Welcome to Litsy!

#ManicMonday
@cbee
📕Tagged book!!! Sooo good 😊
✍🏻 Our very own @SheReadsAndWrites Lara Van Hulzen
📺Vanderpump Rules
🎤 Van Morrison
🎵 Viva La Vida

#AlphabetGame

SOOOO GOOD on audio!!
Loved this one

Thanks for the tag @Allylu

Been thinking of this book a lot lately. Thinking it‘s time to reread it. What makes you want to reread a book?

I guess I only read 10 books on my card for March. Also, I realize I never posted any pics nor announced that a column actually hit for #BookSpinBINGO. I am glad I finished both the Spin and the Double. Bring on April!

(I finished a poetry collection and lovely classic audiobook that didn‘t make the card, as well.)

@TheAromaofBooks

It took 5 pics to get E-Dog to look at the camera 🤣 This debut does not read/feel like a debut! I just want to keep listening- this is so good, I am maybe 15% in? So good. Devastatingly good. Devastating.

Our #LittleFreeLibrary had such an awesome party after school today. I am so happy I get to be apart of these kids reading journey! Hopped them up on sugar, made the cutest bookmarks, and got to pick from tons of books! #startthemyoung #readersmakeleaders

February 14 #Ithadtobeyou Valentine 💝 Nothing but a novel on a day of love. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

💕 All of the above!!
💕 Tagged - only because of the name

@TheSpineView #two4tuesday

Excited about my pink and red February reads! ❤️💕

This was good. My #doublespin for September @TheAromaofBooks

#14books14weeks I doubled the challenge with a hardback and a paperback stack and didn‘t quite make it. I did read all of the hardback stack. I read 10 of the paperbacks with 2 DNF‘s and 2 back on the shelf for another day. I‘d like to report that my TBR shelf now has some space but it does not. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Thanks Brenda for hosting this challenge!

It wasn‘t what I was expecting based on the description. It was good, but not a Pick for me.

A tough, grim read. Took a while to get through. Very worthwhile, though. The characters and the setting are beautifully written. I had a hard time with the whole no quotation marks thing in some places, though.
#botm

This book takes place in a small town in Texas. A girl is attacked and it‘s about the reactions and repercussions of other women in the town. Great character development and a very satisfying ending.

Good storyline. Interesting writing, different narrators, tenses and person. Sometimes this became confusing although tended to then become clearer.

I'm enjoying this book although sometimes struggling to remember whom each narrator is.

"None of the girls have ever seen a grown woman cry this hard, not even at a funeral, and they are all too young to recognize it as rage. .... Now get up."

This was a pretty good book.
Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the reader‘s heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women‘s strength. Highly recommend!
#amreading

I picked this book up not knowing much about it other than it has a gorgeous cover and is centered around small town drama. I LOVED THIS. I enjoyed all the characters and they are all fleshed out in their own way. This is the type of book I wished we read in high school.

In wrath may you remember mercy 🏜

Book 16 Valentine is a well-written novel about rape culture. Set in a small, desert town experiencing an oil boom in the late 60's. It opens on an intense scene of a young teen escaping her passed-out attacker in the desert, without shoes or water. It's quality isn't 100% consistent, but it's a strong book. I'm eager for more by the author. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Audiobook pick:
This was beautifully written but so slooow. Too slow to finish.

Wow. 5-stars for this one.
I was blown away by the raw and powerful writing of this debut. An honest and empowering story.
Wetmore is definitely a writer to keep my eye on.
Thanks again, @AmyG for sending this to me!

I checked @LitsySwaps but did not see anything. Are there any Valentine‘s Day swaps this year?💜💖❤️

People love this book. I get it and I understand. However, I‘m not one of those people. I wanted to know more of Glory‘s story and more about what experiences created the Strickland we grew to loathe. I loved many of the other characters but found the character chapter organization very hard to keep my interest.

Yay!! Another #litsyswap 💝💕💘📖🍫🍭

#bookcupid
#bookcupidswap
@candority

Book #2 for 2021!

Read this book! West Texas in the 70s. Great writing that shows the strength of women and the struggle of women. Great characters that show how women young and old need to protect themselves from not only strangers but the men around them. Author paints a picture of west Texas that you can feel. Loved this book.

I went in totally expecting to not enjoy this book because I saw sooo many people saying how awful it was and that they didn‘t finish it. I read the first few pages and stopped reading for a while because of it but now I am so happy that I decided to not let others cloud my judgment because this book was a really great way to start off the reading journey of 2021! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#12Booksof2020 Day 7 @Andrew65

Thank you, @AmyG !! So very happy! I‘ve been so looking forward to this book. And thanks too for the yummy chocolate and cute notebook & bookmark! You‘re the best! I know how I‘m spending my evening after everyone goes to bed!

Thanks for organizing this @MaleficentBookDragon - you‘ve made a lot of Littens very happy! #jolabokaflod

Hopefully it‘s as good as I think it‘s going to be 😬

This has dark themes, so it may not be good for everyone right now, BUT Wetmore‘s writing is so good - compelling - I didn‘t want to stop listening. There could have been a little better editing at the end, the story strayed a bit, but wow I can‘t wait for her next novel!

This is the first book I recall really enjoying recently.

My #20Best2020 in word art.

Why the heart shape? It was free, lol, but also it‘s at the um, heart of all my favorite reads this past year and all good writing, IMHO.

I‘ve had 22 #fivestarreads so far this year. The remaining two are Blood at the Root and City of Girls.

Thanks for tagging me @Lcsmcat and @sarahbarnes and @HOTPock3tt
Have you done your 20 best yet @vivastory @BarbaraBB @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @Nute @Book_Fiend_Melissa ?

A book I had to finish on audio because the physical writing style was so weird. I liked the story; very knowledgeable and timely.

Wow! I couldn‘t put this down. Very good story.

Powerful and painful, honest and unflinching, Wetmore‘s book opened up the story of West Texas and moved me in ways I didn‘t expect. The story examines race, gender and justice from the perspective of rural communities and, in many ways, was unlike anything else I‘ve ever read. I listened on audio and the narration was great; I should mention that if sexual assault is a subject you avoid, you may want to skip this one. Otherwise, I recommend.

I found this book to be beautifully written, but a little dull. It didn‘t really go anywhere. I‘m sure that if I were more of a deep thinker, I‘d realize that there are a lot of messages between the pages. I think the main theme is overcoming racism and sexism. All in all, I give it a 3.5 rating, even though there are sections that left me questioning what really happened.

🌕 No - too cloudy
🍁 Back to school 🏫 🚌🍎
📖Tagged - yes!!!

@MoonWitch94

#thoughtfulthursday

Up next for book club.

📕Valentine
✒️Vonnegut
🎥Vertigo
🎸Velvet Underground
🎧Voodoo Lady

Catch-up post for #ManicMonday #LetterV

#currentlisten #audiocleaning

I have some catching up to do in this one....

#JulyWrapUp: a very good reading month both in quantity and quality. So many good reads and I‘m now 11 books ahead on my GR 2020 Reading Challenge.

A few really good ones this month. Valentine, Deacon King Kong, and Big Friendships.
Mixed in with some mediocre ones, but I needed a palate cleanser between some anyhow.

🎧 I feel this might be an unpopular opinion. MEHHHHHHHHH! I enjoyed the descriptive writing as it gave you a feeling of the small town & the harsh daily life in the oil fields of Texas in 1976. The story started out with a bang! I was disappointed where it went from there. The POV & narrators switch randomly with no warning. I prefer the switching chapters. It might have been better treeware. I felt very little resolution with the ending. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A story that‘s difficult to read but one we sadly know all too well. Devastating 💔

The Centre for Fiction longlist for Debut Novel 2020 is out. 27 titles selected from 119 entrants. I haven‘t read ANY ! Better rectify that !

Got Little Free Library #2 painted AND got a lot of audiobook listening completed. I can‘t wait to get this one up and running! It‘ll be in the yard so it‘s painted to match my house. Now I‘m relaxing with a drink before starting the dinner process.