, so I must assume it‘s me and not the book, but I found Lucy an underwhelming narrator.

I think this novel works so well for me because of the narrator‘s kindness and empathy, because she opens up and shows how vulnerable she is. But also because the character evolves. I loved this book very much. Even though there is no indication of it in the book, I wonder if Lucy imagined her mother‘s visit.

My adoration of Strout continues with this second experience reading her work. Lucy Barton engaged me in many of the same ways Olive Kitteridge did. The writing here is measured, and pitch perfect, the observations of human nature and the human psyche incisive and nuanced. Here, I felt Strout dug into complex familial relationships in a different way than she does with Olive, but in a way that is equally captivating. I was delighted with this read

I really loved this short book centered around Lucy. Books that are character driven are often some of my favorites and there was a lot with Lucy I could connect with, especially the relationship with her mother. 😕

I'm looking forward to reading the other books with these characters.

31 Jul 22 (audiobook)
My initial reaction to this was quite lukewarm. I decided to listen to it in preparation for Oh William, which is on this year‘s Booker longlist. I found the stories frustrating - most seemed to be only half-told or a bit dubious. I did not understand Lucy‘s relationship with her mother. Or why the writer constantly repeated this was not the story of her marriage.
Now listening to Anything is Possible and finally understand.

Read this in one sitting. She has such an ease in her writing. I am looking forward to the next 2 books in this series. 4.5 🌟

I believe this was my first Strout, and I remember thinking it was just okay. I‘ve read her lots since and love her now, so I‘ve wanted to reread this before reading Oh William! As suspected, I liked this a lot more the second time around. (And now I must check out the audio production of the play with Laura Linney!) An unintentionally well-timed reread bc of the complexity of mother/daughter relationships that comes up for many today.

Thank you for this book, Barbara. You know how much I love character-driven novels, and this was an excellent one!

Lucy is sick and in the hospital for weeks in NYC. Despite their issues, her mother comes to stay for a few days, and they finally connect as adults over stories of people in Lucy‘s rural hometown. There are strong themes of martial difficulty in both women‘s lives and in the stories her mother shares. Enthusiastic pick!

April #BookSpinBingo.

Here we go! Hoping to read more than last month. So many I want to get to on this board. #BookSpinBingo

This novel is a deep dive into the details and nuances of the normal lives and the attempt to just be okay. Lucy Barton is everyone who has faced difficulties and searched for the kindness that eluded them in childhood. I loved it! ❤️

Just some more Elizabeth Strout magic 🤩

I just don‘t think there‘s a more talented writer out there than Elizabeth Strout. I‘m looking forward to diving into her backlist. She‘s the bees knees! 🤓🤗

I started to read ‘Oh, William!‘, from the #ToBlonglist, and it kept referring to a previous novel (the MC, Lucy Barton, is an author) so I decided to read this one first. Luckily it was immediately available on Libby, and I read it in a day.

I love Strout‘s writing, it‘s all the little nuances and feelings that she notices, describes and brings to life. Looking forward to ‘Oh, William!‘

Exactly what I needed after inadvertently reading a string of books with misogynistic men as the main characters.

Loved this novel about the messiness of life the imperfections of love and the persistence of trauma. Highly recommended!

I have said before: it interests me how we find ways to feel superior to another person, another group of people. It happens everywhere and all the time. Whatever we call it, I think it is the lowest part of who we are, this need to find someone else to put down.

What is it I love so much about Elizabeth Strout‘s writing? It‘s hard to name. I think it‘s the simple truths she sees in every character. With very few words she gets to the heart of each situation, leaving my heart feeling stripped.

I liked this very much, as I did Olive Kitteridge, and I‘ll read her other books at some point I‘m sure.

5⭐️ || I‘m not sure why people are either Team Lucy (this book‘s main character) or Team Olive (Olive Kitteridge) because I love them both. This is tender and reflective. I‘m looking forward to her new book out this fall... Oh, William!

...”we all only have one story” says Lucy Barton and hers, a story of poverty and abuse and love and family, is quiet but compelling. #bookspin #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

Lucy recalls various moments growing up in poverty, weaving them together with her long stint in the hospital when her mother came to visit.

Read December 23-26
Rated 3/5 ⭐️
Book 57/60

This book was beautiful. It‘s simplistic, yet skillfully executed, focus on the rawness of human emotions kept calling me to it. If you need a book that honors the complex authenticity of feelings but does so it a way that is accessible, read this book.

So last night my IRL bookclub via Zoom met to discuss Olive Again. I read it a few months back but finished the tagged yesterday. A woman was talking about the author‘s life, and I‘m like, wait, hold up... you‘re telling the exact fiction story I just finished today! So, I guess the author draws from her own life for this one!

A novella of a woman who has led an impoverished childhood and how that has influenced her present day life. It interchanges between her past and her present fluidly. Beautifully written. I listened to this on audio and the narration was lovely. I think I appreciated it more as an audiobook.