Welcome to Litsy!

Short stories from a favourite Canadian author. This is a good collection. Michael Crummey does interesting things with character.🇨🇦

Wow, this book is filled with vile, absolutely horrible people & I couldn‘t put it down. Historical fiction (when there was a king) set in Newfoundland, this book reminded me of Withering Heights & what happens when pure unbridled passion, envy, jealousy, & anger permeate a character‘s every moment, every motivation. The story starts with a power play that sweeps everyone along towards an inevitable, devastating end. Moody, dark, excellent.

Just started this. It‘s the first book I‘ve read by this author…I can already tell, it won‘t be the last. Really enjoying it so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmAjRdaBh2k&t=6s

The first half of this book chat with renowned Saskatchewan novelist and memoirist is about Michael Crummey's Dublin Prize-winning novel The Adversary, which Sharon read twice before we chatted.

2.5⭐️ While the book was written very well, I just didn‘t connect very well with the characters. Partly it had to do with the fact that I was unable to put a time period to the story. #bookclub #canadian #fiction #historicalfiction

Jennie‘s Boy, by Wayne Johnston (2023 🇨🇦)

Premise: A memoir of the author‘s childhood living with chronic illness in an impoverished Newfoundland community.

Review: This is close to being a perfect memoir: full of humour, insight, and vulnerability. It does a fantastic job of showing the reader the insecurity of growing up in illness, poverty, and as the child of an alcoholic, but also the power of familial love.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not nearly as wonderful as Johnston‘s fiction. This was a bit of a slog honestly, and I don‘t have high hopes for it on #CanadaReads. I think it‘ll be voted off first or second.

This is a unique look at poverty and chronic illness through the lens of a young boy in a fiercely stubborn family of survivors. It is a CanadaReads contender this year. I am not sure how applicable it might be to all of Canada. It would have been nice to hear how the rest of the family made out.

I‘m working my way through my last unread book from the Canada Reads shortlist. With about a hundred pages to go, I like it but I‘m not passionate about it. Guess that means WATCH OUT FOR HER is my top pick for this year, and it‘s bound to get voted off either first or second. Hopefully the debates‘ll still offer some interesting discussion fodder, whether or not I have strong feelings about the books on the table.