Welcome to Litsy!

Just could not get into this short story collection at all. DNF @ 23%

#ReadYourKindle @CBee
#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES

I just can‘t finish this one… I should have dnf‘d 100 pages ago! I just don‘t care what happens to these characters! 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Given that this is Booker longlisted, this may be an unpopular opinion, but this missed the mark for me. The structure apes Hernan Diaz‘s Trust, longlisted in 2022, but whereas Trust had a natural flow, Universality feels very disjointed, and purely a vehicle for Brown‘s view of the press. I had to reread some sections 3 times because I just didn‘t feel engaged with the writing at all. Too much of a hard slog.

Book 69/80 #Read2025 @DieAReader

This was almost a DNF. But, when I got surprised by who Katy runs into in Positano the story really took off for me. The ending was a little disappointing because I would've liked some kind of explanation. Overall, it was good story to get lost in.

59/80

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#ReadingMyTBR #Reading2025 @DieAReader

After 235 pages, I just don't care enough to read another 300 pages. #HailTheBail

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#ReadingMyTBR #Read2025 @DieAReader

A history of some of the people who were sent to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum (as it was then known) which opened in 1863. People who were tried for committing a crime but found unfit to plead or not responsible for their actions due to insanity under the Trial of Lunatics Act (1883), were sent to places such as Broadmoor - often for the rest of their natural life. Later residents included Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire Ripper) & Ronnie Kray,

Was disappointed with this one. The pace was slow, and honestly, I was kinda bored. And I didn‘t care for the ending, which was ambiguous. I like my endings tidy!

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#read2025
#fanofthepan

This novel has won awards - I was prompted to finally read it (it‘s been on my TBR for at least three years…) by the “Acclaimed Titles” prompt on Goodreads - so it must be me, not the book, but I did not enjoy this one. I didn‘t like the writing style, it gave me no empathy for the characters or the bizarre decisions they made.

Book 63/80 #Read2025 @DieAReader

Psychology graduate, Anna Varga, applies for a position at the Säter, notorious clinic for forensic psychiatry which underwent a recent scandal. Still, it's prestigious & would be a great career step, so even when Anna arrives at the clinic to start her new post & learns that her predecessor disappeared, she carries on.

Anna is asked to work with a new patient, a man who committed a well-planned murder but claims to have no memory of doing so.

“You have to fool yourself into thinking you already are the thing you want to become.”

Depressing but not debilitating. It wasn‘t horrible but it wasn‘t good either. Fuzzy timelines and too many characters. I tried hard to engage with it but…

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