Welcome to Litsy!

"I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days - three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain."
- John Keats to Fanny Brawne

While reading some of Keats' poetry this morning, I was visited by these four butterflies: Speckled Wood (top left); two mating Gatekeepers (top right: I think they were more focused on each other!); and a Large White. And some water lilies ???

😂😂 I must go in quest of people named Wickham. In the meantime, who‘d like to take a turn about the room?

Drop whatever Victorian novel you‘re reading & go get a copy of this one. I‘m one of the many boffins in love with Lydia Gwilt & I don‘t care who knows it. Also, I know which Allan Armadale I prefer— I‘d kill the other for whistling, other offenses aside.

It‘s also nice to see some representation in a nineteenth century novel— there are many more affluent people of color in the landscape of Europe than a whitewashed history would have us believe.

Random book from our home library:

📖 Collected Poems of Thomas Hardy

Sunday‘s book swap scores on the hour or so walk home from 5 hours of rehearsals so I wasn‘t in too much pain come Monday. Let me tell you the muscles you use as a showgirl girl are completely different to ballet! I‘m not sure which shoes are worse, pointe or chorus. Even a simple bevel is hard! But it‘s my dream come true so I‘ll get through it.

I‘m not embarrassed to say I‘m more enchanted with Lydia Gwilt than the dunderhead Miss Milroy. Give me Ozias Midwinter over every Allan Armadale, too.

Reading this in the park with the whole family was a perfect #hyggehour experience ❤️ I can‘t wait to go back & do it again next week!

@batsy is right. This book is 🍌👖! Per the introduction it‘s one of the first novels to feature a female (amateur) detective. The “Lady” definitely shares some characteristics with Marion Halcolmb from The Woman in White. She‘s subverting Victorian ideals of femininity but apologizing for it, more often than not. In some ways this book made me think the fairytale Bluebeard in the protagonist‘s effort to find out the truth about her husband.

#WhereAreYouMonday

I‘m only 100 pages in, but this is a kind of a Victorian detective novel where I suspect the sleuth will be traveling a bit between England and Scotland looking for clues and witnesses to overturn a “Scotch Verdict”.

#weekendreads

Trying to get to my #Roll100 picks before the end of the month! 🤞