Welcome to Litsy!

I found 4… maybe 3.5 #WickedWords for March. I found a Summer Breeze but not a Sea Breeze 🌬️ most of them in the tagged book which really enjoyed. The style reminded me a bit of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket especially as the main character is writing the things he experiences as the book goes on. 👍

I found Scar in Blood Bride which sadly I was more interested in the audio performances than the story itself. 👎

I mean . . . Obviously picked this up because of the title and then was intrigued that the author wrote the pina colada song. It was a disappointment, maybe 200 pages too long. It was also written in kind of a weird pretentiousness. The structure of the the characters stories was ok, but it was confusing. And kind of all over the place

This could have been a strong pick, but there was too much going on. The premise and the plans for the murders are clever, if overdone. However, there are 3 storylines, each with elaborate plans for a different murder, told in excessive detail. I found it just too much and found myself doing a lot of skimming toward the end. This is somewhere between a pick and a so-so.

It‘s been a minute since my last audiobook, and this was a good selection for some long drives I‘ve been taking. Tongue-in-cheek & amusing. Neil Patrick Harris as one of the voice actors is an added bonus.

I really wanted to love this. While having some fun, witty moments, the overall book just wasn‘t a fit for me. I don‘t know if it‘s because I felt like the story was getting muddy at points or something else.

This was gifted to me, and I had no idea what to expect.

What a well-done, intricate story!

McMasters is best described as an academy for adults who are dedicated to deleting (murdering) major problems (their bosses) in their lives.

The writing style was like a Lemony Snicket book.

Very entertaining and clever!

PS - I didn't consider my reflection in the glass in this photo. I would have failed my McMasters test 😄

The tagged book was my pick of the 5 FICTION books I completed in October. It was a fun tongue-in-cheek read, but did not hold a candle to September‘s pick: “The Trees” by Percival Everett. Which set up a very difficult decision for the quarterfinals. In the end, my heart is still with “Stoner,” which moves on.

#2024ReadingBrackets

My sister sent me a Halloween box that included this book!

This is what I got so far for@the #hauntedshelf word search. #FrightClub
-Book
-Dark
-Night
(This is only out of the portion that I have read so far)

Think Hogwarts for adults that learn to become masters at murder (instead of magic) set in the 1950s.

Really enjoying this one. Has a first person journal account of our main character but also switches to narrative accounts of other characters experiences and missions.

#MurderYourEmployer #McMastersGuidetoHomicide #RupertHolmes #book #ebook #kindle

While there was plenty of murder, there wasn‘t a lot of mystery for this month‘s Mother Daughter Murder Mystery Book Club with @wideeyedreader It was still a lot of fun though!

While not as much of a mystery as other books @AmyK1 and I have read for our Mother Daughter Murder Mystery Book Club, this was a lot of fun!! I really enjoyed it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great read … I laughed and felt for the characters as they progressed through their process and the thesis projects 🤣🤣🤣📖 so I really liked the way this book presented a different storyline loved it

Ok here‘s the list of books I‘m reading… let me explain
1) audible- so I can listen when I go for walks
2) book- because I love the authors work
3) book- because you have to have something to laugh at
4) kindle- in case I forget the other options
5) book- because you have to have something that stimulates your academic brain cells…

So this is how I got myself into this reading list 🤣📖📚📘

Omg 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I can‘t even read it through I‘m laughing so hard

What a way to start a book, ok and that forward I‘m already 🤣🤣🤣📖👀 can‘t wait to get to the chapters

50% off the second book at Barnes & Noble so I bought a couple of mysteries. Only on chapter four but this looks promising.

Lucky to be away on this hot week. We tried to go out and do stuff but after a while gave up and sat by the pool.

Once again I was a victim of a Barnes & Noble buy one get one 50% off sale. This time I am determined to actually read the books I bought!

The book follows three students who have found themselves at McMasters Conservatory for the Applies Arts which is a university to teach people how to effectively “delete” people then closes out with each students “thesis project” which is how well they murdered their target. This was a well thought out original idea for a novel and it is humorous as well to lighten up the mood of planning someone‘s ultimate demise. Highly recommend!

“When a man dies from a bullet entering his chest, it's a homicide.
When a man dies from a meteorite landing on his head, it's a tragedy.
Don't use bullets. Use meteorites
Don't commit a homicide. Commit a Tragedy.”

Three people attend the McMasters school to learn how to delete (murder) their employers.

I don‘t know if I would‘ve liked it just reading it but the audiobook is very good.

I enjoyed the way the author brought the painful realities of employment in a satirical way highlighting that most people don‘t want to kill their employer but due to the unequal power structures they find they must.
When he fails at murdering his employer Cliff is brought to a school that will give him, and his classmates, the skills to delete the awful man.
3.5/5 read for more satire than murder, with light social commentary.

Rupert Holmes has presented us with an interesting premise, and at times the story is engaging. Unfortunately there are also clunky bits that drag, and also sections that are just overwrought and border on the farcical.

Cliff Iverson, after an unsuccessful attempt to murder his truly awful boss, is enrolled at a College formed to instruct in the fine art of murder. His story, and that of other students, make up the plot. Bit of a slog.

I opened my package and ran out the house and forgot who sent me my #CreepyChristmas swap. I loved the wrapping and the dish towels!!!!! I cannot wait for next year so I can decorate my bathroom with them. I love the choices of books and those bookmarks are soooo stinking cute ❣️❣️❣️

#12booksof2023. However, I could not pick just one!

Rupert Holmes: Great storyteller. Absolutely wonderful premise: a school to teach one how to ‘delete‘ a hated boss. Unique, creative and fun! I must read more by him!

The other fav is quite different. A beautiful memoir about a guard at the Met. Lovely insights into the art, the visitors and his personal journey dealing with the grief of losing a loved one. This went straight to my heart!

I did end up liking this book in the end. I think it‘s just a tad too long, but that doesn‘t really hurt it. I am particularly fond of the ending. Up next is An Assassin in Utopia — non-fiction about how the Oneida utopian community may have had a role in the assassination of the US‘s President Garfield. #audiowalk. Upper left is one of the botanical garden‘s cats. He kind of blends into the sidewalk.

I have a bit over an hour and a half left, so I should finish it tomorrow. I hate when it gets dark so early! A benefit to being retired though is that early dark doesn‘t have to interfere with my walking outside as I can just go earlier. 😊 #audiowalk

Back to warmish weather today for my #audiowalk. Our heroes are now working on their Murder University theses. We‘ll see how that goes.

More weirdness at the McMaster murder school. I‘m most interested in Gemma‘s story, and she‘s a side character. #audiowalk

I had to go home to change in order to walk; I‘d have been too cold in what I had on! So I had a nice #audiowalk in long sleeves and sweatpants. I‘m reserving judgement about this book because it‘s just so odd, but I think I like it.

This one starts so strong—funny, interesting. But it quickly focuses more on one of the main characters to the detriment of the other two, who feel tacked on. Then, the whole book starts to sag when they leave the school and each storyline is followed individually. I wanted to love this, but it just has too many issues.

This started strong, but half way through it became tedious and I am totally bored so DNFing at 60%

When you thought you waited late in enough to poste your #scarathlon TBR but the library holds you weren‘t expecting for weeks suddenly come in… 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️
#BlackCatCrew

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

“Do in others how you would have others do you in.”

An unexpected, clever, quirky, and darkly funny back-to-school read! The McMaster‘s Conservatory trains “deletists” in the homicidal arts. The narration was top notch! I think fans of “Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone” and “Killers of a Certain Age” would also appreciate this. 🎧

Funny isn't it how a very good book which ends a little flat feels so much worse than an okay book which ends on a high. I thought this would be an automatic 5* and yet somehow it isn't. McMasters is a school for murderers. Cliff, Dulcie and Gemma all have very good reasons for signing up. Plots, characters, writing all great. Feel they got too caught up in making it cozy and tying up all the loose ends. Still recommend as a 4*

I can‘t put my finger on why, but this pick is on the lower end. The narration by Neil Patrick Harris and Simon Vance was great. I enjoyed when the characters were at Hogwa…er, I mean McMasters the most. Maybe it was just too long or maybe it was just me. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The best kind of impulse buy!

Cute concept fairly skillfully executed (pun intended). The multiple storylines are sometimes tricky to follow, but the settings are immersive, and the novel is enjoyable overall, especially reading it in the first month of a new job.

I randomly found this book when I was walking through the bookstore and picked it up. But then I saw who the narrators were and decided it would be a better listen! NPH and Simon Vance are both amazing! It was my first book read by NPH but I love Simon Vance!

This book was great. It‘s not really a mystery except for who his benefactor is. I really enjoyed this book. Sun fun!

#jubilantjuly

So fun!

I loved this book. What a great twist on a mystery. I've no intention to "delete" my employer, but there's some really fun information in these pages. Looking forward to the next volume, though i expect it may be a different narrator... #32-2023

Unique, clever, and highly entertaining. Neil Patrick Harris narrates the POV of one of the students and Simon Vance takes on the roll of narrator for all of the third-person sections. Both are brilliant.

Simon Vance + NPH = magic

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Probably not the book to read the first week of a new job.