Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m taking part in the #bookhibearnation readathon hosted by @SavidgeReads ! Check out his YouTube channel for prompts!

This was a little disappointing. It was an easy read (I read this incredibly fast) but I didn't find myself invested in the characters and it didn't feel like there was too much of a plot. It would be good to read travelling or if you don't have time to get sucked into a book but otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Book 17: Sent away from East London (and a street just down the road from my flat!) to recuperate their TB inflicted lungs in the fresh air of Kent, two twins find themselves in unfamiliar but fascinating company. As some of the first patients of the NHS, entitled to free healthcare, it's an intriguing look at how this change affected all those involved. But there's more comedy than tragedy in this sanitorium #readwomen #baileysprize

It's London 1949 and twins Lenny and Miriam have just been told that they have TB. With the new NHS they are sent to a sanatorium for treatment. At the sanatorium the twins meet new people from different classes, but they all have one hope: getting well.

My #currentread and the book I've been reading in today. So I guess that makes this my #FridayReads #readingwomenmonth

My latest #bookhaul - because that is what I needed: More books 😂😂😂😂

I think the author did a great job with the setting - clearly evoking time and place, but wish she'd invested more in the characters and their relationships. I had zero emotional connection to these characters- even Miriam who I so wanted to win at life

Beautiful writing, sympathetic characters sent to a sanatorium w TB and interesting moment in history 1949-51, I wanted to love it but this didn't grab me. Well-crafted, I liked brash Lenny & Miriam in London but the parts w bored, ill sanatorium patients dragged & I never got attached to the various characters. I've had TB so don't treat it lightly but the story felt contrived, pressing on the reader its symptoms & historical treatment.

Monday evening reading view

"The days seem mouse-coloured."

@shawnmooney I'm torn between enjoying the writing and not wanting to be around bored, sick people much longer! ??

Bedtime reading thanks to The Readers, I'm looking forward to this one. #BaileysPrize

The most fabulous #bookmail from The Readers, thank you @SavidgeReads , what a wonderful surprise for a Monday! Feeling very spoilt & can't wait to read The Dark Circle. #BaileysPrize

The teenage twins are sent to sanatorium as they are contracted with tuberculosis through a scheme from NHS.
There they have to deal with the authoritative medical staff, facilities and other patients as they fight to obtain cure.

Some lovely writing here but I was bored out of my tree. I knew it was time to bail at the 20% mark when one of the main characters said he wanted to escape the TB sanatorium due to sheer boredom and I finally came alive, cheering him on. I got out, but not that poor bugger.

I identified so strongly with the bored man that this is where I am going to bail.

Love this, the opening paragraph of the novel.

Photo by Ken Russell - more here: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/nov/29/ken-russell-post-wa...

Next up on audio!

Linda Grant is a really skilful writer. I greatly enjoyed this novel about life in a 1950s sanatorium with a surprising lesbian love story at its centre.

The Dark Circle takes us into a tuberculosis sanatorium in the Kent countryside 4 years after WWII. We're invited through its doors with Lenny & Millie, twins both recently diagnosed, we meet those already staying there along with their stories & the siblings before they arrived. I won't say more on the plot because I want everyone to read it but I absolutely loved it. I won't forget the Gwendo or the characters who inhabited it for a long time.

Funny in places, great characters but not enough of a story for me. Loved her other books.

Two siblings sent to a TB hospital in the early days of the NHS... intriguing start.

Just read a rave review of this book in The Guardian, definitely on my must read list. Check it out.

I am a bit sated with WW II fiction, but maybe I'll be ready for this one by the time it comes out in November! It sure sounds interesting.