Welcome to Litsy!

There is much I liked about this novel. The setting of the English countryside, the quirky characters Michael and Marnie with their wry humor, baggage and hang ups, and the subtle humor. If you are an Anglophile, I think you'd enjoy this.

Happy October! It's #FallingforFallSwap opening day!

I LOVE everything! I've almost bought the David Nicholls so many times, I'm really looking forward to it (I love hiking stories, and Nicholls' particular brand of love story). And I'm fascinated by Sylvia Beach, so this historical fiction is a must read for me! Throw in some lovely fall socks, yummy sounding tea, and Twizzlers which I will now go hide from my kids, AND a toy for Sprocket! 👇

Marnie is 38, divorced and an editor that works from home. Michael is 42, his wife has moved out, works as a geography teacher and loves going in long solitary walks.
These two have a mutual friend, Cleo, who organizes for a group of people to go from one coast to the other, and so Marnie and Michael meet.

This is classic, feel good Nicholls.

This is so true.
Norwegians really do say that

I‘m not a romance fan and this is tagged as such, but I enjoyed it. I loved “One Day” by this author, and I don‘t think this new one lives up to that. Still, the writing made me laugh out loud in parts (especially the descriptions of Marnie‘s efforts to copy edit orgy scenes in a terrible manuscript 😄) and I found myself caring about the characters and their possible connection.

This novel is such a warm hug. A character driven story filled with humor, emotion and fun banter, so much so that you think you are walking side by side with the characters. This is a romance that I appreciate as some who is a bit older, and it seemed very realistic in the way it was portrayed. This is a perfect study of loneliness, marriage and separation, and the connections we all want, but can be afraid to open ourselves up to.

I gave this book 100 pages and I just gave up. I guess it‘s a little too dry for me. I‘ve read most of David Nicholls biblio and have enjoyed it. But this one, not so much.

Meh. It was a mixed bag for me. Things I liked: the banter and humor, the honest way it dealt with hard issues, The descriptions of the countryside, & the author‘s decision to keep the ending messy and not tied up perfectly. Things I didn‘t like: the first third of the book, the fact that Marnie was often dismissed as silly or unimportant by almost everyone, and Michael‘s oblivious and self-absorbed behavior. Didn‘t hate it, didn‘t love it. 🤷‍♀️

A really gentle, earnest, but also vulnerable story. Nicholls manages to be light, funny, and hopeful in the telling of the story that is in many parts sad and longing. It was a nice change of pace and tone for me to read this novel about the distance between lives imagined and lived, feeling lonely and left behind, and our drive to only connect. Extra points for well-produced audio with 2 narrators.

Loved it. Marnie and Michael end up walking from one side of England to the other. He‘s unhappily separated from his wife; she is divorced. They have a mutual friend who thinks that meeting new people would be good for them both. I love the way Nicholls writes and this book is laugh out loud funny…I think Nicholls wrote the book on witty banter…but also heartfelt and romantic. My kind of romance.

June Reads
4🌟
You Are Here: David Nicholls 🎧
3.5🌟
Ordinary Human Failings: Megan Nolan 🎧
3🌟
The House Of Doors: Tan Twan Eng 🎧
Western Lane: Chetna Maroo 📖
The Warm Hands of Ghosts: Katherine Arden 📖
2.5 🌟
A Handful of Dust: Evelyn Waugh 📖
2 🌟
Assassin of Reality: Marina & Sergey Dyachenko 🎧

Loved this sweet novel. A grownup romance and the slow process of getting to know someone on the hiking trail. Highly recommend. 4 🌟. Sweet novel.

June reads 👣👣👣👣👣

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way . . .

Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife's departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he‘ll do anything to avoid his empty house.

Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband.

June‘s #Bookspin List

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Perfect summer read

Also finished Restless Dolly Maunder which I enjoyed far more than I expected

Now The Rachel Incident and the latest Jane Casey.

I love holiday reading :-)

Bought this on Saturday morning at The Stripey Badger bookshop in the Yorkshire Dales but couldn‘t post about it until now, for two reasons:

1. To celebrate #camplitsy24 launch weekend, we actually went camping and had no phone or Wi-Fi signal.

2. Can you imagine if I (as a camp host!) had actually posted this longlisted book yesterday before most of the camp books were revealed?! There would have been rioting in bookshops around the world! 🤣🤣

@squirrelbrain @Megabooks @BarbaraBB #CampLitsy24

Thanks for organising!!! 🥰 Can't wait!

Here are my nominations (if I'm not already too late). I've gone pretty cosy 💕