Welcome to Litsy!

This book… when I picked it up I was really excited, for a large section in the middle it dragged, the Arthurian sections where a step too far for me and felt over written, by the end I was really disappointed. But within 30 minutes of putting it down I was thinking it over, from all the different angles, and now it‘s gone back to being a pick. Not perfectly executed, but an important exploration of true crime. Just don‘t judge it by it‘s cover.

I just couldn‘t do it. I made it to page 152/403, but had to bail. I liked the White Witch part but that was it. It‘s SUPER HARD for me to bail on a book, but I just can‘t do it!

Maybe it‘s because I listened to the audiobook instead of reading a physical book but I was so confused about what was going on. There was a whole section in there that didn‘t feel like it had anything to do with the rest of the story at all so I‘m not sure if it‘s purpose.

this book felt like catching up with a person I never liked that much and can‘t stay on topic.
I was confused, didn‘t care, and hoping to be close to the end.
Anyway, if you like true crime, this may be for you.

Excellent. Captivating and heartbreaking.

Thank you so much @AFrostCauseReads for this great #creepychristmas 🎁. I ❤️ everything about it!!! From the book to the socks it is all fantastic. And that 🫖 sounds (and smells) amazing.
Thank you @teebe for hosting one of my favorite swaps.
I think we need a Bloody Valentine swap too.

“‘Well, I hope so,‘ she said, wishing she had something stronger than hope on hand, knowing better than to look too hard for whatever that stronger thing might be.”

“I wanted to go ask her: Is everything OK? But you never know with people. And then I seen her throwing things in the ocean and I said, Oh, I don‘t want to know, you know? I went back inside, it‘s not my business.”

“When you live alone, no matter how lovingly you decorate your space, you come to rely on the things that serve you best. *This* coffee cup, *that* spoon, this rustic beige bowl that‘s a little heavier than the others.”

“It's pretty rare to meet someone who's comfortable just sitting quietly with you before you get to know each other better. Sometimes quiet people are trying to let you know they don't actually want to talk to you, but this wasn't that. It was easy.”

“But I'm a professional. I don't care if I feel like an idiot. It's kind of an item of faith with me that my feelings aren't important when I'm working.”

Current Read - Awesome

Just added a few new books to my PangoBooks shop. Plus, I‘m having a Cyber Monday Sale. $3 off of $10 or above. Seriously, if you love used books PangBooks is the place to be.

https://pangobooks.com/bookstore/wildwoodreads

And it was going so well...I honestly think I'd judge this book less harshly if I hadn't had my expectations raised so high by the first half. I GET what the author wanted to convey, he explored several difficult themes in detail, but it doesn't make for a cohesive or satisfying reading experience; the ending tries to drive the message home but felt cheap all the same to me.
Mega trigger warning for partner and child mental and physical abuse.

Fiction novel about a true crime writer musing on nonfiction storytelling...I can't handle true crime, but I enjoy the exploration of what it means to write in that genre.

Change: bittersweet.

I like Derrick. Please don't let anything bad happen to Derrick. 🙏🏻

I liked what this story had to say but didn‘t like the paths it took to say it. The multiple POVs and switching between the MC‘s true crime books muddied what this book had to say.
Ultimately a book about how reductive the true crime genre can be and a reminder that people are defined by more than their worst day. #bookclub

I did a little shopping this weekend. 🕸🎃🕸🎃🕸

Check out my haul: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/10/24/a-frightfully-good-book-haul/

Gage Chandler is a true crime writer & his latest project is two murders from the 80s. He moves into the house where the crime occurred & slowly begins to unravel what happened, learning more about the victims, suspects, & himself as well as what it means to be a writer of true crime. I like the way the story was told, the writing is solid—although the story does sometimes drag & leave you asking why—& I found it mostly entertaining. A soft pick.

Starting this one today—seems like a good choice on a grey, blustery October day…

Not a fan of this one. I felt confused throughout the whole book and the title and cover were both very misleading. ⭐️⭐️

Truth in True Crime is impossible, unless you can learn the entire complicated life of each assailant, accomplice, and victim. The author Darnielle gets us to feel for all three. Devil House says the ethical way to tell the true story of a tragic murder is to put yourself in the place of every single person involved — to understand them, bring them to life to a loving audience, like the best fiction writers giving us the best fictional characters.

Prepping for my masters starting this autumn is leaving me with less time to read than I‘ve had in pretty much my whole adult life but I‘m really making myself keep going because I don‘t want to let the reading slump get me! This week I‘ve been staying with my boyfriend‘s family and making slow progress on devil house which I‘m hoping to finish soon. It‘s really good I just wish I had more commitment to give it!

This is an originally set up book. In short it‘s about a true crime writer doing research for his next book. This leads to various books and styles and stories. Like I said an original book, fun to read but not mind blowing. A light pick! #CampToB

#pop22 #ReflectedImageOnTheCover

(Pic: Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam)

Well, the start of this book is promising. It brings back memories of one of my favorite reads by the #NYRBBookclub 🤍

#WeeklyForecast 26/22

After a month of way too much alcohol and junk food my sister and I started an 11 day detox. So far that mostly leads to a headache all day so I won‘t have too high ambitions about finishing books this week.
I started and am loving the Strout. The tagged book I bought for #CampToB (of which I hear or read nothing by the way, isn‘t that weird?) because it is so out of my normal reading. Not sure what I‘ll make of it!

This was.. not for me. I dragged through this. It's for someone, but I should have quit while I was ahead.

Fantastic read. Weird and tense— at times so fully lacking in empathy and, at the end, drowning in it. The fucking ending.

I don‘t know how to explain this correctly, but I think my book and coffee are from the same universe.

I think I read one too many reviews of this excellently-told, creatively-expressed, fascinatingly-built story within a story within another. I enjoyed it - but give yourself the time. And though this has horror described, I wouldn‘t call it “Horror” — it is more like fictional true crime. #readict

Photo upleft is a “devil house” of Tauy Creek KS and the other is a close up of #CoconutCreamPie for May8. #CaresPieShow

Ugh!
I felt the author was trying to prove he can write a story by using 101 words where just 10 would suffice. I'd find myself reading paragraphs and then have to stop and wonder what is this word salad I am trying to swallow?

The White Witch story was probably my favorite.
Then we get to the porn store where the language shifts to some kind of faux Knights of the Roundtable banter.
Then I got to the chapter on some Boy king & I peace'd out.

I think I was expecting something very different here.
All told though the story kept me interested to the end.

Starting Devil House by John Darnielle

My birthday #bookhaul. I can‘t wait to have some time to dive into these. My family buys me the best books.

I'm still trying to piece together things in this book, but that's how I normally feel reading books by this author.

Lately I've read several books that fall into the true crime/fiction category, which is what this is, but there are a few side stories I still can't figure out the connection, like the story of the King. My favorite sections were about The White Witch.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It's a slow build with a lot happening.

Does this book pick up at all?!

Im struggling with this one and where its going. I feel like its all over the place!

This by far has been my most anticipated read/library hold!

This was a pretty dry book, and therefore making this very hard for me to review. While I was engaged in the book the entire time, it never got to a place where I wanted to be, just kind of ho, hum. Gage is a very interesting character, borderline obsessive at times, even goes as far as decorating the house to the look like the original house in the 1980‘s. More than anything I wanted more about Gage than the actual premise of this book.

🎧 Oh boy. There‘s a lot here to unpack. I read this last week.

In the 80‘s a comic shop turned porn shop is abandoned by the renter due to increasing costs. Teenage boys redecorate it as a witches den. Two gruesome murders happen then the place is sold as a home.

While the killings are gruesome I wouldn‘t peg this as a horror story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👇🏻

Devil House tells many stories, none of which you might expect when you see the cover.

Tales of childhood friendship, parental fears, medieval quests, domestic abuse, tales of the homes we make for ourselves & how we choose to defend them, are all nested within this narrative of a true crime writer haunted by the stories he has told & the one he is telling.

As beautiful, sad, & strange as Mountain Goats frontman Darnielle‘s previous 2 novels.

This is going to be a hard book to review. Despite the retro, genre-signaling title and cover, this is not a horror. But it‘s also not a self-aware horror-pastiche in the vein of Grady Hendrix or Riley Sager. What it is is a more reflective take on the ethical ramifications and storytelling contrivances that a true crime writer might have to contend with in telling the horrific stories of their subjects (victims and perpetrators alike). More 👇🏼

“One thing seldom asked of those on whom disaster has laid its hand is what their future plans were before the flood.”

Whether I read or listen, I always have to reread his books at least twice for them to 💯 make sense. This is a love letter to true crime marrying many of its elements to literary fiction while adding bits of horror. He takes on ideas like responsibility to victim‘s families in writing. His novels defy categorization.

Remember what I‘ve said about hating authors narrating their own fiction? Not the case with Darnielle. Fantastic #audiobook

Today‘s #NewReleaseTuesday!

I have already started Devil House, and it is 🔥. So good. I‘ve loved Darnielle‘s other books, and so far, this doesn‘t disappoint. Tagged ⬆️

Light Years From Home I‘m planning on using for my #OwnVoicesSFF for #pop22. I don‘t read much sci-fi, but this sounds really good. Tagged ⬇️

Yaaaaaasssss! I loved the author‘s previous novels and Devil House has solidified him as an autobuy for me. This extremely meta novel is satisfying all the way thru, but the ending 🤯 and took this from a campy take on the 198o‘s satanic panic to a strong social commentary. #Netgalley #ARC

With a creepy title & nostalgic horror cover, I really had high hopes for this! The premise (a true crime author moves into a house that was a site of a murder in the mid-1980s) sounded like my type of read! But this book isn‘t really a mystery/thriller or a horror novel…it‘s an experimental format that explores a variety of points from nostalgia, art to the Satanic panic but it is uneven & with some grating style choices, this one wasn‘t for me!