Welcome to Litsy!

I don‘t know if I love this book or hate it. It‘s about a young woman who moves to NYC, gets a job at a restaurant, her complicated friendship with a female server and her pining for an emotionally unavailable bartender. On the one hand, the writing is amazing & the characters feel so real. On the other, the plot is flimsy & everything feels too vague. Truly don‘t know if I loved it or didn‘t like it! Have you ever felt that way about a book?

This reminds me… I need a new bottle of wine! #LuckyInLove #Wine

🍇 IMO breakfast is far the most versatile and delicious meal!

🍓Sweetbitter. I think NYers always fall in love with books about the city that capture its essence well. And I loved that this actually managed to meld the food memoir, coming of age story, and sexy romance seamlessly. That tends to be too many genres for most authors.

🍒#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView calling all my foodies to play this week!

I think I‘ve read this but saw it at Vinnies today for $4

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I finished a book 😂 So unlike me, but life has been unrelenting.
OK book about a young girl moving to the big apple and getting a new job at a restaurant. Navigating the city, making new friends, lovers and learning about life. Lovely descriptive language to evoke smells and tastes, but overly pretentious in places - sadly unavoidable when the story is heavily focused around fine dining and wines.

Tess, a 22 year old woman, gets a job in a swanky restaurant in NYC and gets wrapped up in drama, drinking, drugs, and romance along the way. I really wanted to love this book, but something about the writing style and the plot fell short for me unfortunately! My #Booked2020 pick for #WineorWhine

I really enjoyed this book but it seems like I am well and truly in the minority on that! It helps that I listened to none of the hype back when it came out and went in with no expectations. Also I love novels set in restaurants AND New York AND I have a soft spot for young women who are pretentious in a literary way (I wonder why that is 😜) Anyhow it‘s a year in the life of a young woman working in a fancy restaurant ⬇️

Did not like this book.

Tess gets a low-level job in New York‘s swankiest restaurant, becoming deeply immersed in restaurant culture and the drama of its social circles.

Read May 25 - June 2
Rated 2.5/5 ⭐️
Book 26/60

You'd think that the story about a girl moving to New York, coming of age, and finding herself would be overdone by now, but this book told this story in such a brilliant way, it was impossible to hate.

The author created beautiful metaphors with food and kept me drawn in with each awful mistake the protagonist made. Would read again and again

#BoundTogetherJune @OriginalCyn620 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
#Sweet

Tess is to New York and new to working in a high end restaurant. The story is full of happiness, sorrow, cringe worthy moments of learning curves, heart breaking moments of betrayal and so much drinking and cocaine. I just wanted to say stop with the snorting.
“I don‘t do the hard stuff. Like heroin, I don‘t do heroin.” “ Yeah, I know, none of you rich kids do heroin.” He winked at me
Thank god for small mercies
❤️❤️❤️

Starting this now that it‘s Happy Hour 🍷thx again to @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego for the awesome gift at Christmas time. I‘m so glad I saved this ☺️we even ordered charcuterie platters as take out tonight ❤️the local restaurant that made and delivered our yummy dinner treat collects a flat rate tip that they turn into meals for front line workers.

Okay, I gotta bail. Made it about 50% but just can't with it any more
Breakdown:
I liked: set in NYC but not about rich people! & ok, some of the food descriptions made me hungry.
I related 😏: MC with zero chill who wants SO BAD to be cool & cultured.
I disliked: pretty much everything else. Basically this is Coyote Ugly with both massive literary AND foodie pretensions. Occasionally it hits, but is mostly - and progressively - insufferable.

This book. I have such mixed feelings about it. I‘m not exactly hate reading it but I‘m giving it some serious side-eye most of the time. But this bit is genuinely funny and I can relate a little too much.

Lord this book is pretentious. Sooo pretentious! But that‘s partly why I‘m enjoying the hell out of it. I was the exact same kind of pretentious as the MC when I was 23 and determined to launch myself into a new, sophisticated, better world where I could be the best version of myself. And why not? That‘s what cities & your 20s are for, after all.

I...am still mad at this book. It was promoted like crazy so I picked it up (I should‘ve known better). No one in this book acts like any person with a functioning brain would. The main character is in a constant state of cluelessness leading to her being shocked by the most obvious and benign things. 0/10

Two and a half stars. Ground breaking read? It is not. It's a decent read about a twenty-something in the New York restaurant world--- a lot of fucked up relationships with co-workers and a lot of drugs. I've read better books, and I've read worse. This one's pretty middle-of- the-road.

I need a light read after finishing The Labyrinth of Spirits, and this seems like it will fit the bill.
Book #109 for 2019!

I saw a lot of mixed reviews for this one so I wasn‘t sure what to expect. I actually enjoyed the story. My first job was in a restaurant so I liked the restaurant setting and I thought the writing was pretty good. The cable series isn‘t bad, either. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really loved parts of this book. Anyone that has ever waited tables or worked in a restaurant will relate to so much of this book. But...THE DIALOGUE! It was terrible! I know the author was trying to be literary, but it did not work for me. 👎🙄🤦‍♀️

I resisted this book for awhile but no holds on the audiobook so why not.

This was a good book, but took too long to get to the juice of the story.

#LilithJuly

(Day 25 - #BrassInPocket)

*Brass in one‘s pocket is money, and the brass Chrissie Hynde is referring to in the accompanying video is the change a waitperson receives in tips. (Hynde actually worked as a waitperson in Akron before her move to London.) This title prompt made me think of “Sweetbitter,” a tale about a waitperson in New York just trying to find acceptance, love, and maybe even a little “brass in [her] pocket.”

9 books this June - Most were available from the library and downloaded to the Kindle, so I could read while traveling. My favorites were Kitchen Confidential, Sisters First, & Sweetbitter.

I completely get why some people hate this book, but I really enjoyed it. I loved the fast-paced, cut-throat, and indulgent setting described throughout the book. It was a fascinating read after listening to Kitchen Confidential earlier this month.

My pick for #booked2019 #foodorbeverageonthecover
I know there are a lot of mixed reviews for this one, but I really enjoyed it. The protagonist is a bit whiney, but the writing and atmosphere is lovely and you can‘t beat good writing about food. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I understand why so many readers hate this book, but I really liked it. I loved the gorgeous, sensual descriptions of food & wine. I found it so nostalgic (I worked in a restaurant/wine bar in London for all of my 20s) & I think Danler perfectly captures the experience of the formed ‘family‘, the excesses and lack of self-awareness of youth, the loneliness of big cities, and the obsessions and self-discoveries and mistakes we make as we grow up.

#nextup Just started this one as a #doubledip for challenges.... So far I‘m loving it...

#booked2019 #foodorbeverageoncover
#pop19 #abookwithatitlethatfeaturessaltysweetbitterorspicy

Just planning books to take on my quick trip home in 10 days time... And here‘s my plan....
3 books gifted to me by lovely Littens.... and the polarizing tagged book that‘s a #doubledip for #pop19 and #booked2019 ...😊👍💕

A pretentiously written drama about the highs & lows that go on behind the scenes at an iconic NY restaurant. Tess, a doe eyed transplant to NY finds herself a pawn in the backstabbing game of NY social (sexual) politics. I couldn‘t help thinking I was reading the snarky MFA version of Vanderpump Rules. I didn‘t hate this book but it just seemed like the author was trying so hard to be cutting edge. A pick with reservations (Ha...no pun intended)

#TimBitTunes

Tess and the crew were #ChampionsOfRedWine.

And whenever I think about this book, I always think of @LauraBeth who loved it as much as me 😆😆😆

Taking me back to my waitressing days. #currentread #riotgrams

Just finished this audiobook. So good! Sensuality at its best- totally makes you want to indulge
#litsyAtoZ #letterS #S @BookishMarginalia

#booked2019
prompt 12- food or beverage on the cover

Starting a new book today while drinking coffee from my new favorite mug. ❤

I liked this book. As a fan of non fiction books about cooking, i kept thinking this was based off of real life while reading it...but its fiction. Wonderfully written. Her obsession with Jake and Simone drove me nuts. The only thing i didnt like was the ending it just didn't sit well with me. Especially what she did to Howard. Just wrong. I gave it 3 stars.

Found this for $1 so I figured why not? It works for #pop19 and it works for #booked2019 #foodorbeverageoncover would it work for #addiction????? Lots of varying opinions so I‘ll be curious to see how I feel about this book.

Pointless

Randomly stopped into one of my fave places ever (Mr. K‘s in Johnson City) and racked up!! I can‘t believe I found Sweetbitter AND Atheists Who Kneel and Pray for just $2 each!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩

📖Noy because it was the best book I read this year, but it was the book that lead me here to Litsy!!
📚60, so far and still going
🤔Finding Litsy and all the wonderful people it has brought into my life
🛋School breaks!!!!
👋Hi Littens!!! How are you? I hope you all had a great day!!!

#HelloThursday @wanderinglynn

Up next

Sensual on every level. This book swallowed me. The prose was always deliberate, fueled by both the author‘s intellectual curiosity and also a more bold and primal reverence for fully inhabiting the senses. We see Tess, age 22 in the cruel and gorgeous process of discovery. Read it twice and found it take on a new, chilling vibration in the post #MeToo reading.

This book was completely unrelatable to me. It was quite a struggle to finish it. If you're not keen in how a kitchen crew works, I don't suggest you get this book.

👋🏼

New read for lunch! Anybody else read this book and liked it?

This expires on Libby soon and I have no more renewals! Trying to speed read and wrap it up tonight. Hopefully will finish one more book in August!

I liked the descriptions of food and wine. Like, this book makes me want to train my palate. But, I kind of hate all the characters. Maybe I‘m supposed to? 🤷🏼‍♀️#foodie #wine #readingistherapy