In Memoriam | 
pickNot sure I‘d find a book I loved more than The Great Believers this year but this may just have pipped it. If you loved Yale Tishman in The Great Believers then be prepared to adore Sidney Ellwood. This book is a love story set mainly in the trenches of WW1. The battle scenes are graphic and the author makes no apologies for bringing the brutality of trench warfare to life but the moments between are tender and full of a forbidden love. Read it!
pickBeautifully written, and thoroughly researched this novel, set in 1914 , is an engaging, and often horrifying read. Ms Winn tells the story of boys from an English boarding school as they encounter the horrors of WWI. Henry Gaunt, one of the primary characters welcomes enlistment to flee his growing feelings for Sydney Elwood, one his classmates who later also enlists. There love story is fraught, but ultimately beautiful. Don‘t miss this book.
#12booksof2024 @andrew65 My June choice was this story two young men in the first world War. Graphic in its portrayal of the horrors of men barely out of school experiencing war but tender in its picture of a forbidden love.
pickBeen pondering how to review this. It's good - I'll rate it a pick - but while I became invested in it (once my irritation with the insufferable teenaged toffs had abated) I never quite warmed to it. Perhaps love stories aren't my thing these days. Perhaps stories of swathes of young men being blown to bits on the battlefield aren't my thing either.
I've seen reviews comparing it to Song of Achilles. Different league: this is the stronger by far.
Tenía los pies llenos de ampollas... Pritchard y Gaunt intercambiaron miradas. En las trincheras, el estado de los pies de alguien solía marcar la diferencia entre la vida y la muerte.
Gaunt sentia admiracion confusa por los objetores de conciencia, sospechaba que eran mas valientes que él, pero a la vez no podía evitar guardarles rencor. Ellos, al menos, sobrevivirían a la guerra. 298
Took myself out to breakfast this morning and started a new novel.
I love the excitement and anticipation one gets when starting a new novel. ☺️
My reading buddy joined me 🐾❤️
#inmemorium #alicewinn #dogsoflitsy #puppiesoflitsy
#historicalfiction #literaryfiction
pickThe author doesnt avoid the horror of ww1 + the experience in the trenches of yng men, in this moving story of a forbidden love between Gaunt + Ellwood, boys who meet at school + enlist when war starts. The research, referenced in the afterword, draws on real accounts only compounding the distress as we are drawn to the characters' lives. A much plauded book, + well deserved. Watching the d day memorial, I can't imagine at 18 facing such horror.
Apologies for not posting sooner. I picked a time period hoping we may all have books for this prompt already sitting on our TBR‘s. The tagged book and the suggestions are ones I‘ve read and recommend. I will be posting August and September prompts today.
@dabbe @desha @rachel52 @rubyslippersreads @chaoticmissadventures @barkingmadread
@megnews @sblbooks
@thebookgeekfrau @bookwormjillk @deblovestoread @jenniferw88 @spellboundReader
Some really great books this month.
I think the In Memoriam is pretty much perfection, I checked it out from the library originally, but have ordered a copy from Blackwells (I like the UK cover better than the US one)
Ordinary Human Failings, In Defence of the Act, and And Then She Fell were some of my top Women's Prize for Fiction books this year (along with Brotherless Night from last month)
I also really enjoyed How To Say Babylon.
pick5⭐ for the devastation.
I knew about 10 pages in that this book was going to wreck me. A beautiful but brutal book about war and love. Winn's writing and storytelling is so gorgeous there were multiple times I read a sentence that stopped me in my tracks due to how heartbreakingly it was.
This will be a top book of the year I loved everything about it.
Gaunt hears Ellwood quoting poetry to a boy in his room. The boy does not even know what the words are from.
"He [Gaunt] knew the lines Ellwood had quoted. They were from Shakespeare's Sonnet 20. Ellwood had written them in pencil on the wall above Gaunt's bed, and Gaunt had hoped they meant something."
40 pages in and I can tell this book is going to destroy me.
pickGaunt and Elwood meet at boarding school. Gaunt taciturn, a boxer. Elwood beautiful, a poet. They adore each other but will not say it. Then the First World War happens and their lives split and collide. Did I need another book about WWI? I did not. Do I like First World War poetry? I do not. Did I love this book anyway? I did indeed. The most beautiful story of hidden love, friendship, privilege and class.
pickEllwood and Gaunt, two English prep school boys, tore my heart out again and again! They‘re 18 years old when The Great War takes them from school. The atrocities of the war are horrifying and recounted in this book with study of actual events. The two boys face the front together but suffer different challenges, wounds, and emotional pain. The utter loss of life is devastating and Winn handles it with care. Ultimately, a love story that I adored.
Reading between games ⚽️
Tragic! 😭
But so good! Nearly halfway and I‘m super invested.
I did get SOME sleep, but the tagged kept me up WAY too late. And occasionally, I would try to go to sleep and found I couldn't stop thinking about the characters, so I'd turn the light back on and read some more!
#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern
pickWow… this book. I bought it when it first came out but kept putting off reading it. Perhaps because I thought it might destroy me and perhaps because I feared it might be over-hyped. Yes, very much, to the first and, no definitely not, to the second.
This would have made my favourites of 2023 if I‘d have read it then, and I can‘t see it NOT making my 2024 favourites, even at this early stage in the year.
My day is all booked…
Hubby has gone out for the day, but made me a real fire before he went, so this afternoon I shall settle down with these two books. (Plus, of course, I have others on the go on various digital platforms). M&S we‘re giving away free chocolate today - perfect timing! 😃
Before that it‘s a spot of ironing and cleaning, whilst listening to Sunburn.
All of the above books are eligible for / rumoured for the Women‘s Prize.
Started this last night and so far it is more than living up to the hype! Finally. I feel like I've gone in with too high expectations on a lot of books lately.
Plan for the afternoon and evening: Finish the whole book so it will count as my "Best of January".
pickThis is a touching love story of Gaunt and Elwood, two young men who leave school to join the army during WWI. The battle scenes are heartbreaking, vivid and horrific. Some of the scenes reminded me of WWI poetry, and in the author‘s note Winn gives credit to all of the poems and books that she used when writing the novel. I did feel that the story turned a bit melodramatic at times, but overall the book is wonderful.
pickWhat a stunningly beautiful novel. Heart wrenching, but incredible. Please Alice Winn, write more novels, even if it‘s about depressing subjects like war. This certainly helped convince me, that my views of pacifism are correct. War is a terrible, worthless action that should ALWAYS be avoided.
#12DaysofChristmas #Day8
In Memoriam was so good, heart wrenchingly so. It‘s one I wish I could read for the first time again. But August
was another stellar reading month so here are a few that could easily take the top: Chain Gang All Stars, Forgotten on Sunday, Tom Lake, Shark Heart and Joan.
@Andrew65
New day, new book.
I will read more of it later after my morning shift, now it's 6 A.M. and I read only 30 pages of it but I'm highly curious about it
Well... I guess November means big boys 😂😅
October Reads!
5 🌟
In Memoriam: Alice Winn📖
Empire of Pain🎧
4.5 🌟
Black AF History: Michael Harriott🎧
The Bee Sting: Paul Murray📖
The Vaster Wilds: Lauren Groff 📖
3.5🌟
Beyond The Door of No Return: David Diop 📖
3 🌟
The Great Reclamation: Rachel Heng🎧
Learned By Heart: Emma Donoghue🎧
Do Tell: Lindsay Lynch🎧
pick5 🌟. I read this slowly because it was y I did not want it to end. A novel about love, war, and survival. Amazind debut. So very happy I read this. It is one of the top reads of 2023 for me.
1) In Memoriam gets all the stars. I also LOVED Tom Lake on audio.
2) The writing was so beautiful. I haven‘t stopped thinking about it yet.
Tagging everyone!
#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView
pickYup, I was right, it completely destroyed me.
Emotionally engaging, it makes you fall in love with these characters. Combined with the unflinching devastation of trench warfare in WW1, this one will continuously wrench your soul. Beautifully written, impeccably researched to create such an absorbing atmosphere.
This was a #BlameitonLitsy puck for me, and I highly recommend it!
pickThis book was on several Booker prediction list with some even picking it to win. It is a shame it didn‘t make the list. It shattered my heart into a million pieces. A coming of age story of two young men who are compelled to enlist with the British army and are quickly sent to the front. It will definitely be on my top of the year list.
Just started this one on my lunch break. This is going to destroy me, isn't it?
I‘m halfway through the audiobook. The narration by Christian Coulson is excellent. It‘s quite a read.
"My father told me," West continued. "Said he ought to have been shot."
"Your father thinks everyone ought to be shot," said Roseveare.
"Not everyone," protested West.
"Well, let's see," said Pritchard, counting on his fingers. He was on the cistern, his knees bracketing West, who sat on the toilet lid. "There are the homosexuals, the Catholics, the Irish, and anyone who doesn't like dogs."
