Welcome to Litsy!

Based on the hit BBC show of the same name, this is the first of several memoirs of midwifery in Poplar, England, in the 1950s. Nonnatus House isn‘t a real place but it is named after a 13th century Saint, Raymond Nonnatus. Here, Jennifer shares the humbling experiences she had while working as a midwife and living with nuns.Life was hard and inequities rampant. During this time, forced sterilization, the lack of contraception, lack of access to⬇️

I love watching Call the Midwife and so I thought I would give this book a go to see how it differed. I was so shocked at how much of the book had been put into the show and I was even more shocked that parts of the show were real. Parts were hard to read, because knowing that it is her account of life as a Midwife in the East End it made the hardship they were going through more awful than it would have been had it been fiction.

I‘m really enjoying this so far. I have watched a bit of the show and was surprised how many stories were directly from this book.

The TV series is critically acclaimed, but I'm not a big fan of TV and picked up the book instead. I think the series fictionalized a bunch to flesh out the storytelling; even so, I found the bones of the book fascinating. The coda on the Cockney language was particularly interesting.

Having 4 children myself, 2 of whom were home-births, I knew this book would be of interest. However, I didn‘t expect to be so touched by the stories. Delightful and touching book on East End life in the 50s - I had no idea that such poverty existed in this era. I was almost brought to tears reading of Mrs Jenkins and the workhouse. Captivating read, well told by Jennifer Worth.

Decided to borrow this one from @AmyK1 since I love the show so much! It‘s a really fascinating read, and I feel like I‘ve learned a lot ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was so good! True stories of the work of a midwife in the East End of London in the 1950s. Descriptions of life in the tenements, an area overrun by prostitution and life in a workhouse-along with history of the area. Women have come a long way and the midwives of that time were definitely trailblazers. #bookspin for June @TheAromaofBooks

*not book related except that these are the reasons I haven‘t read anything in a week 😂 My son and DIL closed on their house last Wednesday & I spent 3 days helping paint the kitchen. Monday my last baby graduated from HS. Somewhere in there I got Stamped from the Beginning from the library but I dont have the mental ability to tackle that chunkster right now so I‘m gonna start my #bookspin, which is the tagged.

My June #bookspin and #doublespin books! Looking forward to both of these.

@TheAromaofBooks

I love how well Jennifer Worth combines her own journey in the East End and the social history of the area and its institutions. Every time someone tries to call this series (either the books or the show) cozy, I deserve $5 in recompense. #memoir

#bookmail is the best mail 😁

Call the Midwife Christmas special +26pts #readnosedreindeers #wintergames2020

Book club for work pick for September

Neither the books nor the TV series were on my radar until I walked by a LFL and saw books 2&3 there for me to discover. After awaiting a library hold on book 1, I‘m excited to continue this series. It‘s so interesting and really makes me appreciate the progress of women. There really were some trailblazing nuns in an era when women had to marry for any sense of security.

Forgot to post this! Book #56 of 2020, 4/5⭐️

I really liked the tagged, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I‘m looking for stuff like that 😊 help a gal out.

Oh my gosh! This was so interesting and so much better than I would of thought. Thanks to #bookspinbingo this was my # 15 #doublebookspin pick - I was finally "forced" to read this! Lol I'm SO very glad. This is a true book about the life of a young midwife in London in the 1950s. The stories of poverty and resiliency of the women during this time in unreal. Amazing.
Apparently this book is now a BBC TV series as well!
#recommendread
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#joyfuljune 16
I‘ve been looking for a new, light audiobook to listen alongside Just Mercy. I‘m looking forward to this one.

I didn‘t watch this series. I‘m hoping the audiobook will live up to the rave reviews of the miniseries!

'Why did I ever start? Do I regret it? Never, never, never. I wouldn't swap my job for anything on earth'

I have a deep love for Sister Monica Joan. She is amazing in both the show and the book. 😇

I can‘t decide if my new bookmark is cute or creepy. 😂

1. My sons‘ schools are closed until March 31 at the earliest. AND my library is taking about closing 😭

2. Oh yeah. My kids fly through it so I always buy it in bulk.

3. Nope. Pittsburgh has cancelled the parade and discourages gatherings.

4. Tagged

5. Getting Grace. I bawled. It was just so good and sad and beautiful and funny.

#randosurvey @laurenslibrary

Pretty good book but I didn't love it. I skim read a bit towards the last few chapters.

Welp, I just watched the last two Christmas episodes of Call The Midwife! No more until the new one comes out on Christmas Day. 🎄

#WinterGames
#TMSkellington
#HolidayEpisode

Time for the next Christmas special of Call The Midwife! I think I‘m going to have to do a complete rewatch after Christmas!

#WinterGames
#TMSkellington
#HolidayEpisode

I just watched two Christmas episodes of Call The Midwife. These are some of my favorite episodes, when they all go to South Africa to work at a mission hospital. Not gonna lie, I teared up more than once! 😭

#WinterGames
#TMSkellington
#HolidayEpisode

I watched two Christmas specials of Call The Midwife.

(I‘m posting these together so as to annoy people as little as possible. I must be annoying some people with all of my #WinterGames posts because I‘ve lost 4 followers this week. Oops! 😬)

#TMSkellington
#HolidayEpisode

Time for the next Call the Midwife Christmas Special from 2014. This is one of my favorite episodes, where Chummy works at the unwed mother‘s home. This show is so good!

#WinterGames
#TMSkellington
#HolidayEpisode

I really need to read the rest of this series. They would be cozy for #DearDecember #SettingInEurope @Eggs

Finished with a whooping ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!
I have loved the series for YEARS (Netflix has removed it- disgraceful- and I am seriously contemplating of just buying all the 7 seasons DVDs to catch up) and I really enjoyed this book. Worth is a wonderful narrator and each chapter is a glimpse into her world. Fascinating insight into the East End & the development of society and medicine.

#read #review #callthemidwife #nonfiction

I love the show, so I bought this and an interesting looking book about the Tube at the Museum of London, a place I recommend for every hobby historican.

#callthemidwife #london #holiday

I did not finish. Due so returned. Hope to finish these midwife stories in the future.

This might be one of the few times I enjoyed the screen version more than the book version. Will still probably get around to reading the next one at somepoint.

I love this programme - warm hearted, feel good Sunday night viewing. But a board game?? How?? #bookishproblems

This book is a great memoir about life and work of 1950th British midwife. Obviously, Worth isn't a professional writer, so the book has quite simple manner, but, at the same time, it's really heartful, curious and sometimes shocking. Looking forward to other books in the series, I certainly want to know more about favorite characters 😊 #Booked2019 #RelatedtoaPodcast @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Only a quick 20 minute walk this morning. Still too much ice and snow for this little guy. I had to carry him part of the way home because his little paws were cold. 🥶🐶 I‘ll try to hit the gym this afternoon to get my steps in!
#litsywalkers @kaye

Snow and freezing rain all day here, but I made it to the gym for my #audiowalk and did some #audiocooking too. Really enjoying this one so far. #litsywalkers @kaye

Was hoping for more of a background on the nurses themselves and a conclusion to their ends. That being said, I really enjoyed this book 🙌🏻

4 🌟 #nonfiction

#currentlyreading and flying through this! After watching a few seasons of the Netflix show, I decided to pick up the book and it's so so good 👩🏻‍⚕️

I made it through the top 3 in this stack for #24in48 but only managed about 11 hours total. Not bad considering the other obligations I had this weekend. AND both novellas were an easy 5 stars 🤗⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Had to take a break from my reading to research this statement. It seems that in fact Austen did write a conversation between Edmund and his father in chapter 20 of Mansfield Park. Considering Austen had 5 brothers it would seem that she would know something about male dialogue from that alone 🤔

I've just watched the Christmas episode of Call the Midwife on TV. It captured all that is good in people at this time of year.

I decided to read this book after watching the show and wasn‘t disappointed. Though in the show you learn much more about the other midwives, in the book you hear about the women and their families. I really enjoyed learning about Mrs Jenkins, whom I only recall briefly meeting in the show!
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Hoping to get some reading done during my son‘s 2 hour archery practice! #practicereading #archerymom

Really enjoying this one, though I will admit the Cockney is a bit difficult to decipher lol!
#goodread

💜💙 I‘m gonna love this one!

An utterly fascinating memoir written by a midwife about her experiences as an idealistic young trainee in a poor neighborhood in 1950s London. She tells her patients‘ stories and describes the lessons she learns without sugarcoating.

It‘s frightening to see the dangers women face when they aren‘t able to control their reproductive lives.

After falling in love with this tv show on Netflix, I knew I needed to read the book. I rarely read nonfiction, but I loved the book just as much as the show. ❤️ Jennifer Worth tells about her time as a midwife in London‘s East End in a heartwarming, wholly engaging voice while pointing out many of the differences between living in the 1950s vs. now as well as the injustices the poor of that area suffered. #makemereadit book 10

How soon we forget the horrific conditions for women pre 1960s medicine. Some of the stories were hard to read, realizing how much suffering was involved, but they were wisely interspersed with humorous, and often wild, stories that kept the pages turning.

This is one of the rare instances where I think the television show is better than the book. The protagonist/author was grating, and the show is a better representation of the characters.