Welcome to Litsy!

I don‘t have the emotional bandwidth to handle this one right now…Might pick-up again in the future.

A scalpel-sharp collection that dissects failure, self-delusion, and romantic erosion with bleak precision.
Each story drags you through the ego bruises of people who crave connection but flinch from vulnerability.
It‘s funny until it‘s not—then it just hurts.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 black hearts 🖤

A friend was raving about this one recently and library hold came in today…And I love to start a new book at bedtime 😅

Last day of March Break, and it‘s a dull rainy one. Almost 60% done with this cringy read. The characters are very online?? And I thought I was too, but had some trouble following along. A bit more graphic than my usual, but it‘s a page turner. I like that the people the story follows are connected.

#ToB25
One day read

This was .. interesting. It for sure will not be for everyone. It will help if you have a very "online" vocabulary - Especially for story "Our Dope Future" which I found to be the funniest and most interesting. I love interconnected stories of messy people and this delivered. Each of the stories are about relationship (romantic or sexual) rejection and people being a bit dim. A pick from ToB for me I found it interesting

"If he's going to be a doormat, he should at least be a welcome mat."

Ohhh boy these characters are a bit bleak!
#ToB25

Oh...kay. So, this is a...book. Longish, loosely interconnected stories that work to varying, universally cringey degrees, and do a self-consciously meta thing that doesn't really work for me. I'm intrigued by the form, and the characters are definitely complex underneath the stereotypes, so I am curious to read other work from this author, even as this one feels kind of hit-and-miss. #tob25

Excellent linked stories and a satisfyingly meta experience. It‘s really smartly done, though some of the stories went really over the top, but that was clearly the point. Highly recommend the audio (but make sure to use earbuds or your family may question your reading habits!). Book 4 of #tob25 done - I have a long way to go but am excited to participate this year after skipping last year!

I am trying to DNF this extremely interesting, sex-heavy, weird and kinda icky book. #sigh
Connected short stories? Or thematically-related, I cannot say. But UNCOMFORTABLE comes to mind readily.

#Dec2024 Book 118
“… affirmations to the sky full blast: I am ill! I am chill! I am phat! I am fly! I am clutch! I am fetch! I am based! I am bae! I am slae! I am cray!…”

(Prefer Mrs. Nash: I am a delight.) IF you read this, eBook is best 👇

A foggy frosty drive home from Nebraska but we are warming up as we travel southward. Started this last night for #ToBshortlist; was NOT aware it is a story collection (or forgot) and yowza! That first one is scary/unsettling. Not at all festively holiday-themed LOL but I did encounter a pie reference, so there‘s that.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 What a trip… Separate short stories of rejection (feminist dudebro no women want to sleep with, woman romantically obsessed with a friend, etc.) that veer into the very explicit, and then into someone creating an online bot universe? Finishes with a “rejection letter” to the author about the book‘s flaws. I liked some, some went maybe farther than necessary, and the end got too navel-gazey for me. Soft/equivocal pick. #ToB25 #Tob2025

This book keeps popping up in best of the year lists. I was dreading reading it because it‘s a collection of stories. But I have FOMO on these lists and knew I‘d be forcing myself to read it. HOWEVER! I‘m shocked to say this was a total winner for me! Loved the original concept and vivid characters. The connected stories were just enough to carry on the thread but still be completely unique. Cringy but thought provoking. I accept “Rejection”! ⬇️

This collection of connected short stories is a bit of a doozy. It‘s by turns gross, funny, disturbing, and thought-provoking, sometimes all in one story. There are parts of it I didn‘t like, but ultimately I think it‘s incredibly creative and unique and I expect it to stick with me.

NBA longlist, fiction

This book contains loosely connected stories, all of them about people who‘ve been rejected in one way or another.
I enjoyed some a lot, some less. Be prepared for very explicit sex, going on for pages and pages, and some extreme bullying.
So it‘s not an easy or very pleasant book but it‘s written very well. I hope it‘s fiction - as it states on the cover.

#WeeklyForecast 40/24

I just started a book from Percival Everett‘s backlist and it has drawn me in immediately, as usual.
Next will be either the tagged one, from the NBA longlist, or Irena Rey, which I have been interested in ever since it was longlisted for #CampLitsy24.

Short story writing at its best.