Welcome to Litsy!

Not a great reading month, no idea why. Favorite was North Woods.

I loved reading a story where the main character is the house! This was my first book by Daniel Mason and it won‘t be my last. North Woods will be on my favorites list for the year.
Read if you like nature, stories spanning time, various pov, or themes about humanity.
🍏🪓🍏🪓🍏

Thank you for leading the #NaturaLitsy buddy reads @AllDebooks !

#NaturaLitsy May read discussion thread.

🍎 Did you enjoy the multi-layered stories throughout?

🍏 Which era did you enjoy most?

🍎 Did you enjoy this reading experience following the same setting through different characters?

🍏 How did the house and its remote location affect the residents?

🍎 How does Mason bring the local flora/fauna into the novel?

🍏 Do you think the catamount has any hidden meaning?

All welcome to join in the chat.

#14booksin14weeks @Liz_M

Week 1 - My 1st book choice is also #NaturaLitsy May #buddyread 📚🌞📚 I purposefully saved it for spring break week, before the discussion on Saturday. I'm so glad I did, as I'm utterly enraptured with these stories of one place across centuries.

I am loving North Woods so much! Bombadil can‘t wait to see how it ends.

#dogsoflitsy

Beautiful nature writing and storytelling. It‘s books like this that literally keep me “grounded”.

This was a very refreshing read, spanning various themes and time periods, people, and creatures. I suppose it encapsulates life itself. The book is beautifully written, and the prose is very flowery. Reading this was like finding a bundle of various notes, letters, and reports in a relative's old attic. It has a feeling of wonder.

Read more of this novel while my son is having PT. Magical. Bliss.#Naturalitsy

My selection of audiobooks and ebooks to make my #14books14weeks
Are you joining in?

#Two4Tuesday

1) Daniel Mason

2) North Woods. One of my favorite books of 2025. That‘s something because I don‘t usually read short story collections.

This was EXCELLENT. It‘s the story (or rather, the stories) of a house and its surrounding forest in New England; a multigenerational saga of sorts—but of a place instead of a family. We follow the people who come and go, but also the trees, the beetles, a catamount—as they both shape and are shaped by the unique history of the place in which they dwell, a place that outlasts them all. Each section has a very different feel, and between each, ⤵️

Started this tonight. Only 40 pages in but I totally understand why the book received so many accolades. #Naturalitsy #shelfsweeper #4Elizabeth

I‘m calling this now that this is probably going to end up my favorite read of the year.

The May #naturalitsy #buddyread is North Woods. Hosted by @alldebooks Anyone can join in! See original post for more information:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2860640

#NaturaLitsy May #buddyread is the historical fiction North Woods. It is set in New England. It is a multigenerational saga set over 400 years on one farmhouse.

Here is a brief summary of books that inspired Daniel Mason.

https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/the-novels-that-inspired-the-writing-of-north-wood....

@LitsyEvents

A slow starter for me, but the excellent writing drew me back in after leaving the book and reading several others before picking it back up. Having lived in rural MA I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the setting of which the book is centered around over hundreds of years. In spite of all the damage humans can cause, the Earth is rather resilient and nature long outlasts those who inhabit a certain place.

Today was the day! (That I decided to open this lovely pkg early ;))

Thank you @AmyG !! You always pick just the perfect book - I‘m so excited to read this!! And thank you too for the extra bday treats! That notebook is so cute, I love lavender, the face mask will come in handy while I‘m traveling this weekend, and of course the coin pouch says it all 😉 Thank you so much for thinking of me this month and I edge my way into “late forties”!!♥️♥️♥️

This book tells the stories that transpired on a wooded plot of land over hundreds years. The premise may sound bland (according to friends) but this is among my favorite novels that I‘ve read over the past five years or more. This book is unique in structure and the writing style is beautiful. I could have just read descriptions of the orchard and forest and been quite happy. The narration in the audiobook edition is top notch.

#bookspinbingo

⭐️⭐️two stars for the beautiful writing and making me feel like I was in nature. The stories were lackluster and not interesting to me at all.

I loved this wonderful book (and not just on account of the lusty beetles, fabulous though they were)! ❤️
It could so easily have felt episodic but each new inhabitant left their own mark whilst inheriting all that had gone before.
I found the notion of Robert's films surprisingly moving. And the final chapter just felt... right.

I loved this book! It‘s a beautifully written collection of stories describing the current occupants of a house and tract of land in the northeast, over centuries. Each story grabs you and does not let go. Extraordinary, really, such a good book and a finalist for the Pulitzer.

#coverstories
#direction

#direction #coverstories @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I absolutely adore the cover of this edition, and I quite enjoyed the book for its unique style of telling the story of a plot of land over generations. Mason captured the ways in which the land has changed and had change forced upon it - and the ways in which the land remembers its history. Occasionally had a few too many coincidences and supernatural for my preference, but overall a pick!

Day 12 of #12Booksof2024

@Andrew65

#12Boomsof2024 @Andrew65

North Woods took the Best of the Year for me, and here are the rest of my #top24of2024 in no particular order. 😁📚❤️

#2024ReadingBrackets are complete! My top selection for December was “North Woods“ -- it's magnificent! This would have been my top choice – if it had not been forced up against “Stoner” by John Williams. That book captured my heart in July and never let go. My FICTION pick for 2024 is “Stoner” – with the strong recommendation to also read “North Woods.”

My top read of 2024 was North Woods. It stands out as a one of a kind book.

It‘s been a good reading year. Looking forward to the books 2025 will bring.

Thank you for the bracket graphic @CSeydel 😊📚

Just finished and this is now my favorite book and favorite audiobook of the year.

My God, this book is magnificent! I had literal chills by the end of it. A sprawling work that encompasses multiple genres and centuries and characters, with entanglements and intersections that move forward and backwards and demonstrate how we are all connected to the environment and to history —and it to us. This would have landed on my #AuldLangSpine2024 list if I‘d finished it in time, @JoeMo

Yes, NORTH WOODS is amazing.

He thinks he‘s the catamount.

From the first pages of this incredible novel, the place is primary; the wonderful characters, chronicled across the ages, are defined by their relationship to this tract. For some it is an Eden, for some an escape, for others an opportunity, or a land to be exploited. Some find it a prison that allows no escape. The catamount hunts, ghosts attack interlopers or find solace within its confines. The story is magnificent, the writing sings. Wow!

Midway through this book it was whisked back to the library and I had to wait to get it back. I was happy to be immersed again in the woods of this story. I love the character of the woods and the house in it and the way its inhabitants‘ lives intertwine across generations. The audio version is particularly lovely and I‘m glad I went that route.

My goodness, @TheBookHippie , I feel like I just traveled to the lakes and mountains of the Pacific Northwest! 🪵🌄🌲🌲The books are great, I can‘t wait to read North Woods. I‘m suddenly into birds thanks to my Merlin app so I love the tote. The assortment of book clips is awesome. I may have already consumed half the chocolate, so not pictured! I love it all, thank you so much. #Staycationintime

Thank you for hosting @DinoMom @Chrissyreadit

I finished this gem abot three weeks ago for the book club I joined recently. I would not have read this novel without my new book buddies. What an interested ng read. I would call this an atypical historical novel because of its unusual main character, but also because of its changing literary styles and genres used. I highly recommend it.

I don‘t think I‘ve ever read a book quite like this. It was interesting that the land and its old rambling yellow house were the main characters. Those that inhabited it were intertwined in throughout the novel. I found the writing intriguing and colorful. Fantastical and fascinating at the same time. I kept wondering what would come next. This story was the “stuff of dreams,” and for those who of us who try to find meaning in them will love it!

This is one of the best books I‘ve read in a long time. I love how the story is centered around one place and the many lives that have been shaped by it‘s natural beauty and lush forests. I highly recommend this novel. 5/5

It was moving weekend. I started North Woods right before, but am stuck on page 15 because I have been too tired to read after hours of moving boxes and furniture. The worst - not finding everything to make some coffee 😳

Maggie O‘Farrell‘s blurb on the cover uses the word “polyphony,” which I had to look up. I‘m so glad I did! From an article in “The Millions” about this style of writing: ‘Bypassing traditional notions of character and plot, polyphonic novels create meaning at the intersection of seemingly random plot lines. Harmonies are found in the artful assemblage of disparate voices.‘
I loved this skillfully-written book, loved the many lives within. 5⭐️

6 May-4 Jun 24
I cannot recall any other book quite like North Woods, which tells the stories of a small wood in Massachusetts and its inhabitants from before European settlement until some time in the future. The stories take various forms - verse, epistolary, narrative, etc. All are beautifully written and a little strange. A love and respect for nature shines through and I found the final chapter very moving. A unique and beautiful book.

My May Wrap up. I gave 5 stars to North Woods, Nora Webster, and The Sleepwalker‘s Guide to Dancing. Really they were all good!

I loved the writing of this book, as well as the idea of it. I‘m always intrigued when the MC of the story is the place rather than the people, and this house in the woods of Western Massachusetts was intriguing. My issue was I was all in on some of the supporting characters over these several hundred years (give it up for the spinster sisters!), but found other characters lacking substance for their space in time.

I didn't care for it a whole lot. Read for a book club

I have rarely read such beautiful nature writing in a work of fiction and I don't believe I've ever before read a book in which the MC is a location. I'm not a huge fan of short stories so I occasionally struggled with the regularly changing cast of characters but some of the stories touched me deeply and I can tell this is a book I will remember. Again I'm wishing I was in a book club as I'd love to have some in depth discussions about this one.

I appreciate the uniqueness of the concept and found portions of this deeply engaging, but I didn't fall in love with it the way many readers did. I wanted to like it more than I did. Still, the more engaging parts make it a pick for me.

I'm reading this again and am seriously resenting my job for keeping me from it.
The episode with the painter (WHT) is beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking.