Welcome to Litsy!

For me, Ali Smith's books try too hard to be too many things, making each aspect feel dilute.

There are moments of genius throughout Autumn, but the structure is so ad hoc, that we lose impact.

We have a neighbourly love story, some unsubtle thoughts about Brexit and bureaucracy that resonate (albeit in a heavy-handed way), and some info about Pauline Boty.

All very interesting, but the lack of cohesiveness in the narrative frustrated me.

https://youtu.be/hKP-aIA_BVk?feature=shared

New video now live! 🥰🥰 Thank you to everyone who supports my channel / enjoys my vids.

Today's vid is 30 mins of me discussing what books are on my Autumn TBR. There's no way I'm going to get round to all these, so let me know in the comments if there are any that I need to prioritise 😁

I'll post Illumicrate unboxing for the month next. Pickles heavily featured (but not helpful!) 🤣🤣

Here‘s my #whimsicalreadsbookclub #cozycollage!

My favorite season 🧡🍁🤎 🎃 🧙🏻 💀 🕯️ ☕️ 🧣 📚 🍂 🖤 💫 🧹

A book with a #onewordtitle and our surprise pumpkin 🎃 🧡

#aboutabook 📚📚

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ (4/5)

This read like poetry to me. Smith tackled a lot in 272 pages - every word and line felt important. It was a beautiful, melancholy, meditative reflection on art, nature, life, death, and time. I will definitely re-read this: It seems like the kind of book you gleam more from upon each reading.

Oh, it's so hard to pick favorites!
1. Addie LaRue, VE Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
2. It's a tie: Crowley & Aziraphale, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
3. Autumn by Ali Smith
“It is like democracy is a bottle someone can threaten to smash and do a bit of damage with. It has become a time of people saying stuff to each other and none of it actually ever becoming dialogue. It is the end of dialogue.“
#wondrouswednesday

“It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times.“
-Autumn by Ali Smith

#firstlinefridays #autumn #alismith

#setinyrfaveseason
#Newyearnewbooks

🧡🍁🤎

I just love the leaves 🍁 and this book is perfect 😍

She likes to read, she reads all the time, and she prefers to be reading several things at once, she says it gives endless perspective and dimension.

I love going apple picking and sitting around the fire pit.
Meh. 😐
The Fortune Hunter (Goodwin) and I Am, I Am, I Am (O‘Farrell)
@Eggs #wondrousWednesday

A good'un! I do love Ali Smith. I'm definitely going to read Winter and Summer (already read Spring) at some point😊

Reading in a café/restaurant that's just opened near me😊

Train reading with the chocolate buttons my parents bought me for my journey😊

So, I got as far as the harvest snack mix and I tore it open and started eating it! What a terrific swap box. Three great books, including the first in a series I‘ve long wanted to read! And socks and more treats and NOTEBOOKS! My heart 🧡. Happy Halloween Eve to all! #HHS @wanderinglynn

I love fall and seeing all of the #leaves 🍂🤎

#OminousOctober

I read this book on the 21st of September to officially get ready for the fall. I loved the tone of this book, making me feel like it was fall. Does that make sense? The way this book moved was melancholy, bittersweet, and optimistic. It was a quick read and got me fully into the fall spirit!

Thanks for the tag! @ravenlee 😊💕
#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

- I would say Autumn is a brief hiatus! A magical, yummy-smelling time where I get to wear jumpers and take bracing walks, before the excitement of Christmas. It's a time to cling on to, knowing that I'm soon going to have to survive January-March 😵

- I hope to become an Auntie 😇

Also, I started a journey of self improvement about a week ago and I am already feeling improved 😁

#naturaLitsy

Woohoo, it's officially my favourite time of year. Happy Autumn Equinox to you all. Let the witchetty fun begin x

My overly ambitious Autumn TBR pile!! 😆 🤦‍♀️

Casual investigation of a pile of books (for charity) in a cafe turned up a near pristine copy of Autumn. So now I have the full set, for much less than the scary ebay quote. Jammy! 🥳

#roll100
Hoping this will help me with my mountain of a TBR.
These have been on my shelves for years!!!!

#12–Autumn by Ali Smith

#54– Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly

#95–Before the Coffee Gets Cold

#AlphabetGame #LetterA

Post your favourite letter A book.

I‘m not much of a rereader, but this one of few books I‘ve actually reread. I love it so much.

Tagging anyone who wants to join in.

Thanks for the tag @Andrew65
Great idea @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I was blown away by the experience of this book! Not knowing what to expect other than being safely in the capable hands of a writer-provocateur, I very much enjoyed the artwork, feminism, thoughts on aging, and discussions on memory.

I don‘t know any more about the series - does Winter give us the same characters?

This isn‘t fiction, the man says. This is the Post Office.

I am glad I waited awhile before reading this because had I read it when the hype was at its highest I‘m not sure I would have enjoyed as much as I did. This book wasn‘t quite what I expected but in some ways that made it better. I laughed at the post office scenes, felt my blood pressure rise reading the reflections on Brexit and immigration, and was so charmed by the friendship at the heart of it. I am eager to carry on with the rest of quartet.

I‘m so glad I decided to reread this. If possible I loved it even more in a second reading than the first time I read it. It‘s amazing.

We follow Elisabeth, her mother Wendy and their neighbor Daniel.

I love Elisabeth and Daniel‘s friendship despite the age difference, when she‘s 32, he‘s a 100. As a kid, he took her seriously and had her thinking. I also loved how he‘s always asking her “What you reading?”

⬇️

She took the Pauline Boty exhibition catalogue to college and put it on her tutor‘s desk.
Oh, right. Boty, the tutor said.
He shook his head.
Tragic story, he said.
Then he said, they‘re pretty dismissible. Poor paintings. Not very good. She was quite Julie Christie. Very striking girl. […] She was gorgeous. But not a painter of anything more than of minor interest. She stole everything of any note in her work from Warhol and Blake.

I‘m so glad I‘ve started rereading this.

This is part of an dialogue taking place at the Post Office, and it‘s just too hilarious.

1) Can‘t think of one

2) That it‘s that much closer to Christmas

#sundayfunday

#haunted #2021 #falltradition

Fall traditions: Mums, pumpkins, gords,leaf flag

I very nearly bailed on this when I realized it was more of a stream-of-consciousness style. So glad I stayed with it. Interesting how the real stories of a mostly forgotten 1960s female artist and also Brexit are integrated into the lives of fictional characters Elisabeth and her elderly friend Daniel. I‘ll definitely seek more of Ali Smith (a couple of her books— not this one— are on the #1001Books list).

One of the best descriptions of October I‘ve ever read.

#FallTreasures Prompt #OctoberTBR
@eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

It's actually springtime on this side of the world but it's been a great challenge.

This was an earlier DNF for me, and I think my first instinct was correct. Maybe an #unpopularopinion, but I‘m not even sure what I just read. Some parts were beautiful and some parts were weird, but overall, I‘m not sure what the point was supposed to be. My favorite parts were the post office scenes - very funny!

#bookspinbingo - used a free space

What wonderful prose.
Really liked the balance between the female narrator and his memories.
Very interesting reading about Brexit and associated society thoughts.
About to start Winter...

I've wanted to read this series for a while and the library miraculously had the first three in together 🤗🤗🤩🤩😍😍🍂🍂🍃🍃

This is my 2nd/3rd Ali Smith & she just does not get enough love, in my humble opinion. She‘s like if someone wrote down a surreal, fever dream. Her writing engulfs you & takes you down a visual journey. Sometimes my husband asks me what my book is about & I struggle to answer with Smith because it‘s about SO MUCH. This book, about the friendship between Elisabeth and the now-101-year-old Mr. Gluck, is beautiful. I borrowed this but I‘m buying it.

Finished another puzzle and another book..

I‘m quite a fan of the Daniel Gluck story line... The rest was fine. I found some of it boring & some of it interesting, but nothing that I needed to know. So, fine. I *do* like the theme & think Smith did a fine job with it. I think if I had more time & patience (both being in short supply these days), & I could read the whole quartet at once, I would quite enjoy it. Maybe something to look forward to..

How unexpected. I‘d heard about Smith‘s use of very current events (Brexit, Trump) and was presuming realism. Instead, the story of Elisabeth and her long friendship with Daniel, a childhood, senior, neighbor, is like a leaf in the wind, sometimes circling back on itself, sometimes whisking off in another direction. There are surreal moments and allusions to literature and art and clever word play, and layers of self-reference. A book to re-read.

I‘m not much on season reading, so I went easy on the tag!

1. ⬆️ not big on seasonal reading, so it will be whatever strikes my fancy!
2. Homemade vegetable soup 😋 Fun fact: I had never had canned soup until college and have always made fresh soups since!
3. Historically ST:TNG, currently Hell‘s Kitchen 🔥

#thoughtfulthursday

I did some more #audiosewing earlier: two new masks for my dad, including a Remembrance Day one.

I‘ve gotta say, I had this idea in my head that I‘d love Ali Smith on contact, and I was a little disappointed when I didn‘t. AUTUMN is instantly intriguing, but it takes time for the emotional side to build; for the relationships and the Brexit commentary to layer into something deep and special.

How beautiful are these?!?! 🌸🌼🌺

Hearing praise for this seasonal quartet, I decided to read it with the 1st release-in the 1st paragraph, I knew I‘d read it but could not remember when or what came next. Very odd. This time I benefitted by recognizing Brexit more. There‘s a lot going on here. Not sure what I think. Lovely neighbour for sure. Disappointed that this main character is so elusive. Beautifully written, provocative, but is it memorable? Probably not. 3/5

I‘m so happy that‘s it‘s fall!! 🍁🍂🧡

#ColorfulMoods
#SeptemberSenses

#Two4TuesdayGiveaway

@TheSpineView

Thanks for the tag @Annie1215

1. Keep unless one of my sisters wants to borrow, but they must be returned because they are precious 😊

2.Tagged: Autumn by Ali Smith

Play along: @sprainedbrain and @ShyBookOwl