Welcome to Litsy!

This book was chosen by my local Library to celebrate Happiness month. It did not add to my happiness. A perfect example of perception, and how we don‘t always like the same books. The death of Harriett‘s Alzheimer‘s stricken husband propels her on an Alaskan cruise,that her husband had purchased unbeknownst to her. While on the cruise, she discovers her life has not been what she thought. She also has secrets of her own. It was a sad book to me.

Stopped by the Library at the beginning of the month, and I learned that August is Happiness Happens Month! I couldn‘t resist picking up one of the recommendations on the Happiness display. Goal: finish book this month to join in the celebration. Luckily, it is a fast read! #happinesshappensmonth

I'm posting one book per day from the ever growing unread stacks in my personal library. No description or explanation, just books I own and plan to read. #tbr

Day 48

A blame it on Litsy read so thank you to whoever posted about it.

I‘ll be finishing this book this morning, and boy is it turning out to be different than expected! I thought this was a light-hearted read about an aging widow taking an unexpected cruise. That‘s not the journey I got at all!

This was the first pick from my Page 1 subscription box, and they did a great job selecting a read for me!

What an exciting book so far?! I love the back and forth of the timeline and the narrator and their voice. It's a great story so far.

#24B4Monday
#Fiction

I stumbled across this as an audiobook yesterday. I am glad i did. Starts out humorous in the beginning but definitely gets a little heavier towards the end. An unamed narrator reviews 87 year old Harriet's life in a nonlinear timeline.We follow along and watch her come to terms with her life and learn to forgive others and herself. I enjoyed it. 🛳🛳🛳🛳

My current read. I started the first 36 pages last week whilst on a cruise with my family thinking that this was the perfect book to read on a cruise ship. Unfortunately I wasn‘t able to get that far in it. This is also the first adult book I‘m reading instead of a YA or middle grade novel. I‘m sick in bed today so a perfect time for hot tea and a book.

Just a few pages in and absolutely loving this book. So whimsical! What an enjoyable read so far.

I cannot be trusted around a TBR list and a cheap book seller site. Some older items from my list and book club. (sigh) #neverwithoutbooks

This was a surprising read for me. I didn‘t expect it to be as good as it was. Follows a 78 yo woman who has recently lost her husband. She takes a cruise to Alaska that her husband had won. The story goes back and forth in time and unfolds her life and how what she went through as a child influenced her decisions in life. Interesting. 4🛳

"How was it fair that Harriet had given everything she had to loving a man who poured Miracle Grow on her character defects and meanwhile Mildred got some swashbuckling poet, just for the asking."

I love summer mornings! Breakfast and a little reading out on the patio with the birds chirping while the rest of the house sleeps. 💕📚☀️😎 #summerreading #book11 #mounttbr #climbingmountvancouver

I just grabbed this ebook on Kindle for $1.20. It's $1.99 on Nook. Both great deals.

My reading buddy.

I got this when it was $1.20 for Kindle, because Harriet goes on an Alaskan cruise. It was okay, a quick read, non-linear with each chapter told in a "this is your life" tone. Family secrets, money grubbing children, and one dead but not gone spouse. #canadaalaska2018

“Yes, all in all, things could be worse. You could be divorced. You could be a widow. Gallo could stop selling wine by the jug. And where would that leave you, Harriet? Bored *and* sober.”

Hell of a deal for a novel I really enjoyed. (Ebook Amazon and b&n)

This is a book for discussion for sure. The life of a 78 old woman that seems in the beginning like regular turns upside down. You will be amazed how many dark secrets she keeps inside for all her life that damaged her and her family. I highly recommend the audio which done incredibly well and has a hint of a radio show in 60's.

Harriet's husband has died, but that won't stop him from seeing her through the unfortunate revelations about to come to light as she takes an unexpected Alaskan cruise. Humorous and heartfelt.

Listening to this on Overdrive from my library. The narrator is great! Loving the story so far....

I gave this one a try to fulfill the "book with an exclamation point In the title" category for the Eclectic Readers podcast reading challenge – however, neither the prose nor the story was holding my interest whatsoever. Bailed less than a fifth of the way in. I guess I have not many more than two choices left: Dr. Seuss or William Faulkner… :-)

Listened to this all in one day while cleaning my house (I need a longer book next time) and it kept my attention and wondering what would happen next. Enjoyed it immensely. Trigger warning for sex abuse, it is not overly explicit but still there. The narrator, Susan Boyce, was excellent and I will keep an eye out for her again.

This is my Sunday cleaning audiobook, I've heard good things about this so I'm hoping it will distract me while I do boring chores. If it weren't for audiobooks I'd have an even bigger disaster of a house.

This was a good, quick read. It's filled with sweet, sad and funny moments. Some long kept secrets are revealed. I loved getting to know and understand Harriet as her life story was told. If you liked 'A Man Called Ove', you would probably like this.

I interrupted Nellie (the blur) and Teddy (tongue out) bath time with my picture taking😽😽
#catsoflitsy

Chosen by my book club, this was the first book I completed in 2017. (I listened to the audiobook). Once I got used to the narration style, it was an audio "page-turner". It was at times poignant, funny, and thought-provoking. My major audio peeve: (what seemed to me to be) a mispronunciation of the cruise ship name "Zuiderdam".

Laughed out loud several times. There were also really touching moments, especially between Harriet and her daughter, and several surprises I didn't anticipate. A great way to start the new reading year off!

Let my 2017 reading begin!

One, can't remember which, of the three book challenges I want to do in 2017 has a category for a book with an exclamation point in the title.

I liked this one but I didn't love it. The main reason: I wasn't fond of the game-show type, omniscient narrator. I also didn't care for any of the characters. Finally, one of my pet peeves: the use of "you're" when it should have been "your". Nitpicky? Probably. But that kind of stuff bugs me. Overall, an interesting premise that didn't quite meet my expectations.

I wasn't sold from the beginning, the back and forth in time narrative felt too bouncy and fluffy. Then there is a #wtf moment and from then on the present day becomes more intense and the back in the day is more informative, good story 👍🏻👍🏻

That moment when you say " freak, I didn't see that coming"

Had to take a picture of this book in the sun, wishing I was reading it by a pool 😩 cuz the cover just says summer to me. Just started and it has a very distinct writing style ( or way of telling the story so far) or maybe just distinctly different from last book ( maybe I have a book hangover 🤔)

What does Harriet do when her husband dies after purchasing a surprise cruise? This was a fun book.

I apparently have a ton of blue books... These are from two rows of a bookcase in the living room. #shadesofblue #SeptemberPhotoChallenge

Listened to this on my ten hour drive to Virginia and loved it. You never know what a family's past may hold. Would highly recommend.

Oh dear. This book isnt what I was expecting. I was expecting "older woman discovers huge secret, lives it up& inspires all readers." What I got was "stereotypically old woman discovers whole life is a lie& it is what it is." This book also experiments with a very game-showy "whos that babe on the beach? It's you!" tone for different years of Harriets life which came off as very cruel for the darker (TW galore) parts of the story. So sad to pan!

This book is not what I thought/wanted it to be, but it's a quick af read. Like sad brain candy.

This book was wonderful. Quick, touching, equally sweet and heartbreaking.

#24in48 book number 4. Was just ok. I was expecting a funny story from the odd narrative structure, but I kinda found this one just profoundly depressing...? Also, an unexpected addition to my reading theme of "Righteous Female Rage". Maybe I would have liked it better if there had been more rage and rebellion, and less resigned acceptance of the protagonists' mistreatment at the whims of everyone in her entire life?

#24in48 book number 4. Was just ok. I was expecting a funny story from the odd narrative structure, but I kinda found this one just profoundly depressing...? Also, an unexpected addition to my reading theme of "Righteous Female Rage". Maybe I would have liked it better if there had been more rage and rebellion, and less resigned acceptance of the protagonists' mistreatment at the whims of everyone in her entire life?

Melancholy. Bittersweet. Moments of the irreal. Darkly comic. Plays with linearity.
Pretty much the definition of an enjoyable read for me 😄

I think this one just couldn't recover from not being the book I wanted it to be. A little too bleak for what I was hoping would be a slightly more amusing novel. Not the book's fault, but there you go.

I was expecting a different book. I was expecting something light hearted and fun loving. Poor Harriet is all I got. Harriet the victim of circumstances that she does nothing to control. Is any person truly that passive? Perhaps this book has too many triggers?

My reading companion😻

Not very far, but loving the way in which the story is told!!

Loved this book, quite different from WEST OF HERE.

Loved this sweet book.....it's never to late for forgiveness.
Quote from page 273 "We are the sum of moments and reflections, actions and decisions, triumphs, failures, and yearnings, all of it held together, inexplicably, miraculously, really, by memory and association. "

Bari's pick!

"Reads like an episode of the show - a narrator walks us through the funny, sad, and sometimes shocking moments of Harriet's life. I was unable to take a break from this one and read it in one sitting!"