Welcome to Litsy!

I got a few chapters in and decided that was enough. I‘m not quite sure why I didn‘t like it, but it just seemed depressing and wasn‘t really holding my interest. Maybe now just wasn‘t the right time for this book.

Home from the book club meeting about The Grand Tour. Generally liked, but there were a few who didn‘t (mostly the hard to please members).

We loved the quirky turns of phrase, the subtle humour, and the sympathetic portrait of someone battling alcoholism. Several of us will seek out his forthcoming book, The Hotel Neversink (out this August) which takes place on a Jewish resort in the Catskills, a settling that has long fascinated me.

Great description of Powell‘s in Portland.

“Vance floated around the store in a dissociated fog. As long as he could remember, he'd wanted not only to lose himself in books but to build a physical fortress out of them, a citadel of words to keep the world at bay. And when he was younger, in fact, he'd done just that, building forts from his burgeoning collection. This store felt like an actual adult version of that impulse brought to life.”

Another book to read for the store‘s book club.

I do tend to like books that take place in the book industry. From the opening pages, the author certainly has the archetypes in hand.

#TBRtemptation post 2! Get ready for the most disastrous book tour you'll come across. An alcoholic Vietnam vet-cum-literary novelist living in a Phoenix trailer, Richard, meets his number one (and only?) fan, awkward student Vance who has a broken past. Vance chauffeurs Richard across the country where hilarity ensues. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

#bookhaul for my upcoming vacation and to celebrate my recent work bonus :-)
I am now prepped for the upcoming leg of #GOTbuddylongread too with the edition of A Dance with Dragons. Plus I got some beloved treasuries on huge sale for any future kids I might have (complete with included ribbon bookmarks) 😁📚

Taking a break from Cress to watch one of my favorite trios - Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May - on the Grand Tour. I'm happy Amazon picked them up.

A book about an unlikely pairing out on a book tour - I am sure there will be plenty of transportation involved. I know page 1 starts on a plane. Now I just need to focus and read the rest of it!

#photoadayNov16 @RealLifeReading

3/5 stars. I found this book definitely worth reading overall, but strangely unsatisfying. There were certain passages that really spoke to me about how everything is always bullshit, but other times it felt like I had to force myself to care about Vance and Richard and keep reading. They both annoyed me a little too much and I didn't really like or hate them enough to care about them.

"After Stan said goodbye, Richard really let loose, cried like a baby. Like his baby Cindy, when she was little, tears begetting more tears, his face a hot, smeary mess. Like the baby he was. He took some deep breaths and tried to figure out what he was feeling and why, an exercise he hadn't undertaken in years, since for years he'd always felt roughly the same way-i.e., like shit-and known why, i.e., because everything was horrible."

This story about two lost souls who cross paths at the lowest point in their lives is hilarious in the way that only truly depressing things can be, like an episode of Louie. There's a lot to like about it, but for me there wasn't enough to set it apart from other stories about damaged people trying to find their way.

Wonderful tale of two men and a road trip and journey of discovery. Technically two stories in one as the book tells the tale of an author's book tour and the novel he gained fame for. Joined by his "number one fan" Vance, who also makes his own journey. Funny, sad, and thought provoking.

My toes in the water, book in my hand. This is where you can find me for the next seven days.

A road trip starring two misfits seems like a great way to start my vacation.

Love the writing!