Welcome to Litsy!

Rosa is independent, confident, pragmatic, judging and funny. Most of all, she‘s one of the most unreliable narrators I‘ve ever met! It would have been a totally different story from the POV of her daughter or granddaughter.
The book is about life in the USSR, leaving the country for Germany, trying to make the most of it under all circumstances.
It‘s quite unique and I can‘t wait to discuss it with the #EuropaCollective.

#europacollective my 1st book for 2026 is a gem!!! We should all have the self confidence and fearlessness of Rosa Achmetowna! She is outrageous and single minded in her drive for what she feels is right, most people and consequences be damned, but what a story and what a life ❤️❤️❤️ I can‘t wait to talk about this with the hive

#happyfridayreadinghour just got home from driving oldest son to airport in Toronto to fly back to Thunder Bay for school. He got dumped over the holidays and he was very emotional going back (she‘s there in same program) he loves his classes but dreads seeing her - she blindsided him liking him and then blindsided him with the dumping 💔 he‘s full of should haves and I‘m all “she should have left you alone!”

repost for @BarbaraBB

We‘ll kick off 2026 with our next #EuropaCollective #buddyread. If you want to join, read the book in your own pace, share your thoughts at Litsy with the above hashtag and join @Lesliereadsalot and me on January 25 when we will discuss the book on this thread. Looking forward to it!

We‘ll kick off 2026 with our next #EuropaCollective buddyread. If you want to join, read the book in your own pace, share your thoughts at Litsy with the above hashtag and join @Lesliereadsalot and me on January 25 when we will discuss the book on this thread. Looking forward to it!

Getting started on buddy reads for next year #europacollective I love this cover and reading in bed #whatdayisit

#DashingThruDecember Day 15: All the pizzookies put together look like #Candy - especially the Dubai chocolate. 🍫

#DashingThruDecember Day 11: I found my favorite #HolidayCocktail and our #EuropaCollective pick for January here in the Bay Area. Let the winter break begin! Now if only my blasted colds will go away right about now.

#EuropaCollective
Leslie and I hope you enjoyed the first reborn
#EuropaCollective read: Mona's Eyes. The discussion is on Leslie's thread, feel free to comment there once you've finished the book.
For January, we'd like to announce the tagged book as our second read. We'll discuss it in the last weekend of the month. We'll keep you posted, let me know when you want to be tagged or removed from the List via @Lesliereadsalot @BarbaraBB

This was an odd book. I started it a number of years ago and dnf, but put it on my list to try again for #Germany in the #foodandlit challenge. I am glad i came back. From where I left off, I saw the humor I missed years ago. But the second half found me appalled. But the picture of self denial taken to the absurd is timely. Being NYE and the last prompt of the year, I went to the local bakery for stollen and salztangen - yum. And cinnamon buns.

December reading goals: stayed up late and finished finding me by Viola Davis for irl bookgroup on Thursday. That leaves my final #foodandlit (tagged) book for the year. I have two audio books in progress I need to finish so I can start the new Louise Penny. Gaudy nights is my digital read. It‘s slow going but worth it. It also works for my #192025 challenge.

This comical read makes for a great work-from-home break!

(mug given to me by my adoring husband 😜)

Started this during last week‘s #24in48 readathon and finished it a few nights ago. Set in Russia and Germany, this novel tells the story of Rosalinda, whose quest to give her beloved granddaughter a better life is by turns hilarious and horrifying.

#fiction #litfic #translation #readtheworld #bookrec

I reached 24 hours just a few minutes after midnight — whew! Ready for bed now, but excited to keep reading this tomorrow morning.

Happy #24in48, everyone!

Having after dinner drinks with our books. I am loving this warm weather - I know Leeds is cold and damp right now.
(Reunion Island/La Réunion)

Sly and witty, this book has subtle humor and love interwoven within the plot. Mother‘s love and abuse all come together for survival in the Soviet Union and towards Europe. We take for granted how life is easier in a non totalitarian society where one has to fight for everything in order to live.

Tiny book haul to start October. But... big 🏒 haul...a goalie, a captain and a pest. 😄

One library 📚 and one bought. Sparte will be the next ancient history book after I finish Alexander's campaign.

Surprise cameo by one of my cats.

#bookhaul #catsofLitsy

I can‘t wait to read this darkly comedic book about Rosa, a delusional, controlling mother and grandmother who seems to be a bit of a #spicegirl. I love a story about family dysfunction!
#aprella

A zany, propulsive novel about Rosa, a middle-aged mother and eventually grandmother in late-Soviet Russia, whose emotional manipulativeness, delusions of grandeur, and larger-than-life ego are so compelling that her unreliable narration destabilizes and entertains you at the same time as you‘re confusedly rooting for her.

My full Booktube review here: https://youtu.be/DQ1VBoXnEb8

#QuoteOfTheDay

😂😂

#QuoteOfTheDay

#allthebooksof2017 #newfavoritecharacters
There are loads of favourite characters this year but here are some that stood out; Eddie flynn, Jackson lamb, lena and lila, and Rosa from the tartar recipes.

Rosa is the manipulative, bullying, self obsessed heroine of this darkly comic story. From the beginning she terrorises her family, cowes her daughter and tries to mould and control her granddaughter. She dominates the book but she was so brilliantly drawn i was hypnotised by the path of her life and the wreckage she leaves in her wake- my final pages were accompanied by fish,chips,mushy peas and red wine - classy.

#slipperypeople #rocktober
I am loving my current read about Rosa the extremely slippery, manipulative and tough tartar mother in this book. I love this quote which sums her up as she confronts her weak husband about her daughter and granddaughter . Darkly funny im halfway through but it seemed a good excuse to post on this thread without physically hunting for a book.

I guess you could say that I have an odd
sense of humor. I say that because most books in the humor category don't particularly amuse me. Exception to the rule: Alina Bronsky's The Hottest Dishes of the Tartar Cuisine. Her wry, sardonic humor was "not too hot" or "not too cold". In fact, I would say it was "just right". This book is a tragic comedy about three women and their strange family dynamics or dysfunction as the case may be.

Next up.

A book with a long title...Had to choose a German book of course, clever or what?😂 @RealLifeReading

#booktober #German #russischdeutsch #Russian

I heard about this book on one of the Bookriot podcasts. Omg...it is darkly hilarious. If you think you have mom issues, you have nothing on this family! The narrator of this story is the most delusional mother I have ever seen/read about. Mommy Dearest has nothing on her!!

I heard about this book on one of the Bookriot podcasts. Omg...it is darkly hilarious. If you think you have mom issues, you have nothing on this family! The narrator of this story is the most delusional mother I have ever seen/read about. Mommy Dearest has nothing on her!!