Crooked Heart: A Novel | 
I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!
#ABookADay2023
#TBRPile 📚 “Hitler was thumbing his nose from just across the Channel, and London had decided to move the children out again, all the ones who had come back and all the ones who had never gone. This time Noel was going with them; once again, he hadn‘t been consulted.”
1. In a Holidaze, Crooked Heart, Troubled Blood
2. The Reckoning by John Grisham
3. I think I set it for 35 books in the Goodreads challenge
@rachelsbrittain #weekendreads
January #bookspin #doublespin
I'm looking forward to both if these! Thank you @TheAromaofBooks
Happy New Year!!
pickI didn‘t love it as much as Old Baggage, characters weren‘t quite as engaging. But I love her style of writing and will definitely read more 👍🏻
Corona brain described in the 1940s 😁
so-soOK, but not great. I don‘t understand the blurbs on this book saying it is a must read. Heartwarming by the end, sure, but sloppy in execution.
#TBRPile Day 5 📚 When 10 year old Noel is evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, he winds up with debt-ridden Vera. Always desperate for money, she‘s unscrupulous about how she gets it. The war‘s thrown up all sorts of new opportunities but what Vee needs is a cool head and a plan. On her own, Vee‘s a disaster. With Noel, she‘s a team. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war and some of them are dangerous...
bailedThanks @CoffeeAndABook for the nudge. Sometimes all needed is some encouragement.
🔊 I bail on this one. I don‘t like the protagonist although I understand that Vee is supposed to be a goofy but loveable rascal. Well, to me, she isn‘t. She‘s just incapable. Additionally, I think what she does or tries to do is, in those circumstances, fairly immoral. Let‘s be honest: She steals from poor people. And her son is an unlikeable slacker. 📣
I already fell asleep yesterday while listening – which, to be honest, the book isn‘t to blame for because I simply didn‘t set a timer. I‘m sure I didn‘t miss much, maximum 15 minutes, but despite, I don‘t feel like I missed much or important events of the plot.
Another fact that makes thoughts of bailing on it coming back and back again.
I‘m so unsure because at my library it does have good ratings.
Anyone knows if it‘s worth persevering❓
At first, I needed to smile because the plot begins with Chamberlain returning from the Munich conference in 1938 and I thought this is a good omen since that‘s where “Munich” ended.
But as I said, I have problems with the protagonists. And the title. It translates “Vee or how to spell the World” (originally: “Crooked Heart”) and so I thought reading or letters would play a role. But, no, after 3 hours no significance of letters foreseeable. 🙄
I wanted something lighter after Robert Harris‘ “Munich” and this seemed a good choice. The story of chaotic Vee who doesn‘t get her life on track and never has money ending up trying to form a family with with highly-talented, 10-year-old Noel who is evacuated from London to the countryside.
But until now, 3 of 9,5 hours in, I‘m annoyed. I like Noel but neither Vee, nor her son Donald. They are rascals and shall be likeable but they are not.
pickThis book was interesting. Overall- I liked it. The setting of London during WWII has always intrigued me- I just can‘t imagine living that way. But at times, I felt like there were too many things happening in this story- too many story lines. But, in the end, I‘m glad I read it.
pickJolted out of my book slump by this delicious novel of black humor set in the London blitz, as poignant as it is hilarious. Thanks for the recommendation @Aimeesue 💕 #anglophilesoflitsy
pickLook, I‘ll be honest, “WWII homefront novel” conjures up visions of twee, nostalgic blather. This is so, so far from that. Genuinely rooted in an understanding of the time, and of people, it‘s a book about people on the edges and the scams they‘re willing to try to find some way forward. Funny and wonderful.
There‘s a quote on the back of this from the Sunday Express asking why Lissa Evans isn‘t more famous, and I have been thinking something similar. I‘m kind of amazed that this came out before Old Baggage, given the affection and perfect characterization of Mattie already in evidence.
pickA highly intelligent 10 year old evacuated from London during the war stays with a woman desperately in need of guidance and options. I enjoyed this story a great deal.
One dog up and one dog down, because this is the one and only chair we have in our entire house and they couldn‘t possibly lay anywhere else but on top of me. 🙄
#dogsoflitsy
#pitbullsoflitsy
#pibble
Wartime scammers and hustlers -including a 10 year old boy - in London during the Blitz. Oddly heartwarming in parts. Kind of reminds me of Warlight, minus the spying and the adult distance from events, and a bit squishier.
#hungryheart #marchintothe70s
Have this one on the pile at home 😁
Look at this cute page marker that I got from @irre ❤️❤️ Thank you, Erika!
Perfect Sunday morning. ☕️📚
I've been saying this for years!
Next up for #litsypartyofone on a Saturday night at home. I'm... unsure how excited I am for this one but I want to give it a go and see.
pickThis is my #recommendsday pick - world war 2, home front, evacuee and host family. Feels a bit Goodnight Mr Tom but for grownups if Mr Tom was crooked (and a woman) and William had been raised by an elderly lady. Dark but funny and definitely touching.
pickWeekend with family and this book, a gentle heart warming read, not a life changer but cosy and comforting.
The bottom of the to-read pile is at the top because of packing it in boxes for building work. This has been on the pile for about a year - I know because it's an arc I picked it up from the shelf at work where the arts team put review copies once they're done with them and this came out in January last year!
pickThe post man just dropped off these most excellent reads. Crooked Heart was on sale for $7 and I used that as an excuse to buy other books. Obviously, no flaws in my logic.
pickReally enjoyed this novel, a really departure from from the usual WW II bringing out the best in people. And I think that everyone should have a suffragette godmother.
pickSo good! Excellent audiobook. Loved how the characters came alive and how the story examined the idea of right and wrong.
My #FunFridayPhoto features a fox on the cover of one of my favorite books from last year. #crookedheart #lissaevans 🐺
Loved how Noel would sit and read to Vee. Also how he loved the library!
pickThis is the story of how a precocious ten-year-old orphan --who has been evacuated to the outskirts of London-- and his widowed foster mother --who has always been down on her luck-- find a way to become a family while making a living running cons in WWII Britain. I also learned a lot about life on the British Homefront, which I enjoyed. A hopeful book about trying circumstances.
How Vee responds when Noel feels responsible for the actual deaths of people whose deaths he had wished for: "I've wished plenty of people dead in my time, and it never works. Never." (They were killed in a German bombing run on their London suburb.)
Isn't this a fabulous description of cooking? Protagonist Noel, a precocious 10-year-old bookworm, starts using cookbooks when his godmother slips further into dementia. He feels wonderfully accomplished whipping up tasty recipes!
How ten-year-old Noel feels when the (rest of the) children in London are evacuated to the countryside during WWII.
Too true, unfortunately 😕 - even when budgets are cut across the board, money is always found to support war.
Words of wisdom from ten-year-old protagonist Noah 💚 - loving this book so far!
This one is calling my name! Ten-year-old orphan and 36-yr-old widow running cons in a London suburb during WWII? I'm so there!
Hobbies are for people who don't read books.
