Welcome to Litsy!

On to the NONFICTION winner of #ReadingBrackets2023! This quarter belonged entirely to Hampton Sides—he battled himself the whole way. December‘s pick about the Marines at the Chosin Reservoir was excellent. It moved on against “Ghost Soldiers” to face “Hellhound on His Trail.” For me, it was an easy pick: “Hellhound,” a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, sweeps the board and emerges as victor. In fact, it‘s my favorite book of the entire year!

And we have a #ReadingBrackets2023 FICTION winner! My December pick by Thrity Umrigar was very good, and moved into the quarterfinals where it met a fierce competition with “Dear Edward.” In the end “Edward” moved into the finals because it grabbed me from the start while “Museum” took a while to get revved up. But in a head-to-head with “The Covenant of Water,” the winner was clear. Congratulations to Abraham Verghese!

For FICTION: After loving "Dear Edward" in October, I immediately sought this out. It‘s a complicated family drama; the story of four sisters -- an ambitious one, an introverted reader, an artist and a caregiver -- and the family ties that bind and tear them apart. It's a big story that covers the various nuances of human emotion, from depression, despair, and grief to the fullness of life and love. Definitely my favorite of the month.

My Nov. brackets felt like Groundhog Day, since both my fiction and NF picks were by the same authors as my Oct. picks!

For NONFICTION: Another by the fabulous Hampton Sides. On Jan. 28, 1945, 121 U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March 30 rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. This is the tale of that mission.

My best fiction read of September was The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, but it was a close call with The Vaster Wilds!

#readingbrackets2023