Welcome to Litsy!

A quiet and gentle story that asks a lot of big questions. Agatha is a sister in a holy order who starts to question her future. It looks at faith and meaning, what is sisterhood and what is loneliness. How do we help other people and what that looks like from a religious order. It also touches on the issues of faith when the men in your church have done such wrong, and the continued suppression of women. Highly recommended!

I enjoyed this, but not quite as much as expected. Maybe it was just my mood because there is a lot to like. Sister Agatha reflects back on her growing disillusionment with the Catholic Church and comes to question her place within it. Don‘t let the loud cover fool you, this is a quiet story simply told.

#NunLit

#bookreport
Finished three 5 star books⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Started Watson‘s Choice #goldenagecrimeclub
In process with Agatha of Little Neon #nunlit & Broken Ground #coldcases

“Mother Roberta made the rules: no chewing gum, no bicycles, no tree nuts, no pets.”

#FirstLineFridays
#NunLit

Congratulations @MatchlessMarie on reaching 100k! These are the 3 books I‘ve been holding myself back from buying. Thanks for hosting this giveaway and here‘s to another 100k more 🥂. #YearEnd100k

📖 10-5-22 || Loved this #NunLit book! The story is character-focused on a young sister who falls out of love with the church. The writing is excellent and evocative. There‘s also some humor mixed in.

A quiet novel full of compassion (for others, but also finding it for yourself) and a healthy dose of wit. I loved the Neons, the nuns, and especially Agatha. How she slowly grew her confidence; and her journey through questioning her convictions while never judging those around her for theirs.

Thank you for the recommendation @monalyisha 🎉 I don't think I'd have even heard of this one if it wasn't on your list last year!

Three kids home sick means I'm just getting around to breakfast. Thank you devices for distracting my kids so I can catch a few minutes of reading time.

@monalyisha I'm loving this one, but reading slowly. It feels like one to savour and enjoy 😉

Choosing my next two reads in honour of the upcoming #AuldLangSpine reading event 😁 Agatha of Little Neon is one from @monalyisha 's list last year which I never got around to, and Jane Austen Society is off of @sprainedbrain 's list the year before.

Fittingly, this one is a pick for me. Annie Jones rarely steers us wrong, amirite?!

A quiet, character-based novel about a group of four nuns who run a halfway house, as seen through the eyes of one of them, who happens to be a lesbian. Agatha loves their close companionship, yet chafes when the others refuse to question the misogynistic attitudes & criminal behaviours of the men of the church. I really enjoyed the audiobook read by Hillary Huber & cheered Agatha on as she started thinking & acting more independently. #LGBTQ

It‘s easy to be fooled by joy, to think it will never abandon you, never leave room for hunger and fear.

Juice had many health benefits, Mrs Scrimshaw told them, but when they asked what they were, she said she couldn‘t remember the specifics but she knew she‘d seen it in a headline.

She asked how my first class had gone. Then, before I could find a way to ask her if and when and how teaching would get easier, she said, “You look like you need a doughnut.”

What‘s it like to live a sister/nun‘s life in the modern world? This was an interesting look from behind the habit. Melancholy but filled with sweet, multilayered characters. It was hard to leave Agatha at the end. I‘ll be wondering how she is doing for awhile (even while realizing she‘s fictional 😅).

Another book that I would never have even heard of without #NewYearWhoDis! Thanks again, @monalyisha and @erinreads 😊

This was a deep cut from my audible recs, and I loved it!

Agatha and her four nun sisters do everything together, but due to budget cuts, they‘re sent to a small parrish in Rhode Island where they run a halfway house. When Agatha alone is asked to teach at a local school, she begins to think independently and question long held beliefs and what brought her to the sisterhood.

A thoughtful character study of a woman in flux.

A weird little read about four nuns who are relocated from upstate NY to Woonsocket RI.. I‘d say if you‘re going to read one nun-related novel this year, make it The Matrix by Lauren Groff..

A coming of age story. Full of wonder, loneliness, & rage. Told quietly, in small moments & with sideways humor.

Readers have criticized Luchette‘s novel, claiming that “nothing happens.” But…a woman grows into herself. She upends her entire life. She finds the courage to upend others. I‘ve never understood that criticism. Internal sea-change is SOMETHING!

Agatha counsels her students, “Cultivate your ability to forget about the point.” Do that.

💋

From reading the tagged, to converting our (vaguely Day of the Dead-inspired) memorial altar into a wintry scene, it‘s been a nun-filled day today.

I bought a little, vintage stained glass church & it came with some religious figurines. This particular nun SLAYS me! I don‘t know what she‘s actually meant to be doing…but sister‘s got MOVES! 💃

“Blessed are those who burn the roofs of their mouths because they cannot stand to wait…”

“Abbess Paracleta had brought us a box of Divine Dijon in tiny glass jars. On the label there was an illustration of a woman in a habit, eating a hot dog with a bright stripe of mustard.”

Oh, what I wouldn‘t give for this mustard to be real…& to have a jar of my very own. 😅

This book has a *terrible* Litsy rating…but it‘s set in Rhode Island (where I live) & DIG THIS blurb (!):

“Luchette is…a master at balancing a sneaky deadpan wit with deep and genuine pathos…[She] brilliantly mixes the sacred and the transgressive, the solemn and the absurd, and the profound, contradictory longings for belonging and independence…A moving meditation on how to be a woman in the world — and how to be a human.”

💚🙏🏻💖

Listened to this one on #audiobook. Lovely writing but absolutely no plot whatsoever.

Why is it so common in literary fiction nowadays to not actually have a POINT to a story anymore? I realize life doesn't always provide meaning for everything, either, but it feels like such a waste of paper when you write it down. #literaryfiction #thisiswhyiwasaterribleenglishmajor

“But here is something I know now, something I did not have the words for back then: straight is a myth. Any seemingly curveless length of graphite or ink will, upon closer inspection, reveal itself to be uneven…Draw a line between the events of your life. Look at any of these up close, and you‘ll see what I mean. On earth, a line is just a bunch of bumps. There‘s no such thing as straight.”

Early morning pleasure read 🖤