Welcome to Litsy!

#WPC #Silhouette

3 ⭐️ I really wanted to like the book, but it felt confusing, at least for the first part of the book and it also just kinda seemed to fall flat at times. I felt very confused as to what was going on in the book; the second half seemed to be much more clearer as to what was happening. #2021 #fiction #bookreview #bookstagram #contemporary #readingeurope2021 #belarus 🇧🇾

Was my #bookspin book for March

Been working on this for the past few hours; am slowly making progress #24deweysreadathon #24hourreadathon #deweysreadathon #readathon

Anyone doing the #ReadingEurope2020 challenge still in need of #Belarus ? @Texreader has graciously offered to send a copy of the tagged book to someone, in the US, who still needs to complete this prompt.

Check out her feed for more information!

Calling all #readingeurope2020 challengers! Do any of you (preferably in the US) still need #Belarus? I‘d be happy to pass it along. I‘ll be happy to mail it to the first person who still needs Belarus. If nobody then I‘ll open it up to all US Littens. It‘s a good book, but it‘s one I‘m happy to share.

Update on my #readingeurope2020 challenge. I‘ve read 31 (in ink) of 50. Titles in pencil are books I‘ve lined up to read. I need book recommendations where I have blanks (Hungary and Liechtenstein).

Hoping I can fit some of these tbr on this list into the #scarathlon! 😁😳🧛‍♀️👻🎃

This is an endearing book told by a “partial” boy (as he described himself) born without all limbs except his left arm and a partial left hand about his life in a #Belarus hospital for gravely ill children and an orphaned girl dying of cancer. Very well done and I enjoyed the references to Russian literature. The explicit descriptions of sexual acts by young teens were the only eww factor. Could‘ve done without that. #readingeurope2020

A lovely phrase describing the passage of time: “the hands of the clocks spun around the perimeter of the day”

It‘s been a long time it seems since I started a new book for #readingeurope2020 so I am thrilled to start this one for #Belarus even though I believe it‘s going to be a tearjerker having read news stories about the Belarus orphans. Going in...

Updating my #readingeurope2020 list (1st of 2 I‘m posting) since I just bought a few books to cover 4 more countries. Unfortunately I disliked HHhH so much I lost more than a month on this challenge because I kept putting it down for weeks at a time to build up my patience for it. In retrospect I should have bailed & found a different book. I‘m a slow reader & doubt I‘ll finish the books I‘m so excited to read in this challenge. 🙁 I‘ll try though

#readingeurope2020 books purchased today! Tagged book for #Belarus

I‘d never read this YA book if it weren‘t for #ReadingEurope2020 but it turned out to be surprisingly good.

Ivan lives in the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in #Belarus. He is born severely disabled as a result of Chernobyl. In the hospital he meets Polina, a girl his age with cancer. They grow friends and of course there is a lot of sentimentality but also dark humor, which keeps the book from getting cheesy.

#ReadingEurope2020 🇧🇾

BookDepository delivered today and I am now almost covered for the remaining countries of #ReadingEurope2020. Here are my choices for Belarus, Serbia, Malta and Slovakia!

I still need to read a lot of them but at least I have my choices sorted out. The only country I am still missing is North Macedonia. #bookhaul

Wow!! A great, unexpected haul from Dollar Tree today!! Especially the Beatriz Williams book!! Are any of these on your tbr list??

The Wicked City
Paris For One
By Invitation Only
The Fact of a Body
The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko
Lifeboat Clique

#Bookhaul #Tbr

My time in Belarus has centered around the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children, where Ivan has spent his entire life. It‘s been fascinating to consider effects of Chernobyl, but Ivan‘s storytelling, ultimately, became too much for me—yes, he‘s intelligent and clever, but he‘s also quite acerbic and derogatory. I‘m ready to keep traveling.

The comparison to The Fault in Our Stars is completely accurate.

#BackpackEurope: Belarus ✔️

#12inTwo

I‘ve found my way to Belarus! It‘s a good thing I‘ve kept my map handy because I am regrettably unfamiliar with the geography of Eastern Europe—but I am learning.

#BackpackEurope #MountTBR

#backpackEurope travelogue *fictional*
Country 12: Belarus has some lovely castles and a great Chagall museum with hundreds of his paintings!
If The Fault In Our Stars and It's Kind of a Funny Story had a Belarusian baby, it would be this. This book was heartbreaking and darkly comic and wonderful. Ivan has been hospitalized in Belarus since birth (parents lived near Chernobyl in Ukraine). But there he meets Polina...
Gorgeous YA book. 5/5!!

Oh my. Page 9 and already I can tell Ivan is going to be a heartbreaker. He is a teen living in a Belarusian hospital (Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children). Many of his limbs and features never developed fully in utero (he was born in the Ukranian city of Pripyat, where Chernobyl is located). On the first page he is already drunk on a few caps of Stoli, given to him by a nurse. This reminds me of a John Green book, if he wrote about Belarus.

"The Fault in Our Stars" meets "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
Intrigued by this description in the blurb I read, I checked it out, but honestly wasn't expecting much...BUT I AM LOVING THIS BOOK!

Fantastic story, so well told it's hard not to feel like it's a memoir.

My heart is a broken mess. Major book hangover. Telling all my other books to go away, that I need a minute. Five stars.

This story of the life of a boy who others define by his physical deformities while he knows he is so much more. His life changes & expands through his friendship with Polina a girl losing her battle with leukemia. This book has it's sweet & beautiful moments, but I mostly found it awkward & not that engaging. I don't know if that was the narration as I was listening to it or if it's just the story. Maybe 1 of these days I'll give it a 2nd shot.

One of many disabled children born after the nuclear accident in Chernobyl, Ivan has lived his entire life at Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children. Despite his physical limitations, he has a keen mind. His emotional maturity is lacking, especially during the first half of the novel, where he plays mean-spirited "games," often involving bodily excretions.

When Polina arrives, he makes a real connection for the first time.

What a heartbreaker this book was, but chock full of teen angst. #SmellsLikeTeenSpirit #JuneTunz

Dear Reader, these Russians that I love so very much might just be the end of me...

Loved it!

Seventeen yr old Ivan has lived all his life in a hospital for gravely ill children. Everything is business as usual until Polina arrives. Ivan is witty and sarcastic, I loved his character despite of sometimes being an a-hole. This story is sad and hopeful. The description of the children and their afflictions will break your heart.

Great read. Loved Ivan. Touching, funny, thought provoking

Not always an easy, pleasant read but still a pick. 17-year old Ivan has severe physical deformities and has spent his entire life in a hospital for gravely ill children. He is an unlikeable character for a good part of the novel. But once Polina, a terminally ill girl, arrives and Ivan and Polina's relationship develops, you come to understand Ivan and hope for more for him and Polina too.

Side note: I like Lou with glasses😉
#catsoflitsy

Starting this one today. It's from my library stack and I have already renewed the entire stack once. I do that alot🤗
But best of all, I finally discovered the stickers🎉

I give this a "pick" but only because if I didn't it would just seem wrong. It's such a sad and disturbing book, yet it also has so many deep thoughts. Ivan as a character seems almost unreal and beyond believable, yet you still want to read about his life in post-Soviet Belarus. Polina is much more believable and I think she is what keeps the story going. Don't read if you want an uplifting book, but do it if you liked the Fault in our Stars.

YA Audio I wanted to love this like TFiOS and Cuckoo's Nest. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. I Really enjoyed the Russian translations but I didn't attach to any of the characters. So as it played out I really didn't care. +

Not as good as The Fault in Our Stars, which it's compared to. I did like Ivan, even though he's an asshole. I can understand some of the unfavorable reviews on Goodreads, so I guess this one gets a 'so-so' from me since there's not an option between that and 'pick.'

The kitty cat is always competing for lap space.

I just picked up this free ARC. It sounds promising.

#disabilities Written from a 17 year old Russian boy's perspective named Ivan who lives in the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children. Born with a deformity, but is mentally sharp. This is a raw look inside his heartbreaking sarcastic mind as he dictates his day and takes to the page the people and interactions around him. An absolute must read.

I have been thinking about my favorite reads for the year. This is definitely in my top 10. Ivan has a severe birth defect and a sassy mouth. He's too smart for his own good, which along with said defects makes him a difficult patient to love. When a terminally ill girl comes into his hospital his life is changed. She teaches him to live, love, and take chances. So good!

🌟🌟🌟🌟

A beautifully bitter sweet mix of 'The Fault in Our Stars', 'Wonder' and 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. My book club members and myself really enjoyed this one and it made for a great discussion. But fair warning, you might find yourself laughing out loud yet you're going to want some tissues handy at the same time!😂😢 #BookclubPicks #TheFeels

Many people have compared this book to a Fault in Our Stars. Both are sad and tragic, but the Invisible Life is grittier and darker. The humor is darker as well. I felt guilty laughing at things I shouldn't have.

Witty, honest and sometimes uncomfortable, I'm enjoying Ivan. I could do without so much bodily fluids though. 😬 #currentlyreading

My husband says that this is like the Fault in Our Stars Guillermo Del Torro style.

#PhotoAdayNov16 #TBR

My tentative #NovemberTBR, starting with my bookclub's current pick 'The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko' which I'm curling up with tonight since I have till Friday to finish it! 🙊🤓📚

Let's see if I actually stick to this TBR....then again, this stack doesn't include my audiobooks lol.🎧😁

Tragic, raw, funny & inspiring! This book had it all. 17 year old physically disabled teen living in an asylum for gravely ill children. Set in Belarus. Many of the children suffered abnormalities from excessive radiation from a nuclear reactor accident. Ivan's wit & perseverance are remarkable.

There were times when this book made me feel uncomfortable to listen to with my son but in the end it was definitely a good experience. I enjoyed the story, the writing was superb and my son gave it two thumbs, what more could you ask?!

This book was unlike any I've ever read. Quite the tale.

Crazy book!

I'm not gonna lie listening to the main character's description of his first erection and masterbation with my son on the way to school made me a bit uncomfortable. Sticking with this week's theme though I would never want this book banned, it has opened the door for lots of great conversations.

Started this one with the little guy on the way to school this morning.

Korje, the buyer at #BooksInc in San Francisco, says: "It's WONDERFUL. You think it's going to be unbearable, but it's not. It's amazing." #getindie