Welcome to Litsy!

On any given day in 1919, Babe Ruth, whose observing background presence is the best part of the story, can hit a ball to the sky. He can also strike out. The lives of characters here can change in the flash of a gun, the birth of a child, the spreading of sickness, a sudden trade. Hope, however, begins with arrival in a new home, a city that itself is arriving in a new era, where despite the world‘s present ugliness, anything seems possible.

Listend to this book as English audio book and I feared that I wouldn't quite get all the nuances Lehane uses to write his stories. But even though I might haven't got it all, it was still a very good book. Even though it feels a bit off to read about the suffering of BIPOC written by a white man, as far as I am allowed to judge he does a good job. And I learned another thing or two about American history, which isn't really lectured here.

A sweeping family saga with a ton of historical and emotional depth. Dense, but never boring.

First in Lehane's trilogy of historical novels set mainly in Boston in the years immediately following the end of World War One. A gripping read which illuminates a specific, and critical, moment in American history, and the struggles between capital and labour and the running sore of racism give it a contemporary resonance. The description of the breakdown in law and order following the BPD strike is Dickensian in its power.

"Do you know the difference between men and gods?"
"No, sir."
"Gods don't think they can become men."

Thinking about making this my next book 📖🤔

Boston 1918/19 is a city in turmoil with flu,anarchists communists,poverty,racism and an underpaid police force. The Coughlin family are at the heart of the police, patriarch Thomas police chief, + the hero of the bk Danny both undercover as well at the centre of a potential strike. Also Luther has escaped from tulsa to B+works for the coughlins + the new naacp. And of course babe Ruth.
A family saga, absorbing, cinematic, cdnt put it down.⬇️

#24B4Monday @Andrew65
I've never tried a readathon before but I think I'll have a go this weekend although not sure I'll make as I only managed 35 mins at lunchtime but with a glass of red wine tonight who knows.
Incidentally this bks been in a pile for a while × I'd forgotten how good lehane is. set in 1918 Boston the history is fascinating touching on the US communists, unions, st louis massacre, race,anarchists et al. Must rd more abt the era

I‘ll just be over here reading this excellent book set in 1918. It‘s got a killer virus, race riots (and the circumstances that cause them), and people needing to strike to make a living wage at their jobs. So glad we‘ve put all these problems in the rear view. Oh. Wait. 😔

1. The Given Day by Dennis Lehane and Full Throttle by Joe Hill

2. “Faun” by Joe Hill

3. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, but she‘ll soon be unseated by The Given Day which weighs in at close to 700 pages 😱
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

Next month‘s #bookspin is a #bookspinbonanza where we try to read our whole list of 20 in the order drawn. Now, I have as much chance of reading 20 books in a month as I do of hopping in a homemade spaceship and visiting the moon, but, why not?

This time my list has ebooks, so here are the last 5.

15 One Last Thing Before I Go
16 What Comes After
17 Perfect Chemistry
18 The Magician‘s Lie
19 Pushing the Limits
20 Masque of the Red Death

I haven‘t read this chunkster yet. It‘s waiting for me on my workplace tbr. 📚#over500pages #GratefulReads

Day 11 of #31bookpics - unforgettable. Dennis Lehane is not my usual style at all.
I think I just picked this up on #audiobook, because back in the day I liked long audiobooks on unabridged CD, and they‘re hard to find at my #library! I was mesmerized by this book, and bought a copy and made my husband read it too. And I think about it every time someone mentions the Spanish Influenza of 1918. (Which comes up more than you‘d think.) 😝

Well-written but all the hate and racial slurs are getting to me. I understand that‘s the way things were in this time period but it‘s very difficult to listen to. #freakyfriday

I‘m sure this is a very good book, but I just couldn‘t focus on it. From start to finish. I‘m not sure what went wrong with it for me, perhaps the narrator was too monotonous or something like that, but it just wasn‘t a good fit. The stories didn‘t quite intertwine enough, or when they did, I missed it, and there were just so many men everywhere.

I have fallen off with the #riotgrams due to family wedding and, well, life. But saw today's challenge was set near where you live. I have a lot of books set in Boston but both of these have Southie as a primary setting. The Given Day is by far my favorite book of all time and set in both South Boston and the North End (among others). Black Mass is literally set in the projects across the street from me - Whiteys old territory

I am diving into this - and it opens in 1918. I was so struck by this passage; it has an air of "the more things change, the more they stay the same," and that last sentence is very evocative of a lot of things I've been reading about white people and their courage in 2016.

TFW you buy a book for 8 dollars and it's a signed, first edition, first printing! I really lucked out...even though I am not Chris. 😂

I'm just going to read and read and read .... while I wonder what has become of my country. It's so disheartening to think that so many voted for fear, xenophobia and misogyny. 😞

Ok borrowed this from a friend...I've lived other Dennis Lehane I've read so high hopes for this one!

Meaty and epic. Definitely Ellroy-inflected but with much more heart.

Just trying to get ahead of the Coughlin clan before Ben Affleck's Oscar bait sequel to this hits movie screens. This was terrific. Looking forward to the next one.

Just the perfect kind of day.