Welcome to Litsy!

Finally finished! It was a good one.

Too busy in the garden to read this, but I am enjoying it! 🌺🐝🌳🌼

Started working in my gardens today. So now it‘s time for a new book and a bath!

This is the first Fiona Davis book that I didn't love.

It takes place during the McCarthy era and focuses on two women in the arts.

It felt predictable to me.

As usual, Fiona Davis teaches me something I don't know while entertaining me with an immersive tale. I love her writing and her focus being on famous NYC buildings with history.

After reading my first Fiona Davis book earlier this year (“The Magnolia Palace”) I started to read her backlist and have not been disappointed. She has such a gift for weaving a major historical event into a riveting plot with characters who seem to leap off the page. “The Chelsea Girls” is no exception and is another hit 🙌 I‘ve already got my preorder in for her next book that‘s publishing in June 2023 😁

The Chelsea Girls follows a twenty year friendship between Hazel and Maxine, which started with trauma in Italy. They‘re both engaging and intriguing characters and as the red scare comes to Broadway, they both find themselves in the spotlight. It‘s tense but also a wonderful portrait of the Chelsea Hotel – famously home to artists and bohemians, it becomes their refuge as they battle the forces trying to tear their lives apart.

So many books collected in June! In case you didn‘t know I had an issue! 🤣

Right stack: Top 3 library books, bottom 3 books I‘ve got for free

Left stack: I had a free book on ThriftBooks and then had to get enough books for free shipping (ones with stickers), the top 5 were bought from my local indie. I had to buy books for #LMPBC and of course couldn‘t get just one!

Any you‘d recommend I start with?

#bookhaul #junebookhaul #summerreading

#woman #CuriousCovers
I have a plan to read all the Fiona Davis building books and to pair with them a nonfiction book about the building. So far I‘ve read Life at the Dakota so The Address will be next. I have The Barbizon to pair with The Dollhouse. I don‘t have a nonfiction to pair with the tagged book yet.

#12booksof2020 @andrew65
I forgot to post my last of the 12 days of Christmas yesterday.
I really enjoyed this one set in a different time period. I know it was was a fiction book, but I learned a lot of this timer period.

An intriguing and satisfying story of an iconic hotel, female friendships and a dark era of our political past. https://www.bluestockingreviews.com/post/the-chelsea-girls check out the full review ...#findinggreatreads #readitloveit # BlueStockingReviews

This was good but much different than I thought it would be. Less about this hotel that‘s a haven for the creative souls and much more about communism in the entertainment industry in the 50‘s. Enjoyable. Favorite quote ( from any book read recently ) - ‘Still, the world is run by men who want power, who will say anything to attain it, and do anything to retain it‘ Hoping to see that change more and more.

Except for New York City‘s Chelsea Hotel, I didn‘t know the subject matter of this book. My goodness, reading about the political pressures of Senator McCarthy and Roy Cohn in their hunt for communists back in the 50s bears striking similarities to current affairs.

I guess I forgot to add this one. Full of McCarthyism, Communist spies, and Broadway. Not The Americans, this one deals more with friendships than assassins. An enjoyable, light read. The narrator is wonderful.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I thought the story was good, but the writing was so mediocre! It was too flowery and did a lot of telling, not showing (if I understand that whole thing right). I rather regret sticking it out now, as nothing exciting ever happened anyway. I did enjoy the setting and the whole Mccarthy era background and have to give her credit for thorough research.

Just finished this one!

Hazel and Maxine meet in 1945 when they‘re both part of a USO show in Naples, Italy. They quickly become best friends but the Red Scare drives them apart. This is a story about friendship, loyalty, betrayal and, ultimately, forgiveness.

Spot 4 for #bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

In the dead of night, during the dreary month of March, the Chelsea Hotel is a quiet place.

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

The book was perfectly positioned until I stepped away to take a picture, then down it went.

1) The Chelsea Girls
2) Too many characters and plot lines!!!
3) Kimberly Belle

I hope everyone is safe and well ❤️
#WondrousWednesdsy

I saw some negative reviews for this book and put it off despite having an ARC. Pleased to report that I enjoyed it thoroughly: spanning the end of WWII through the late 1960s, encompassing McCarthyism, communist spies, and the broadway theater scene, all with the iconic Hotel Chelsea as a backdrop and a colorful cast of characters. Even with all that, it‘s fun to read and not complicated (exactly what my squirrel brain needs right now).

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not exactly sure why but not in love with this one.

Repost for @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks :

Our lineup for the year!! We hope you can join us! Discussion every Sunday at 1 pm cst!! 📚🙌🏻📚🙌🏻

#BotmBuddyRead

I'm going to give this one 🌟🌟🌟 stars for the storyline and 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for peaking my curiosity about The Chelsea Hotel and sending me down Google's rabbit hole. What a complicated and fascinating history...

What started as a so-so read for me turned into a pick for Davis‘ use of the Red Scare and the impact this had on the entertainment industry. I became invested in the story and the setting; I now want to know more about the Chelsea Hotel, beyond all of the rockstar stories I already know. Thanks for another good reading choice for #BOYMBuddyread , @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks and @TheBookHippie !

Our lineup for the year!! We hope you can join us! Discussion every Sunday at 1 pm cst!! 📚🙌🏻📚🙌🏻

#BotmBuddyRead

Wrapping this one up tomorrow at 1pm CST!! Questions on @TheBookHippie page!

#BotmBuddyRead

Fiona Davis's The Chelsea Girls has me so interested in the history and, now, the complex future of The Chelsea Hotel. I stumbled across this recent book cataloging the hotel's final artistic residents who remain despite the hotel's long term closure and renovations. I love to see and read about people who are passionate about art, tradition, and preserving some of the beauty and whim of life. Thinking about splurging for this one!
#BOTMBUDDYREAD

This is probably my favorite Fiona Davis book so far. I loved this book, and I really loved the character, Hazel. In addition, Davis' descriptions of the theatre and opening night transported me to the theatre and it was like I was there with the characters. I found the description of places in NYC to be magical and this story was incredible. So far, this is my favorite book of 2020.

I confess, I picked this book because of the gorgeous cover. 😬 Lucky for me, I really enjoyed this. It‘s not perfectly written — imo the 2 MC‘s need more character development, but it was interesting reading a story set during the time that Joseph McCarthy wreaked havoc on Hollywood and the theater world in the 1950s. Also fun when I realized this was a #BOTMBuddyRead — loved catching up on all the discussions!! 4⭐️

#Historical

Another great novel by Fiona Davis, The Chelsea Girls is about two women, one an actress and the other a playwright, during the time of Senator McCarthy and the House Unamerican Activities Committee.
#BOTMBuddyRead @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheBookHippie
#LitsyAtoZ #C @BookishMarginalia