Welcome to Litsy!

The Crow Girl both mesmerized and disturbed me. Trigger warnings for almost all content. We are used to the darkness of most Scandinavian novels. The Crow Girl makes not attempt to drown out true monsters. It artfully illustrates broken memories, fragments of self shattered by trauma. I could not put it down. The authors (two under one name) wrote of horrors and the horrid. I recommend this book, but with caution and care.

Reading The Crow Girl was a demanding journey, but one I‘m ultimately glad I went on. This book isn‘t for the faint of heart, and it‘s definitely not a book I‘d recommend as someone‘s first journey into crime fiction. This book is dark, and delves deep into the depths of human depravity. It‘s been a long time since I‘ve chugged out a chunkster in a month but I‘m glad I did. ⬇️

5 🌟
This was my #Bookspin pick for March
#TBRTarot March pick

First line: “The house was over a hundred years old, and the solid stone walls were at least a meter thick, which meant that she probably didn‘t need to insulate them, but she wanted to be absolutely sure.”

This was a hard read. Hard,dark, upsetting content that I would have given up on but for the fact the plot and storytelling was so compelling. I wanted to know what happened very badly but also feel like I need to steam clean my brain. Read for my own challenge this year as a Nordic noir it was defiantly noir !

Lobster #HousePanther finally let me finish this one :) I really enjoyed it. Had a bit of difficulty initially figuring out each person but… it got easier as the book progressed. #DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks

Lobster decided I needed to take a break from reading. #HousePanther

Starting the #DoubleSpin first because it‘s a bit of a chunkster 🤓

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Prompt: Kiss the Girls

Fashionably late (as is usually the case) to this party… this behemoth has been on my shelves for 6 years!

The Crow Girl was actually published as 3 separate books in Sweden, which helps explain the crazy ups and downs throughout. It‘s very dark (if you have any triggers, avoid it), disturbing, and brutal, though the worst is mercifully left to our imaginations. Twisty with two excellent female MCs (written by 2 men!). Good stuff!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#TheCrowGirl #EricAxlSund #BookSpinBingo

The abused body of a young boy is discovered in a Stockholm city park. DS Jeanette Kihlberg heads the investigation. With the discovery of the mutilated corpses of two more children, it becomes clear that a serial killer is at large. Kihlberg turns to therapist Sofia Zetterlund for her expertise in the psychopathology of those who kill, and the lives of the two women become quickly intertwined.

Anyone read this trilogy? Supposed to be really good, but not for the faint of heart. I got a bit of a Lars Kepler meets Nicci French feeling from the reviews.

I felt this was ok. It's basic nordic noir. I think the writer could have driven his point of child abuse through to the reader a bit more elegantly. You really don't need to have detailed descriptions of child abuse on every page of every chapter of the book. Readers are smarter than that and they do get the point without all the gore. 🤦‍♀️

I think with nordic noir there is a fine line between enough and too much violence...

As much as I ♡ a murder mystery that is written out side my country this one was too brutal for me to stomach. Especially because of the crimes against children. I just felt to uncomfortable with this material.

This is spot on♡

I am all cuddled in and enjoying this crisp WI evening...

I am doing such a disservice trying to pronounce these swedish towns in my head. I think I will need to check out the audio book to get the full flavor of these words...

Ohhhh this so speaks to my introvert side of being...

#LitsyAtoZ #LetterC @BookishMarginalia

If dark, twisty thrillers are your thing, you'll love this book. This book follows three main female characters as they try to solve a gruesome crime. Just when I thought I had things in this book figured out, the author switched things up and left me intrigued and wondering what he'd do next. It's a 700+ page book, but it felt like less. Trigger warnings: child abuse, animal abuse, suicide

I loved this. Intriguing story, dark and odd. A lot of depth to all the characters as well. I was hooked.

I‘ve finally picked this book up but I‘m actually surprised at how many pages there is in it and the size of the text too! It‘s so small and so many pages, over 700, I never expected that at all.
But it seems quite interesting so far, of course I‘m only 35 pages in, but it has held my attention so far and that‘s a good sign for the rest of the book.

I‘ve finally picked this book up but I‘m actually surprised at how many pages there is in it and the size of the text too! It‘s so small and so many pages, over 700, I never expected that at all.
But it seems quite interesting so far, of course I‘m only 35 pages in, but it has held my attention so far and that‘s a good sign for the rest of the book.

#BlackCatChallenge: #Black

A small, small sampling of the black covers I have.

Audiobook over last 2 weeks. Writer takes time to develop two fabulous female leads. It takes a twist twice, especially in the 3rd act. Found myself enjoying dog walks even more than usual. Whilst crime thrillers are not my thing usually this one might change my mind if I can get such depth. Must be a Scandanavian thing as their female characters are just better. 31 hrs on audiobook so not a quickie but so worth it

100 pages I and I'm addicted! Awful story but I can't put it down!!

Well, this was brutal. And extreme. But - many hours of entertainment, so I‘m not complaining. They could have found a better audiobook narrator though. In a book with Swedish place names and proper nouns in every second sentence it would be great if the narrator didn‘t consistently mispronounce every single one. It took me so long to realize Jeanette‘s husband was a Åke when Glaisters kept saying Orca.

New audiobook. I have discovered I like the crime genre after all. Only if there is a string female lead though. Tried a few and if male dominated they appear tediously misogynistic. Is this common for crime genre outside of Sweden as their writers seem to love their female characters to be real.

Loving reading a Swedish thriller as I‘m whisked around Sweden for the first time ever. Perfect scene setter (obviously) for what is so far a twisty, human and inhuman gripper of a read. #thriller#murdermystery#scandinoir

At 768 pages this one took me a while but my goodness I was glad I did. Great storyline and thorough character development-one minor part towards the end that seemed to come from left field so didn't really have a purpose. The rest was fantastic and turned into more than what you'd think from the synopsis. Great plot twists and always keeps you guessing.

Wow... this is probably the longest book I‘ve ever read. It‘s not the darkest but it isn‘t for everyone. It has some dark subject matter. I thought it was good though! I had a hard time picking it up occasionally but I think that‘s more due to a reading slump than the book. 🌟🌟🌟💫✨3.75-4/5

Finally!!! A little time to read. A break between classes... This week has been very busy! I‘ve missed you all! Happy Wednesday, Littens! 😋

Going to try to get whatever reading I can in! This week is a very busy week!

Raining and storming... calls for cuddling with Theo as he takes yet another nap today and reading! 🤗

It‘s that day again... Wednesday!!! Which means we are almost to the weekend! 🤗 Ready for a good yoga class after crushing my small group class earlier. They left here very tired. 😅

Sunday morning cuddles with my puggy! 🤗 Decided to pick this book up again... I‘ve been bouncing around books a lot the past few weeks and have neglected this one. #pugsoflitsy

#CurrentRead

I like a #chunkster, but at times I lost track of this complicated story with huge amounts of psychology. It is very unpleasant in places, which is to be expected with paedophilia and abuse as subjects. There were so many storylines, characters & red herrings that my head is spinning & I‘m not sure in a good way. I *think* this was extremely good, rather than just brutally nasty (as I thought at times), but I‘m still gathering my thoughts.

Some #blue picks for today! The Crow Girl and The Bluest Eye are still TBR.

#ReadingResolutions
@Jess7

Yes! Yes! Yes! Check out this haul I got from one of my fabulous clients who works for Random House!!! So excited!!!! 🤪 I said I wanted all the books and I got all the books!!!

We‘ve got a snow day! We braved the hills this morning for sledging and now I‘ve taken to the sofa for the rest of the day, cosy. Hope you‘re all keeping safe and warm too UK Littens! #beastfromtheeast 💨❄️

Ready for some Scandi-crime. It‘s forecasting below zero temperatures and snow in the UK this week so I‘m matching the weather to my reading ❄️

Decided that it was time to tackle this chunker while waiting for a potential client to call. Over 700 pages... this may take a while. 🤗 from @Daisey for the #letshyggeswap I‘m looking forward to this! #mounttbrchallenge

Read this in bits between work stuff and I thought I knew how it would work out. Then read the rest in one go (increasingly compulsive). Very twisty in the end, I was only partially right! Hard to read descriptions of psychological and physical effects of abuse. Don‘t believe in trigger warnings, decide for yourself. A bit of light in the end. Strong women rule!

A very long book, but wonderfully told and with such interesting twists. Amazing ending and a great story.

My haul today at Kinokuniya bookstore New Year 20%off sale! Got there too late for the lucky bags stuffed with books for 2018 yen, but this is a nice stack if I say so myself😎

Congrats @That-Bookish-Hiker 🎉

The Crow Girl is one of my absolute favorite horror, psychological thriller books. It sits proudly next to the Halloween decoration I refuse to pack away. 👻

#thatbookishhikergiveaway

Still working my way through this monster of a book. It‘s not bad, it drags a bit...

London bound and a weekend for two 😍😉

Opportunity for some reading time on the train 👍
#crime #fiction #sweden

Up next: the crow girl!!! I‘m only 40 pages in but it grabbed me right away! Has anyone else read this? What did you think?

#currentlyreading very good so far 👍

Extremely rough day today. Now to relax eat my dinner and just not worry about nothing. #tome #baddays #muchlove #densebooks #canadianmadepoutine