Welcome to Litsy!

#AuldLangSpine @CBee

I think I was a victim of my own outsize expectations here. This book fell a little flat for me and I‘m having a hard time articulating why. It has a lot of different plot threads and I‘m not sure they all work together to create a cohesive story. Then again — that‘s real life for you. I did appreciate the ending.

I really enjoyed this, but I liked Fresh Water better which was annoying as I kept thinking about that one and how it compares. Both of them have super short chapters which I am not a fan of. This one felt like it jumped around a lot more. Many storylines going at the same time, while each are interesting I never felt like I could completely fall into one. Almost felt like the book itself had ADHD 😂. Overall I enjoyed the stories and characters

I've submitted grades for all the classes I teach (🎉 🥳 💃) and so am thrilled to be shifting focus to all things Christmas, festive, and fun!! One thing that buoyed me during these last few busy weeks was reading this fantastic pick from @Deblovestoread 's #AuldLangSpine list!!! It was so very good. I don't know what I thought this book was about, but it was nothing like what it really was about. A truly lovely read. Thanks, Deb!! ❤️

Loved this, as I have loved all of Perrin‘s books. She writes melancholy stories so well.

I agree with you @BarbaraBB @TrishB - it‘s not quite as good as Fresh Water for Flowers, but what is?!

Thank you for gifting it to me Barbara! 😘

My #bookhaul from our reading retreat at Gladstone‘s Library.

The bottom two are from Emma @Oryx

Catalina is a gift from @MicheleinPhilly and Forgotten on Sunday (which I‘ve just started) is a gift from @BarbaraBB .

The top one is my pick from our Blind Date with a Book swap - it sounded so intriguing from the clues that Jess @jhod had written, and even more so know I know what it is.

This was a recent vacation novel and as with all Valerie Perrin novels I have read thus far, quite good. Perrin is an expert at telling the stories about the secrets we keep, their long term impact and how we hurt and are hurt by others and how we heal. Perrin also doesn‘t need to tie everything up with a bow at the end or find resolution where perhaps it cannot ever exist. Thoughtful and sad.

This was really quite beautiful & moving. The characters are so perfectly flawed and even though I am neither a young woman who works in a retirement home nor an old woman who lives in one, I felt like I could still relate.

Another 5⭐️ read by Perrin. I can only hope another is published and translated soon! 🙏🏾

As always Perrin writes interesting characters with intertwining plots that are slowly unwound.

Moving on to another novel I‘ve allowed to linger on my shelves for the anticipation. I‘ve put this off because I don‘t think there is currently another Perrin book in translation I haven‘t read. 🥹 I hate to be a nag, but pretty please???? I‘ve added her to my short list of auto buy authors.

A bit confusing

https://reecaspieces.com/2024/06/06/forgotten-on-sunday-by-valerie-perrin-audiob...

I loved this book. A book that sneaks up on you and silently steals your heart

Justine‘s a 21-yr old working at a retirement home. Here she collects the residents stories and particularly that of Helene. At the home some residents are never visited, suddenly these relatives will be getting phone calls that their relative has died. Who is making these false calls?

As a kid, her parents died and she has grown up at her grandparents with her cousin

I really loved the other two books written by this author: Fresh Water for Flowers and Three. Recommended them to everyone. This book just didn‘t grab me…until a huge twist in the middle! And then I couldn‘t put it down. Our narrator works in a nursing home where she writes down the stories told to her by the residents. One story is the gist of the book while the narrator‘s story is a parallel one. Two terrific stories for the price of one.

I agree with @TrishB that we should organize a Valérie Perrin fan club ♥️ How does she write such beautiful books? I think it must be magic. Fresh Water will always be my favorite (and I still haven‘t read Three), but I loved this one almost as much. What a great way to start 2024!

#12daysofChristmas #12Booksof2023

August was my best reading month with three 5⭐️ reads. This one obviously, I have mentioned it everywhere, but also The Passengers by John Marrs and Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Ricky Onda.

My last book of 2023 and my first of 2024 is the tagged ♥️😊 #lastfirst @BookNAround

Is there an author out there writing more beautiful books than Perrin? If so, I‘d like to know because Perrin is effing perfect at evoking quiet joy and sorrow. 5⭐️ Shout out to the translator, too!

Justine works at a nursing home and is particularly close with a resident, who spins a tale of love and survival in the face of WWII. The book goes between this story and Justine‘s investigation into the death of her parents, who died years ago.

@BarbaraBB thank you for such wonderful Just Because presents! 🥰 I really appreciate you thinking of me, and now that I‘m on the mend, I can truly enjoy reading these! I can‘t even buy the Perrin yet here. 🙏🏻🎉 You are such a thoughtful friend. 💕💜😘 plus, I love the wrapping paper!

My favorite book of September would be Forgotten on Sunday by Valerie Perrin, which will not be a surprise to those who follow me. She understands my need for emotionally intelligent writing. The Tender Bar came in a very close second.

October brings the peak fall colors in my neck of the woods and lots of reading time. @The_Penniless_Author Are you going to the Burlington Book Festival this weekend?
#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

Perrin does it again. A week after reading it I come back to images and memories of the characters & their stories. A young caretaker at a nursing home befriends patients & listens to their stories. One patient in particular has a story that captures the universal theme of love, loss, and faith. Other than one section that seemed unnecessary, the rest was brilliant. This is her debut novel & I‘m so happy they finally translated it.

Well … Perrin is doing it to me again. I‘m on page 21 and I‘ve already gotten misty-eyed twice and my heart hurts. This woman is amazing! Like Fresh Water for Flowers, I think I‘m going to read this book very slowly so I can treat these words with the respect they deserve.

Justine is a carer in a nursing home who listens to a patient‘s love story while also discovering her own family‘s story. Fresh Water for Flowers is still my favorite but I loved this debut novel. Looking forward to whatever she writes next.

#WeeklyForecast

These are all in various states of progress. I know I‘ll finish the top 3 but might put the bottom 2 back on the shelf.

Another 5 star read by Valerie Perrin. This is her debut and it is terrific. Justine works as a carer in a retirement home in the small village where she grew up, listening to the stories of the residents. Those stories, her own past and the present: it‘s all woven together so neatly. It made me want to read on and on while on the other hand I wanted to cherish every beautiful sentence and wanted it to never end.

Photo: Vathi, Ithaca, Greece

Still down from Covid. Sad part is I can‘t read. My mind feels very scrambled. Yesterday was better in that I ran out and cut some flowers, received this book in the mail, and got off Paxlovid which had kept me from sleeping for two days. Super happy it works for so many folks - and it sure does - but it did me wrong. 😝

Can‘t believe this was her debut novel. So glad it got translated. It‘s another beautiful, melancholy, lovely novel ♥️ Do we have a Perrin fan club yet!
And the title 😢

Have a day off today, this is my plan 🤞🏻

I am impressed with the speed of my first Blackwells order! 5 days from dispatch isn‘t bad - I figured it would at least 10 days if not two weeks.

Besides that, I feel like a kid at Christmas. 🤩 I have a couple of auto buy authors and Perrin has become one.