Welcome to Litsy!

First Bookoutlet haul of the 2025-26 school year. The Good Ones and Our Kind of Game came home with me. #sorrynotsorry

“Life is a thread, connecting us all in unexpected ways.”

After losing her mom, Emmalee, a single mom, becomes a friend of coworker Leona, who wanted to be a mom but couldn‘t, at the sewing factory 🧵. When Leona dies suddenly, Emmalee is determined to craft Leona‘s funeral dress 👗

#Read2025
#Bookspinbingo
#Pantone2025

Due to an especially busy and draining spring semester, I didn't read nearly as much from @monalyisha ‘s #AuldLangSpine list as I would have liked in January/the first half of 2025. Hoping to make up for that in the second! This was so lovely. 💚 Many standout essays, and even though it‘s summer where I am, somehow the winter ones resonated most strongly, I think because of the moral winter we‘re living through right now. 😞

I really enjoyed this story. I've never read another one like it. It is unusual yet relatable, and I think that I could pick the book up in a few years and feel like I am coming back to visit old friends.

#BIBLIOPHILE
@Eggs
@AlwaysBeenALoverOfBooks

TODAY‘S PROMPT: PROTAGONIST WITH A DISABILITY

Lillian was skepticaL about the nanny job, but also couldn‘t believe the luck of being able to live in a mansion‘s guest cottage with domestic help.

The only draw back is that the children have some rare disease where they automatically combust when they get upset. Yes...they catch on fire.

FULL REVIEW: https://tinyurl.com/2xc2tevt

I feel like I‘m one of a few who didn‘t read this when it was published. One reason I didn‘t is because I dislike the cover. So, I finally read it after a librarian picked it for me.
I liked this story, but not as much as many other people. It was sweet, I liked the message, a quick read. 3/5 ⭐️

Liked it more than I thought I would.

Did I ever need this book right now! This was a quiet, contemplative read, almost meditative at times. I lost myself in the stories many times, especially when driving. I really enjoyed the audiobook, particularly so as the author read her own words. A good read at any time of year, but right now, as spring is emerging, it seemed very on point. 5/5⭐️
(April 14, 2025)

Set in Tenessee in 1952 this is a great story of a family of 3 brothers + a father who is returning after a long absence. The father E F Bloodworth, in his 70s has a reputation for violence in the past and for playing the banjo. The bk also focuses on his grandson Fleming. This was a really enjoyable family drama with great characters and some brilliant scenes. Evokes the region + tensions within families, as well as the exuberance of youth well

This was a gentle quiet read. I would put it in a collection with Soil by Camille Dungy, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Lab Girl by Hope Jahren: stories of women reflecting their lives and histories in the natural world. But more than that, the natural world is more important than the author at times. Not feel good books, but closer to calls to action than memoirs.