Welcome to Litsy!

Over a long hot summer in the English countryside copy editor Pauline watches anxiously as her adult daughter‘s marriage repeats the pattern of her own unsatisfactory union. I loved the gradual unfolding of the mirroring past and present and the authentic, heart-wrenching depiction of maternal devotion, but I think the thing I loved most were Pauline‘s chats with the young male author of the romantic novel she was editing.

Penelope Lively brilliantly encapsulates parenthood in one page.

Another great story from Penelope Lively as she describes the relationship between Pauline and her adult daughter Teresa. During a hot summer in Pauline's countryside cottage, Teresa, her author husband, and yng baby are a family on edge, but Pauline's memory of her own husbands infidelity years before mirror the current situation. Family tension is evoked with great skill by an author whose work I always enjoy.

Photo credit: Andrew Wheth‘s Christina‘s World. I really liked this book. The narration by Davina Porter made it that much more magical for me. Time seems to fold in on itself as Pauline watches her daughter discover her husband‘s infidelities just as she once upon a time discovered her own husband‘s, as they are all stuck at World‘s End. Two houses out in the country. Lively can write, and her writing is silky and scrumptious. I didn‘t like 👇🏼

I drove down 4hrs to my hometown to have Thanksgiving tomorrow. Im only halfway through the book but I am enthralled, partly because it‘s narrated by Divina Porter (bottom right) who made me feel like I was laying in the arms of Joan Collins as she reads me a book, her arm around me tapping long red nails against my shoulder until she has to turn a page. And I don‘t think I would notice it if I was reading it instead of listening but Lively 👇🏼

I absolutely loved this - its short but i read it very slowly to savour it. Penelope Lively does atmosphere and descriptions of women‘s inner lives so well! Pauline is a divorced woman in late middle age. She is working as a copy editor from one of a pair of rural cottages she owns during a very hot summer. Her daughter and son in law & child are spending the summer in the other cottage. Pauline gets to see tensions rise ⬇️

4⭐️ Lively likes doing flashbacks, revealing one tiny bit at a time. I‘m not a big fan of that when I read her other work Spiderweb, but it works well with this one. Pauline‘s marriage was marred by infidelity, and she now watches the same is happening with her daughter‘s marriage. I love the surprise at the end; it felt like I was being rewarded with a candy for finishing the book.

😭 Not true… not true…

Starting this today… my 3rd Lively book 😄

I tried not to read the blurb when I took a picture and while posting this. I prefer to go in without knowing anything 😌

#ArtfulAugust #1990s
Some great women writers from the 90s
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A short but exquisite read crammed with beautiful writing and sharp observations. Perhaps focused mostly on the boundless love of a mother for her adult daughter it also covers passion, adultery, friendship and family. The remote cottages of Worlds End are fully realised along with some of the contradictions of country life. And whilst very much of its time, the mid 1990s, its themes of betrayal and revenge are timeless.

Pauline remembers the first time she saw Teresa with Luke. She walks down the hospital ward between a double rank of legs - legs ranged carelessly on beds, sticking out below nighties and dressing-gowns. Brown legs, black legs, pale pink legs. An acreage of female flesh, casually exposed, legs, thighs and whole breasts into which are tucked the furry heads of babies. No-one is modest or prudish here, there is a frank acceptance of what is going on

Just sorted my reading for next week‘s Uk heatwave!

Hoping to put my 15+ hours of airtime travel to good use 🤞🏽

Fantastic short book.... Atmospheric, claustrophobic and well observed.

Appropriate title for a glorious day on a West Scotland peninsula.... I knew on the first page I was going to love this. Just about to fire up the barbecue too.... 🔥👍

Next up 👍
#currentlyreading 🔥🌊

Both an impulse and a cover buy #blameitonlitsy
Looks intriguing though.... Can't remember who posted recently but thank you anyway 😁😁
#cantstopwontstop #bookaddict

How she can write, Penelope Lively.
Like Moon Tiger, this is a book about a woman, looking back at her life.
Pauline shares her house one Summer with her daughter, her husband and their child. Watching her daughter, Pauline remembers her own marriage. She wishes she could protect her daughter from making the same mistakes she did.
A very intelligent read in my opinion. Highly recommended.

I had some more Instagram luck and won this pretty book from _the_book_bug_ ‘s Christmas giveaway.

My husband is always slightly disgusted that the only thing I ever win is books. 😆😆

Maybe even better than Moon Tiger! Penelope Lively is so good at bringing leitmotifs back and back and back in slightly different ways, and this book was full of subtle variations on common themes (motherhood, marriage, infidelity, divorce) which made me think about things I‘ve read about lots of times in fresh ways. The ending was just the right amount shocking - unexpected but not so out of nowhere it was silly.

I should hear about whether I got that job today! 😬😬😬

I have another interview lined up for next week, so it‘s okay if I don‘t get it, but I do really want it and the suspense is killing me. Have a nice day in London with a friend planned so I have something to distract me - and I will be shopping out of either celebration or therapy!

On to the next book from my incredibly tall library stack! I absolutely adored Moon Tiger when I read it for the man booker golden prize list, and I‘ve been really wanting to try another one by her.

A short read, wonderful prose and an unexpected ending.
I liked how she used echoes of other stories to show parallel in the current relationship.

A rather appropriately titled book!
Beautiful prose :)

They say summer doesn‘t arrive in Seattle until after July 4, and it‘s true. We‘re going to break 80 today, with a predicted high of 81. Rest of the week will be in the 70‘s. I‘ll try to stay cool.😏

Read the last 60 pages in a fever pitch late into the night. It's not a thriller, but a slow-burn that picks up near the end. Strong interior examination of motherhood and fidelity--a question of how long civility can stave off primal instinct. Fav line: "Because in the fullness of time she would have recovered" (114).