Welcome to Litsy!

I enjoyed this book and how it used a youth sports competition in Reno, NV to frame the lives of the 8 contestants. The last chapter was a little weird, maybe? But Reno is a weird place, so whatever I guess. #tob #tob2025 #tob25

Getting my February #BookSpin list out early for once. 💐💝

After many starts and pauses, I have finished Wild Houses, a book that hit a few lists last year. A bleak Irish setting with depressing scenes and down on their luck characters made this a bit of a bummer but when the plot finally got rolling I was engaged and flew through the last quarter of the book. It‘s a pick because of the character development and the setting. Bad choices are made and the lives of several young people intersect. Low pick

#25Alive! Day 23: The #Dreams of teenage female boxers are on display here with their feints, jabs, hyper-self-awareness. Gradually going through the #ToB25 shortlisted titles.

I love Matar‘s warm, erudite tone & rich subject matter so no surprise that I was engrossed by this novel. Khaled & his friends yare in London, unable to return to Libya. The heartbreak & uncertainty of this exile is beautifully rendered & feels true to life. It‘s poignant but told in a warm, inviting voice. Matar‘s writing flows & there‘s something exact in his prose that feels thoughtful & not showy. He wears his knowledge lightly. Moving.

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The writing reminded me of Paulo Coehlo. Very philosophical.

The sport of girls' boxing is compared to multiple aspects of life: dreams, quirks, visions, ways of thinking, and futures. Each girl is different, but all 8 girls are the same - with the same wants and fears and strengths.

I'm glad I read it.

I‘m 4 for 4 so far in the #ToB25! I‘d probably put this one last of the 4, but I surprised myself by enjoying this tale of girl boxers and their bouts in one tournament. Definitely outside my wheelhouse, which is what I love about the ToB.

#bookerprizelonglist
My run of ho-hum books continues. ?
It took me to a world I would never have thought to enter otherwise, so I'm grateful for that, and the opening chapter/fight was interesting... but thereafter it proved to be a one-trick pony, until we reach the Space Odyssey-esque ending (wtf was that about?!). Nor do I buy the "competitively hitting seven bells out of eachother as a metaphor for girls maturing into womanhood" angle. Meh.

#25Alive! Day 12: Here is my #BookHaul for the #ToB25 - and this is just half of what had already been delivered - plus a few more titles besides. I blame @BarbaraBB for tagging me. Lols.