Welcome to Litsy!

This book reminded me a lot of Mikki Brammer‘s ‘The Collected Regrets of Clover‘. Bud writes about death every day—obituaries are his career. And yet, he has no idea how to live. After a mistaken publishing of a self-obituary, his life changes…one funeral at a time. After attending a series of funerals for people he doesn‘t know, he starts to think more about life. But only after the death of a special friend does he finally begin to live.

There is an obituary to write. I want to do it in a way that reminds anyone who reads it that that person‘s life mattered, that we won‘t forget. It is so easy to forget. We are all obituary writers because we get to write our life every day. Write it. Please. It‘s your life. Also, it will make my job easier.

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Now this is the kind of email I enjoy opening!!

"Geordie never just cried. He wept the uninhibited, noisy tears of filterless mourners, shrieking and thrashing the way the rest of us want to but learn much to early to control."

I loved every single page of this marvelous book. Reminiscent of some of the best CanLit, I couldn't help but think of Margaret Laurence and Ann-Marie MacDonald while reading.

One November day in 1967, two women disappear from a small community in BC. The book that follows is about the lives lived in the wake of that disappearance. It is beautiful and melancholy, with just enough glimpses of beauty and joy to maintain balance.

Cont'd 👇

This was one of my reading spots for the past week. We were at a cabin in Ontario's Near North, with essentially no internet or phone connections to the outside world. I spent a lot of time on the lake, and a lot of time reading on rocks. 6 books down for the week, all great reads, tagged was one of the best. Reviews to come!

Written from the perspective of a van driver, this books tells the manifold stories of Sri Lanka‘s people: returning exiles, aid workers, entrepreneurs, tourists and many more. The novel beamed me right back to 2012 when I first visited. I could see the places in front of me, smell the smells and remember all the great conversations I had with people about the war, the tsunami, the Chinese and the future. What a perceptive and fantastic read.

Tag you‘re it, @Tamra

You posted a review of this book that‘s on my shelf.

Find a book and a post and play along.

@Chrissyreadit

I loved this book. Meet Bud, an obituary writer with a wry sense of humor and an amazing circle of friends. He‘s all about life and death, living and dying. I even wrote down this quote “We do not know where death awaits us: so let us wait for it everywhere. To practice death is to practice freedom.” Did I mention that I loved this book? I cried through the last 50 pages. I even loved the author‘s note and the acknowledgments!

Birthday hall plus the tagged book which just so happened to arrive on my birthday from the Harvard first editions signed book subscription. My daughter and I are playing hooky from school and work to spa, eat fancy foods, and read 🥳