Welcome to Litsy!

This book. 💔 I love memoirs written in unique ways, and I love Sarah Moss‘ fiction; learning about her life experiences gave insights into some of the components of her novels. She so accurately captured for me the relationship between body, food and control, and how the line past which you‘ve taken it too far can be easy to cross. I loved all the discussions of works by female writers. The audio was fantastic.

Yeah... I should've DNFed that, that was dire. Brand's usually not *awful*, but this was all her most melodramatic tendencies, a stupid romance that doesn't work, and a whole bunch of incoherence. Maybe it was meant to be a parody but that doesn't make it bearable.

I can't tell if this is just *bad* or if I'm not in the mood, but wow I am not getting on with it. I'm not a huge fan of Christianna Brand, but normally I like her work better than this.

(And possibly it's meant to be parody but even that doesn't quite feel like it lands!)

I'm a bit stalled on this one. It did nicely evoke the Welsh weather, but I'm kinda meh about how... gothic it is? I think I see what's happening already, and the melodrama (and the main character getting humiliated) just isn't my jam. Brand isn't my favourite classic crime writer in any case, I've just never quite clicked with her stuff.

(I'm sorry about all the posts today! 😬 It's really catchup for most of the week, I suppose.)

Well, I HAVE to chime in on this one because I need to get all the mileage I can in proclaiming that I finished #Clarissa. 😆 All 950,000+ words of it. I used to brag about having read War & Peace, Don Quixote, and Anna Karenina… then I read Les Mis and Count of Monte Cristo and added them to the brag list, but Clarissa eclipses them all… in length but not enjoyment. 😂 Where are my other Learned Slatterns? Today is our day! #sundayfunday

It used to be “War & Peace” or “Les Miserables” (I don‘t remember which one is longer!) — until the #Clarissa Crew took down this monster (all 1,781 pages/ 943,000 words of it). It‘s considered the longest novel ever written in English. I will never not brag — and complain — about finishing this one. 😄

#sundayfunday
@BookmarkTavern

This was a cute rom-com!

The premise is so fun. Two authors facing immense writers block decide to “switch” plot ideas for their next books.

The star of the book was the two authors, Allie and Martin, and their writing relationship and friendship. I love that an old male crime author can become friends with a young female romance author.

Full review: https://oddandbookish.wordpress.com/2025/05/17/review-the-plot-twist/

Dahlia Lively is a Miss Marple-type character in a popular detective series. Rosalind King (60s) played the original Dahlia in the movies. Caro Hopper (40s) played Dahlia on the TV series. Posy Starling, child star, now grown up, plays Dahlia in the latest film. They should be rivals. But.
Instead, these three actresses who all have skeletons in their pasts, become unlikely friends, and team up to solve mysteries. 3rd book in this cozy series.

4⭐️ I like Celia Dale; I‘m already collecting her other titles published by Daunt Books. This one here is so refreshing. A gentle crime novel that is not too creepy, just a tad disturbing. How did she do that? I love it!

Pictures of myself are hard. This book was hard. I wish things could be different for her, for me, for my mother & sister & grandmother & aunts. Until then I‘m going to do what Moss does: send a good, bright wolf back in time to provide exactly what is needed ❤️ I‘m going to start by choosing to love the body that houses me