Welcome to Litsy!

Last night a former student and his wife came for dinner and we discussed Stoner, our first bookclub of three. (We are already planning another meeting in the summer when they come home again.) I really enjoyed this book, a quiet story of one man‘s life which is changed when he takes a college English course. Academia, a failed marriage, an affair, and always an abiding love for the written word. It‘s a great book that we all loved.

Dying at every bit of this, from the costume to the caption to the #NYRB response. 🤣😭

Stoner‘s life is a quiet one, but it‘s full of inner turmoil. An unhappy marriage, a contentious colleague, a moral dilemma, etc. It reminded me of Jayber Crow. The writing is so raw & relatable, you can't help but see yourself in Stoner's small struggles. And that's the brilliance of this book. It captures the inevitability of life. It's repetition, disappointments & joys. No matter what you face, there are shared experiences that connect us.

I‘m always hesitant when a book is hyped, but on an impulse I grabbed a copy of this book and it did not disappoint. And, yeah, I sat in my living room and cried as I finished it.

Current read. Let‘s see what all the hullabaloo is about.

#feelinthelove #illicitloveaffair
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Williams quiet strength, resolve and integrity throughout life‘s injustices was both heartbreaking and inspirational. In some ways he reminded me of my ex husband. Never being pulled into the drama and behaving badly.

#LitsyAtoZ @Texreader Letter S
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Favourite quote ⬇️

Day 7 for #12Booksof2024. This book grabbed my heart in July and has stayed there all the rest of the months since.

@Andrew65

Day 3 #Professor #SchoolSpirit
I read this novel last year and really enjoyed it. Definitely on my list of rereads.

My FICTION pick for July in my #2024ReadingBrackets was a no-brainer. “Stoner” has an excellent shot at going all the way. The book is just that good.

A friend has been urging me for years to read this, and I finally did. My first thought was “what took me so long??” And then my second was, “I‘m so glad I read it now.” This is a book that will hit you differently depending on where you are in your life when you read it. For me in my 50s, it packed a punch. (Review continues) ⬇

4/5 ?

A book about a quiet man named William Stoner who led a very ordinary and lonely life. It seems boring but the writing is what kept me going. Glad I read it!

"Lust and learning...That‘s really all there is, isn‘t it?"

Just heard about this book today at work. How it‘s so good, it changed someone‘s life.

Has anyone read it?

Started reading Stoner recently and I'm absolutely obsessed, despite trying to avoid read heavy reads at the moment as I'm in the final month of my PhD write up I find that I'm grabbing for the book everytime I take a break

Stoner: ⭐⭐1/2
The Necessary Lie: ⭐⭐⭐

#unpopularopinion
I struggled a lot with Stoner, the book and the character: it took a while to grab me, for most of the novel I was not interested enough and I really disliked the side characters.. at the end I was just waiting for him to react and fight for what he loved.
Anyhow, it's not all negative.. i really appreciate Williams's writing style and the poem collection "The Necessary Lie".

https://youtu.be/fzv3D6Tw5Co

Books mentioned:

Stoner by John Williams

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore

The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers
Margot Bettauer Dembo (Translator)

And about 20 more!

#temptingtitles #withoneword

I really need to read this one soon. I‘ve read and heard so many great things about it.

Have I mentioned that I love John Williams? I reread Stoner this month and I fell in love again with his writing 🥰 I plan to read Augustus this year; something that I look forward to but I will be very sad once I finish reading it as it‘s the last work of John Williams that I haven‘t read 😭

This is a light pick for me-it‘s well written and the characters are well developed. But I did not enjoy it.

This is my #doublespin for December @TheAromaofBooks

#AdventRecommends

A tale of a life unfulfilled.

@emilyrose_x

Way too close to home. Just an ordinary life, with ordinary disappointments. Living your life may take everything you've got but in the end, on your last day, in your final thoughts; what did it matter? Surprise! It does. This book made me re-examine my own life and re-evaluate my failures. They were actually worse than I thought. But, they are mine. And I will relish my battles on my last day, even if they were against myself.

Dispassionately, reasonably, he contemplated the failure that his life must appear to be. He had wanted friendship and the closeness of friendship that might hold him in the race of mankind... He had wanted the singleness and the still connective passion of marriage. He'd had that, too. And he'd not known what to do with it and it had died. He had wanted love and he'd had love and had relinquished it; had let it go into the chaos of potentiality.

I enjoyed this quiet story of a man's life and the everyday things he goes through. The writing was beautiful, and although the story was depressing, I found myself aching to see what would happen next.

This isn't a book I devoured quickly. Instead I chose to read a few chapters each night which gave me time to reflect.

There's just something about this book that made me really connect with it. 💚

Catching up on #Alphabetgame. There were so many #LetterS and #LetterT books that I've loved! So I cheated and picked 2 for each..
📗Stoner by John Williams - an engrossing character study of an average guy
📗Sister Outsider - everything that is said about Audre Lorde's brilliance is true
📗Tempest - Shakespearean romances are my favourite.
📗To the Lighthouse - Woolf had to show up eventually.
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Life sux & then you die? Only kidding. Or am I? 😳🤔🤷‍♀️

I have had this #classic on my #tbr shelf for years. Now that I‘ve finally read it, I‘m not sure what I think about it. Stoner‘s world is dull & drab & sad, yet I wanted to read on.

All can say is thank goodness for KD because the sadness & drabness was really getting to me.

I‘m glad I finally read it. And I can see why it still gets read.

Making a start on this. I‘ve had it on my #classics radar for some time. #currentlyreading

1. The tagged book, but also The Road by Cormac McCarthy, If On a Winter‘s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino, and The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins, to name a few!
2. So friendly and welcoming!!
3. The Gormenghast novels—they‘ve been patiently waiting for years!!
#WondrousWednesday

Stoner is a beautifully written, lyrical portrait of one man's life. William Stoner doesn't so much live his life as endure it and we follow his unremarkable existence through years of academia, marriage, passion and graft.

Sadly, I had some pretty major issues with it which I will spoiler tag in the comments. If you want to read my full review, it's on Goodreads.

I will give it the 4 stars I feel it deserves because the prose was delicious.

"In his forty-third year William Stoner learned what others, much younger, had learned before him: that the person one loves at first is not the person one loves at last, and that love is not an end but a process through which one person attempts to know another."

Today's Springtime book pic stars both cornflake and butterscotch tart... how could I choose between the two? 😁

Hope you're all enjoying the gorgeous weather and Bank Holiday weekend!

Extra points if you can spot Pickles in the picture above...

Lovely #endpapers on this one too 🥰

"Having come to his studies late, he felt the urgency of study. Sometimes, immersed in his books, there would come to him the awareness of all that he did not know, of all that he had not read; and the serenity for which he labored was shattered as he realized the little time he had in life to read so much, to learn what he had to know."

I understand this feeling well ?

A masterpiece of wonderful writing, unforgettable characters and wisdom.

It tells the story of an ordinary man who deals with life and all that comes his way with extraordinary stoicism and acceptance of the actions of others.

It's often heartbreaking, especially towards the end of the book, but it is never morose and ultimately it is uplifting simply because it is so beautifully written.

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView
Thanks for the tag @JenReadsAlot ?

1) I've heard really good things about my (tagged) #roll100 pick, so looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about ?

2) I'm sure I'll think of one as soon as I post this, but my mind's gone blank.

In my case, I'm sure I drive my family mad by approaching the cat and talking nonsense at her... ("Who's a SNOODLE?!?!?!" "Who is stripy?" "Who has a TAIL?!?!?!?!")

Here we have my #roll100 picks for March!

The Circle I am using for the Social Horror prompt for #pop22

I've heard really good things about Stoner too. Are there any PopSugar prompts that it fits? (Tagging PopSugar Crew)

@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB @KarenUK @Megabooks @Kalalalatja @Cortg @4thhouseontheleft @Laughterhp

Stoner was a very underrated classic and surprisingly relatable when I read it a few years ago.

50 Great American Places is set all over the US but when I read it a few years back it really made me want to go back and see the Arch again.

I‘ve only been to Missouri twice- once to St Louis for work, and landed at the airport in Kansas City for a road trip across Kansas. I want to go back to both and all the spots in between!
#RoadTripUSA2022

Finally read this book! OMG this was amazing! 🥵 Such a simple and direct story told so eloquently and movingly! I LOOOOOOOOOOVED this book! For once the hype was actually warranted! 😅 Anyway, for my full thoughts on this little masterpiece, check out my review on YouTube entitled “Stoner book review: A Little Life”. Just an incredible read! 🥰

John William's Stoner on how the meaning of “love“ can change with time. #classics

#BookCoverChallenge
Day 99.
Here I will note 365 books (or as many as I will have before I get tired) that have shaped my taste in literature. No explanations, no reviews. Just the cover of the book.
I do not challenge anyone. You are all welcome to take part.

Outstanding. Quiet and thoughtful, this deeply personal look at an ordinary life is nothing but ordinary. I felt the ache of his solitary life and couldn‘t help but root for his quiet elegance and earnest effort to make his world better. I will consider this one for some time. October #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Lunchtime reading on a beautiful day!

Others have called this the perfect novel, and although I don‘t quite agree, I did find it oddly compelling despite its quiet nature. This was my #BookSpin pick for September. 4⭐️ @TheAromaofBooks

A quiet, thoughtful novel about the ebbs and flows of a life.

Did anyone post this? They have great books even if you are not a member of the NYRBbookclub Too late for this months book , but next months? https://www.nyrb.com/