Welcome to Litsy!

Find me a better book! Perfect reading and sunshine after months of rain! A great Sunday.

We can't quite believe it but we've hit 100 episodes! To celebrate, we've decided to have a relaxed look back on some of our favorite books, biggest surprises, and Matt's unaired thoughts! Thank you for listening and supporting us and we hope you enjoy the next 100 episodes!

https://anchor.fm/peter-murphy8/episodes/Episode-100-A-Celebration-and-Look-Back...

Good. But surprisingly, I think I preferred the show 🙊

While browsing shows/movies on the plane this weekend, I stumbled on American Rust on Showtime and got HOOKED.

After a while I started to figure it had to be based on a book, and what do you know 🤦🏽‍♀️. But I'm too invested in the show to stop now 😆

This was a really good book! Written in a Faulknerian manner heavy with stream of consciousness, it was never hard to read. It dealt with the Great Recession and the decline of the steel industry and the local middle class without ever getting preachy or too political. The characters were great, but the ending was not so much an ending as just an abrupt stop. Really left too much hanging. Still, a well written and enjoyable book about hard times.

American Rust was a chore to read. It wasn't terrible by any means and painted an excellent picture of a community devastated by industry closure. Characterisation was hit and miss. I'd give it 3 stars and a so-so rating on here.

This does mean I've got my first bingo on #bookspinbingo though! @TheAromaofBooks (Will post my square soon)... it's also a winning number read!

#bookspinbingo #popsugarreadingchallenge

This book will fulfil the prompt for this year's PopSugar prompt "A Western" and also is one of the lucky numbers for BookSpin Bingo! Let's get started...

I've already read one Philip Meyer book (The Son) which was fantastic but VERY violent. Well worth a read if you have a strong stomach, but perhaps not everyone's cup of tea!

Episode 16, entirely devoted to our September book of the month, American Rust, is out now.
https://anchor.fm/peter-murphy8/episodes/Episode-16-American-Rust-September-Book...
It's an amazing book. Deep, timely, true, and heart-wrenching. The best book I've read in a long time.
#bookclub #bookpodcast #therewillbebooks

Episode 12 is out today! We make our September #bookclub pick from one of the books in this pile. Enjoy.

#bookpile #bookstagram #podcast #therewillbebooks #tbr

https://anchor.fm/peter-murphy8/episodes/Episode-12-Skateboards-and-September-Bo...

I liked this book better than The Son. It is a depressing story, set in a small town in Pennsylvania, after the steel mills have closed. But, there are some deep messages about hope, loyalty, and friendship.

Just finished this one. Excellent read. Can't recommend it highly enough. Though its SOC style has turned some people off (as seen in other reviews)

The cover of my current read (at the right) forms a nice pair with the tagged book, that I read some years ago 😀 #coverart

This unassuming cardboard box with the words "Book Exchange" Sharpied on the front is my morning Starbuck's version of a very unfancy Little Free Library. Quite charming in its own way, there are some really good books in there today, including this one which has been on my list since I read The Son by the same author.

Finished, #readingroadtrip, #1001, @JenP Can't believe I am already through 2 books and into Ohio on my road trip.

Just started this for #readingroadtrip, #1001 and it works for #sizzlinsummerbooks #getawaysgonewrong

In a bankrupt mining town in Pennsylvania two friends accidentally murder someone. The consequences of this murder are described from their own perspective and that of their families. These stories sketch a depressing picture of the demise of the American dream. Dark, but worth reading. #1001books

April Reading
9 books read
6 male authors, 3 female
7 fiction 2 non-fiction
1 anthology
7 new (to me) authors
Book of the month - a tie between American Rust ( Philipp Meyer) and The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)

Set in a dying town in the rustbelt, two friends just out of high school, both extraordinary in their different ways, one commits a murder, the other takes the rap for complicated reasons. Told mainly through the interior monologues of these two and the secondary characters this is a gripping tale of conflicting loyalties amidst a setting of decay and desperation.

Interestingly, I think Meyer's debut here is much better than the Son. The characters are so real it's hard to pull yourself back out of the book. It stretches the bounds of literary fiction.