Welcome to Litsy!

My #bookspin this month. Had to bail. I couldn‘t care less.

Well that‘s an exciting number!

Some Little Free Library finds from a while ago. New books all look the same nowadays.

Another book I finished this week. I had a hard time rating this one because for the first half of the book I felt sort of blah about Ava‘s story. But the second half I enjoyed much more.

I liked Ava‘s thoughts on grammar and some of her pointed conversations. And her relationship with Edith seemed more interesting than her one with Julian… which makes sense once we got a bit more of Ava‘s backstory towards the end. Liked it, didn‘t love it. ⬇️

#auldlangspine wrap-up! I read 6 of the 20 books on @xicanti ‘s list. Of those, my absolute 5 ⭐️ cannot live without favorites were:
❤️The Charm Offensive
❤️Felix Ever After

I also gave 5 ⭐️‘s to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and loved it, but the other two were my favorites.

4⭐️‘s each go to the other three books: Battle Royal and All the Feels were fun romances I enjoyed getting swept up in. Underground Railroad I really liked also.
⬇️

I was excited after reading the synopsis but the book just didn't sit well with me. I even struggled with relating with and/or enjoying the main character's thought process and actions. Some other time with some other intention probably. Had to bail out after finishing like 40% of it.
Also, don't wanna rate a book I didn't actually finish.
Your thoughts?

I found the first third of EXCITING TIMES tedious and ordinary. I was ready to bail—

—until, all at once, everything clicked into place and I became totally obsessed with it.

Dolan delves into so many corners. Colonial repercussions in both Ireland and Hong Kong. Language, with an emphasis on how English shifts depending on who speaks it. Class. Emotional depth. Financial uncertainty. Political debate. Queerness.

I‘m in book-love. 4.5 stars.

Today I learned how to sew shirt collars. I‘m happy.

I also listened to about a third of EXCITING TIMES, which is less happy-making. It isn‘t BAD, but so far it‘s one of those books where an ordinary person does ordinary things in ordinary ways. While I recognize that that sort of thing has value, I want my ordinary people fiction to make the ordinary feel extraordinary.

Maybe it‘ll pick up in Part II. If not, I‘m out. #audiosewing

I didn‘t find this very exciting, but I really don‘t think I was the target audience. I struggled with the main character‘s intense introspection and self-analysis and yet her failure to do anything about what she disliked about her life. It was wry and amusing at times though and it slowly grew on me. Younger me may have read and appreciated this completely differently I suspect.

I got to Chapter 19 before bailing on this one. I think that means that it wasn‘t unbearable. Reading any longer would have been forcing it. Just as terrible as It ends with us by Colleen Hoover

You could go manless entirely and I saw a great deal of elegance in that approach but enough people felt otherwise that I thought it best to have one. You had to pretend to feel sad if you‘d been single for too long. I hated doing that because there were other things I was actually sad about

2/5 🌟

It started off well but then the main character just got really annoying, superficial and desperate. I couldn't finish it!

#LGBTQ2021 #LGBTQBookBingo2021 #queer

On track to complete the board by year end!

BIPOC Author: Every Body Looking - Candice Iloh

Asexual or Aromantic Character: Rick - Alex Gino

Friend to Lover: Exciting Times - Naoise Dolan

Picture Book: Red Rock Baby Candy - Shira Spector

Set in Space: Winter‘s Orbit - Everina Maxwell ⬇️

If you like your relationship books with witty repartee and progressive political views, this is the book for you. Fast-paced with a heroine I liked on the page and would detest in real life, I found myself enjoying this selection from #queerbookbox. The “literary fiction“ styled ending didn't quite fit this modern romance of a story that was mostly light but touched on real issues. The classism represented by the characters rang true.

#bookspin

Gave up after 55 pages... not holding my attention at all...

Returning books to the library and a few just leapt off the shelves!
So this references The Belljar in the reviews, also Sally Rooney... grabbed my attention any way.

This was fine. I enjoyed it but I can see why others don't. It is so much the opposite of "exciting". It is similar to a Sally Rooney book but without the depth.
By far not the best or worst #womensprizelonglist this year.

What do you do when you find yourself locked in a public restroom?

Good thing I‘ve always got a book with me! 😂🤣

I can't say for sure if I enjoyed this book or if I'd even recommend it. It took me a while to get into the story. Ava, our main character, is so self-loathing that it's difficult to want to read more about her.
I think that way queerness and class emerge as themes in this story is interesting. The book also ends in a way that leaves things feeling unresolved. All that being said, it was definitely an interesting read.

Meh

Felt like a rip off of Sally Rooney. Was interesting but fell a little flat.

On episode 71 of the Brit Lit Podcast, we hear from Naoise Dolan. She talks about cultural and literary differences between the UK, the US, and Ireland, what she thinks of the idea of “likeable” characters, some great Irish authors, and more.

https://britlitblog.com/2021/05/06/brit-lit-podcast-episode-71-exciting-times-wi...

This book was fine. I neither liked nor disliked it. Ava was too analytical of herself for me to get emotionally invested in her entanglements with Edith and Julian, and I want to be emotionally invested in fiction. The other thing I like is tension among the characters, and they all felt too cold to have that. This was well written but a miss for me.

Finished it but just wasn‘t for me

For most of this book, this was a so-so reading experience, but the ending changed this into a weak pick. That ending had me thinking.

We meet Ava has she has arrived in Hong Kong. She has decided to take a job there as an English teacher, and has traveled from Dublin. Navigating a new country is never easy, and we meet Ava as she finds her way.

She makes a couple of friends/ relationships. If you have read the book, you know what I mean.

Nothing exciting here at all!! Very ho-hum! Not a pan but a definite #BorrowNotBuy #MoreMehThanYeah Wow! I can‘t even recall the MC‘s name... maybe it was never shared (🙄) So, unnamed narrator relates her time spent in Hong Kong where she enters into two sexual relationships, one with a male the other female.

Periodically she touched her Celine trapeze bag. I thought: it‘s still there, Victoria. It‘s not going anywhere. The cow‘s dead.

(Picture of the bag found online)

I‘m on the fence about this one, but I think it‘s still a pick. The writing is sharp and often funny. There are good observations about family, money, and relationships. The narrative, however, is often as directionless as the narrator. I breezed through it so it is a quick and enjoyable read, but maybe not a lot of staying power. 3.5⭐️

.

Consumed this book as an audiobook - which was perfect. It‘s so much about language, and the difference between Irish and English. An engaging love story, made me happy to not be 23 again! Liked the discussions about sexuality and honestly calling out peoples‘ trash white rich privilege.

You know those books, that you really enjoy while reading, but it fades away as soon as you finish reading? This was such a book, for me. I get why this is being compared to Sally Rooney (but on another note, can we stop with all the Rooney comparisons??), but it didn‘t make me feel like Normal People did. I don‘t mind 20-somethings-existential-crisis-books, but they have to make me feel something to be memorable.

#WomensPrize

I‘ve spotlighted four witty Irish novels on my blog today: https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2021/03/witty-novels-by-irish-authors.html?

If you are a fan of Sally Rooney you will enjoy this. I am not. Good narrator on audio. This is my second book completed from the #WomensPrizeLongList and so far #Piranesi is far ahead. 3⭐️

I don‘t usually binge listen to audiobooks or read books about TEFL teachers, but Exciting Times is an exception! Ava‘s observations about relationships, money, and language were interesting and funny. First book finished for #MarvellousMarch 🎧🌼

A love triangle plot, even a bisexual one, doesn‘t usually appeal to me. In this case, however, I was totally enthralled because of the central character‘s unique & witty voice. Ava is 22, teaching English in Hong Kong. She didn‘t fit in when she was growing up in Dublin, but leaving Ireland hasn‘t helped. Ava hates herself & is socially awkward, but that begins to shift when she finds the right friends. #audiobook read by Aoife McMahon #LGBTQ

So, you‘re saying it‘s like London?
I dunno. I‘ve never been.
You‘ve never been to London?
No.
Ever?
Never, I said, pausing long enough to satisfy him that I‘d tried to change this fact about my personal history upon his second query and was very sorry I‘d failed.

(Internet photo)

He often said he didn‘t meet many people like me, but I didn‘t know if that meant there was necessarily a vacancy for them.

(Image: collage by Scott Nolan)

With my college brain on, I knew more people lost their jobs when banks like Julian‘s played subprime roulette, but the college brain came with a dial. I turned it up for people I hated and down for people I liked.

“The textbook said a speaker‘s ability to observe [the distinction between ‘bring‘ and ‘take‘] was a sure way to tell if they were native speakers or non.”

(Maybe it‘s because my mom‘s first language wasn‘t English and I attended a French language school, but I still don‘t see the point of distinguishing between bring and take.)

We got speciality coffees in Sheung Wan and laughed as we drank them. Mine was charcoal with cashew milk and hers was bright pink dragonfruit.

(Internet photo)

#audiocrafting

I wondered if Victoria was a real person or three Mitford sisters in a long coat.
(Internet photo)

I liked the honesty & wit of this novel. Ava‘s take on the world & shrewd observations kept me engaged. But Ava is privileged, hostile, has a chip on her shoulder, is obsessed with other people‘s money, crass & unlikeable. She is ambivalent about her relationships (whilst neurotically checking her phone) & it was hard to care whether she & Julian (or others) were together or apart. Too cynical for me but an interesting debut.

My #lastnownext 💕

I‘ve seen quite a few iffy reviews, but I enjoyed Exciting Times. I felt that the characters were honest and the story was relatable, however it was a bit slow and boring at times!

Not exciting at all. And even that wasn‘t the point. Yes, this is a new young voice in Irish lit. No, this isn‘t anything like Sally Rooney, move along.

I liked this book. I wasn't always sure but it depicted
the inner dialogue you have at a certain age (and let's be honest beyond such an age) and how you justify your actions to yourself or an imagined other judging your actions... Does that make sense? The constant comparisons to Sally Rooney make me feel uncomfortable. Would this happen if the author wasn't irish? Another book with an open ending... l will write about this trend soon.