Welcome to Litsy!

It‘s 2020 and the ice age is coming. This story of this looming apocalypse focuses on the lives of people living in a caravan park in Scotland. We experience it through the eyes of an awesomely cool transgender teen, her wild single mom and the cute neighbor who just moved in after the passing of his mom and grandmother. As the temperatures keep dropping it felt very realistic as to how everyone would react.Climate change is terrifying. #TBRtarot

#TBRtarot @CBee Found my book for June!!! This has been on my shelf for too long so I‘m super excited to read it this month!

Beautiful writing! I‘ve had this since came out in 2016 but just got around to it. Interesting premise and characters. The climax Elias a touch disappointing but that‘s only because I liked the characters so much.

It begins well: a hungover Dylan not-coping with the immediate catastrophe of eviction from and repossession of the family‘s cinema flees north to a caravan purchased by his mother just before her death. Dylan falls for Constance, an independent woman with two lovers and her transgender child, Stella. There is also the slow catastrophe of the onset of an ice age. The premise and characterization are wonderful, but the story sort of peters out.

I read this book over many Mondays - it stayed in the bag for Monday swim class and I didn‘t care enough about it to read it at other times. It has its moments of brilliance - a great character in a transgender teen, its setting in a future Scotland where climate change has resulted in an ice age. It was a decent 3, maybe 3.5 ⭐️ read for me

It works for #booked2018 as it has to do with the environment

Getting started on a book that's been sitting for too long on my shelves! Meanwhile the first grader is working on his homework before swimming class starts and the 4yo is watching whatever the swim school has on the TV. Think it's Moana today.

This book is amazing! I can't believe I had never heard of it before seeing it at my local bookstore.

I loved how quiet this novel was—with complex characters that try to continue to “live” (as in be present) even as disaster approaches. It‘s really a lovely novel about who we are in difficult situations and how we fight to survive. It‘s a subtle novel though so don‘t expect desperate and wild acts. And including a trans teen was perfect considering the themes of the novel.

#LibraryHaul

Ok, so I picked these up at the library. I need to be reading down my TBR pile. Why can't I pass that building without stopping in?! #bookishproblems

I had to do another #sunshine post to include one of my favourites of last year and such beautiful covers in hardback and paperback #maybookflowers

Strange. The narration by Steven Cree was the best part.

Please help me choose my #F book! Stack includes: The Sunlight Pilgrims, Purity, My Brilliant Friend.
Notes: book will be read over my birthday weekend, which Includes a 10-hour round trip to Edinburgh! Which one? #litsyAtoZ

Two "sunny" books I've yet to read. #sunnybooks #17rainbowbooks

#17RainbowBooks According to my GoodReads, I've only read 5 books with SUN in the title- my memory is pretty clear on 4 of them and sketchy on City of Sun ☀️ The only five star read I gave was to A Thousand Splendid Suns.
HAPPY FRIDAY LITTENS 🍹#sunny #sunnybooks

"It's like judging others is the absolute favourite occupation for some people in this life. Always to find the other person short on something. Just for kicks."

Why, yes, that is me at the Barnes & Noble café, wearing a pink cat shirt, and cross-referencing Litsy and Goodreads TBR lists. ? Isn't that how you'd spend three, precious kid-free hours? Just me?

I also wrote a letter to my grandmother and a card for #CupidGoesPostal!

Not quite as raw and raucous as The Panopticon but I loved this one. A small community in northern Scotland brace themselves for a freak winter that could spell the beginning of a new Ice Age. There's real verve and depth and voice in Jenni Fagan's writing, I can't wait for her next offering. #TacklingTheTBR

This is the end of the world .... but there is so much hope and love.. It's a slow book but well worth it.

I absolutely loved this book. Beautifully written and packed full of research and wonderful imagery.
Scheduled a review for the blog next week, but there's plenty more up right now! 📚💖
http://picklebacksandpaperbacks.wordpress.com
#bookblog #bookblogger

With NaNo taking over my breaks at work, I've got to get my reading in somewhere! #bookwormfitness 💪

Taking a green tea break between the gym and work! #currentlyreading #greenteagivesmelife 🍵

This book is really making my day. 😀

This book was different to anything I have read before. I flipped from totally loving the concept in some chapters to it being just average in others. I found myself caring about the characters but wasn't impressed with the ending. However I am glad I read it for the change of scenery!

This book was different to anything I have read before. I flipped from totally loving the concept in some chapters to it being just average in others. I found myself caring about the characters but wasn't impressed with the ending. However I am glad I read it for the change of scenery!

About to begin reading this book.

About to begin reading this book.

About to begin reading this book.

This had a slow start but once I committed myself to it, it got better and I read it in a matter of days. Takes place in 2020, at the beginning of an climate change caused ice age. Follows a thirteen year old transgendered girl and a man dealing with immense grief. A good mix of interesting topics.

"Icicles will grow to the size of narwhal tusks, or the long bony finger of winter herself."

Sending my youngest (of 3) to kindergarten was harder than I imagined and created a two week long reading slump. I'm back, though, and ready to finally finish this book. Anyone else have a hard time getting into this?

I'm so excited to get this! I won it in a Goodreads giveaway.

I didn't give this one much of a chance but there is only so much time.

Currently reading pile #tbr

Really wanted to love this one, but it's getting the DNF treatment. There are some intriguing characters and stories in here, but it feels like it's trying to be too many things all at once.

Go on and ask me if I expected this to be about a transgendered girl and her mother during a winter apocalypse? This is the main bulk of the story. It is also a story about identity and rediscovery. There are side characters who are barely developed, but the three main are great. Not much "happens," but it is still a good one. With this one I wish there was something between pick and so-so.

Started this last night and an hour or so of reading and I am a quarter way through. So far, it is pretty slow, but a good cast of characters. The cynical side of me also noticed it hits all of the "hot" themes in books- post-apocalyptic- yes (sort of), transgender youth- yes, quirky love interest- yes, and environmentalism underlying message- yes. That is pretty glaring.

My TBR for now. Due to traveling and the kids starting school, I sadly doubt I will get much reading done in the next two weeks but I hope to get a start on these!

Overall, this book couldn‘t hold my interest. If the environmental catastrophe was addressed more and the dialogue was more intriguing, if it wasn‘t a makeshift tragedy with characters you just couldn‘t care about….maybe then I could have finished the book.

Calling it a wrap on my inaugural #24in48. While I didn't clock anywhere close to a full 24 hours of reading this weekend, I did get just over 13 hours and read a little more than 600 pages. I finished two books and started on two others. As a generally slow reader it's honestly better than I expected. I can't wait for my next #readathon!

1 day and 2 books down in #24in48. On to book 3!

I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of this book. If I hadn't been so immersed in The Twelve by Cronin I would have started it immediately. It's on deck next.

This paragraph really hit home today... #RIPAltonSterling #BlackLivesMatter

I'm sorry to say it, but this book put me to sleep rather than held my interest. There's too much going on, & I don't care enough about any of it. If the author could have focused on one main plot, maybe I could have made it through. Instead there are 3 subplots struggling for attention.

"Nobody told him grief would be so physical."

I love sentences like this, pronouncements that stand on their own. They're like a punch of naked honesty - they leave you gasping.

#nextup #arc

More interesting for its depiction of a young transgender teen during her transition and for a young man's grief than its depiction of climate change. Not sure if I liked the ending or not. NetGalley ARC.