Welcome to Litsy!

Have I mentioned that I love John Williams? I reread Stoner this month and I fell in love again with his writing πŸ₯° 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. πŸ’š

This is my for real, end of August post! #BookSpinBingo no true bingo since this was a DNF (writing good but story too slow for me, right now) #20in4 did finish 2 books for the readathon #BFC2022 stayed on track with fitness, no true bingo - will try next month (off to the library to get some new books).

@TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65 @wanderinglynn Thanks for hosting!

Make a great day everyone -

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

#AwesomeAugust last day - I have my grandson today so limited reading time -
Reading for August very slow (see above #BookSpinBingo ) - hope to finish the two current reads and get the last book (on hold at the library) to earn a bingo this month - loved my family trip, love being back at work, love spending time with my grandson - so overall a very good month (grateful πŸ’•).

Make a great day everyone - πŸ™‚

@Andrew65 @TheAromaofBooks

#wondrouswednesday
Thanks for the tags @Eggs @TheSpineView

1. yes, just recently The Music Shop
2. Love my days with my grandson - so the worst part of the week is when those days end 😞

Today is a grandson day - so yay - make a great day everyone - πŸ™‚

#BFC2022 @wanderinglynn mid month update:
1. workouts are going great - the first part of the month on a trip that required a lot of walking and time with family
2. reading a bit slow - see above - tired at the end of the day so not much reading but I do not mind giving up reading for quality time with others πŸ’œ
3. back to school - back to regular routine - so once I adjust mentally, I will be reading more -
Make a great day everyone - 🌞

Life sux & then you die? Only kidding. Or am I? πŸ˜³πŸ€”πŸ€·β€β™€οΈ

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 novelsβ€”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 πŸ₯°

"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! πŸ₯΅ Such a simple and direct story told so eloquently and movingly! I LOOOOOOOOOOVED this book! For once the hype was actually warranted! πŸ˜… Anyway, for my full thoughts on this little masterpiece, check out my review on YouTube entitled β€œStoner book review: A Little Life”. Just an incredible read! πŸ₯°

John William's Stoner on how the meaning of β€œloveβ€œ 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/

It's been said over and over. Stoner is about an ordinary guy living an ordinary life, but it is such a darn good book. There were times where I really could not put it down. I recommend it.

Beautiful.
This re read for the library book club has resonated as much as my first reading. Simple prose describing a simple life yet so rich in all it says, and doesn't say.
Stoner's acceptance of all that life gives and takes away. His reluctance to defy it.
"What did you expect" is the line I take from this novel.

This book seems plain and unremarkable but it somehow draws you in and makes you feel like you‘ve just read something epic

I don't have the words to explain just how great this novel is. Imagine the most successful eulogy in the world, one that would make a complete stranger feel for the departed the same grief that the closest intimate would feel. That, in essence, is what this novel does, transforming what on the surface would appear an utterly quotidian life into a heroic epic. It achieves what it sets out to do with such precision that it really may be...

He took a grim and ironic pleasure from the possibility that what little learning he had managed to acquire had led him to this knowledge: that in the long run all things, even the learning that let him know this, were futile and empty, and at last diminished into a nothingness they did not alter.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

William Stoner entered the University of Missouri as a freshman in the year 1910, at the age of nineteen.

She was educated upon the premise that she would be protected from the gross events that life might thrust in her way, and upon the premise that she had no other duty than to be a graceful and accomplished accessory to that protection, since she belonged to a social and economic class to which protection was an almost sacred obligation.

Like many men who consider their success incomplete, he was extraordinarily vain and consumed with a sense of his own importance.

Starting my #nyrb collection 😍 #bookhaul

Many Littens love it. Many say it‘s an American classic that most do not know about. An amazing read cheap on Amazon today!It made my best of list the year I read it.

1) done
2) I couldn‘t get through Les Miserables
3) Colson Whitehead is a good one, or The Hate U Give. Maybe A Man Called Ove or A Piece of the World

#SundayFunDay

On the surface, a story of an ordinary Missouri man in 1910s, born to be farmer but who goes to university and becomes an academic. He misses the world wars but sees his peers and students go. His marriage is unhappy. His career stalls out. And yet, though often bleak, there are moments of joy. The writing is plain but lovely. I couldn‘t stop thinking about it for a while.

Such a simple story and not a word out of place. Really remarkable ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The story of the unremarkable life of a humble professor. Really wonderful writing. Going to be thinking about this one for a while.
Would have never picked this up without the rave reviews I've seen here, so thanks Littens!

Starting the morning with this beauty. I think I‘m going to love it β™₯️

#ManicMonday #LetterS
πŸ“šTagged book πŸ€“
βœ’οΈDaniel Silva
🍿Saturday Night Fever
🎀Sia, Seal
🎢Stay The Night https://open.spotify.com/track/0siySPc0ooo4rNTdwaoXM1?si=f7g2-N0vTlywyc_5MOBxMw
Say Something
https://open.spotify.com/track/1LhMopPAallLeaeNutqbgS?si=3had1dwvQxSSXbil-CUE-A

I find Stoner to be a very interesting character as he doesn't succeed in the conventional sense of the world. Pursuing knowledge is what he dedicates his life to. It is what gives his life meaning and purpose. He studies and teaches without egotistical or financial motivations; he does so with pure intentions - with love. Like Stoner, our humble lives can be as brave, meaningful, and beautiful as any hero.