Welcome to Litsy!

I had a hard time settling on a book for October #TitlesandTunes. Going with the tagged on audio. And while no one beats Etta James I also love Grainne Duffy.

A little late to the party, but I can‘t resist @Andrew65 ‘s #12BooksOf2022 challenge. This was my favorite in #January, which I read with my book club.

This was a cover grab months ago, but I finally pulled it off my shelf because it's my October #Bookspin. It was told by two different narrators, a dancer in a 1920s Chicago speakeasy and a film student in 2015 who uncovers what might be an undiscovered film by a famous 1920s Black director. The discovery sends him on a journey to learn about hidden secrets, an unsolved murder, and the fates of those in the film. Great story! 👍 @TheAromaofBooks

Join author Denny S. Bryce as she talks with American Historical Novels about her writing. She'll be giving away a signed copy of her latest book.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: May 11, 2022 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Denny Bryce

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83594395499

🎺 I read this last week for #BookClub. It‘s my first book of 2022 and you‘re going to see it on my favorites of the year list in 12 months. I love historical fiction, combined with a Louis Armstrong cameo, you can‘t go wrong. I just pre-ordered the author‘s next book.
🎺🎺🎺🎺🎺

#JumpStart2022
@Clwojick
@Lizpixie

📉 My reading resolutions are to:
🎯read 46 books (I‘ve been trying to read my age these past few years)
🎯 read more books than I buy

2022
This year
I don‘t have a word of the year
Mainly because
The last two years
Have left me speechless

So this year
May our word of the year
Simply be
The sound of us laughing
Without fear of the future
- Indiana Adams

🎺 Yes, I love it! I wish I could stay home tomorrow & finish it!

#ThoughtfulThursday

I found 2 more words for the #NewYearSpecial #20in4 #TreasureHunt: book and dinner! 9/12

I‘m up to 9 hours 55 minutes.

Also I‘m loving this book! 💙

I‘m starting 2022 with @Clwojick and @Lizpixie and their #Jumpstart2022 Readathon. My goal is to read 5 books this month, starting with the tagged book for book club.
Who else is jumpstarting 2022?

The premise sounded great. But ultimately, I found it was just okay. In the end, I had to push myself to finish it.

It started off strong, then the story wandered. It picked back up but it never quite got back to strong. The character development was a bit uneven and some things that seemed important early on were, not left hanging, but almost pushed aside as unimportant.

But finally, finally I can say I finished July‘s #bookspin

It wasn‘t awful but it wasn‘t spectacular. It was just okay for me.
Pros - Interesting characters. Felt well researched. A few twists and turns; enough to make you want to keep reading.
Cons - Resolution was unfulfilling. Slang was thrown in at random places. Historical story was okay but present day story was one level.
I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

#weekendreads

1. The tagged, A Bad Day for Chardonnay, Calculating the Stars, 1001 Dark Nights (kindle), Ghostbusters movie novelization (audio)

2. Talk Bookish to Me

3. Buying for all the fall swaps! 🧡👻🖤🎃

A ferry ride and a new book. 🙂 I don‘t typically read historical fiction but this has gotten rave reviews so li‘m going to give it a try..

A Jazz Era historical fiction novel about a chorus dancer at a Black and Tan nightclub in 1920s Chicago. Split between that storyline and modern day where a young filmmaker interviews the 110 year old Honoree to learn about her time as a dancer and a possible missing film.

TW: sexual assault, murder, death of sibling, racism, N-word

A little Jazz Era historical fiction to end off the weekend

1. Wild Women and the Blues, Luck of the Titanic, and Travelers Along the Way

2. Gearbreakers

3. Victories Greater Than Death

#WeekendReads

A day late posting! I am determined to finish the tagged and the new JD Robb that I started yesterday. I also want to read Devil in Disguise and at least start my July #doublespin and maybe my August #bookspin and #doublespin.

Thanks Andrew for hosting #AwesomeAugust! I always look forward to your readathons 😀📚

#LitsySummerCamp

1. I finished rereads of several the Mercy Thompson books. I read more of the tagged but haven‘t finished it. I also started the new JD Robb book.

2. Fave campfire song: Brown Eyed Girl, Daydream Believer, Take Me Home Country Roads, and pretty much any good guitar song

Thanks CJ for a fun week!

#LitsySummerCamp #LitsySummerCampReadathon

I‘m not doing as well as I wanted. I‘ve gotten stuck on the tagged book. The story has wandered too much and just isn‘t keeping me engaged. I‘m slowly chipping away at it, but it always seems when this happens, it complete derails me. So my goal for the rest of the week is to push through and finish this book.

Saturday night with a new book

#weekendreads

1. Still reading the tagged and Mid-Life Bounty Hunter

2. Jigsaw puzzles, writing, cross-stitch, & crafts of all sorts

3. No, July was a slow reading month for me. Here‘s hoping I do better in August!

Typhoon In-Fa has stalled out & is just sitting in the sea. This is day 4 of winds and rains & it doesn‘t look like it‘s ending any time soon. 😖 (It‘s just the outer bands impacting us but it‘s still a lot of wind & rain.)

So #20in4 readathon is well-timed. My book stack is the tagged (July #bookspin), the Daughter of Smoke & Bone (July #doublespin), and Synchronized Sorcery, the latest installment of the Witchcraft Mysteries. 📚

This was a great story set in Chicago during the Roaring 20s. Very atmospheric. Loved the characters. I will look forward to more from Bryce.

Here are my unread books from #thebookdrop subscription. They alternate sending me a surprise “Books for Tea” or “Books for Coffee” selection each month. Has anyone read any of these or have recommendations for which ones I should prioritize?? I would love to start making a dent in this stack! #somanybookssolittletime 🤪📚

I enjoyed the historical story, but the modern parts were not structured well. The flow of the book was a bit of a mess. This just needed editing, it could be a much better book with edits. 3⭐️
#bookspinbingo

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I didn‘t really love the present day timeline, felt rushed and awkward.

#wondrouswednesday

1. I‘m currently reading the tagged which has historical fiction chapters (it flashes back and forth between present day and the 1920s). The last NF book I read was The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Megan Mullally & Nick Offerman

2. The tagged I just started. Megan & Nick‘s story 👍🏻

3. Fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal, & sci-fi

Just got this in the mail from The Drop. Can‘t wait to read it. Historical fiction set in the 1920‘s.

I‘ve missed several rounds but excited to have some time to join #LMPBC again.

Historical fiction is my favorite genre! Do any of these appeal to you all?

Really fun read: 1920s black & tan Chicago nightclub, gangsters, sassy women with aspirations & secrets. Storyline alternates with present day: great-grandson teasing truth from 100+-yr-old woman in a nursing home as he tries to prove his thesis on Black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. Love how Bryce captures the personality & complexity of her characters & teaches me about a topic new to me. Pic with a little swag from the pre-order #historicalfiction

I was able to go hit up on of the local bookstores here and I‘m super happy with my haul. Wide variety of things and also ones I wasn‘t fully planning on getting but I‘m not mad.

#bookhaul

The gorgeous cover is what initially drew me to this book, and it was really fun! There were a few too many characters and the story itself got a little muddled at times, but I enjoyed the setting of 1920s Chicago.

#ARC pub date 3/30