Welcome to Litsy!

1-24 Nov 24
A recommendation from Hill of Content, this is a beautiful, terribly sad book.
It alternates between the viewpoints of John, Margaret and their three children as they deal with the suicide of a parent and then the mental illness and addiction of one of the children. Haslett considers the familial links of depression, treatment and the impact it has on immediate family members. And it is relentless - there is no cure in this scenario.

Some time to myself today … this one looks good 🤞🏻

This story is told through the eyes of three siblings and each parent. It‘s about one of the children, a character who is in the world very differently from everyone else. Beautifully written and so memorable.

I did not expect such an emotional back and forth with this book. Scrolling through the reviews made me worry cause of the changing narrator and timelines but I did not find it hard to follow at all. I think Adam Haslett did a great job showing the inner doubts and complexities of families who struggle to hold each other up. Hey @CSeydel I think you‘ll be pleased to know I‘m mailing this on to another friend! 😊

What do you fear when you fear everything? Time passing and not passing. Death and life. But even to say this would abet the lie that terror can be described, when anyone who‘s ever known it knows that it has no components but is undead everywhere inside you all the time, until you recognize yourself only by the tensions that string one minute to the next. This being the condition itself: the relentless need to escape a moment that never ends.

I started Imagine Me Gone last night and Adam Haslett‘s writing reminds me a lot of Donna Tartt which means I am loving it so far. I want to finish it by the end of the month so I can bring it to my friend I‘m visiting in Michigan. Mika is helping (pinning my arm down and making biscuits on me 😂). #catsoflitsy

⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was pretty up and down for me. I didn‘t like the writing much initially, but by the end I was fine with it. At times I really felt for the characters, but then there‘d be a POV switch and/or a jump forward in time and I‘d struggle to connect and immerse myself in the story all over again.

#catsoflitsy #Phoenix

I love the cover. So much. The book was a solid read. It didn‘t pull me through. It wasn‘t entertaining. But it wasn‘t intended to be. It handles a difficult and important topic - depression and mental illness in families - well.

I decided to start this the other day after feeling compelled to read something that‘s been sitting on my shelves for ages. I still prefer physical copies of books to ebooks, but I think I‘m going to have to switch to the ebook for this one. My copy seems to be a bit dusty and it‘s been giving me a headache and making me itch every time I try to read it. 😩

Heartbreaking story of how mental illness changes the dynamic of a family.

I keep thinking I will stop reading books that pull my heart out and stomp all over it. But then I don‘t. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This book is incredibly well written. Margaret, John, and their children are such richly drawn, intense, authentic characters. A story about family, love, and living with mental illness that is devastatingly sad, but so very good. 😔

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one is hard to review. Is it well-written, a powerful & gut-wrenching story of mental illness, family ties, guilt, longing, the secrets people keep (& the damage they do), & how some people can find a way forward while for others, the journey is much more difficult? Yes, it‘s all of that. It‘s also a really hard read as you are drawn into the characters‘ lives wanting only the best for them knowing such an outcome is likely impossible.

This short read was compelling and odd. I‘m still not sure what I think about it. It is worth the hour investment. I know that much. #amazonoriginal #notinthedatabase

1. Cupcakes I made for @Jennick2004 birthday. Happy birthday again!!!

2. 6, three are with the kids and two are on standby because they needed to go back to the library.

3. Yes

4. Yes but most of the time contacts.

5. Tagged book, I just couldn‘t get into it but read the whole thing for a book club.

#HumpDayPost

Starting on this #GenreSwapPBC #styleexchange pick! Thanks for picking this @SledgeReader

Working on my #GenreSwap while enjoying coffee and a homemade pumpkin muffin.

Got this in the mail today from @intervital for #genreswap

The only one I‘ve read was Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, but it was a good one! #imaginary #coolfriends

Got imagine me gone a few days ago from @SledgeReader and today i finally sent Daniel Canty's Wigrum to @MommyOfTwo . The book was fantastic. It should arrive monday. I'm so sorry for the delay. Hope everyone is enjoying their books! #genreswapPBC #styleexchange

I am so glad I read this very intense look at mental illness. Character driven and descriptive, Imagine Me Gone explores the relationships and devotion within a loving family unable to escape inevitable tragedy. This one showed me unimaginable emotion.

@collegecatlady @intervital On my way to the post office right now. I‘m not the best note taker - hope to improve!Sorry to cut it so close to the fifteenth! I‘m really looking forward to my next book. Think I‘m going to find mind candy to cleanse my brain before starting the next one. Realizing how much my reading is affected by the book before and after. #genreswappbc #styleexchange

And now you know the rest of the story! Jack and Diane hate seeing us leave in the morning. They are pulling the sick card today. Hustlers! #dogsoflitsy are helping me finish the tagged book for #genreswappbc #styleexchange Almost done!

I so wish I could let you #makemereadit! What a great way to handle the pending landslide I call my TBR. I am currently swamped with must reads mixed with some want to reads. 😔 All great books but dictated by outside forces. I think I‘m going to get some monkeys off my back!! (I may start target practice right now.....)

Hey @CSeydel !! Your giveaway prizes came today! Thank you so much for your generosity. I can‘t wait to delve into the book. How did you know I like Sour Punch straws?? 😂

It‘s hard to eat greasy, delicious bacon and crumbly, warm blueberry muffins while you read! #BookNerdProblems

Thank you, @irre for my books! I'm so excited to read them. ❤📚

In today‘s edition of “Book People are the Best People,” a shout out to @ElishaLovesBooks who had two copies of the tagged book and decided to share one with me. Yay! Love the cover and it certainly sound interesting. Looking forward to a great read! Thanks Elisha!

I‘ve been so busy with work lately (that I haven‘t been posting or reading much), but that hasn‘t stopped me for buying books. Last week‘s #BookOutlet order just arrived!! #bookhaul

Taking a break from the HoL for a bit. Another recommendation, but I‘m not super into it so far. Maybe I‘m jaded against books this year. Anyone have a book recommendation that will pull me out of my funk?

This one took a couple of tries before I️ could make sense of what was happening. But then this weekend I️ attended the funeral of a colleague‘s daughter (only 34) who struggled with mental illness, and suddenly the book clicked into place. A much more insightful read than I‘m Thinking of Ending Things. Highly recommended — as literature but also as ‘self-help‘ for those who love someone with mental illness.

Novel writing as therapy. This was a grim read peppered with some incongruous jokes. It's not that it isn't well written, it's just poorly judged. People suffering from depression take their own lives, while their families suffer throughout their lives, or learn to move on. Neither inspiring nor terribly insightful. One hopes that the author achieved some kind of catharsis writing this personal fiction. For me, the reader, it doesn't really work.

a story of a family facing the ultimate question: how far will we go for those we love the most?
a novel with the power to change how you see the most important people in your life.

This was a great read - a little heavy for beach vacation but so worth it. Forgot to mention this was one of my #LitsyAtoZ picks! @BookishMarginalia

Part of this book takes place in Maine, which is up the road from where I happen to be right now. Another part of this book takes place in my heart. I won't bring this library down to the sandy beach to read, but the deck is nice and sunny and I can see the ocean when I look up. Heavenly.

Question: has anyone whose read this book know if this passage is describing a real person and study? If it is, I think I'll be able to link it to one of my papers for the fall and would like to research it more.

I came to work ready to work and my coworkers told me that they had finished everything since I worked hard yesterday. So they said I can relax and read 😭⬅️ tears of joy.

Up next. A new bookstore has opened in Dallas and this is their first bookclub pick. I've heard great things, and now I have an excuse to read it 😁

This book takes a profound and humbling look at mental illness and the effects it has on one family. It is a slow burn with well developed characters. It took me awhile to get into but once I did I couldn't put it down. And I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I finished.

📖 I can't stop reading.

84 - Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett

Michael's life is a struggle, a fight. He is depressive, just as his father was. His mother, sister and brother are also fighting: for their brother, for their own happiness and for what has been. This is a powerful novel about family structures.

Read in NYC.

Can't put down...

I have wandered further from my list of books on my reading challenge lists. However, the optimist in me says, "who cares? You are reading! You have read more books in the last five months than you have in 3 years!".

Stopped at the post office to pick up the book mail from @Liberty (thank youuuu). They had Star Trek forever stamps that I needed. Very productive errand!!

A powerful story about depression, suicide and pain. Haslett writes beautifully and quietly about the ripples these things cause throughout the entirety of the lives of the people around them. Oof.

I don't really know how to begin writing about this book... I can see why people love it, I just don't feel that way myself. I didn't connect with any of the characters, they just felt unsympatetic. There's some tropes about grief, mental illness and homosexuality that I find kinda problematic, and I am just very conflicted about it all. The language was amazing at times and confusing at others. I really wanted to love this book 😔

#MarchMadness

I should be doing all these productive things today, but I just don't have the energy. Instead I am going full "Hygge" with coffee, liqourice chocolate, blanket and a new book for #MarchMadness ? much better suited for my mood today!

#currentlyreading

New #libraryhaul for the #MarchMadness readingchallenge 📚

This book was awfully depressing. It might not be the best choice for bleak winter reading unless you're in the mood to wallow in melancholy. Very insightful.

Really good story about a family and the impact of mental illness. #LitsyRC17 (With an LGBTQ Relationship)

Booze-the ancient dimmer of fear and sorrow. The granny of all psychoactive meds