Welcome to Litsy!

Lights are FINALLY done. I wanted more and the last few years I‘ve forgotten or not bothered to get out and get them after Christmas on sale 🤦🏻‍♀️ this year I decided enough is enough EXCEPT there are now 3 kinds of white - white, warm white and antique white. My original are warm white but now even antique white is brighter than them UGH! I may actually be buying MORE lights after Christmas or labeling these somehow to mix them up for next yr

My next audio book

Such a heartbreaking but fascinating listen while walking a lot. My heart goes out to the families affected by this illness! 🥺

3 ⭐.
Lots of incredible research into schizophrenia but too many triggers for me.

This was a heartbreaking work of nonfiction about a family that was devastated by mental illness. In addition to the gripping personal story of the family, I was impressed by how much I learned about the history of how culture and the scientific community viewed mental health. I highly recommend this!

#bookspinbingo. @TheAromaofBooks

30 book recommendations in 30 days...

Day 22: A fascinating read. There was so much to think about and how complicated life must have been for every single individual in this family. I read it awhile ago so I can't remember the exact content warnings to give, but I remember that abuse was involved in some way, along with the significant mental health concerns, and other very difficult topics as well. #30recsin30days

Can tell the author is a journalist. Very detailed writing style… If you enjoy clinical details & scientific research, this book is for you! Interesting read….

Up next in audio

Enjoying this nonfiction title during a quiet day at work. Did the father in this story make anyone else discontented or frustrated?

#museum #work #nonfiction #schizophrenia #understanding #medical #mentalillness #spring #art #dysfunctional #family

Just finished this on audio and I am blown away. Impeccably and extensively researched, this book really reinforced for me how mental illness is still so stigmatized. Though a lot of progress has been made, it isn‘t so much about changing treatments and formulating new medication, it‘s about changing the views and opinions of everyday people. I‘m in awe of this family, and admire them for the tireless work they do to try and help others (cont‘d⬇️)

This is about to be a journey …

#junewrapup

June Reading Wrap Up

Favorite of the month: Hidden Valley Road

A History of Fear ⭐️⭐️⭐️

One‘s Company ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hidden Valley Road ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And There He Kept Her ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bath Haus ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Counterfeit ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nightcrawling ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Noise Downstairs ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tender is the Flesh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

An American Sunrise ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Patricia Wants to Cuddle ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ghost Eaters ⭐️⭐️

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup

On the surface, the Galvins appeared to be an all-American 1960s family. Half of the 12 children, however, were eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. Kolker seamlessly weaves their story with the history of schizophrenia and psychiatric treatment. I couldn‘t put this down. It‘s a masterful achievement, and represents over a decade of research. The best nonfiction title I‘ve read so far in 2022.

A meticulously researched and intriguingly presented look at schizophrenia. The narrative provides a raw view of the effects this disease had on one family with multiple diagnosed members. It also illuminates a clinical standpoint, raising awareness on the inconsistencies and issues within the mental health field, as well as the progress made, in terms of understanding and treating schizophrenia.

Wow! This book was both impossible to put down and incredibly difficult to read. Masterful art of storytelling through the eyes of various family members. I love the depth and complexity of the human psyche it dives into. I very much enjoyed the artful way he portrayed the parallel roads of the family‘s journey along with what‘s happening in the scientific world. Great book!

Thursday‘s op shopping rewards. I got a discount due to being a regular shopper on some of the clothes. I got the teapot as I am interested to find out how it actually works. I assume a tea light goes in the bottom but there doesn‘t appear to be holes in what I thought was the loose leaf tea part in the middle of the tea pot and why the weird silver bit? Can anyone help me out? I go through glassware pretty quickly so got these pretties as spares.

This nonfiction book moves back and forth between the history of mental illness, medical case studies, scientific research and big pharma to the biographical story of The Galvin Family and their twelve children — half of whom become diagnosed with schizophrenia. Kolker used hundreds of hours of documented interviews to write this fascinating, heart wrenching and well organized book. Trigger warning: sexual abuse, violence, suicide.

Such a heartbreaking book about a family with Schizophrenia. Their daily struggles, their contribution to scientific research & humanity‘s seemingly never ending challenge to find a reason & a cure for this dangerous condition.

The book has been very empathetically written. You feel acutely for the Galvins. It reminded me how so many of us take our cognition, speech, movement & freedom for granted. When in fact, they‘re our greatest blessings.

Another week long camping trip means lots of hikes and sneaking reading time between activity. Having all the feels about this book. How terrifying for every single person in this family, all for different reasons. Just wow!

My thoughts will be completely dominated by this case study for a long while. Brilliant writing. Hard to read at times, but the medical research of the roller coaster - therapy works, now medication, then nurture, nope nature is the cause was fascinating to me. Every member of this family was written with humanity and empathy, even when discussing the horrors. I appreciate the honesty that went into this book.

#ReadHarder2021

While this book was fascinating and heartbreaking, I cannot give a pass to an author who continuously correlates mental illness with violence. It's a fine line; obviously these specific individuals who lived with mental illness behaved violently. But there are other disturbing moments in this writing- like a throwaway line equating schizophrenia and school shootings- that research does 👏 not 👏 bear 👏 out. 👇

*"Our relationships can destroy us, but they can change us, too, and restore us, and without us ever seeing it happen, they define us. We are human bc the people around us make us human."

*"The haves have these options and the have-nots do not."

This book is eye opening. It was brave and wonderful that every living family member agreed to participate. Stylistically it was sometimes tough to follow with timelines & perspectives bouncing around, but the author did let each voice be heard.

I could not put this book down! It is fast paced, yet thought provoking. The struggles this family endured and the discoveries in mental health merge to make this one of the most fascinating books I have ever read!

#weeklyforcast #stretchgoal getting through some of that #tbr

1 Women's Prize Long List
1 nonfiction
3 back list books

I think I have had let the great world spin for 3 years or so....

The story is fascinating and tragic. There were a lot of interesting facts about mental illness in general and schizophrenia specifically. I was frustrated a lot of the time reading this. I realize at the time that mental illness wasn‘t discussed but amongst their own family? When they saw that so many of their other children were being affected by it? I just wanted to shake some sense into the parents.

Wow! This book was fascinating and powerful, so compelling that it reads like a thriller. An huge accommodation journalistic non fiction, it follows decades of research and a family experiencing unbelievable mental health challenges. A prime example of truth being stranger than fiction, I‘ll think about and remember this book for a long time. Wow! Highly recommend! #BookspinBingo #MarvellousMarch #nonfiction @TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65

If you are interested in learning more about mental illness, schizophrenia specifically, I highly recommend this book. The treatment of the subject is nuanced and sympathetic, and it's just exceptionally readable.

#catsoflitsy #litsycats

Wow!! Love Love Love this book!!! Beyond 5 stars.
Such a touching and informative book.
Not only learn more about schizophrenia, medical development of it but also the impact schizophrenia can have on a family having 12 children and 6 of them having mental illness.
Such a great book. Cannot image how much effort and time the author had put in. Highly recommended!!

Wow, this book definitely lives up to the hype! Fantastic read!! I think it‘s the only nonfiction book I‘ve ever read that made me routinely stay up past my bedtime so I could keep reading!

A fascinating study of a family with 12 children, six of whom were schizophrenic. Alternating with the history of scientific pursuits in the field, the author does a great job of presenting each family member and their experience of their family life and the attempts of a mother to hold a family together in the midst of such chaos and, at least initially, a massive case of denial.

A fab #januarywrapup! I‘ve revisited the Arctic and reminisced on seeing polar bears in the wild, been saddened by our approach to mental wellness, connected back to fantasy chunksters, cried through ‘80s Glasgow and chuckled at the sarcasm of Polish middle aged women. I‘ve also fled across counties in the best get away vehicles ever and shared in the friendship dogs offer us. Sooooo many great reads this month. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

I‘m only 20% into this and I‘ve already blabbed so much information about it to my co-workers. From having so many kids (good lord!), to hearing about the history of psychiatric theories and procedures, this is fascinating!

4/5

This is an incredible book both about Schizophrenia and family with 12 children, 6 of whom were diagnosed with Schizophrenia whose DNA was and is instrumental in the study of Schizophrenia.

It's an incredible book, but the trauma experienced by every member of this family was absolutely heartbreaking.

This was also my #bookspin this month @TheAromaofBooks #bookspinbingo #doublebookspin

At times, reads almost like a horror novel. It presents mental health issues from such a personal perspective. This book elicited a range of emotions from deepest sympathy to bleakest hopelessness. Highly recommend.

Evidently it‘s National Cuddle Up day! Blankets, puppy and books - I‘m celebrating to the hilt!

A tragic story told sensitively - this is an amazing read. Kolker manages to give us the wider view of medical research into mental illness as well as one family's experience and the experience of individuals within that one family. It's heartbreaking, emotionally complicated and shifts over time - but Kolker keeps it focused, personal and ensures every family member is seen. A must read! #newyearwhodis

Monday afternoon plans! I thought this might be hard to follow - but the individual children and their experiences is written in such a way it‘s so easy to see them as individuals and track their experiences. #newyearwhodis

Thanks for the tag @Cupcake12 #motivationalmonday

1- complete my 21 in 2021 list of things to achieve this year.
2- Curling up with Mr K, cats, pup and blankets to start the new series of Spiral !

How was your weekend @JaneyWaneyB ?

1-4 Jan 2021 (audiobook)
A fascinating book which details the history of the Galvin family as a means of describing how medicine has dealt with schizophrenia over the past 60 years. Despite the heartbreak this family endured, their story is not depressing or sensationalist. Kolker writes with empathy, not dismissing the idea that having 12 children may have contributed to the problem, but also acknowledging Mimi‘s care and love for her sick sons.

Starting in on my second #newyearwhodis choice. The first was so so brilliant the second has a lot to live up to! 🤞🏼

#12Booksof2020 Day 5

This book! A family with 12 children, 6 of whom are schizophrenic. I read this as a mother and found the story unfathomable. Well written and absolutely fascinating. This one I shall never forget.

@Andrew65