Welcome to Litsy!

I think I'm the last person to read this and I avoided it for a long time, until I had to pick it up for a professional obligation. The writing is incredible and it was easily one of the best books I read this year. But I still never want to read it again. #12booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

I got multiple emails this morning about this deal, but I‘m firm in my decision not to read this book.

If you‘re braver and haven‘t yet, though, here‘s your chance!

Honestly don't know if I'll read this again but had to buy this!

Not sure I will ever recover fully from this. Jude forever

I caved @TrishB - it is a beautiful set

My special edition boxed-set of A Little Life just arrived! ❤️❤️❤️

Thanks for putting it on my radar @TrishB and good job I jumped on it quickly, as it‘s now sold out!

This anniversary set is just gorgeous ♥️

I just couldn‘t get into this one

10th Anniversary edition arrived today.

This was super slow book to read - I didn't love all those long long phrases and chapters that were as long as novellas. This was also depressing to read, but I think that was the point.

Main characters were nicely fleshed out but there was also a bunch of people that we knew by their names only.

The story itself was good but I don't know if all these pages really were necessary.

I‘d put off reading this book for years. I knew it would be tough but it was relentlessly grim. The main character, Jude, experiences so much brutality that it‘s difficult to read. I respect what the author has written but it was an exceptionally tough read.

All I wanted to do was read this book.

The story of a man trying to anchor himself to the world after years of trauma.

Non Linear ✨ Human ✨ Devastating

Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
What are you reading?
#boleybooks #alittlelife #hanyayanagihara #bookbeast #bookbuds #bookchat #libby

Although not holiday themed, this is my most anticipated December read. My cousin and I have been wanting to read it, so we figured why not tandem read when we have break! +10 #XmasChaCha #wintergames2024

"A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara is a profound and emotionally wrenching novel that follows the lives of four young men—Jude, Willem, Malcolm, and JB—over several decades in New York City. The narrative delves deeply into themes of friendship, trauma, and the enduring scars of the past, centering primarily on Jude St. Francis.

I cried but not to the extent everyone else did -geesh. It was a touching story and I‘m glad it‘s done!

Moving on to these next two books 📕 #ALittleLife has such a beautiful cover 😢 and #Crave is similar to Twilight thus far. Happy Reading! ♥️

Haiku Review:
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Real talk. That's 2/2 books I've read by this author that had me slowly set the book down at the end and say, “Damn. That was f'd up.“
Incredibly sad, full of trauma, and not easy to read nonstop. (Unless that's your thing?)
Took about 6 months to read due to how raw it was. Many tears were shed. Would I read it again? HELL NO! But I'm incredibly glad I read it once. A masterpiece of sorrow.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️5/5 Gut wrenching. One of the best if not the best book I‘ve ever read. You better have a strong stomach to read this book.📖

I wish I even knew where I could start to review this book. I wish also that I could say that the 800 pages of pure horror and depression that this book is were worth reading. But in all honesty I wish I hadn‘t read it. The trigger warning list that this book contains is a mile long and unspeakably awful. The book is well written but past that I‘m so glad it‘s over.

Late to this one. Like everyone else, I have some quibbles about which books ended up on The NY Times list of 100 best books of the 21st century. For me, “A Little Life” should have been on here somewhere. And where is Margaret Atwood? I was surprised that I‘ve only read 24 of these books, but so many are on my endless TBR 😂 I‘ve been meaning to read them, truly!

EDIT: The readers‘ favorite list is up now for comparison. A Little Life is #11.

Finally finished tagged book in April - still sitting with this one on my heart - #readyourkindle challenge... Updates on challenge include Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Burning Bright (Peter Ash series).

Still digesting and processing 💔

Absolutely worth it. What a ride

Let the games begin!!
Finally ready to start this reportedly legendary novel. I have my annotation system set up and ready to rock

Finished 10 April 2024.

Booktok was bawling over this book but then there's me seething in anger. Good book. 10/10 would never read again.

#readyourkindle
@CBee - halfway through - haven't had to bust out the Kleenex yet, but man oh man, the trauma - whew... Jude has my heart breaking for him...

Reading by the lake with my dog BFF. 🐾💕

newly added to my library wooooooo, equally excited & nervous to start this :P

I don't have children myself, but I find myself relating and understanding quite a few quotes in this chapter.

I can't even imagine the anxiety. I already have it bad enough. If I had a child, it would be tenfold.

#currentlyreading #relatable

"Having a child, I thought, was something you should actively want, crave even. It was not an adventure for the ambivalent or passionless."

Just found out Spotify Premium includes an audiobook version of A Little Life! Seeing as I have 4 days to read 600+ pages before my book is due, this will allow me to continue reading at my own pace 😊

#audiobooks
#currentlyreading

When you finally find that long-awaited TBR at the library, only to realize 2 people placed a hold on it right after you the very same day - so now you have to binge read an 800+ page novel 🫠

#currentlyreading #libraryhaul #bubblebathbooks

I am beyond frustrated by this book. Yanagihara is a superb writer, creating terrific characters and molding the story in an incredibly engaging way. But there is NO balance, especially in the second half. It becomes misery porn, giving me compassion fatigue and I wanted so badly to continue to feel for these characters. A reader needs time and room to breathe, and this book doesn‘t allow that.

I went into this fully forewarned and was still emotionally devastated. Am I glad I read it? Yes. I think these characters will live in my head for years to come. I am, however, putting a warning label on the cover before I send it on to my sister.
#24in2024

Gotta love the random things you find in used books. What is the strangest thing you have ever found in one?

My Always Fully Booked planner came with a #24in2024 spread so I‘m taking it as a sign from the bookish overlords to jump in with @Jas16 on this challenge.

My list is all books I was SUPER excited to bring home and have sat languishing on my shelves for years.

It was as if someone said to the author, "Write the most depressing novel imaginable," and Yanagihara responded, "Challenge accepted."

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Never have I read a novel in which, after its conclusion, I sat there, paralyzed, for about thirty minutes.

But no matter how good this was, I will never read it again. Why would I possibly do that to myself?

🤣🌈

My goodness! This epic story of four college friends follows their lives and experiences both before and after they met. The writing is amazing and the author has plotted the book in a unique way that keeps you reading, even when encountering some of the most difficult story lines I‘ve ever read. This is a heartbreaker of a book, proceed with caution. I will be thinking about these characters for a long time. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Diving into this #chunkster after it‘s been on my #TBR for years. Am I ready? Unlikely.

God damn right!

I saw the production of "A Little Life" yesterday, and I can not stop thinking about it.
James Norton was phenomenal as Jude.

I will be thinking about it for a long time. The play definitely did the book justice.

???