Welcome to Litsy!

#poetrymatters
#tree
@TheSpineView

#wintergames2024 @Liseworks #holidaybookdragons

A blackout poem I created in complete homage to Betty Smith's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN.

My latest booktube episode includes a dozen recent reads:
https://youtu.be/pLq4BZFeuIY

#LGBTQ #kidlit #picturebook #audiobook #classic #inTranslation #Canadian #essays #science

#christmascheer
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#wintergames2024 @Liseworks #holidaybookdragons

#sundayfunday (a day late) @BookmarkTavern

I will always be grateful for this book.

1. Every day. How much depends on several factors (including how exhausted I am when I get home from work. 😴) But I read something every day.
2. Most recently it was “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. Blech.
3. The tagged book, for sure! I also consider “A Prayer for Owen Meany” a classic, although I realize John Irving isn‘t for everyone.

Thanks for the tag, @dabbe !
#WondrousWednesday
@Eggs

June wrap up - family time trumped reading time - tagged book the best by far!

Make a great day everyone 😎

It truly is the perfect story - about Francie Nolan growing up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in the early 1900s.
I watched the movie years ago and loved it. This was one of the first books I added to my Litsy TBR 4 years ago - so glad I got to it!

Tried to finish this for a #BookSpinBingo for May, instead it is the first book for June 🙂

Make a great day everyone 🙂

Switched from audiobook to ebook - feel I have a better chance of finishing if I read it this week - so close to #BingoBookSpin for May.

Make a great day everyone 🙂

#StorySettings
#forest
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A blackout poem I created reimagining the tree in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 💚🌳💚

This just wasn‘t for me. Read about 100 pages and I just wasn‘t clicking with it. Returning it to the library since there are other people waiting for it.

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

I've reread the tagged book many times. I will reread Nancy Drew at the drop of a hat. I've reread some Harry Potters as well. I often get the urge to read books I've read before.

May's #BookSpinBingo has some real possibilities 🙂

Make a great day everyone ⛱️

#WondrousWednesday Thanks @Eggs for hosting -
Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView -

1. Not a specific memory - I remember going to the library a lot as a child - I loved getting and reading books! (and you had to go to the library to do your research papers and homework as well!!)
2. The library - I still love going to the library!
3. Tagged is one of my current reads.

Consider yourself tagged if you are reading this!

Make a great day everyone 💐

I‘m so excited my library hold came in for this…Starting it immediately!

I‘ve been searching for this book for years and I know that we have found each other at the right time.

#WondrousWednesday Thanks for the tags @Eggs and @dabbe -

1. love, food, shelter
2. above for all

Make a great day everyone 🙂

Good morning! ⛅️
Very much looking forward to this!

I can‘t reach it right now, but I have a 1943 copy of my favorite book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
2. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
3. Becoming (Michelle Obama)

These 3 books rocked my world! Love them all!
Thanks for the tag @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@dabbe
#TLT
#ThreeListThursday

Reading a favorite again. Francie Nolan and I are friends.

my friend started this & it sounds SO good…thinking about making it my next read for the spring🌸🍃😏 has anyone read this?

#poetrymatters
#tree
@TheSpineView

Blackout poetry has a goal of using pre-existing or “found“ text to create something new. Portions of the original text are kept, while other parts are drawn over or crossed out. Well-crafted blackout poetry can give new meanings to old texts.

Here's a blackout poem I created from one page from A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 💚🌳💚

The last “official” episode of my book pod for a minute dropped today… and it‘s not to be missed! Author Ore Agbaje-Williams — who wrote one of my favorite books of 2023 — joins me to chat about *both* of our first experiences reading A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 🌳 Listen at the link in my bio!

I loved this coming of age story! I guess it took me a while to read it being that it was published well before I was born. I absolutely loved the story. The tree symbolized so many things. How I felt for this poor family living in NYC back in the 1940s. There were many stories and life lessons within the pages. I‘d love to try to find a movie version. This book is truly a classic, and I‘m glad I finally read it!

#SummerEndReadathon. Book 7
I really enjoyed this story. The struggles of the family seemed sad at first but I couldn‘t help loving how they overcame the struggles and worked hard to have a better life.

I'm having trouble getting into this. I know everyone loves it. When does it pick up?

"Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York."

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

First book choice of the newly formed book club of some of my closest friends. We call ourselves the “Book Bitches”. There are 4 of us and for this round we submitted old favorites. This was my friend Em‘s. Next month is Anne of Green Gables and that was mine 💚

I'll always love Francie, of course, but I felt myself sympathizing so much with Katie on this #reread. Does that mean I'm getting old? #classics

I'm in a bit of a reading slump in that I don't have the ability to concentrate for long, however my goal for the Choose Your Own Goals Readathon is to finish the tagged book, and get started on one of the new ones I have recently purchased. I also would like to listen to audiobooks at least 15-30 minutes each day.
#marvelousmarch #marvellousmarch # readathon #chooseyourowngoals @Andrew65

Continuing the #LitsyLoveReadathon in celebration of #LitsyLove being 5 years old. Got started with about 15 pages of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. Will get to A Pattern Language later today, but first heading out for some time with my two favourite guys (partner and 🐕).
@LitsyLove @StayCurious @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

"It would seem as if all the unwanted children would stick together and be one against the things that were against them. But not so. They hated each other as much as the teacher hated them." p. 150

"They learned no compassion from their own anguish. Thus their suffering was wasted." p. 159

(As a teacher, reading the descriptions in this novel of how casual the adults were about judging/mistreating children is just a series of gut punches ?)

"As she read, at peace with the world and happy as only a little girl could be with a fine book and a little bowl of candy, and all alone in the house, the leaf shadows shifted and the afternoon passed."

Had a New Years party with my God-children tonight, but was sure they would be in bed early enough that I could read myself into 2023...it's 12:40 and I'm just sitting down with my book now. Their parents may not be thrilled with me, but I caved and figured now they have something to brag to their friends about. Guessing most 7 year olds didn't see midnight. Lol

#Tree #DivineDecember @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A turn-of-the-century story in Williamsburg: Brooklyn, NYC, and a classic bildungsroman following the life of Francie Nolan and her hardscrabble life in the tenements of NYC. I loved Francie with all of my heart. I also learned a lot about immigrants in early 20th century NYC. #eyeopener

Here's a link to my blackout poem for this book, if interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_7HFc8TB005J1t-QJ3KabOa35dmI_mOk/view?usp=shari...

“Make a wish.” She held out her little finger and crooked it. Francie hooked her little finger into Aunt Evy‘s. “I wish I could always wear a white dress and carry red roses and that we could always throw money around like we did tonight,” wished Francie.

this book is very important in my family. it took me 9 years to get to it and even then it took me over a month to read. it wasn‘t bad, but it was a little slow moving for my taste. maybe my expectations were too high. i still enjoyed it and the nostalgic feel of it. i also like how the passage of time is so clear yet so subtle.

This tree isn‘t growing it‘s falling. I think my car is okay but there is minor roof damage and I will need new handrails and part of a fence for my back yard. Plus I really think the insurance should take the rest of the tree down.

The tagged is one of my favorites-I‘ve read it several times. Also excellent are:
The Thursday Murder Club
This Tender Land
A Thousand Splendid Suns

#letterT #alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Thanks for the tag @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I am a little behind because I was away, so this is me trying to catch up. #alphabetgame This is actually harder than it looks.
Everyone should read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. The Banquet by Carolyn Slaughter is disturbing and fabulous. Coventry by Helen Humphreys is a quiet, beautiful book and Daisy Jones is the only book I have liked by TJR.

Here is my #bookspin list for August!!

This book has a special place in my heart as it was a favorite of both my grandmother and mother. I finally read it a few years ago and absolutely loved it.

This was one of the most popular titles among the Armed Services during WWII. It brought comfort to many missing their homes and loved ones. When Books Went to War by Molly Guptill Manning is really fascinating if you want to learn more.

#MothersDay #MayMoms
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I haven‘t read this book since I was 12 or 13 so it was a real joy re-reading it and discussing it on the podcast with Christi. This is definitely an American classic that takes us through the ins and outs of life during the beginning of the twentieth century in Williamsburg. We follow Francine and her family and all the difficulties of being poor in America at that time. It‘s captivating, emotional, and informative. It‘s a must read!

Y'all! I am so mad at myself for waiting so long to read this one! I LOVED this! Easily made it's way into my top 5! 💕

#Bookspinbingo #MustReads2022 #ClassicsChallenge @TheAromaofBooks

I know this will be unpopular but what did I just read?! I can possibly see that appeal of a tween girl reading this. For me, it just wondered, no clear direction/plot. I really wanted to like it though. It rambled, that's the best description I can give.

January Book 11/25 #LItsyLove #bookspinbingo

The most requested book by GIs in WWII. I think I can see why: many soldiers probably identified with Francie Nolan‘s family (poor, food insecure, yet proud and determined not to be limited by their circumstances). Read through lens of a baby‘s experience, this was an eye opener regarding life in Brooklyn‘s tenements of the early 20th century.

Thanks for the tag @TheAromaofBooks
#SundaySoapBox a little late! 😆
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

⭐️Classic:A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
⭐️Memoir:Becoming
⭐️Writing:Bird by Bird
⭐️Fave Anne Tyler:Ladder of Years
⭐️Fave Fannie Flagg:The All-Girl Filling Station‘s Last Reunion
⭐️Humor:Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons
⭐️Heartwarming:A Man Named Ove
⭐️Children‘s audio:Ramona series
⭐️Bookish:Ex Libris
⭐️Inspirational:The Boy,the Mole,the Fox and the Horse

We did gifts last night and I received three new books, plus this gift box that was themed around my all time favorite book. Happy holidays, Littens!