Welcome to Litsy!

This one really didn‘t work for me. Parts of it were good, but the structure felt choppy and a number of the religious musings felt shoehorned in, not fitting the narrative. By the end I really didn‘t care. I‘m disappointed because I lived in Detroit when Obama was elected and hearing people celebrating in the streets was extraordinary. I wish this could have channeled the actual moment. #TOB25

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 What a trip… Separate short stories of rejection (feminist dudebro no women want to sleep with, woman romantically obsessed with a friend, etc.) that veer into the very explicit, and then into someone creating an online bot universe? Finishes with a “rejection letter” to the author about the book‘s flaws. I liked some, some went maybe farther than necessary, and the end got too navel-gazey for me. Soft/equivocal pick. #ToB25

What in the world did I just read and why? So far, the #ToB25 shortlist has NOT delivered gems to my reading life. This was weird and I was lost most of the time, though maybe that was part of the point…? Felt like I was wandering in a dark forest, like the cover. Though I did think more about translators and their experiences than ever before. I‘ve undoubtedly missed something so I guess I‘ll learn from the discussion. That ending though!

Oof this main character, George, is so unappealing it made the book difficult to read, hence the so-so. Typically I can handle unlikable characters but this is the first book I actually thought about abandoning because I hated a character so much. George is a caricature of the white male millennial who relies on the women in his life to get by. His mother and significant other both can‘t help but love him though he gives so little in return. Eww.

Loved this. It‘s the first non-reread I‘ve given more than 4⭐️ to this month. I love how she brought in classics like 1984 and Alice in Wonderland. A truly important read in this time of repression and book banning.

A man gets a job as a book censor in his repressive state. But he didn‘t anticipate falling in love with books. Now he must manage his books and his family with ever increasing danger from the state and the resistance. #tob25

This was a bit hard to follow on audio. It is a bit hard to distinguish what is actually happening from the MC‘s imagination. That said, I‘m still thinking about it, which surprises me and took it from a so-so to low pick.

An Ethiopian immigrant returns to the US from Paris where he has a family. A death causes him to reflect on his childhood, relationships, and his family‘s immigration story. #tob25

Reading this book of interconnected short stories, many of them historical, set in the NE US and into Canada is like walking through a museum dedicated to New England and seeing different studies through the ages of people in this place. It‘s just marvelous. #ToB25

Fantastic, interconnected stories set in three centuries in New England. I loved most of the stories. Each so different and yet an unmistakable part of the whole. A favorite on the #ToB25 shortlist for sure!

Where‘s my dysfunctional family fans?? This is our type of read!
In this messy, wealthy Jewish family in Queens, three siblings and their parents live under the shadow cast by the defining event of their lives: matriarch, Carl was kidnapped when the children were young (one not yet born). Explores how religion and wealth create family dynamics but most of all how trauma presents itself in many different ways. I loved it! #ToB25 longlist

This dreamlike book explores an Ethiopian-American man‘s relationship to his family through his life, plus the things kept from him and why. It explores family, identity, race, and hints at mental health. It didn‘t knock my socks off, but it feels like something that might stick for a while. #ToB25