Welcome to Litsy!

This is a new one for me...audio grouting of my bathroom tiles..listening to Any Thing is Possible by Elizabeth Strout❤️ Wonderful words to help me get the job done. Hope your all having a much more exciting weekend than me😂😂

Finished this up this morning. I enjoyed all the short stories, most of them were kind of sad though. The last one The Gift, wow I did not see that one coming. So good! #48 #2019

Starting this next. #workbook #goodreads #giveaway

I am not normally a huge fan of short stories but I do really like Elizabeth Strout so I bought this book as soon as it kept out and put off reading it until now. Definitely glad I bought it without hesitation. I appreciate how well she writes interconnected stories so that each is a piece of a larger puzzle while still being something all its own.

It‘s too cold outside and I‘m not feeling up to the treadmill tonight. Instead, I climbed stairs during commercial breaks and walked laps while reading. It‘s not great, but better than nothing. #Litsywalkers

I‘m off for the next 2 days. I would truthfully rather be at work with much more seasonal winter weather. I hope all you Littens experiencing these dangerous temps are safe. As long as I‘m home, I‘ll work on #LitsyAtoZ stats.

In My Name Is Lucy Barton, the work speaks to the reader on a different level in that it was more about the nuances and what was left unsaid. This book is more character driven, examining the human condition, stories of love, loss, and hope.

In a word, brilliant!

I absolutely loved Lucy Barton, but I think I read this one over too long a period of time and wasn‘t quite in the mood for short stories (I tend to go in phases with them). Found the ones with Lucy‘s brother and sister the most moving. Liked the focus on older people‘s lives and how they‘ve changed from childhood - like the Nicely girls. Overall a pick.

One dog on my wrist, one dog on my feet, and a good book in my hand. A perfect rainy Friday night.

I have a backlog of book posts to catch up on 😕 This was a book club choice after we enjoyed My Name is Lucy Barton last year. Although I‘m a big Elizabeth Strout fan and loved her writing in this book, I found it too bleak, with not much light relief. But Strout is so good at human relationships and dynamics and enjoyed the chapters where this came to the fore.

A lovely measured book which packs a strong punch!

Saturday morning, but here it is.
1. You guys, 2. Two, 3. Litsy, instagram, Goodreads, Twitter. 4. We‘re visiting Wisconsin so that means fish fry. Yum! 5. @Amymeyerson and @ErinSueG are the first people who let me know about litsy so I‘m tagging them.

This fell between a pick and a so-so for me. I think I‘m about tapped out on short stories for a while. Regardless, Strout is a craftsman and tells a good tale. I thought she delved deeply enough into the characters. But I still felt like I was spun among so many people, without truly getting to know them. The general focus on small-town life isn‘t really my jam either.

Full review at www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2018

Started listening to this today while doing adult-type things around the house. Nice accompaniment to laundry, dishes, etc. Planning to finish before my IRL book group meets on Thursday evening.

#audioadulting

#saturdaymorning #starbuckstreat #booksandcoffee #motherandson#bookclubbook
Post Doctor appointment treated my son to his favorite ice tea, a flat white for me. Tagged book for bookclub Tuesday. Gorgeous day; 90 +heat & humidity gone! Perfect for our last Hartford City Football game later today. ⚽️

My first non self help book in more than 4 months and I LOVE IT. I‘ve read other Strout books but none have resonated this powerfully. This one opens and closes with characters (minor spoiler alert) glimpsing the divine. All the stories in between reveal little tidbits about characters in adjoining stories, which I absolutely adore as a literary device. I needed this book in my life right now to remind me that Anything Is Possible. I‘m back!!!

I loved this book and This is Lucy Barton. Both were so insightful into human nature and people‘s thoughts and feelings. Was wonderful to read them back to back

Happy Saturday!! I am camped out reading the last section for #LitsyBuddyRead of Other People‘s Houses at my local Starbucks/used bookstore. Treated myself to a latte after I treated myself to this stack of ARCs. #BookHaul 🤗📚📚

Even though I just bought the hardcover of Stray City on my indie bookstore crawl a couple weeks back, I‘m gearing up to do a giveaway for you all, and for $2 I figured one of you lucky Littens deserved to have it too 😉

Wowzers!
Having finished My Name is Lucy Barton, I figured this followed and had been on my pile since receiving it for Christmas. I hadn't opened it and thus didn't know it was a signed copy!

Happy Birthday @maximoffs 💐💐💐🎁🎁🎁🍾🍾🍾Hope this year is your best one yet! My favorite book last year was Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout. I had many favorites like Pachinko, Ginny Moon, And the list goes on and on! I can't wait to see your top three!

My first Strout and I‘m giving it a pick because the writing is exquisite! “We love imperfectly and that‘s okay.”

The maxim “life is messy” sums up the book. I nearly bailed because there is no relief from the melodrama of the character‘s lives and personalities, but I hung in there for the writing. It would have helped had I realized earlier on that it consists of loosely connected short stories, not a cohesive novel. The first was the best!

Eight years ago, just after having me first baby and feeling a little isolated I joined an online book club. It only lasted a few months but it introduced me to the sublime Elizabeth Strout and for that I am forever thankful. This book lives up to everything I've come to expect from Strout. The sparse style, authenticity and her unflinching examination of what a life can really be like. It's dark but also redemptive. Many stars.

Loving this companion novel to I Am Lucy Barton. But then again I love everything Elizabeth Strout does.

Elizabeth Strout‘s calm, introspective writing style always relaxes me. I loved this book, which explores in depth the characters from My Name is Lucy Barton. Even though the stories are filled with pain and dysfunction, there is a resounding message of hope that comes through.

I loved these stories, based in the same town & whose characters are loosely connected. It‘s comforting meeting characterst more than once, & the gentle atmosphere despite the dark subjects. The spare prose is beautifully restrained. And while town life moves slowly, the stories are vivid & propel you forward. Family, loneliness & redemption are explored, with heartfelt characters: flawed, overweight, creepy, but she treats them with compassion.

❤️

Out of all the depressing things in this pair of books, this might have been the scariest to me.

Second book finished in #24in48 !

I think Strout's writing is masterful but I found this & Lucy Barton almost too painful to read. Maybe I'm just too sensitive, but the tales of incest, child abuse, and extreme poverty, in addition to all the shame and loneliness in these stories, are difficult for me to stomach. The quote here seemed like a good representation of the world in these books.

I've read (well listened to) My Name is Lucy Barton previously and I think I enjoyed Anything is Possible more. I loved hearing what was happening in each of the characters lives at that point in time. And how the lives of people in this small town were intertwined. Having read My Name is Lucy Barton it was lovely to revisit these characters but this time to hear their voices rather than them being the subject of gossip.

Wow! Destined to be on my favorite reads of 2018. Beautiful writing. Great narration, too (via audible)

I picked this one because it was on a lot of best of lists for 2017. It turns out that it takes place around some of the characters from another Strout book, but not having read it did not effect the plot or characters. Well written and an interesting look at the lives and interactions of a group of people in a small town.

First book of the snow day is done! (I was nearly done already). I enjoyed this connected collection of short stories very much, even though I haven‘t yet read My Name is Lucy Barton. It provides a look at people‘s inner lives, their feelings, and secrets. Glad I listened to this one. The narrator was great. #Obama2017list #MMDchallenge

I decided to read all the books on President Obama's best of 2017 list, so this is my new audiobook. (I've read 3 from his list already). I never read My Name is Lucy Barton but I heard that doesn't affect enjoyment of this story collection. #Obama2017List #audiobooks

This book was like this bookmark - sinking its little claws into my soft heart.

I found it to be incredibly emotional. Some stories felt like flight (like Windmills and The Sign), and others (like Cracked and Sister) were almost physically painful to read.

This book was so very beautiful and so very human.

And thanks for the bookmark, @Moray_Reads . 💛🐻💛

“... the fields quieting in their brightness, the trees darkening to a navy green, the milky sun that was the colour of snow.”

“...a complaining woman was like pushing dirt beneath the fingernails of God...”

If, like me, you now live far away from the place where you grew up, you may understand the yearning for what you can no longer reclaim.

This book is ILLINOIS.

Oh, my heart. ❤️

But school started again today!

Ba ha ha ha HA.

(From a friend‘s Facebook page.)

Loved this!

Friday night. It's a cold one. More wine needed. More bubbly! #puglife 🐾
#bookandwinepairing 📚 🍷2015 Leitz 'Dragonstone' Riesling Sekt, Rheingau, Germany.

This collection of connected short stories was able to draw out the complexities that make up a person. The good, the bad, it‘s all revealed in a beautiful way, contrasting with each other, and at times, themselves #4stars #jades2018reads

Loved this, was challenged by, in fierce admiration of the talent genius that is E. Strout. #lastbookof2017

Interconnected short stories, and the thread that connects them is Lucy. It's a gentle,quiet story,which slowly reveals the secrets and the burdens of the inhabitants of Amgash, Lucy‘s hometown, and narrative perfectly displays the pulse of the place where all are related in some way,but each of them alone with their own life and fears.It‘s beautiful, readable story, but I have to say-the weakest part of the story is where Lucy actually appears...

Took a little time this morning to get my #LitsyAtoZ 2018 reading list set before heading out for my walk. Brrrrr... -5 degree windchill this morning is what is waiting for me, but at least it‘s finally sunny. Will post my list later after writing it down nice and pretty in BOB. Stay warm Littens! 🌬☕️📚

I think this one ticked all the boxes for me and is my favorite book of 2017! Great characters, lots of emotion, great story lines and I practically read it in one sitting!
Thanks @Liberty for doing another great giveaway!
#VACATIONBOOTY

A gourmet breakfast in bed for a cozy festive day - waffles with Nutella and blueberries, English breakfast tea with cream and new book.

I wish you a peaceful day filled with love and a lot of time for reading 😘

So psyched - figured out how to connect my phone to my car stereo so I can audiobook while driving the Jeep. You might think that would be a no brainer but it never seems easy for me! So - goals: listening to all of this before 12/31 midnight.

I made one last trip to the library before Christmas!

#LitsyLoveLibraries