Welcome to Litsy!

Starting off #hauntedshelf with my book club read and a novel set during the Yorkshire Ripper murders. A mainly fun read, with some surprisingly serious elements, also made me a bit sad that things like racism & general bigotry haven‘t really improved in the last 40 years. Sigh.

#screamteam

Ahhh - what a lovely surprise! Thank you so much for thinking of me this year @Soubhiville - what a wonderful, intriguing book. Can‘t wait to dig in. As a coincidence I‘m staying this weekend with my friend in Bath and our first stop is always Mr B‘s Bookshop ♥️

The woman who had stopped to ask Hazel Ware how she was had moved on to a small group of other women, all drinking tea and looking more like the grown-up women I was used to. Knitted skirts, tan tights and hair that had been permed or set. We would see them in the hairdressers on the High Street, Aunty Jean among them, sat under the huge hoods that made them look like rows of Stormtroopers, protecting our town from invasion.

This is one of those books that I keep seeing everywhere at the moment so I thought I'd give it a go. Set in the 1970's in a West Yorkshire village two teenage girls become obsessed with the Yorkshire ripper and set out to find if he is someone hiding in plain sight in their community. The book is more about tensions in families and other issues than the ripper with lots of obligatory references to 1970's culture. An enjoyable read 3.5*

Last post! The top two I got today at the airport, WH Smith always has irresistible deals. I‘ve started the tagged book today and am really enjoying it so far, it reminds me of Fredrik Backman actually. The other two I bought yesterday at #Foyles, a gigantic store in Central #London.

#travel #holiday

I went into this a bit judgy - the Yorkshireness of the characters feeling overdone, and I was unsure if I liked the true story of the Yorkshire Ripper being the backdrop (was it insensitive to the victims?) - yet it won me over and had me having a little cry too. Sweet characters, the resolutions I wanted and a bit of nostalgia for childhood in the 80s.

I loved this book and its characters so much, thank you @squirrelbrain for sending it my way! I've seen it marketed as a mystery, which I think does a disservice to the book - if you're expecting mystery, you may be disappointed. This is a poignant coming of age, set in a small Yorkshire town in 1979/80; the mills have closed, Thatcher is coming to power, and the Ripper has the county on edge. Cont'd in comments

First real snow day of the season! Excuse me while I curl up by the fire with this one from @squirrelbrain

I loved this sweet story with fierce adorable characters. It‘s more about family friendship and love than it is about the Yorkshire ripper. The innocence and pure determination of Miv and her friend Sharon. Omar and Ish. Helen. Aunty Jeannie ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Growing up a teenage girl in 70s was like another world. Gen Z take note. I found the ending unnecessarily tragic but overall a wonderful debut from this writer. Unique.

A very soft pick for me, which I feel sad about because I wanted to love it. Set in the 1979/80, year when I was approaching my teenage years like the main character, the drawing of life at that time was good, and it touches on a number of serious subjects, but it also feels like it‘s plucked straight from Joanna Cannon‘s The Trouble With Goats and Sheep, plus I‘m uncomfortable with the hook on which the story has been hung

I adored this gem 💎 of a book 📖 a real trip down memory lane for me growing up in the 70s the nation gripped by the hunt for the serial killer “the Yorkshire ripper” a sad reminder of the prejudices of people and how racism & domestic violence were so prevalent, I highly recommend it , will be one of my favourite books 📚 of the year . However I do think 🤔 perhaps overseas readers may struggle to grasp the social setting

Wonderful literature festival in beautiful 🤩 bath

At bath (uk) literature festival last weekend we went to a wonderful interview with the delightful Jennie Godfrey what a lovely 🥰 lady , same age as me and I grew up in this period when the book is set , i remember the nation being gripped with finding the riper. Because of the social history setting (how sadly racist & sexist 70s Britain was) I think this book will appeal more to the uk audience it will be one of my favourite books of the year

Oh dear ! #Unpopularopinion This is a bail for me. I just couldn‘t get into it, and the writing wasn‘t for me. There are some great reviews here on Litsy , but I had to bail out.

@squirrelbrain Thank you so much! I'm so excited for this one, I've heard nothing but good things. I so appreciate you 😀❤️

Here are my 4 nominations for #camplitsy24 @Megabooks @BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain

(The Last Boat Home is really local to me, so I may be slightly biased in nominating this one!)

Another great read this week 👍🏻 thanks to Helen‘s original review and it‘s all over book Twitter!
Nostalgic, but tackling some dark subjects. Had a tear in my eye at the end.

It‘s Yorkshire in 1979 and 12 year old Miv overhears her father talking about moving away, which Miv is convinced is due to the Yorkshire Ripper murders so, along with her best friend Sharon, she decides to try to catch him.

Along the way she encounters many other dirty neighbourhood secrets, including racism and domestic violence, so it‘s not an easy read but I still loved it.

#netgalley Published in the UK 15th Feb.

#Sundayfunday no, the setting is Yorkshire during the late 70s and early 80s, when the Yorkshire Ripper was active! The book was a huge disappointment, sadly.