Welcome to Litsy!

A slow start to my reading year but I flew through this one super quick. I do just love Ann Tyler. This story of a dysfunctional family all impacted by each others anger or bitterness has a quiet vein of hope throughout. There are some lovely moments where each one (not all but most) finds a spot of peace, love or happiness within their grasp. I do wish we had seen more of the daughter Jenny though as that piece felt a little less resolved.

Favorite sign welcoming all to this Tennessee restaurant owned by a thriving immigrant family who contribute so givingly to our community. A contrast to this story of adult children so damaged by neglect & abuse. At least the son who owns the Homesick restaurant provides some redeeming hope. Can't say anyone at bookclub "enjoyed" it, but we always have worthwhile discussion. #RestaurantCvr #NewYearNewBooks @Eggs @always @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Not sure about this one. I expected to love it but instead I was bored at times with a bit one dimensional characters - apart from the mother, Pearl, but we never learned her point of view. Her three children, well, I think I liked them but just that. Not much plot either.

“Everything,” his father said, “comes down to time in the end-to the passing of time, to changing. Ever though of that? Anything that makes you happy or sad, isn‘t it all based on minutes going by? Isn‘t happiness expecting something time is going to bring you? Isn‘t sadness wishing time back again? Even big things- even mourning a death: aren‘t you really just wishing to have the time back when that person was alive?”
⬇️

#doublespin #june2023

A story of the Tull family + how 3 children grow into complex adults after their mother Pearl is abandoned by their father. Angry/sly Cody is jealous of his gentle yngr brother Ezra, while clever jenny drifts through men looking to mother others both in life + work. Totally absorbing Anne Tyler weaves family dramas that you can not put down. Perhaps I've matured as yrs ago I 1st read her + found the minutiae annoying, now I love her storytelling

A quiet novel but deeply moving with plenty to think about. Pearl Tull age 80 looks back at her life as she lays dying. She‘s raised 3 kids all on her own and wonders at what cost to her children? Beautiful prose - good for bookclub discussion. Because I recently read and LOVED another family drama, I couldn‘t help comparing and I actually preferred the Maynard COUNT THE WAYS. Both are still worthy reads.

All packed and heading to the beach for a long holiday weekend- I‘ve cooked & cleaned and I‘m EXHAUSTED but I‘m SO looking forward to sharing Passover Seder with all my kiddos 🥰Chag Kosher Sameach to all who are celebrating tonight 🍷🍷🍷🍷and a Happy Easter, too🐣

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I‘m going to call this my favorite book of the year and I read it in January. Anne Tyler is a master and this is my favorite of hers that I‘ve read so far. I can‘t speak to plot or characters or anything else, because I love it so much and nothing I‘ve tried to come up with has done it justice. Plus, I‘ve discussed it to death IRL. Dysfunctional family vibes anyone?? Totally my jam. Continued ⬇️

The perfect way to kickoff the weekend!
Reading this for IRL #bookclub on Monday. I LOVE Anne Tyler, and this one is really working for me so far.

'It turns out that the trajectory of an entire life's writing may not be a steadily rising incline, as I had always imagined, but an up-and-down road punctuated somewhere near the middle by a book that comes along just when the writer has finally assembled the tools to say what matters most to her'

Floofy and I agree. This was an oddly painful read. I don‘t know if it‘s because I‘ve raised two kids or if it‘s just the topic of the read. Either way this is a very real book that at times is plodding and slow but there is still just something that keeps you engaged. I have to confess I‘ve read her before and haven‘t always cared for her stories. #readingchallenge2022

The story of Pearl Tull and her three children after her husband runs off in the 1940‘s. Pearl is hard, willful, a tough mom. Her kids are each different. Tyler here is about capturing an atmosphere by capturing all the details. Maximalist, wordy, slow and yet she creates a impression. One child ponders time and how hope turns to wistful sadness. And that‘s maybe this novel. I enjoyed it.

While Pearl Tull was dying, a funny thought occurred to her. It twitched her lips and rustled her breath, and she felt her son lean forward from where he kept watch by her bed. “Get …” she told him. “You should have got …”

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

I read this silly Anna Tyler novel earlier this year because it was on the 2020 Booker longlist, and it really turned me off from trying another novel by her. Tonight I opened this one, from 1982, and there is a whole lot of interesting stuff going on in the first few pages. Completely different. I‘m intrigued by Pearl Hull, anyway.

I read this before I was a parent. Rereading this was a completely different experience now that I have raised two humans to adulthood. Much more disturbing and painful of a read. This is a story of deeply wounded people trying to love each other. Great read and much deeper than I remembered. 4 🌟

I think it‘s a book worth reading. However, I‘m not a big fan. In my view, it‘s basically a story about how growing up in a toxic family can negatively affect the children‘s whole lives, providing the differing life stories of the siblings. It‘s a well-written, heart-wrenching account of emotional pain that was not enjoyable and offered me nothing new. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Don‘t mind me, just over here reading yet more Anne Tyler which once again has calmed my frazzled, distracted brain! Good job I‘ve got her entire back catalogue to go at... Loved this; great characters, not all likeable, some a bit odd, most dysfunctional. There‘s no great drama beyond the everyday but there‘s something I find incredibly soothing about her writing.

"Suppose it did turn out to be cancer: why would he want to endure those treatments - the radiation and the toxic drugs? Better just to die.
He noticed that he thought of dying as a kind of adventure, something new that he hadn't yet experienced. Like an unusual vacation trip."

Ezra is reading his mother's diary to her, from when she was a girl (14 yrs in 1908), as she can no longer see. She is now in her 70's (1960's).

"His mother sighed. Ezra skimmed several pages in silence.

How plotless real life was!

In novels, events led up to something. In his Mother's diaries, they flitted past with no apparent direction."

" She admitted only that her sight was not what it had once been - that it was impaired enough to make reading a nuisance. "She's blind," her doctor said, and she reported, "He thinks I'm blind," not arguing but managing to imply, somehow, that this was a matter of opinion - or of will, of what you're willing to allow and what you're not. "

Another quote I found which refers to denying the decline of ones body through age.

Oh my, this book is so sad, I'm so sad for this family. Each member gets a chapter or two where we see their lives up close & after years & years of life, decision making & living with situations thrown at them, no one is happy.
I am so mad at the eldest brother Cody, I don't remember feeling this strongly about a character. I am so disappointed in the way things went & how cruel he is to his younger brother, even in adulthood!
Hard to read atm 😕

This was a reread. I first read it while I was in college and thought it was absolutely amazing. Now I was a little less amazed but it was still a really good book that often made me stop to think about how every member views their family from a different lens.The history, the relationships, the causation all change depending on perspective. I wonder what I will think if I read it again in another 20 years.

Chapter 2,
Teaching the Cat to Yawn

Chapter 1.
Pearl, at 81 years old, is reflecting on her life whilst laying in bed with possible pneumonia...

Enjoying a lay in reading in bed with my favorite author, whilst family are all glued to screens.
Must get some rest while I can before online learning for the kids tomorrow.

I will be making hubby's traditional Croatian dish, Sarma, this afternoon, with hubby to help this time.

How's your day?

Ok, after being a homeschooling teacher to my 2 girls all week I'm in cosy reading mode.
I've just finished Scission by Tim Winton. 13 short, intense short stories which I loved.
I miss a novel length journey with familiar characters so now I'm straight into the next novel on my TBR list, the much anticipated, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler. I totally love Anne Tyler.
Soooooo excited!!!!

Every time I go book hunting I am often not sure if I already own a copy of some of the books I'm drawn to.
So, time to make up a catalog of all the books I (and my hubby) own.
After a few days work I've covered the two bookshelves in my bedroom. I got to the count of around 650. I still have the living room shelves to go but most of my novels are here.
I've also found an app called 'My Library' to store them all in.
Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

#AMonthofSongs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620
#Homesick

Anne Tyler intricately pieces together a portrait of the fractured Tull family with memories from each family member. But what they individually remember is so vastly different. And somehow through these discrepancies, humorous moments, forgotten dreams, deep scars and bitter rivalries, we discover why they hunger for this sacred bond. Simply brilliant! This may be my favorite Tyler novel to date! 🙌🏻
#YearofAnneTyler

A big thanks to @BookBabe and @MrBook for sharing their experience at The Library restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. They put it on my radar, so when I was in Portsmouth for the loss of a family member I was very close to, it was a welcomed respite meal in the midst of an overwhelming time. Featured: gorgeous stained glass and our bill in a book.

Here we go, might change it tomorrow!
1.Leo Tolstoy
2.Kurt Vonnegut
3.J.D.Salinger
4.Virginia Woolf
5.Charles Bukowski
6.Emily Dickinson
7.Margaret Atwood
8. John Irving
9.John Reed
10.Vivian Gornick
#Dinnerparty

There was so much going on in this novel. All of the characters were dealing with internal struggles as well as with struggles in their relationships with others. You see their strengths and their weaknesses. You root for them to focus on their stengths, and overcome their weaknesses.

A nice little book haul from the thrift store today. #BookHaul

Ezra‘s secret soup ingredient is #bananas !🍌🍌🍌🥣🥣🥣🤢🤢🤢
#MarchMunchie @jenniferw88 Day 2 #bananas

I just couldn‘t connect with these characters. Cody and Pearl were just cruel—and didn‘t seem to even recognize they were cruel. Jenny and Ezra had potential to be characters I could like, but so much of their stories just focused on what the other characters did to them that I found them lacking in personality, too. It was better than burying my face in the snow, but I don‘t think I‘ll be trying her other books.

Dinner! We are staying in with this meal tonight. We've been gone too long and never wanna leave! I made smoky eggplant dip and hummus and pita chips and we are watching the first couple of episodes of Room 104. It's insane! Also, this beer is pecan mud pie imperial stout. We fell in love with it in Copenhagen and found newly released cans of it at the grocery store!! #bookandbeer #bookandbrew

Happy Friday night, Littens!

Picked to fill my 1982 slot on my #birthyearchallenge Mixed reviews noticed after I checked it out never read this author. Wish me luck!(I rarely bail)

A random Turkish sunset. Finished this book whilst away. Not my favourite Anne Tyler so far but an enjoyable read anyway.

Happy holibobs to me 🤓 Here's to chilling with a good book in the sun 📚🍹

I started reading this during my lunches. I love Anne Tyler. Her characters are so simple but so real. I'm interested to read on and find out more about Pearl and her family.

I try to read at work during lunch so thought I'd give this one a go on my phone. I love an Anne Tyler novel so have high hopes for this one!

So this arrived in the post this morning!! Has anyone else read it? I'm really looking forward to starting it! ❤️ 📚 ☕️

#RockInMay #scenesfromanitalianrestaurant

I chose this book for Book Club at the end of last year. Anne Tyler has said it's her favourite (& that's saying something because she's a prolific writer).

The Italian restaurant where Ezra works, and tries desperately to have his family finish a meal at, is central to this classic about a damaged mother raising her three children. How different perceptions of the same event can be.

I loved it ❤️.

For some reason, I struggled with this one, where I usually love Anne Tyler's books. It finally drew me in, but it was mostly a sad, almost cautionary read - let me just be a better mother than Pearl! Tyler often deals with the theme of grown-up children and their mothers and the wounds parents unknowingly and unintentionally inflict, and hopefully reading her books helps me become a more mindful parent!

#TBRtemptation post 2! This is a highly-acclaimed NYT-bestseller. A Sunday night, 1944. Pearl's husband up and left her and their little Baltimore row house--and their 3 kids. Jenny's high-spirited, determined, & nurturing. Cody's wild, incorrigible, & loves power & money. Ezra's her favorite, an idealistic yearner. Skip ahead to the end for Pearl. Her grown children gather, with hope, anger, harshness, & beauty. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

So this happened...One of my sweet students had given me a book a day calendar. I'm reading this blurb thinking, "Hmmm...this sounds like a good book." Then I look at the title and realize I. ALREADY. READ. IT!!!
#littenproblems

2015 was the year I discovered Anne Tyler, when I heard that A spool of Blue Thread had been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. I borrowed Breathing Lessons from the library and I was hooked. I always find it fascinating how you can life your whole adult life up to a point having never even heard of an author, and then you're crazy about them. My problem now is that I've read most of her books... DATHSR is one I've just started reading.

Sometimes it feels like clinical compulsion being a moody reader. Started the Beautiful Bureaucrat, put it down for the lightness of Ten Years in the Tub, took a break for a little Jeeves and Wooster. Resumed Ten Years only for Nick Hornby to say this book inspired him to be a writer, and now here I am with Anne Tyler and a #catblanket. I would like to actually finish a book sometime.

Another book set in Maryland. This one's about a #dysfunctionalfamily in Baltimore. #photoadaynov16