Welcome to Litsy!

I absolutely loved this book!! Very insightful and worth the read.

I finished this today in the sun, which was a stark contrast to how my heart broke at the end. Such an interesting story and writing style. The narrator speaks in such a straightforward way that the sadness snuck up on me.

Finally reading this one. And what better time to start it than now, during 2020 Census season? 😁

Getting my monies worth out of Hoopla this month #audiobook 😊📚

1. 👍🏽
2. I don‘t think I had any. I was not a fan of nicknames and still loathe all the ones that go with my name. 😂
3. Mozzarella sticks
4. I might see my half sister.
5. English and Spanish

#friyayintro

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
I wanted a little more from this, but it was a beautiful story that I did enjoy reading.

#catsoflitsy #Ember

1. I just finished Census by Jesse Ball last night and haven‘t decided what to read next.
2. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
3. One ebook

#weekendreads

I love this idea of this book, but ugh, no quotation marks. Not sure if I‘ll make it through.

When a friend comes in from out of town and brings you a book that‘s on your TBR.... 😍

I have decided that there are certain books where what you take from them depends on what sort of person you are. I‘m very logical, mathematical, scientific. Books like this require some strong imaginative streak that I don‘t possess. Some reviewers have seen incredible imagery in this book. For me, it was a string of incohesive paragraphs that made for a dull read. I would have bailed but for the fact that it‘s a book club read.

My next read - chosen my by my book club. I‘ve heard good things about it

Census has won the Summer ToB and I liked it a lot. That strange atmosphere, the relationship between father and son. I even voted for it in the zombie round of this year‘s #ToB2019. And yet I hope The Golden State will win today. Maybe (probably) because I read it more recently and I can still feel how the main character struggled with motherhood, her love and frustration, her uncertainty. And relate to it.

Jesse Ball's Census was an interesting read (well, I listened on Scribd). It begins with a gorgeous introduction in which Ball explains that he's writing the book in part as a tribute to his brother who had Down's Syndrome. In the novel, the unnamed (I think?) protagonist and his son are traveling the (also unnamed) country, which is divided into 26 segments, each designated a letter of the alphabet. (continued in comments)

To date this is my least favorite #TOB2019 shortlisted book. It was a little too surreal for me. The story is about a dying man in an unnamed place going from town to town with his Downs Syndrome affected son as his companion. Their mission is to undertake some sort of census work though it was never clear to me the point of the census.

Finished Census in my 2019 challenge to have my own little #TournamentOfBooks .
Decent writing. There were several passages that made me stop and chew for a bit, which is awesome and appreciated. And there‘s some depth here that may take a little more post read contemplation time before it really comes alive. However, this one wasn‘t my cup of tea.

I FINALLY FINISHED A BOOK!!! #TOB

Starting this on audio because it is SHORT!! It is odd, though. Is this author one of those odd ducks that gives just enough to feel that “something is a little off somewhere” vibe? #TOB2019

My oldest has some special needs. This book has had its share of truth daggers of understanding to my fatherly heart.

Starting the 2nd of 18 in the #TournamentOfBooks. This one seems like it will be good.
Unrelated question: Do you listen to music while reading? If so, what are your tunes of choice?

Can we not feel two opposite things at once? To whom is it a crime?

#tob2019

I‘m at 14 hours and 30 minutes for the #25inFive #readathon and just finished another book. A short, unusual and powerful father-son road-trip story, this book is on the Tournament of Books shortlist. #tob2019

My Favorite Books of 2018.

10. Census by Jesse Ball. I read this almost two years ago and it has never left my heart—this father and son, this unbreakable bond, it‘s all so present, so truthful, so unforgettable. #BestBooks2018

More on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KennyCoble

So far, I‘m kinda bored. But I‘m optimistic.

Not a huge reading month for me, but I read some really good books. Census was my favorite, but I enjoyed them all. #monthlywrapup #octoberwrapup

This is an introspective novel told from the point of view of a dying father, traveling north with his son conducting a census. It is both alike and unlike anything I have ever read. I found it to be compelling and thought-provoking.

This won the summer tournament, so it has an automatic spot in the 2019 Tournament of Books. #tob

It‘s the end of the summer and the winner of the 2018 Rooster Summer Reading Challenge is Census by Jesse Ball. This means it now has a guaranteed spot in the 2019 Tournament of Books, which kicks off next March.

Of the three finalists this was my favorite but I am not sure it should have beaten Circe in the first round. Anyhow, it has been a fun challenge again. #ToB

It‘s going to take me some time to absorb what I just read. I liked it but I can‘t say for sure if I understood it fully. I think this book will need to gestate for a while.

1. I watch so few movies that I can't even remember the last one I watched, even on Netflix. Huh.
2. Walk around someplace new.
3. Zero. As in zero calls to return, zero chores left to do, zero places I need to go today.
4. Ugh. I felt like it was trying too hard to be mysterious and did the opposite of info dumping. Info hoarding?

@jesshowbooks

Still trying to finish 2018 Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/summer-reading-guide-2018/

After this I only have 5 to read.

Sunday morning porch reading. Finally decided on Census after flailing about for a few days unable to settle on what to read next. It‘s interesting how out of sorts I feel when I don‘t have an active book going but a bunch of maybes on the periphery. #booknerdproblems

I am concurrently reading 4 books with similarly — but not identically — blue covers, and I keep taking the wrong one out of my bag.

Ostensibly a vaguely post-apocalyptic story of a dying widower and his adult son with Down Syndrome. They travel through a series of towns administering a mysterious census. Based on the author‘s intro, I think this is an allegory of any parents as they raise a disabled child. See my Bookstagram or GR reviews for more details—and beware of spoilers! #tournamentofbooks

This was such a beautiful book. The journey that this father/son take is one I am glad I got to share. This is my first boom I read by Jesse Ball, but I will definitely be reading more.

Another book to check off for the Modern Mrs. Darcy summer reading guide. I have a feeling my heart might just break a little.

This is an immensely moving novel which I enjoyed much more than I expected to. Census requires a high tolerance for plotless narrative from its reader. Census is a meditation on the human condition. It is about the elusiveness and sometimes triviality of the many and disparate things that make us who we are, and the complexity of the ways we interacted with each other on both personal and more broadly societal levels. #indiebuddyreads

This book is almost too relevant #indiebuddyreads

Nailing it again #indiebuddyreads

💔 #indiebuddyreads

Yes! #indiebuddyreads

👌🏻#indiebuddyreads

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This had experimental, lyrical warning signs posted all over it and some ho-hum reviews from people I follow. But startle me with a Double-crested cormorant if I didn't fall hard for it in the end.
This is an odd, almost Daliesque story, a melancholy road trip from towns A-Z, meeting random strangers in their homes and taking a "census" of their life. It's mood is philosophical, poetic, surrealist, puzzling

A challenge, but worth it.

This book is immensely quotable...it‘s unusual but I‘m enjoying it so far #indiebuddyreads

This just tickled my fancy somehow 😀 ok so it‘s not the most straightforward of narratives but the writing feels really original and I enjoying trying to figure it all out

#indiebuddyreads

@Redheadrambles has already quoted this introduction from Jesse Ball- but my god how true, and how honest, and how real. #indiebuddyreads

In between watching way too many football matches I managed to finish this wonderful book.
It takes some getting into but once I became used to the style I felt mesmerized most of the time. A father is dying and takes his son, who has Down syndrome, on a roadtrip from A to Z. They are census takers and so meet many different people with different stories. But most of all it is their own story: their memories and the coming end. So very touching.

@Neale Elvis says he's sorry, but he would only fly if he was allowed in the cabin with me, plus he has this important job of cleaning up the forest - who will store away all these random pieces of wood and dig holes if he was in AUS? #dogswithjobs #thisisMYterritory #terrierpower #dogsoflitsy
Chloe is so cute!!

@MeikeReads Chloe took the news hard that Elvis can‘t make it. 😁😁😁😁