Welcome to Litsy!

I really liked this book about friendship.

I had no idea that Dumbo in NYC was an abbreviation of this

I just love the name Dumbo since I love the Disney movie with the same name

“Oh, I can miss someone after a day. Let‘s meet somewhere -“
“Where?”
“Anywhere - let me think. Portofino!” He was delighted by his proposal. “Where the film stars go. Everyone must go to Italy - (…)”

(This dialogue reminds me of Taylor Swift‘s song Elizabeth Taylor. Picture of Portofino found online)

This book was probably funny, poignant, irreverent, and wise, but it didn't hit me at the right time in my life, and I couldn't enjoy it as much. I didn't want to read about death and the meaning of life and the average guy feeling sorry for himself. Not the book's fault. I read it for a book club.

I really just feel like reading about dragons or something.🐲

Last one to read before the Booker Prize winner is announced on Monday!

This was not on my radar at all but seeing it on the shortlist made me curious.

First of all, this cover! The Wilderness is certainly making the rounds on the bookish Internet. I loved The Turner House, her first, so I knew I would give this a go. I love a novel about a group of friends. These 4 women (and a 5th In periphery) show up for one another, except when they don‘t and we get to see it all. They are different and lead various lives, but felt like accurate portrayals of people navigating our current time.

I was so excited to see that Stephen Colbert selected this book for viewers to read. I think it‘s this author‘s best book.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQsEE9ckbQA/?igsh=ZHU4bWRlYm0xMDQ0

This is a quiet, internal story, with abuse, abandonment, and unanswered questions at its heart. Julia—pregnant at 41—returns to her hometown after 23 years away. She‘s searching for answers & some measure of resolution about her past. I appreciated the nuance with which Hegi paints her characters—acknowledging both the repercussions of abuse & abandonment, and the unreliability of memory—as Julia struggles to reconcile the past & move forward.⤵️

I enjoyed Helm a lot. I liked the structure of interwoven of separate stories. They gave a fuller description of the wind Helm than if it would have been a single narrative. I found some of the stories to be pretty funny. There was also the climate angle. How our refusal to counter climate change is not sustainable for winds like Helm, or living things.
4 stars.

Helm had all five of November's #WickedWords.
@AsYouWish