Welcome to Litsy!

At the end of every story, I asked "and?", "so?" They were character driven and mostly mundane. The writing kept me plowing through but there were a few stories I read diagonally.

I'm not normally one for short story collections but I'd never read from Curtis Sittenfeld before and this seemed like a good way to sample their work.

And it was.

I really loved the writing style and will definitely be checking out the full length novels.

I enjoyed every story in the collection to varying degrees.

Stand outs would be A for Alone, White Women LOL and Patron Saints for Middle Age.

I always think this author is writing about herself when she does short stories. I kind of like it.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Pub date is 2/25/25 (😂 cutting it close there)
#ARC #Netgalley

I requested this ARC from Net Galley because it has a follow up to Prep, one of my favorite books of my early adulthood. I enjoyed all of the stories though. They were very Sittenfeld, so if you like this author you‘ll probably enjoy them too. This book comes out next week.

Reading too many books at once so nothing gets finished quickly!

I'm enjoying The Idiot, but the ebook was taken back by the library so now I have to read the paperback, which'll take longer. I'm about halfway through HF for #RiseUpReads I finished TDoE for #Netherlands #FoodandLit. Ooft, what a book, what a surprise ending. I'm working through TSoAwM and forsee a Met Museum hunt in my future. Tagged book was for a global reading goal. #Bolivia

This was on Obama‘s picks of the year, and while these short stories are well written, they are odd, off kilter enough that I couldn‘t truly get into them. If you like the eerie, this might be a good choice for you.

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude
Feeling a little frazzled in the New Year? I would give Lex Amor a listen. She's a London rapper/producer/DJ with deft lyricism and creative beats. The music is slow and hypnotic but won't put you to sleep because there's too much going on. She has a monthly email newsletter where she shares playlists, poetry, and words of wisdom. The image is the cover art from her first album, and she just released her 2nd this fall.

There‘s something stingy and mean in this collection, characters putting up barriers in self-preservation mode. But a few lovely ones: tender tourist in Hyderabad, urban tent housing vs. luxury safari tents, sentimental AI in Mall of America, Paul Yoon‘s mini-epic “Valley of the Moon,” Lori Ostlund‘s bubble family in “Just Another Family.” Preferred 2023 collection edited by Min Jin Lee. 2024

2025 reading challenge:
50 books
Book buying limited to non-fiction and rarer books

I thought Hadley is not for me,then I listened to the most recent The New Yorker Fiction Podcast: Savaş reads& discusses Hadley‘s An Abduction & her thoughts on Hadley‘s writing, in particular what happens inside of her characters made me want to read her again. I picked up this short story collection & am still not getting the genius of After the funeral which I had first read in the New Yorker but I loved Old Friends, Mia & My mother‘s wedding.