Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m at a lakehouse in upstate NY with two of my high school besties. We‘ve hit up 3 bookstores in 2 days. 🤓 This is my haul from the most recent stop.

It‘s BONKERS windy here! Obscured book title tagged. 🐈‍⬛

#WondrousWesdnesday

Thanks for the tag @Eggs & @TheSpineView 😊

1. The heroine in the tagged book is called Byrony, which apparently isn‘t THAT uncommon, but I‘d never come across it before and found it odd at the time. It means “vine” and is derived from Latin.

2. The title of the tagged book is also a little silly (well, the whole book is silly but it takes itself seriously 😂).

It took me a bit to get into this book, but after about half way it picked up and I enjoyed it far more. I did think our heroine was a bit silly in jumping to conclusions but she finally got there.

Not the book I was expecting but what a ride! I‘d puzzled out parts of her fathers warning but not all of it and was genuinely concerned for Bryony at times - but if a book is not making you stay up past your bedtime, whispering “girl, no” then what even is the point?! 😂 I look forward to diving into some more Mary Stewart books at some point.

(The title fully makes sense by the end of the book)

Took my book with me to the beauty salon because usually there is a bit of a wait (I‘m a walk in type of gal) and didn‘t read a single page because there was drama - someone lost their mind, forgot their manners and made it real awkward for everyone. I did like the fact that when she finally paid and left, the remaining customers rushed to reassure the staff about how wonderful they were.

Do I understand what it means? Still no - but that‘s ok - it appears on the family crest - touch not the cat but the glove.

My fairly boring shift at a “library lounge” eventually ended and I had a look at the nearby strip of shops - was excited to find a souvlaki shop (falafel FTW) and an op shop - which yielded these!

A #kindledeal with a very Halloween-ish cover. 🐈‍⬛ #ebook

I did a pop up Little Free Library today! I shifted a lot of stuff from my massive discards pile, and everyone who stopped to look seemed really excited to find it. My neighbours (who‘re part of the under-10 crowd) ran over to check pretty well every time I replenished it this morning.

Mary Stewart is always an amazing author, but some of her minor characters have moments of casual racism that go unchecked so I can‘t give the book a pick. #romantsy

My bedside book stack‘s a bit tall right now. Them‘s the perils of having a primary book, an in-between book, a short fiction collection, poetry, and some nonfiction on the go while you also tackle a manga published in omnibus form and use a print copy to track your progress through your current audiobook.

Book + cocktail. My parents recently went to America and bought me a 1.75-litre bottle of generic Irish Cream solely because it was $14.75. (Here, the same amount of Bailey‘s costs $60.) I‘ve been reading up on cocktails I can make with it, and I‘ve fallen in love with the Toblerone. It calls for 30ml each of Irish Cream, Frangelico, and Kahlua shaken with 60ml of cream over ice, then strained. Probably into a different sort of glass than I use.

Time for a wee break from FREEDOM & NECESSITY, which is very good but very dense. Mary Stewart seemed like an appropriate person to turn to on this gloomy afternoon. I bought TOUCH NOT THE CAT during the last Book Market, and I‘d like to get it off La TBR before the next one starts on the 26th. It‘ll be another square filled on the little bingo card I made to encourage myself to actually read my 2019 acquisitions, too.

1. Only in that I reread A Christmas Carol every December;
2. Lots, but I‘ll tag this old favorite;
3. Morning person, married to a musician, which means I‘ve become a bit of a night owl in order to spend time with him;
4. Left.
#Sundaysurvey @alisonrose

I have really been enjoying Mary Stewart's graceful, intelligent storytelling lately. Touch Not the Cat involves the youngest generation of an old family endowed with a crumbling estate and powers of psychic communication. I found it engrossing.

P.S. The painting is called Les Caresses Dangereuses by François Boucher, at the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor. There's something very unsettling about that cat.

This is most often #howiread - on my couch in the sunroom, with feline overlord in attendance

#riotgrams
#howyouread
#catsoflitsy
#thepassage

So many shelves to choose from. But it's getting late and I'm tired, so how about just the one in front of me? Mostly comfort reads. Lots of Agatha and other mysteries. H.P., L.M., Mary Stewart and random mass markets I've had forever. #riotgrams #shelfie