Welcome to Litsy!

This one is me, not the book. I tend not to enjoy fiction set in Ancient Greece and this was no different. Glad I gave it a try at least. Don‘t let me deter anyone. #TOBlonglist

Another book from the #toblonglist that I like better than many / most that made the short-list. 🤷‍♀️

It follows 2 out of a family of 5 siblings from childhood to adulthood, and one of their children too. It was a fascinating look at the nature / nurture question and how things we do or things that happen to us as children can reverberate throughout our lives.

It‘s long, but worked well for me on audio.

It‘s amazing to me that a book the contains a few scenes of brutal body horror (even I cringed, and I can handle a lot) is overall rather lighthearted and funny. I really enjoyed this one and wasn‘t necessarily expecting to going in. #TOBlonglist

It took me a while to get into this, from the #ToBlonglist. I hadn‘t read the blurb and assumed that the book was about the titular Lazarus Man, pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed NYC building after several days.

It turns out it‘s also about 3 other characters indirectly involved in the incident as well and, once I realised this, the narrative became less disjointed and I started to enjoy it.

It wouldn‘t make my shortlist though.

This has had mixed reviews but I liked it. It follows a young Black man as he works on the political campaign of a Black nominee.

I did have a couple of issues though - it was too obviously based on Obama‘s campaign which detracted from the MC‘s own story. Also, there was too much talk about religion and I lost interest / lost my way in those parts.

I‘m still glad I read it though.

#ToBlonglist

It took me a while to get through this weird little book, but I did like it. In the face of a weird fog/plague/catastrophe the main character does her best to care for her mother, her ex husband, and the little boy placed in her care. #ToBLonglist but not #ToBShortlist I‘m surprised by that.

Ostensibly about a drug-deal related shakedown, this is actually an exploration of the lives of people living at the margins and at risk. It‘s described as “darkly funny” and I don‘t agree at all—I found it to be an encouragement to look more deeply at quiet desperation. #TOBlonglist

I loved this, and it‘s another perfect example of why I love the #ToBlonglist so much.

Yes, it‘s a bit weird, but in a good way. And it‘s so beautifully but sparsely written - about motherhood, grief, regret, love, loss and forgiveness.

It has a bit of a feel of Catherine Chidgey‘s ‘Pet‘ but with added magical realism, so if you liked that - read this!

And I‘m not a fan of magical realism at all but it totally works here.

This one was just ok to me. I found the central story of a man struggling to get through a breakup fairly dull. And by the time we got to the former girlfriend‘s breakup aftermath, I just didn‘t care. Where it shines is with some of the supporting characters and stories, like the flatmate Andy ends up with and the houseboat bit. I don‘t think I would have made it through in print. #TOBlonglist

Adelle Waldman is so very clever. She lures the reader in with a story that seems to be a bit of a madcap workplace comedy in a big box store. And once she has you hooked, she reveals that it‘s actually a critique of modern American capitalism and how badly it hurts people and communities. This is fantastic. #TOBlonglist