Welcome to Litsy!

From the moment of her unexpected birth in 1905 until her death more than 85 years later, Daisy Stone Goodwill experiences all the ups, downs, humor, melancholy, sadness, grief and joy of childhood, young adulthood, marriage, motherhood, widowhood and old age. In other words—a life, lived. This book gave me all the feels.

I like the first half of this book—the circumstances of Daisy‘s birth, her childhood, her young adulthood. But the second half really seemed to drag for me. And maybe that‘s the point? A kind of commentary on the early potential of girls that gets consumed by the obligations of being a woman (wife, mother, daughter, employee). But I still struggled to finish. There were parts I liked and parts I didn‘t. But overall I wouldn‘t read it again.

The writing in this is excellent… a story of a woman‘s life from birth to death told through her own point of view, her friends and family, letters, and photographs. I had a goal of reading 12 Pulitzers this year and this was my 12th. ✅ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://youtu.be/i3ToHwlYnTI

#carolshieldsprize

📕 The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
🖊 Strout, Elizabeth
🎬 The Shop Around the Corner
🎤 Smith, Caroline
🎶 The Seed (2.0) - The Roots

#ManicMonday #LetterS
@CBee

The writing in this book alone is worth it. This book follows Daisy Goodwill from her birth to her death. The way life can sometimes just happen to us, the way it can just slip right through our fingers. I love the addition of letters and snippets of dialogue from other characters to fill in Daisy‘s story. 222/1,001 #1001Books

Shields is a good writer. I enjoyed this chronicle of a family from Canada & the upper Midwest. The story centers on Daisy Goodwill as a child, mother, botany columnist, and old women. Shields uses more than an unreliable narrator to keep things lively: letters, multiple viewpoints in short narrative bursts, voices chiming-in when Daisy raises a subject but doesn‘t ask for any opinions. Lovely turns of phrase & moving insights make this a winner.

It was interesting to read a historical fiction novel that took place mainly in Winnipeg. It's unusual to find such books that take place west of Ontario.

“Things begin, things end. Just when we seem to arrive at a quiet place we are swept up, suddenly, between the body‘s smooth, functioning predictability and the need for disruption. We do irrational things, outrageous things. Or else something will come along and intervene, an unimaginable foe.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I liked that this novel the follows the life of 1 character, Daisy Goodwill, through her birth, childhood, marriage, widowhood, decline, and death. But the last 2-2.5 chapters didn‘t feel in keeping with her character through the earlier parts of the book. I can, though, see how it won prizes. It feels different, with the “plot” being a fictional life.

#1001books #1000books #pulitzerprize #canadianlit

Two favorite Canadian 🍁 authors, and the first book I read by each of them. #readingresolutions @Jess7

When I think of #beautifulwriting, I think of Carol Shields. #readingresolutions

🌟🌟🌟.5/5
Fictional autobiography following the life of Daisy Goodwill from birth to death. Not knowing she was pregnant Her mother goes into labour and dies while having her. Set from 1905-1985 this seemingly ordinary woman's life was marked by death and loss from the beginning.
I enjoyed this read. The way the chapters were longer but broken up into sections of Daisy's life making the story flow nicely.
#bookreview #bookworm #booklover

Another challenge that makes me think about the books I have on my shelves. #CanadianAuthors #MarchintoReading

#marchintoreading day 27: #canadianauthors

So many fantastic authors are Canadian! Carol Shields will always have a special spot in my bookish heart because it was her book, The Stone Diaries, introduced during an A Level English Lit class in Singapore, that made me really sit up and think, wow this is what good writing is about.
Who are some of your fave Canadian authors?

Carol Shields and Margaret Atwood, two of my favorite #canadianauthors. #MarchintoReading

"Life is an endless recruiting of witnesses. It seems we need to be observed in our postures of extravagance or shame, we need attention paid to us. Our own memory is altogether too cherishing, which is the kindest thing I can say for it. Other accounts are required, other perspectives, but even so our most important ceremonies - birth, love, and death - are secured by whomever and whatever is available. What chance, what caprice!"

Book haul 1/2 📚📚📚❤️

Starting this novel for my Canadian Literature class 📖🇨🇦

#12DaysOfXmasPhoto ... and I give to you a few #Carols (of the Pulitzer Prize winning variety). 🎄🎶🎄🎶

Any of you use LibraryThing? I have, almost from the beginning. Same username as here. I know more people are on Goodreads. Now that there's an LT app it's easier to check for books I already have. But I'm way behind on adding my TBR books to LT, hence I ended up with an extra copy of one of the titles 😜 (I haven't read it yet). I hope I'm able to focus on reading again. Geek Love I've read before but lost my original hardcover many yrs ago.

Bought this today for 50 cents at a library book sale. Pulitzer winner for #recommendsday: to borrow a phrase from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie this book looks at the"lethargy of choicelessness" that came with being a woman born in the early 20th century.

I don't know what took me so long to read this book (maybe it was the terrible cover. Even the seal couldn't save it), but I wholeheartedly loved this life story - from birth to death - of Daisy Goodwill. I've been on a streak of only reading novels by women, and I am still processing how reading this just after Emma Cline's THE GIRLS influenced the read.

This was a couple years ago, but still one of my favorite pictures and one of my favorite books.

#funfridayphoto - it's so fun seeing everyone's posts and trying to think of what the first adult book I read was. It by Stephen King? Flowers in the Attic? I remember sneak-reading some Sidney Sheldon that my parents had. I decided to go with The Stone Diaries. It made me realize what good writing can be. (Also it could do w more Litsy love). And now I wonder what my kids' first adult book will be!

In honor of Canada Day, I mention that this book and thus author is one (two?) more awesome reason to ❤️ the neighbor to the north. I have so many wonderful virtual friends in Canada, it astounds me! And, this book, is incredible.

Happy Canada Day (and Fun Friday photo!)! I will always credit Carol Shields' The Stone Diaries (and my "A" Level English Literature teacher in Singapore who introduced it to geeky 17yo me) as the book that made me realize what good writing is.