Hello Beautiful | 
pickAnother highly recommended, plotless book. It‘s just a story of their lives, with too much detail on the mundane and no depth into the main life events. The FMC is unlikable, and I felt nothing for her when negative things happen to her. This book was much too long and dragged on. The first half was boring, the second half picked up a little bit. Book #41 in 2025
pickA friend described this book as the most beautiful boring book she had ever read and boy do I agree! A simple, yet poignant description of the ups and downs of life and all that comes with it!
1. Very much so! I read mostly on Kindle now because I don‘t have any more space for books in my apartment (also, I read too fast and my budget can‘t handle it 🤣…Yay for libraries and ARCs! ❤️)
2. One of the sisters was always reading and became a librarian.
#Two4Tuesday
bailedI could keep hate-listening, but, honestly, life's too short.
so-soI have so many opinions. I don't really care for her writing and the way the timeline went back and forth in beginning I really disliked - all throughout the book actually it felt like she was writing about the same thing over and over again from different angles to get the most mileage out of it and it annoyed me. Other peeves included Alice the miracle baby who didn't need food or attention for 15 hours or something, the number of times ⬇️
pickIt took me a little while to get into this one, as I felt held at a distance from the characters. Once I got into it I really enjoyed it though. It‘s a little slow paced, but I felt like it was a great family story, with complications.
so-soI‘ve decided Ann Napolitano is not my cup of tea and that‘s ok. I feel like her writing is generic but her ideas are good. I read this one for book club and the member that chose this read loved it and the characters. It‘s a modern retelling of Little Women, which is fine I just feel like her writing is bland and basic. I read Dear Edward and I liked that story but her writing is not for me. I am looking forward to discussing it at book club.
I love that Libby tells you exactly when your book will be returned! I have 3 hours 28 minutes left and it‘s due in 1 day BUT I know I have until 7:43 PM which makes a world difference! Essentially 2 days 😆
pickSuch a kind novel. More than halfway through, one of the side characters speaks, briefly, about “building infrastructures of kindness” and I would hazard a guess that this is exactly what Ann Napolitano might thrive on: building an infrastructure of kindness within her readers. The lessons in this book about how we grow together and apart; how we hurt and how we heal; and, most importantly, about how we love and how we forgive are “beautiful.”👇🏻
How long until I‘m asleep like this lazy bones? 🐶
I feel like the colors didn‘t come through great on the export of this month‘s #BookspinBingo card, but the red is a lot more vibrant in the original app.
I am looking forward to reading my December #Bookspin (tagged) and hitting my yearly goal of 100 total books by the end of the month.
so-soThis one wasn‘t for me, but I know it will work for so many others! It‘s a Little Women homage (which have not gone well for me) about 4 sisters and their messy, complex relationships and lives. I saw a lot of tell but very little show and that‘s just a personal pet peeve. If sweeping family sagas are your jam (as they *usually* are for me) I do think you‘ll like this. I‘m sorry I didn‘t. July‘s Double #BookSpin
pickA story of family and the sometimes complex relationships that come from emotional drama and too much time together. There are multiple protagonists. The author does a beautiful job of intricately weaving together the saga. I kept double checking the year…mostly the early 80s…because dang if the characters don‘t seem straight out of the 1950s. I cried a bit at the end.
“When your love for a person is so profound that it‘s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin.”
#FamilyStories
#DaysDevotedTo
pickOver the last few months I kept picking up and putting down this book. I am so glad I finally hit my stride. This is a heart-wrenching novel with flawed and relatable characters. It is a love letter to sisterhood. It is a must read.
pickBook club read - I enjoyed this! Always like a small town American novel that really focus in on familial relationships. Behind on collating #hauntedshelf points as been laid up with some horrible cold/flu, but it has let me do a lot of reading, so every cloud!!
pickA lovely book, I thoroughly enjoyed this. I do love a good family saga. This had a similar quiet quirkiness of an Ann Tyler novel (always a good thing). The Little Women analogy was generally lost on me and, I think, unnecessary and occasionally it tipped into being saccharine, but I‘m always hyper-critical of anything being too sweet, so that‘s on me. The final chapters nearly broke me.
pickI first heard about this book when Oprah chose it for her book club which always puts me off. Obama had it one of his lists last year so that made me think maybe i should try. Indigo chose it as their book of the year for 2023 so I figured I might as well try it. I finally got around to it this week and I LOVED it!! It‘s my favourite of the year so far. I wish I would have saved it for my book club.
pickAbsolutely loved this book! I couldn't put it down! Highly recommend!
pickI admit, I judge books by their covers. I assumed this book was about external beauty based on the title and the image of a beautiful woman. I was finally drawn to reading this book because it was constantly popping up in my book feeds. Many readers seem to love this book, so I read the description and decided it sounded like something I would find interesting.
Full review at https://abookandadog.com/blog/hello-beautiful
Someone wanted to be in the pic 😽 🐈⬛
#ABigFamily
#AboutaBook
I loved this one so much ❤️
pickNapolitano‘s writing is unmatched. She is such a craftsman when it comes to building meaning through language. It‘s never just the story for me, it‘s always her writing that sticks with me. Her characters and their surroundings are always so crisp. She‘s at the top of the game, and I‘ll buy every book she ever writes. Ten out of ten.
pickA 5 star read for me. I do love a novel that follows a family over generations (i guess its a family saga but you spend most of the book w the middle generation). I have 3 sisters & a big family & while they‘re nothing like the Padvanos, i appreciated watching the dynamics over the years & patterns repeating. A warm hearted book with family drama, rifts and finding forgiveness along the way.
panOkay, I‘m in the minority on this one. This one actually made me mad! For one thing, it was all telling, no showing. This is what made me mad: After Rose and Julia have turned their backs on their family for 25 years, after Julia lied to her daughter about her father her whole life, after Rose ignores her granddaughter her whole life, they go home and are welcomed back with open arms. Everyone just lets it go. No apologies, no anger. WTF??? Nope!!
pick*contented sigh*
One of those books where it felt completely safe to put my shields down and hand myself over to the author for the duration. Yes, a major plot point is visible from space, and there were times when I wanted to shake Julia and Rose, but I loved the time I spent in the company of the Padavano family and this warm-hearted book.
pickI am one of the few people I know who never made it through Little Women. But I couldn‘t stop reading this homage to it. Deeply woven characters with complicated choices and outcomes. Clear motives that lead to all the wrong places. Tremendous love, friendship, and heartbreak. Recommended to those with loving sisters or those who wish they had such relationships in their lives.
pick6-19-24: My 18th finished book of 2024! Meet the Padavano sisters-Julia, Sylvie, Cecelia and Emmie. They are an extremely close Italian American family living in Chicago. The story spans time from the 70s to 2008. The ins and outs of growing up, falling in love and finding yourself. Nothing is perfect for any sister, but that‘s life. And then there is William, the basketball player who tries his best to be apart of the Padavano family.
@AmyG Thank you for this thoughtful birthday package Amy! Every one of these books had me ooo-ing and aaah-ing! I hope I will have time for the Cosby towards the end of the month for #AAM. The little chiming heart is so sweet, and the LEGO, did you build it? The little tiny hairbrushes as petals, so fun. Thank you dear friend! 🥰
Urg must stop listening to this at work (it is bad form to cry on evidence). 🙈😂
Does anyone else feel like the blurbs for this were very bad? They should ALL have said something about the Little Women homage. I do NOT feel prepared lol.
“When your love for a person is so profound that it‘s part of who you are, then the absence of the person becomes part of your DNA, your bones, and your skin.”
#Favbkofmarch
#SpringSkies
💛💙❤️💚
The year is still young, but it‘s going to take something reeeeeaaaaalllllllyyyyy special to unseat Hello Beautiful for my favorite of the year. I think it‘s the best book I‘ve read since A Little Life.
(I didn‘t finish a single book in all of February…hence the X).
Hello, fellow #LitsyToB24 Littens! We‘re getting close to the end now…Today‘s semi-final result is a clear win for Hello Beautiful, with 75% of the vote.
I‘m sure this is what most of us expected, or are you surprised by this result? Tomorrow we‘ll find out the other semi-final result, along with which Zombie this one will go up against. Which Zombie are you hoping for to go up against HB, or should that be which do you hope HASN‘T been picked?!
Later that night, Sylvie sat in bed with a book open in her lap. She was too sleepy to read, but the proximity of the book was comforting 📖
👭👭
She wondered if dying was simply going to be an exercise in letting go of one thing after another 🥀
Thank you @Read4life and #litsylove for the book. Received today!!! I understand I need to be emotionally ready to read this one.
pickBeautiful story about family, love, and loss. So many different emotions through the whole book. This one will stay with me for a bit.
Hello Beautiful was the overwhelming favorite here with only @Ruthiella @Larkken and @kwmg40 voting for Mobility. I liked both, but the heightened emotional response HB gave me made me like it a bit more. (Plus I love Little Women.) What do you think of the outcome? What swung the vote for you? I appreciate the unique approach Kiesling took to talking about the environment and the part we play in its destruction. Both were great books! #LitsyToB24
pickI couldn‘t decide between pick or so-so, it‘s well written and I love a story about a close family and especially sisters since I‘m one of 3 girls. But in no world would this ever be okay and for that reason I hated everyone in the book except the twins who were my favorite characters!
Today‘s #litsytob24 bracket has another runaway winner!
Hello Beautiful gained 16 votes, with only 3 (Ruth, Holly and Debra)voting for Lovesick Blossoms. Personally I liked both of these books, but we had to pick just one, didn‘t we?! How difficult a decision was it for you?
We put these two books together due to their portrayal of entangled relationships - how do you think each book dealt with this theme?
pickFinished this one in the wee hours of the morning. I loved it except for a plot point that you could see coming mid-way through the book like a freight train. I wanted to scream at some of the characters but that was part of the charm. Like others I don‘t see this as a Little Women retelling. I loved the setting (Chicago) and the time period (1960-2008.) Four and a half stars. #LitsyTOB24
First time reading in the back yard this year. I have a lot to do but warm March days aren‘t guaranteed.
Congratulations, @Texreader 🎉
You‘re the winner of our very first #LitsyLove #FreebieFriday giveaway!
I‘ll send it out Monday or Tuesday. 💙💙
Happy Friday!
Here‘s a new hashtag for our #LitsyLove group.
#FreebieFriday is here.
Our 1st Friday giveaway is Hello Beautiful. This is a #LitsyLove pay it forward title. I received it as a gift from @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks & now it‘s time for another member to enjoy it.
To enter comment on this post with your answer to the following: Other than Little Women, what book (F or NF) about sisters do you recommend?
