⭐️4/5
A look at war and its lingering effects on people, communities and grief. Saba returns to Georgia for the first time since leaving as a child to escape the civil war. Searching for his father and brother using bread crumbs left behind, he also must face the ghosts he‘s carried with him throughout his life.
Well written, thought provoking. I hated started each new chapter but couldn‘t stop once I did.

⭐️5/5
Gorgeous. Love the play with space and fluidity of thought in this collection. Definitely want to read more of his work.

⭐️4/5
Engaging, fantasy story of a girl on the run. She ends up traveling with a band of mercenaries who demand truth while she has lived her life holding secrets close. 3rd person, multiple POV. Set up for the sequel which I‘ll read but not rushing to grab.

In a dystopian world where a virus has made animal meat inedible, humans are now bred as game and “special meat.” Marcos works at a processing facility, and as his personal life seems to be falling apart, he begins to question the society he exists in.

Spent 90% of the book, feeling sick to my stomach with the same creepy uneasy I get whenever I read Lord of the Flies. But the ending was perfectly done, and I‘m not sure what that says about me.

Reread to finally finish a series I started in middle school! To my defense, I read the first three in a month and then years later the rest were published 😜 it‘s enjoyable to see what I loved a kid, and I‘m excited to see how the author‘s writing grows in the later books too!

Next audiobook! 🎧 One of my New Year‘s resolutions is to read all the physical TBR on my shelves (or the ones I started the year with because I can never stick to a book buying ban) and I‘m finding audiobooks are making it easier. Kind of feels like cheating but life is chaotic and it‘s easy to listen while stuck in traffic or doing housework.

I‘m 2/3 the way through and the strange kind of foreshadowing in this book (because the FMC is an oracle who can see the potential futures) is killing me in a way I love. Very excited to see how this truly ends!

I know people have loved this book and I‘m in the minority, but I am really only reading this series for the MMC. I want him to find his happily ever after. I don‘t like the FMC and I didn‘t like how this second book of the trilogy ended.
Despite all my moaning‘s and groaning‘s, I will finish the series.

⭐️5/5
I‘m probably being generous but I am a sucker for a collection of interconnected short stories that feel very literary fiction. While I didn‘t love the voice actor for this novel (which is being extra picky), the story itself was captivating. The alternating POV, the stories not being in chronological order, the look at friendship, love, sexuality, family, culture and heartbreak hit all the right buttons for me. One of my top reads so far!

⭐️3/5
I really wanted to like this more than I did and this rating feels unfair. While reading, I really enjoyed the story. I was swept right into the mystery and intrigue and appreciated the non linear story telling with multiple POVs. However, I think because this isn‘t my usual genre, I didn‘t enjoy the ending and it left it more a middling book for me.

⭐️3.75/5
Five years late to the craze for this book, but I can see why it was popular. Easy to read while dealing with big subjects such as grief, trauma, and our world‘s strange obsession with tragedy. Tear jerking, thoughtful, and not utterly sad, this was a good read. Needs TW when recommending but I‘ll read more of her work!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A must read, Amor Towles‘ voice is always a joy for me. Set in 1950s with main characters from small town Nebraska (which as a girl from small town Nebraska I appreciate the way he accurately was able to capture this), this layered story looks at right and wrong, the meaning of legacy, and friendship in ways not always expected. Unreliable narrations with multiple POV with distinct voices, definite rec for anyone who enjoys lit fic.

Listening to this as an audiobook! About 1/3 through and I really enjoy the voice actors. Towles writing style is always a pleasure and I‘m very interested to see how this goes. I have the next 2 days off and lots of chores to do so I‘m hoping to finish it by tomorrow night! Ambitious but hopeful 😊

⭐️2/5
Interesting concept, really like the beginning but the story felt rushed (despite being almost 400 pages) and nothing felt fully fleshed out. The relationships felt shallow that we are supposed to be connected to and the ending felt forced. Really enjoyed learning about other folktales though and I always enjoy a story where death is a main character.

I‘m really enjoying the book so far but want to know about the stylistic choices of the physical book! Someone who read the book, if you could please help me I‘d greatly appreciate it. In the audiobook, there will be pauses and then a different narrator will speak with more information on a point. Connected but not directly. Are there footnotes? Annotation? Brackets? Why does a woman narrator come in randomly? Haha I like it, just curious!

Audiobooks have been my savior this month. I‘ve been working long days with long commutes so listening on my drive and then when I get home to cook dinner has been the most reliable way to get any reading in. Though I have been keeping to lighter audiobooks, I think I‘m ready to attempt attacking this novel next with the new headphone my momma got me. Have seen tons of great reviews so I‘m excited!

The story was fine, writing was decent, I really liked the idea behind it… but it was missing something. I didn‘t really care for the characters, not that I disliked them but I wasn‘t invested in them and I kept waiting for the story to start. Easy read, so I finished rather than bailing.

What a joy to reread this novel. Spiotta plays with style, including articles with comments, and transcribed films. The narrators are varying degrees of unreliable. Very character driven rather than plot driven with the overarching theme of what makes a person good? Motifs of film, time, and sound. Definitely not a book for everyone but gorgeously done.

I have to work this Labor Day so I‘m doing so with a good book! This is my #blindbook I titled blue samples on my bingo board this month and it feels very fitting for the book itself. I loved this book when I first read it 5-6 years ago so I‘m excited to read it again!

My next read! Starting this today while at work. Hoping to get a good way through it before the day is over since it has such short chapters.

My September board! Lots of #blindbook series on here because I‘m moving next month and trying to lower the amount of loose book jackets I need to pack. Excited to see how the month goes!

Little late but my August board! It looks alright because some of the books were repeated!

Stats:
6 books read
1 reread
4 #blindbook series

A crime/mystery novel about 2 homophobic men with criminal backgrounds set out to serve their version of justice to the person that killed their gay sons and are forced to face their past along the way. Different than most of the books I read, it was refreshing and I highly enjoyed it. It was part of my #BlindBook series and while I got the color scheme right, the theme couldn‘t have been more off 😂

Realizing in the current US environment of book bans and attacks on libraries, my username is seeming very less whimsical and not so much the architectural integrity is precariously stacked piles of books that are threatening to collapse on top of me at any moment…😅

Got about 1/3 way through yesterday and the plot is finally starting to come together. Took a bit longer than expected but the world building needed to be slower for this I think and the chapters are super short which helps keeps my attention. Excited to see where Schwab takes this!

Pro moving tip: liquor and wine boxes are great for packing books! Small and sturdy so you can‘t overpack and be overwhelmed by the weight. And they fit so nicely. I got these from a restaurant I was working at but my coworker told me if I needed more he got a ton from his local liquor store for free too. Only downside, your new neighbors might think you‘re a raging alcoholic but it could also keep them away for more reading time 😂

What a beautiful love letter from the author to her mother. A memoir whose storyline revolves around the author‘s mother dying from cancer when Zauner was in her early 20s that touches on identity, grief and loss, connection and food.

Starting a new book today and someone was eager for us to get into it! Excited to start this series, heard a lot of good things about it.

Also please ignore my bed, I‘m washing sheets today lol

I really wanted to like this book. It could be a matter of timing. But especially after just finishing a book I found expertly written, this feels clunky. I tried giving it extra grace as a debut and read a little over 25% but it‘s not something I‘m moving past so I‘m going to bail for now and try again in the future.

I always seem to read TJ Klune books when depressed and they always just add more sunshine to my world. I love the romance in this book and I don‘t like romance stories. I love the creativity, the deeper messages on life and death and meaning in all this insanity. Just *chefs kiss*

I loved it. It‘s gorgeously written but definitely not for everyone. Reminiscent of Normal People x Hemingway because there is no quotation marks, limited dialogue tags with stifled conversation. But Washington trusts readers to make the jumps between the gaps he leaves rather than holding your hand the whole way. Which I love. The description here says rom-com but for me this is more of a character driven literary fiction with a romance angle.

I reread this book ever 3-4 years and every time I‘m blown away by different aspects of this novel. This time it was how recent this was actually set in our history. My grandma and I discussed her reading this book when it was first published in the US and how much she loved it. A classic for a reason, and something I look forward to rereading again in my 30s.

A wonderful summer ghost story! This is my first kind of scary, horror book being read as an audiobook and I really enjoyed it! I think listening to it around 4th of July (the same time frame of the story) made it even better. As a lover of history, a fan of fantastical, this story was the perfect spooky summer read.

An action/mystery story on identity, family and love. I appreciated the history, the critical look at what love and family and can look like. Maybe because I‘ve never been in similar situations but I felt like at times reality had to be slightly suspended during this read but overall I really enjoyed it!

I really enjoyed this book! Took just a bit to reel me in, but once I was there it was hard to pull me away. Feminist vibes, sometimes a bit too on the nose but still always love to see it, story retelling, mild fantasy. I can‘t speak to how well done the retelling is since I had never engaged with the story before this. Easy pick that I was sad to be down with.

Good morning Litsy! I haven‘t been on much because I‘ve spent the last couple weeks prepping for an intense job interview process that included flying out to NYC for the day and flying back home the same night! But it‘s finally calmed down enough that I‘m back to post some updates and reviews!!

Finally getting into this audiobook. Learning I need to just trudge through the first couple hours typically before I know if I like or dislike a story. Thankfully I listen at 1.5x speed so it‘s not so bad time wise!

Starting my next book while at work today. Hoping to finish this book before the month is over!

This is a reread for me! I seem to pick it up every couple years with a new appreciation for Plath. Lately, I‘ve been seeing booktok videos (I‘m assuming that‘s where they started but I don‘t have TikTok) creating lists of books to read to master female manipulation and this book is always listed. Maybe I‘m confused, but even as I‘m reading through this I‘m not seeing the MC as some manipulative mastermind.

Catching up with some reviews… and this series is such a joy. A creative reimagining to the origin of Peter Pan with familiar and new characters. This was originally the final book in the series and then a 4th book was published much later. But this book was my favorite of the original three. It concluded wonderfully and all the nods to the stories origins was delightful. Great MG series, look forward to reading the fourth book!

Starting my next audiobook today. It‘s a rainy dreary summer day where I‘m at, so I‘m hoping to get some good reading and light cleaning in today.
I‘m just a couple chapters into this book and so far I‘m finding all the characters a bit confusing and hard to keep straight. It was definitely a book I picked because of the cover so I won‘t be upset if I decide to bail on this one.

This book had a slow start for me that I would have stopped if not an audiobook but I understand why the author set it up the way she did. I really appreciated the way sex, childbirth and menstruation were portrayed in this story. Since this book was originally recommended to me by my grandma when I was 15 I was surprised by the amount of sex talked about in the book, but nothing graphic. Soft pick because it did reel me in.

I wasn‘t really sure I liked this book enough to continue listening but didn‘t want to take the time to find a different book. Well, I‘m finally at a point where I want to keep listening and it‘s almost over. Hoping to finish this book either tonight or tomorrow!

My sister picked my next read and went with my poolside paradise #blindbook. I‘ve barely started but I‘m excited!

Still one of my favorite reads! Definitely going to make this something I revisit yearly. I love how Wilder pushes boundaries and while the theme of the play isn‘t revolutionary, the presentation is. It‘s a quick read that could really be done in a couple hours.

I couldn‘t do it @Kshakal 😂 I kept trying to pick it back up, to get at least 35% in before bailing but I just had no interest in forcing myself through that. After doing a quick search online, I saw quite a few people felt this book was missing something and didn‘t feel as bad bailing. It just feels too disjointed and apathetic for me.

Enjoying a slow Saturday morning with a cute MG book and some iced coffee! Have a couple reviews I‘m behind on that I‘m hoping to post later today. But for now, I‘m going to enjoy the birds singing and a Peter Pan adventure. Hope everyone‘s having a great weekend!

One of my favorites reads from high school… found this copy in a little library outside the local school. So happy I picked it up and it‘s fun to see what notes the different kids have left in the margins. Also super interested to see how I‘ll feel about the story now that I‘m in “act 2” compared to when I first read it!

Cute start to a series. The world building was its strongest feature. The MC was a bit annoying but he‘s also a 14year old boy so it felt fitting. Excited to keep reading the series to see how things progress!

This was a mid book for me. Nothing remarkable, quick simple read. I liked the premise and wish we got more of the historical aspects or a story that focused on their journey more. I also was not a fan of the husband at all and have a spoiler related question in the comments for others! This is something I‘d recommend to people who are just getting into reading and need a simple story with slight intrigue.