Welcome to Litsy!

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.

Snow
Cat
Book
Blanket

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.

#libraryhaul ☺️
Marmalade is the next library group book.
The Messud is my final #bookerprizelonglist title.
The Tchaikovsky is by way of treating myself after showing up for a social activity. 😉

#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.