Welcome to Litsy!

I am so touched by this beautiful book. I finished with tears in my eyes for Violette, her resilience really resonated with me. I did miss out on a lot of the references to French music and culture but even without that the sheer beauty of the words carried me through the story. If anyone has not yet read this book, please do. I‘ll be thinking of this story for many years to come. 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸/5

Thank you Gissy !!! I love my birthday surprise package! I love mushrooms and have a perfect spot for the candle- and the adult bookmark!!! YES! I love the books and the cat stickies are purrfect! AND I love our friendship 😘😘😘😘😘

Lovely and very moving story. Very well written. Enjoyed reading this book!

“Don't judge each day by what you can pick, but by the seeds you sow.”

“You're no longer where you were, but you are everywhere that I am.”

“I like giving life. Sowing, watering, harvesting. And starting again every year. I like life just as it is today. Bathed in sunshine. I like being at the essence of things.”

“When someone has gone, they‘ve gone. Except in the minds of those who remain. And the mind of just one man is much bigger than the universe.”

This book is just perfection. Beautifully written and translated, with fantastic characters and a heartbreaking, mysterious story. I loved every single thing about it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5⭐️ It‘s been some time since a book moved me to tears. This one did a few times. I found Perrin‘s writing to be gorgeous, poignant, melancholy tinged at times, engaging, and reflective. A few times her descriptive scenic writing reminded me a bit of Frances Mayes early books.
Highly recommend this one. It completely absorbed my attention and I jotted quotes down from it frequently.

And from the infant pages of this book, she‘s captured my attention.

Any one else read Valérie Perrin?

Beth Bonini on IG had posted a bit about this book and I was thrilled my library had a copy. I‘ve been finding I must live under a rock because I‘m very late in learning about authors many others have been loving!

These were all so amazing. Thank you @Suet624 for Fresh Water, I adored it and meeting you 🩷, #hastagbrigade for the enjoyable hashtags and chats with Vanity Fair, and #RereadingtheClassics for the Madding Crowd. A big shoutout for Mayflies 💔and if anyone reads As Meat loves Salt pleas tag me as I want to know what another Litten thinks.

What more does one need than a good book and a judgmental look from a spoiled dog?

4✨ I read this earlier this week as a suggestion for my 12 book recommendations at the beginning of the year. @CBee Thank you for the recommendation it was fabulous. Violette is a caretaker of a cemetery. When Julien a Police Chief comes to bury his mother on a strangers grave we go into a back story of how his mother and Violette are connected from their pasts. It made me laugh, but it also pulled at my heartstrings. ⬇️

This book was sooooo beautiful! I didn‘t want it to end.
Not sure if this makes sense and feels odd for me to say but reading this made me want to live and love and lose and do it all over again. Oh, and also unlocked my newfound goal of being a cemetery keeper.
I‘ll definitely look into for more from this author.

🪦❤️

Wonderful translation! It follows the life of a cemetery keeper with a little mystery thrown in.

1. Without a doubt: 💕 💕

2. Without a doubt: Fresh Water for Flowers

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author

A book about the life of a cemetery keeper in France. I was touched by the way she tended the graves and by the way she often performed tasks that were not in her job description. All the while, she was dealing with her own grief and hardships. It‘s a sad and mysterious story, but also wonderfully moving and hopeful. I loved it! 💐

I had errands to do, places to go, people to meet, stuff to accomplish but no I sat and finished this gracefully told, and beautifully rendered story. I can see why it‘s a favorite of many. Thank you so much @Suet624 for this absolutely delightful read. I loved it and will be recommending to everyone I meet. ♥️

Front porch reading in the hazy dawn.

I‘m so glad I read Fresh Water for Flowers, it was my best fiction read in June, and easily since March… but I can‘t decide yet if it beats out Black Sun. I‘m going to let it sink in more before I decide the first half of the year‘s winning book. #readingbracket #bestfiction

What a beautiful book. I read it slowly and soaked it in. Such emotional power and gorgeous prose, I‘m very impressed by the translation. I don‘t think I‘ve ever connected with a translated book like this before. My heart feels heavy and full with it.

I go up to my bedroom and open the winter wardrobe to put on a dressing gown. I have two wardrobes. One I call “winter,” the other “summer.” It has nothing to do with the seasons, but rather the circumstances. The winter wardrobe contains only classic, somber clothes, for the eyes of others. The summer wardrobe contains only light, colorful clothes meant only for me. I wear summer under winter, and I take off winter when I‘m alone.

I've decided to try to read an author in every country - partly inspired by picking up this lovely work in translation from France.

Well-plotted, this story unveils the life of a woman we meet as a cemetery keeper - there's one main timeline and a few different past timelines you're following. Briefly confusing timeline switching on audio, masterfully plotted in when details were revealed. Beautiful, sweet, sad story that I really enjoyed.

💚💚💚💚💚 This is a story of love, of many different loves, and not all are beautiful. This is life itself.

Wow, loving the writing, setting, characters, the whole works!

What a fantastic line quoted above! MYOB

Spent some leisure time this afternoon at my local bookshop. 😊

#MayMontage #22ndOnYourTBR Is it really 22nd ?Honestly, I shuffle my TBR like poker players shuffle cards so 😁🤷‍♀️

Just in case folks want to know, there will be a live chat online with Valerie Perrin. Go to Tombolo Books to sign up.

I loved this - it starts slowly, and the layers of the story build and build so skilfully that before you know it you have such a deep and nuanced view of each character. It‘s sad, involves lots things that might be triggers ( the main character looks after a cemetery) but its joyful too! There‘s hope and reminders about how we live our lives, how we love and care for those closest to us and how we want to leave this life. I love this author!

Turning out to be a perfect bookmark / book pairing! 👍🏼

First few chapters in …. I like this writers style - you go in thinking it‘s a story about one thing and then it‘s about something co pkwy welsh different. Enjoying being gently tugged into the story‘s orbit.

One of the best books I‘ve read in quite some time. There are very few books I ever want to read again, but this is one. I love the way this story unfolds. I‘m glad I listened to the audiobook because of the French pronunciations.

@AmyG I legit squealed when I opened this package!! Everything is perfect. And I love both of these book choices!! 💕 can‘t wait to read both of them!
Thanks for the extra chocolate goodies! I‘m sure my boys will find the stash soon enough 😆
Also, this mug is awesome! I love it so much 🌱
Thanks to @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs for organizing #muglove23 #muglove2023 — my first swap and it was so fun!

Wow. This book. Epic. Completely enthralling. I went into it knowing nothing about it. I suggest reading it that way. Excellent in every way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #bookspin

These words resonate.

Reading + golf = relaxing Saturday 😎

"My closest neighbors don't quake in their boots."
#firstlinefridays
@ShyBookOwl

I finally read this book and understand all the love for it! It started out slowly and then suddenly in one page it was as if the story was lit with a match. I so loved the way Perrin slowly built the rest of the story from different perspectives, building up to an incredible ending. I will miss Violette. ♥️

January isn‘t over yet but it‘s close enough I know this is my favorite finished in January 23. I want to tag the person who made and offered the bracket graphic but can‘t find the name as it appears I accidentally cropped it on the version I saved. If you know, please comment/tag. This was on my #auldlangspine list as one of @CBee s favs of 22. #readingbracket2023

This is a love story. Or a story of how love always has loss too. Love of family, life, self, friendship. It‘s heartwarming and heartbreaking. Beautifully written. I collect Europa Editions and am so happy to add this to my collection even though I chose audio for this from my #auldlangspine list from @CBee so I could also read another on the list in print. The alternating POV actually adds to the pathos. The plot twist made me gasp out loud.

I wondered if I was disguised. Or if it was myself I had found.

Because I‘m always late to book parties, I‘m grateful to @Deblovestoread for putting this in her #ALSpine list and to @CBee for sending it to me to make sure I would read it. 😀 It‘s a poignant read with a slow burn that veers into a thriller and then ends kind of abruptly. The chapter-header epigraphs were my favorite parts. A lovely book (but I‘d still give the nod to “A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon,” Cyd. 🤷🏻‍♀️)

#AuldLangSpine

I‘ve read SO many amazing books this year, but (and I knew this months ago) Fresh Water For Flowers captured my heart and held on tight ♥️ #readingbracket #thatsawrap #goodbye2022 @chasjjlee