Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve been wanting to read August‘s #Bookspin for a long, long time (and it gives me an excuse to reread Jane Eyre ❤️).

My #Doublespin is yet another short story collection in the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Finished this #pemberlittens read a bit late 😌😌. The concept of this book is extremely compelling but I found it confusing and slow 😴

This book, a prequel to Jane Eyre, was fascinating. And so very sad. Unfortunately, I now see Mr. Rochester in a new, and unflattering light. He has been crossed off my #bookboyfriend list.

I really enjoyed reading this with the #hashtagbrigade , excellently hosted (as always) by @BarkingMadRead

#LitsyLoveBingo #FlowersOnTheCover #LitsyLove
#192025 #1966 @Librarybelle
#ReadYourTBR @melissajayne
#ISpyBingo @TheAromaofBooks

This was a very challenging read for me! I might have enjoyed it more if I had read Jane Eyre shortly beforehand. My murky memories of Jane Eyre from 40 years ago really didn‘t help me out. I was grateful for the detailed notes in this volume though. Even so—just not for me.

This is touted as a background story to Rochester‘s wife in the attic from Jane Eyre ( not officially a retell of a classic)
It‘s a tiny book, almost a novella, but what a wild haunting story. The POV changes, narrators are unreliable- I feel like I‘m the crazy one. What is real? What is happening 🤯

I‘m traveling today for my daughter‘s baby shower, and I don‘t want to forget to post again!! Not posting daily is really throwing me off!

Part 3: whoa #backtoAasnarrator #sheisinthornfield #gracepoole #Adreamsthereisafire 🔥#hashtagbrigade

I feel bad for not liking this one as much as other fellow #PemberLittens did. The second part was so confusing - I‘m not the strongest reader of stream of consciousness understanding, let alone from two perspectives. One has to feel sad for Antoinette whose life did not seem pleasant.

This had been on my to read list for a very long time, so at least I can check it off. #HashtagBrigade #192025 #1966

4/5 ⭐️s. In looking around, reviews are all over the place on this one. The writing was difficult to comprehend at times because of (I believe) the stream of consciousness POV shifts between Rochester and Antoinette, but I loved the challenge. I got lost inside Antoinette's mind and truly felt for her and her impossible situation. I now understand Rochester better, but that doesn't mean I like Mr. Byronic Badman anymore than I did in JANE EYRE. ⬇️

I found this opened up even more with a second read. I get why this isn‘t a popular book on Litsy, but I like experimental fiction & poetic writing & I‘m so impressed by what Rhys was able to do with Antoinette & Rochester‘s characters. The way she was able to open up their backstories, make them each both sympathetic & callous, and leave you in sync with the source story but also have things still feel ambiguous. #hashtagbrigade @BarkingMadRead

Part 1 very clearly demonstrated the hardships her family faced. The rest? I found to be incredibly disjointed &alternate POVs should add more dimension, no reason to do it to add more misery, we know he is terrible from Antoinette. I didn‘t find that it made sense as a contained story. The background for this book is longer than the book in this edition& I needed to look up the history. It might be art but I didn‘t think it was good.

Part 2: Rochester takes over the tale #becauseAistotallycrazy #rochesterwaspaidtomarryher #theytrickedhimforsure #thatsicknessofhismakesmewonder #Granboiscreepsmeout #AshalfbrowritesRaletter #heconfirmsthatRwastricked #yikes #RGetslost #obeah #voodoo #funtimes And now it‘s back to A narrating! #shevisitsChristophine #sheasksforsomevoodoomagic #RcallsherBerthanow #WTF #allhermoneybelongstoRnow #shestrapped #hashtagbrigade ⬇️⬇️⬇️

I guess I expected more out of this book—something surprising, different from what Bertha‘s life obviously would have been like before the events of Jane Eyre. And why did we need the Rochester POV sections? To establish him as a huge jerk? We‘re told in those sections that Antoinette is in love with him and I really would have liked to see her fall in love. But I don‘t understand what either of them or Richard got from the marriage. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I‘m just pretending its Friday over here

Getting my car serviced and I thought I would read a little bit of part two….. just over an hour later and I‘m done 🤣

#readyourkindle
@CBee

Here we go, May! 🤩🤩🤩

Just started, read part 1, and holy smokes that‘s a lot of action piled into 35 pages 🤯😳

#BookSpin2024 #BookSpin24 #BookSpin @TheAromaOfBooks

My updated #bookspin list for the whole year so far. 💙🩵💙

Part 1: we meet the characters #notafanofthemom #christophineiswaybetter #thatpoorhorsethough #tiawasabrat #isawthattrickamileaway #thenewluttrellsseemsketchy #momispartyinglikearockstar #findsanewhubby #whatcouldgowrong #mamawantstoleavebutmasonwantstostay #noisesinthebamboo #whatcoulditbe #FIRE #houseisburning #poorCoco #soscary #tia 😳#whyamisurpised #heartbroken #ripPierre #somuchtragedy #momdoesnttwanther #offtotheconvent #corapeacesout ⬇️⬇️

Hey y‘all, I deleted the first post, since it became quickly obvious that with different copies, we could never go by pages! So we will read a part per week, and discuss on Friday each week. It one of makes me sad 🤣 it will feel weird not to post every day, but we will be back to normal next month! #hashtagbrigade

Original post from @BarkingMadRead
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2727331

The #hashtagbtigade selection for May is #widesargassosea and we will read a chapter a day! Comment below if you are joining us for this book! Anyone can join at any time, just know that my hashtags are often ridiculous and always chapter spoilers, so don't read the post until you've read the chapter!

The #hashtagbtigade selection for May is #widesargassosea and we will read a chapter a day! Comment below if you are joining us for this book! Anyone can join at any time, just know that my hashtags are often ridiculous and always chapter spoilers, so don‘t read the post until you‘ve read the chapter! ALSO I leave tomorrow for Europe so my posts will come at weird times of the day 🤣 I promise to post though!

#Bookreport

📚Currently reading:

📕A Feast for Crows
📕The Goblin Emperor
📙The Return of the Sorceress

Progress:

Productive reading week, finished 2 novels. I am hoping to finish The Return of the Sorceress in the upcoming week and jump back into The Goblin Emperor proper.

Although the premise was interesting the writing style of this novel was too erratic and jumped from idea to idea without any transition. I shouldn't have been surprised by the racism but that was another very unpleasant experience reading this.

The author's life experience was a huge inspiration for this, considering that she is of mixed race. (As an immigrant who moved a lot I can completely relate to all of that)

#ItTakesAllKinds

This book came to mind for #InsaneProtag 🤷🏻‍♀️One day I will actually read it, although I did see the movie.

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Movie: Rebecca

Read this for #Dominica for #ReadingTheAmericas2023 but it can also be read for #Jamaica.

This was a very atmospherically written book and ideal for people who wanted to know some of Bertha‘s back story from Jane Eyre. I found it a very sad story, with little hope or lightness in it. The writing style really wasn‘t for me and can‘t say I particularly enjoyed the book, but I‘m sure I‘m not the intended audience. Just not my genre or style.

The thing that I found so striking as I read this was how subtle the writing is and how much breath flows through its 171 pages. The themes of power/control/hatred/safety are prominent. Much can also be said about the feeling of being in-between (colonial generations, nationalities, race, etc.) A lot to ponder, and definitely something I will want to reread in the future.
#ReadingtheAmericas2023 #Dominica

Three beautiful things. Book, coffee and pastel de nata.

#Islandvibes Image of my hotel room on Waiheke Island last week.

Oh man this book. I loved Antoinette (the child who grows up to be Bertha in Jane Eyre). Rhys‘ writing is beautiful and although there is violence and tension around Antoinette, I revelled in her survival. And then we spend some time in Rochester‘s head and he made me So Angry. I loved this reading experience and at the same time I want to wring some necks!

Thank you so much @Caroline2 - i love it. I recently added this to an online shopping basket (not such a beautiful copy) but had managed to resist it so far. So I was delighted to get it today from you.

This is only my second one of these beautiful hardbacks - it's a bit dangerous. One is a one off, two is perilously close to starting a collection. ♥️💜♥️💜

My pick for #TitlesandTunes #Islandvibes is Wide Sargasso Sea which I‘ve been meaning to read for ages (I‘m on a Jean Rhys kick at the moment). It‘s set in Jamaica and so I chose a song that was written by a Jamaican to go with it. Cherry Oh Baby was written by Eric Donaldson but I grew up listening to the UB40 version. I‘m sure the song and the book have VERY different vibes!

It‘s not often that a retelling becomes a classic in its own right. There‘s so much packed into this short, meandering, atmospheric whirlwind that I think I‘d have to reread it to really take it all in the way I often do with poetry. Will I? Not immediately, but maybe someday.

It‘s easy to forget the phrase “a well read book” started as a physical thing. How many times do you think a volume has to be read before it becomes this? It‘s something we rarely see these days now that books are infinitely more affordable than they once were. Even library books rarely come to me like this. I love the reminder of how many people have read this before me. Kind of like reading the names off the old circulation cards.

They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

I have looked forward to reading this classic for years. I love Jane Eyre and wantes to know Bertha's back story. The writing style was not for me. The obvious symbolism and opaque writting did not work for me. 2 🌟 #52bookclub23 #Caribbeanauthor @LauraReads @KarenUK @britt_brooke @CarolynM @Smarkies @LeeRHarry @Clwojick @BookBelle84 @jennifer80 @Librarybelle @triplem80 @AshleyHoss820 @Read4life @Bluebird @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB @ravenlee

This is a short novel, but there‘s a lot to consider, especially about culture and names. The Caribbean setting was vibrant, yet the feeling of conflict was ever present. There were shifting perspectives and it always felt a bit disjointed, reflecting how the characters never find a way to trust or communicate clearly. It‘s definitely an interesting companion read for Jane Eyre.

#ReadingTheAmericas2023 #Dominica #1001books

This book has been on my TBR list for quite a while and I‘m excited to finally reading it.

#ReadAndEat #1001books #ReadingTheAmericas2023 #Dominica

Told in 3 parts, we see the childhood, early adulthood, and some time shortly thereafter of Antoinette, a white Creole/Englishwoman born in the West Indies. I liked the depiction of the societal tension between former white colonialists and black islanders descended from former slaves. I did find the writing a little odd. Soft pick for me.

#ReadingAmericas2023 #Dominica

Well, this is cool! The copy I‘m reading has been in circulation at my library for over 55 years.

I‘ve finished my Christmas cooking for today and been out to feed the calves, so I have a few quiet hours before church. This seemed the perfect time to open my Jolabokaflod package. I‘ve been wanting to read this book for a few years but couldn‘t easily borrow a copy, and it will work for #ReadingTheAmericas2023! I opened the chocolates and they‘re delicious. Thanks so much Johanna! Merry Christmas Eve! 📚🎄

#Jolabokaflod #JolabokaflodSwap

I love the humanity behind this novel and the many good reasons that Jean Rhys had for writing this story.

#literature

I first picked up Jane Eyre for a uni course, and I wish we had to read this book as part of it too.

It gave me so much to think about, and while it is a different style and tone to Brontë, I think it helps make the story and the characters of Rochester and “Bertha” that much more interesting.

Finished in a day too, so that‘s a bonus!

#bookstagram #bookstagrammer #penguin #widesargassosea #brontë #jeanrhys #janeeyre #readinaday

I liked but didn‘t love this. The first part, Antoinette‘s perspective, was my favorite, but I didn‘t much care for the unnamed groom‘s (Rochester) POV. The last part came very abruptly, and it was disjunct and weird - but it works because we‘re inside the mind of a madwoman. I wish there had been a bit more to the whole story.

“I do not like what I have seen of this honourable gentleman (Mr. Rochester). Stiff. Hard as a board and stupid as a foot, in my opinion, except where his own interests are concerned.”

Pretty much my opinion of Mr. Rochester, too. My MIL and SIL swear eternal devotion to Jane Eyre and the cult of Rochester, and I‘ve never understood why. I find him repugnant.

I love Jane Eyre and have been meaning to read this for ages. It is fascinating to read this imagined backstory of the mad woman in the attic. And it certainly challenges you to rethink Rochester. While enthralling to a point, the prose was sometimes so ethereal and wandering that I felt a bit lost. But well worth reading.

Antoinette Cosway moves from a traumatic childhood of loss and pain to an arranged marriage with a man who cares more about her money than her.

Made me think of The Yellow Wallpaper. A fascinating exploration of of the expectations of a woman with wealth, and what happens when she brushes those expectations aside. Also, very lush descriptions.

This felt very disjointed, and I feel it actually suffered by switching POV multiple times. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Home again, home again, jiggity jig. With three blood clots and a prescription for blood thinners. Fun times.

Going to move to a different book. Reading about the beginnings of the UK‘s NHS is not what I want right now after spending last night in the emergency room.

This was my #LittleChristmasSwap from @iread2much and I‘m so excited to get started!

Sunday evening flight home and starting a new title. Miss my girls already. Glad for returning to the warmth of home.

I'm reminded I should reread this masterpiece, Rhys's imaginative take on the madwoman in the #attic from Charlotte Brontë‘s Jane Eyre. Pic of Mobile Bay off the Gulf of Mexico, which Google tells me is a "sea" of the Atlantic Ocean. #SavvySettings @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Some good finds at the thrift shop today 📚🎉