Welcome to Litsy!

This novel was kicking around on my shelf for years and somehow, I had managed not to read it or anything else by Catherine Lacey. But this book knocked me sideways. Lacey has the kind of voice (edgy, quirky, unapologetic) I will follow wherever she wants to go. I will be reading more of her work in 2026!
#12Booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

My husband of 33 years passed away from a brave battle with ALS at the age of 63 a few weeks ago. This season of Joy looks a little different for me this year. I‘m hoping to find happiness this season in the faces of my children and grandchildren as we grieve his loss together.

This book is really great and fitting if you‘ve experienced unexpected loss. I wouldn‘t say it fits all kinds of grief, but it is the best book I‘ve read specifically for that kind of grief. I was nodding my head through most of this book in agreement and understanding.

Grief is a process we all experience - and Weller's ability to talk about it with compassion shines through in this book. I particularly enjoyed the poetry references throughout this book - it brought a distinct humanity to the otherwise difficult subject matter.

“Sometimes bad things happen and you have to tell everyone; sometimes terrible things happen and everybody knows.”

#FirstLineFridays

@ShyBookOwl

My dear Littens: I have joined the club that no one wants to join. Last Friday morning I found my husband unresponsive on the floor. Paramedics could not revive him, and they estimated that he had passed away sometime in the night.

I‘m stunned and heartbroken, but I‘m learning that I have an awesome support team that is stepping up for me.

I‘ll be here a little less for a while but will check in.

Here we are with friends in happier times.

He sent a text to his three best friends (who were in a car together), and because the driver replied, they crashed. And people blame him for it. That‘s what this book is about. Really. No thank you!

I lost my mom when I was 14 & I can‘t believe it took me this long to find this book. Full of wisdom about how grief stays with you and grows in different seasons of life, this book helped me so much. If you‘ve lost your mom, no matter how old you are, I would highly recommend this. There were so many moments that made me realize I was not alone.

“For the motherless daughter, depending on independence is not nearly as contradictory as it sounds.”

I finished this book in about 8 hours! I like how Joyce Magnin writes, and how she tells the story of her childhood, and what it was like in her family, when her brother went MIA. This story is relatable, and it kept me wanting to read more to find out what was going to happen.

#BookReview

Making sense of the unimaginable, natural disasters, struggling with what can be real, remembering, enduring love, details, grief, survivor‘s guilt, haunting, rebuilding a life. Deraniyagala‘s family killed in 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. 2013

P198 “It still seems far-fetched, my story, even to me. Everyone vanishing an instant, me spinning out from that mud, what is this, some kind of myth? Even now I cannot mouth those words ‘They are all dead.‘“