Welcome to Litsy!

Thanks to Helen for the loan ♥️ I think I enjoyed this a lot more than most of the other reviews and I liked it more than Idlewild. Maybe I went in with low expectations and it surprised me. An enjoyable weekend read.

Welcome to the #LitsyToB24 quarterfinals! We are another step closer to awarding the first Turkey!

This matchup went clearly for Vintage Contemporaries by about a ⅔ majority. Are you happy with the result? These are two quite different novels set in very different time periods, and in my mind, the authors used very different writing styles. Do you prefer more straightforward or lyrical books? Do you agree with my assessment?

Barbara, Meg and I are so excited to kick off #LitsyToB24!

Our opening bracket was incredibly close throughout the voting and ended in a draw. As your hosts we took the casting votes, and Vintage Contemporaries won by 1 vote!

We bracketed these books together due to the community / found-family feel in both of them - did you also see that?

We‘d love to hear your thoughts on both books, and also what you think of the result!

I ended liking this more than initially expected. It‘s a gentle novel, occasionally funny, but it lacks focus. In 1991, Emily moves to NYC after college, makes friends, loses friends, gets a job, etc. In 2005, Emily is married with a demanding job, a small child & some of her 90s past popping back up. Next to the other two coming of age stories in the #LitsyToB24 it doesn‘t stand a chance.

#52BookClub24 Chapters have dates
#pop24 coming of age

Heads up US-based #LitsyTOB24 procrastinators like me! #KindleDailyDeal

I went into this #LitsyToB read with low expectations after so many meh reviews, but I really liked this one. While friend Emily was grating, she reminded me of the complicated friendships that can come along at that age. I am a sucker for intergenerational friendships, so I loved Lucy. Overall, I appreciated this quiet story that sunk into my heart.

#LitsyToB2024 I lived in NYC for several years and I usually enjoy books about the place I used to call home. I really couldn‘t get into this one though. I listened to the audiobook and I didn‘t care for the narrator. And the plot was very slow.

I liked this on audio, but think the slow pace would have driven me nuts if I read it in print. I really enjoy books about the evolution of friendships so this one was right up my alley, although in comparison to other #LitsyTOB24 books I thought Idlewild did it better. Good not great.

Minor complaint: both main characters had the same name 🤯

This book kind of snuck up on me. There is a lot going on in it. There were parts that I was not enjoying and were kind of a mess (mainly the Em/Emily parts in the past), and then I‘d find myself smiling or laughing out loud (very heartfelt parts relating to Lucy and hilarious parenting parts). It‘s a low pick, but the love of New York pushed it over. #LitsyToB24

Low pick on this #litsytob for me. While I appreciate the characters Kois has created and the way friendships are at the center of character-building, these people seemed to me to exist as a vehicle for Kois to show us Big Happenings of NYC in the 90s and early 2000s. However, It was a pleasant enough way to crochet my way through this T-Rex head and the boredom of a truly grossly cold weekend.

I found having two MC‘s with the same name distracting but I quite enjoyed this story of two young women navigating NYC as young twenty somethings. 4🌟 #LitsyTOB #52Bookclub24 #Toldinnon-chronoligical

Ugh. I‘m working my way through the #LitsyToB24 list and this is my second DNF. I just didn‘t like these characters and about 1/3 in, just could not care less. Moving on!

⭐️⭐️💫 This wasn‘t necessarily a bad book, but I kind of hated it. I didn‘t buy the Emily/Em friendship, or maybe I just disliked Emily so much that I didn‘t understand how anyone could be so devoted to her. Hated the blunt force foreshadowing from the timeline shifts. The #MeToo and casual racism conversations toward the end felt like an afterthought. It just got in its own way to me. Panning feels mean, but it a low so-so for me.

#tob24 long list

Perhaps it's me and not the book because, to be honest, I don't have anything negative to say about this read. It just didn't really resonate with me personally.

I can see the appeal for others with this book, but for me, it has a good premise/story and forgettable characters.

It‘s hard to believe a man wrote this! This is a very female-centric novel and the characters were so perfectly crafted. This is definitely a case of “right book, right time” for me as I finished just as I was leaving for NYC and this book is a bit of a love letter to the city. Also really enjoyed Em‘s profession as an editor and the way she embraced that role, without the desire to become an author herself. Also Lucy 💔 #LitsyToB24

I listened to this one on audio and it was a perfectly pleasant experience until I realized I just didn‘t care very much about any of. Em and Emily seemed more like ideas for characters rather than fully realized creations so although things kept happening to them over many decades I never felt impactful. Not a bad book. Just not one I would particularly recommend.
#litsytob24

I expected to love this one but I didn‘t really. I enjoyed reading it and I liked Em but it was a bit messy, so many plot lines (the dramaturgy, the #metoo, the food, the squad), sometimes coming out of nowhere, adding too little to what I thought was the point of the book. But I am not sure about that any longer. Anyhow, I am in the Rachel camp 😉 when it comes to the lives of young millennials! #LitsyToB24

This is exactly why I love the TOB! This book wasn‘t on my radar at all and I just loved it. It explores friendships and making one‘s way in the world just out of college, capturing that uncertainty and lack of confidence so perfectly. I just loved it. #tob24

I listened to this while reading The Rachel Incident. I stopped listening because Rachel was so much more interesting to me. I never felt connected to Emily or Em (and why do the two main characters have the same name?). There was a section about a fight with police for housing and squatter‘s rights. I perked up at that point. Otherwise, it was just okay for me. #TOB24

I loved this #ToB longlisted book, one I had never even heard of beforehand, so I very much doubt I would have read it, if it weren‘t for the ToB.

Em makes 2 friends in NYC in 1991, one who lives in a squat and one who was at college with her mum, and we follow their lives over a few years and also years later, in 2006.

It‘s one of those ‘quiet‘ books where there is no particular story arc, no big reveal, and no twist; just how I like my books!

Reading with a view on the wild and woolly Yorkshire Coast.

Been out for a walk on the beach and a scone; now to spend the rest of the day cosied up with a pile of books, a blanket and maybe a jigsaw.

Started the tagged book last night and loving it so far.

😍

These emotional, reflective books that look back at small pivotal moments in a person‘s life are my jam, so this has rocketed to near the top of my current #tob24 faves!

Emily, who works in publishing, has two very different close friends in her 20s: another Emily, a magnetic, cool wannabe playwright living in a squat, and Lucy, a writer friend of her mother‘s who is facing a health crisis. Kois explores these friendships over 4 pivotal years.

This sounded like the kind of book I would love. A fictional account of part of the book publishing world, a book about books and people who love them. But the execution was a bit of a miss for me. There was enough here to keep me reading until the end, but it often felt disjointed and two dimensional.