Welcome to Litsy!

This was a great book. Loved the art throughout this book. It is a great book for young adults who deal with grief. #ISpyBingoJanuary I found footprints and a house. But no bingo This month. Some of them were hard to find. Like the stop sign. @Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks

This was both beautiful and sad. I really felt for Connor as he was being bullied at school and everyone knew that his Mom was undergoing chemo for cancer. It was both this and the fact that he dreams of a monster that comes to his house every night, that no one believed him, so he became reclusive. I love that Connor is able to get revenge against one of the bullies at school and is able to “be seen” by everyone again.

4⭐️
11/23/22

Read for a book club on Monday. Got my boyfriend to read it too. Then we watched the movie last night. I thought it was going to utterly destroy me and then it didn‘t and I kind of felt let down.

Somber; it‘s the second time I read this book and found it more amusing than the first time, definitely deeper, and more significant. Life can partake a series of incidents for which we are oftentimes helpless, or feeling helpless, so we call upon the monsters of the night that so much frighten many children, but in whose arms we feel secure, or something like that. It‘s not bad, I‘d recommend it to a kid though.

A 13-year-old boy named Conor had to go through a challenging life.

1 night, Conor had a nightmare that called his name repeatedly. At first, he thought that maybe it was just an illusion but apparently it was a reality where there was a big tree in the yard calling his name.

At 12:07 midnight, Conor will leave the house to listen to the story from the tree. There are 3 stories that give lessons to Conor‘s life.

#book

(May)Here I am at almost 8:00 am writing this, with my eyes still full of tears. The last few chapters were almost imposible to read because of it. If anyone asks me what I read this year that made an impact, A Monster Calls will be it. Reading while you can't even make up the words because your sight is blurry and you have a knot in your throat and you don't want the story to end but at the same time you do.

This was a beautiful, heart wrenching book. I saw the movie years ago and liked it. I loved the book.
#OutstandingOctober @Andrew65
#Pointsathon @GHABI4ROSES @DieAReader
#31in31 @Catsandbooks
#AutumnAtoZ @Texreader (M)
#Spookoween @TheSpineView
@StayCurious #TeamMonsterMash

This was a 5⭐ read.

#Monster #OminousOctober
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#Monster #OminousOctober @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This was a quick YA read.
As I get older, I find I cry a lot easier when reading or watching tv. And this book was no exception! 🥹

Connor has been having nightmares since his mum fell ill, but one night a new monster appears. It says it has been called, and that Connor must tell him a story. A story that is his truth.

This was sad but so worth the read. Sorry you sat neglected on my shelves for so long book 🤣

#BookSpin #JubilantJuly

Having a chilled morning starting A Monster Calls with Moroccan mint tea and homemade frittata 😋

I got to enjoy a production of A Monster Calls in DC last night! It follows the book and was quite creative using rope to create and represent the yew tree.

Such an amazing story! I‘m a total mess! It‘s been sitting on my bookshelf for quite a while and when I learned it‘s being performed at the Kennedy Center, I got tickets and started the book. Looking forward to the show and plan to bring a box of tissues. 😭

Oh. My. God.
My dad had been recommending this book to me for such a long time but I hadn‘t read it until now and I don‘t know why I put it off for so long. The book was absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful and multiple quotes had me crying. Absolutely amazing.
4⭐️

“You do not write your life with words,” the monster said. “You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.”

How can a queen be both a good witch and a bad witch? How can a prince be a murderer and a savior? How can an apothecary be evil-tempered but right-thinking? How can a parson be wrong-thinking but good-hearted? How can invisible men make themselves more lonely by being seen?

“I wish I had a hundred years,” she said, very quietly. “A hundred years I could give to you.”

“If no one sees you,” the monster said, picking up its pace, too, “are you really there at all?”

“Stories are important,” the monster said. “They can be more important than anything. If they carry the truth.”

“I don‘t understand. Who‘s the good guy here?”
“There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between.”

“Stories are wild creatures,” the monster said. “When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?”

“They‘re just stupid berries. Woo-hoo, so scary. Oh, please, please, save me from the berries!”
The monster looked at him quizzically. “How strange,” it said. “The words you say tell me you are scared of the berries, but your actions seems to suggest otherwise.”
“You‘re as old as the land and you‘ve never heard of sarcasm?”

“Stories are the wildest things of all,” the monster rumbled. “Stories chase and bite and hunt.”

“I am the spine that the mountains hang upon! I am the tears that the rivers cry! I am the lungs that breathe the wind! I am the wolf that kills the stag, the hawk that kills the mouse, the spider that kills the fly! I am the stag, the mouse, and the fly that are eaten! I am the snake of the world devouring its tail! I am everything untamed and untamable!”
[…]
“I am this wild earth, come for you, Conor O‘Malley.”

“It‘s only a dream,” he said again.
“But what is a dream, Conor O‘Malley?” the monster said, bending down so its face was close to Conor‘s. “Who is to say that it is not everything else that is the dream?”

#TarotTakeover Day 1! @ErinSueMreads

There are so many layers to peel back with Nine of Swords. Fear, anxiety, grief, and anguish that start in our dreams and unconscious reality, and then "stalk" us into our day-to-day state of being.

Conor has the daily challenge of dealing with the monster that haunts him at night. Like him, we can either keep running away, or confront it--and maybe, find something to learn from it along the way ?

The chapters were short, and to the point. It was easy-to-read, as a middle grade book should be, but slam-packed with emotion. As I was expecting, Ness packed a punch in short sentences that a thirteen year old boy would use, which still made me feel all the emotions. The metaphors of the monsters really made sense, too. There are even some actions that caused me to wonder if the monsters were real–or were they in Connor‘s head.

Guess we‘ll see if this one makes me cry!

So moving and so sad. Really great. ❤️❤️❤️

Woke up early and have a flexible WFH schedule, so I decided to watch the movie adaptation of A Monster Calls for this week‘s #Screamathon prompt before starting my work day. I finished the book last night in one sitting. The movie is a good adaptation. The film is well-cast, aside from Sigourney Weaver as the grandmother. Her British accent isn‘t great. I liked how they visualized the book through the art design. @4thhouseontheleft

A monster calls, while a sweet kitty snoozes. This book lives up to the hype! Elements reminded me of The BFG, but if that book had more depth and was a lot better. A nice yet moving read for spooky season. Will watch the movie on Netflix for this week‘s #Screamathon prompt! @4thhouseontheleft #catsoflitsy

#ScarathonPhotoChallenge @Linsy
#Monster

A powerful book

#monstrousmonday #haunted @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Day 1 of #Haunted is Crystal Ball

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks & @eggs

My TBR stack for #Screamathon! It‘s a little ambitious based on how much I‘ve slowed down recently. Hopefully this month‘s spooky reads inspire me to read a bit more! @4thhouseontheleft

I‘m not crying, you‘re crying!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I have to read this for my Foundations of Literacy (EC-12) class and I‘m not sad about it. We were given five fantasy books to choose from and this was my pick. My daughter, who is in the same class, picked When You Reach Me. Absolutely loving this class! 😊

🎧 This is a story of grief & loss & letting go. Connor is a young boy dealing with the fear of loss & the impending death of his mom from cancer. There‘s a magical element & 4 stories within the story.

Jason Isaacs is a ridiculously fabulous narrator for this story. The author took the ideas from another author & wrote the story posthumously, she is credited in the title.

This book will put you through an emotional wringer.

I cried

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A nice read, but the real star is the artwork.

Conor's mom has been sick for a very long time, she is not getting better. One night, a monster comes at midnight to tell him three stories. A great book about grief, dealing with the very complex feelings that you have to go through. The illustrations really complement the story. It was a re-read for me and I found it as emotional as the first time.

1. Rural community about thirty minutes from Rochester, NY
2. Tagged book!
3. Cursebreakers
4. The Princess Bride
5. Parks and Recreation
6. Band ~ Thousand Foot Krutch
7. Red
8. Psychological thrillers and contemporary drama
9. I own an online secondhand shop/works from home
10. Four living ferrets ~ three have passed away.

#meetthelittens

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is just as excellent as I‘ve heard! I felt so much for Conor, and the monster was so interesting! Quite the book, I must say.

Well this was depressing yet so beautiful all at the same time. It‘s one of those books that just kind of leaves you speechless. I did a lot of crying.

The art work is also amazing and really fits the feel and flow of the story.

#QuotsyOct20 @TK-421

“Stories don't always have happy endings."

This stopped him. Because they didn't, did they? That's one thing the monster had definitely taught him. Stories were wild, wild #animals and went off in directions you couldn't expect.”

Loved the illustration. Start was quite gripping. Good MGF

My first Patrick Ness read is a very heart-wrenching tale about loss and acceptance. Checkout its equally good film version on Netflix 📖🎬😭
#bookstoscreen
#goodreadsreadingchallenge2020

#3books that didn‘t just make me cry—they dissolved me into puddles of tears and I‘m still trying to recover from each and every one of them. 😭

This book was such a major disappointment.
I have read and enjoyed Patrick Ness books in the past and was expecting something of that calibre but was most disappointed. I felt that this was a very thin story and I didn't feel like the tales from the monster help pad it out. I think this book is specifically for kids dealing with lose and I am not the target audience at all.
2/5 Stars

This book was such a major disappointment.
I have read and enjoyed Patrick Ness books in the past and was expecting something of that calibre but was most disappointed. I felt that this was a very thin story and I didn't feel like the tales from the monster help pad it out. I think this book is specifically for kids dealing with lose and I am not the target audience at all.
2/5 Stars