pickThis was so much more than I was expecting. A lot of what I had read about it focused on the affair between Cushla, a Catholic, and the married Protestant Michael, but that is only one facet of her story. I think it does the book a disservice to call it the story of an affair. It is Cushla's story, her life lived during the Troubles, attempting to navigate family, friendship, live, and community. π
pick@Cinfhen described this to me perfectly, it really is "whacked in a good way." It is a chaotic ride through the messed up life of Penny Rush. She sets out for Santa Barbara, determined to clean out her hoarder grandmother's house (and confiscate her gun), but not a single moment goes as planned. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the wild, weird, and wonderful ride.
#WomensPrizeLonglist23
pickWelcome to the new town, same as the old town!
Nothing new or different here, really, but still a solid entry in (or I guess spin off to) Armstrong's Rockton series. Gobbled it up in 24 hours.
Heck yes!!!!
Any other Rockton fans out there?
pickHoly s#!+
Totally engaging read right off the bat. Then, about halfway through, just as I was thinking, "Hmm... something really needs to happen soon, or this is going to stall out," the whole thing goes BONKERS BANANAS.
Very much lives up to its Shakespearean name. Embrace the chaos, enjoy the ride.
pickTW: suicide, suicide attempt, self-harm, rape, childhood illness
How do you translate your life into a fictional body? Croft plays with genre, blurring the lines between fiction and truth; and form, combining short chapters with photos from her childhood and captions that question the limits of language to translate feelings and memory. The result is beautifully readable, thoughtful, and effective.
#WomensPrizeLonglist23
pickA beautifully written story of a young woman coming of age in the 1930's in Vancouver's East End. Exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters, the bonds of friendship, community, an artist's view of the world around her, and a young woman discovering the colours and textures of love. You can tell Knight is a poet, the way she crafts a sentence is an utter delight. She has created a vibrant world to be celebrated.
"She spent so much time inside of her mother's absence it started to linger on her tongue like powdered cinnamon or whole cloves of garlic."
Not sure if anyone else read In the Time of the Butterflies last month for #FoodandLit #DominicanRepublic, but I just saw that there is a TV series on Disney+ about the Mirabel sisters. Looks like a good one!
https://youtu.be/q5-UiaKUNy4
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
"In Ancient Greece a clue was just a skein of yarn until enough mythical figures unraveled their ways out of mazes."
#WomensPrize2023 #WomensPrizeLonglist
Love a good #IndependentWomen playlist! I got a good start, with some Joan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, Kate Nash, Florence + the Machine, Nina Simone, Veruca Salt, and more. I'll be adding to it through the day! Can't wait to see everyone's lists.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0NqdZsr87lAVert6leDK3S?si=Zp_s_xArQwuhN38IYt_g...
@BarbaraBB @Cinfhen
I just finished the tagged this morning, what a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the #independentwomen who live in its pages. Who refused to live their lives and loves based on the rules of male power and society.
Top: cover, Lina Poletti, Virginia Woolf
Middle: Romaine Brooks, Eva Palmer, Natalie Barney, Vita Sackville-West
Bottom: Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas, Isadora Duncan, Colette
@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB
Yay for #BookSpinBingo! I actually started the tagged yesterday, and it turns out it is my #BookSpin π Everything's coming up Millhouse!
@TheAromaofBooks
pickJenny Lawson is always a pick. Hilarious, heartfelt, thoughtful, and relatable.
Thank you so much @Chelleo π π What a great #BlitsySwap package!!! I love everything. I'm a sucker for bookish socks, and the bookmarks are gorgeous π And a fantastic selection of books, I love them all and I love that they are from three different genres so I'm ready for whatever reading mood hits!
Your off-the-TBR pick is perfect! I'm a sucker for retellings and anything mythology based, so it's right up my alley!
Thanks again!!!!!!
Yay! It's #BlitsySwap opening day! Thank you so much @Chelleo π The second package arrived at the post office on Friday so I was able to pick it up this morning in time for opening day π
My hastily thrown together list for #BookSpin March!
@TheAromaofBooks
Note to self: when holding a sleeping child, Jenny Lawson is maybe not the best choice. Trying not to laugh out loud leads to full body shakes.
#TBRTarot #YellowCover @CBee
pickLike others have mentioned, this was an uneven read for me. I loved the concept, and some parts were really engaging, but there were also a number of inconsistencies in the world building and characterizations. The ending pushed it from a so-so to a low pick for me; I found it surprisingly satisfying.
#IndependentWomen @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB
pickI started this book a year ago, spent weeks plodding through the first 45 pages, and then put it aside. I picked it back up yesterday and whipped through 200 pages in less than 24 hours. Could not put it down.
Kenyan journalist John Thandi Manfredi travels to Ethiopia to discover the secrets of Tizita. He sets out to profile three musicians - The Diva, The Taliban Man, and The Colonel - but what he discovers goes beyond these individuals. π
@Blerdgal_Fenix do any of these interest you for a March buddy read? I'll tag them in the comments π
pickA beautiful book about a single mom, newly immigrated to 1980s Montreal, doing what she can to survive and start to find a dream for the future. There are hard times, but also kind people and good hearts as she tries to redefine what life is and can be in the face of a whole new world.
#CanadaReads
pickI loved spending time getting to know the Mirabel sisters. A solid historical fiction pick about a family living under the Trujillo dictatorship and the lengths these four bold, brave women will go to for freedom, love, family, and faith.
#FoodandLit #DominicanRepublic @Catsandbooks @Texreader
Happy #MugLove23 Opening Day, everyone!
Thank you @ShelleyBooksie for this great package! I love the mug, I'm going to wash it out so I can use it for my morning tea! And the tea looks great, can never go wrong with a classic English Breakfast. And what a sweet bookmark! Love it all, thanks so much!
And thank you to my super awesome cohost @Cinfhen πππ
pickLoved it. The cover seems to promise something lighter and fluffier than it really is, but in a way that reflects Maeve herself. Trying very hard to give no f-s and leave her town and girlhood behind but really struggling to leave it all, her family, friends, and buried traumas.
pickLoved it. Utterly engaging from the first page to the last. I loved the boomerang style narrative, beginning in the near future in a time post- environmental collapse, then heading backward 100+ years before swinging back to the future along the opposite trajectory. A story of family born and found, nature, and what we owe to ourselves, our families, and the world itself.
@monalyisha your matching skills always impress me! I had a great list from @Chelsea.Poole to choose from for #AuldLangSpine and I was able to get to 6 of them in January! All were really good reads, Unlikely Animals and Rabbit Hutch were stand outs. I've got two more on the go (Lost and Found, and All That She Carried) and will continue to read more throughout the year!
Thanks Alyisha for another great year, & Chelsea for being a great partner!
@ShelleyBooksie your #MugLove23 package is on its way! Should arrive next week. I got it all packed up and ready to go and then realized that I forgot to put the card in π€¦ββοΈ but you know it's from me, and I hope you like it!
@Cinfhen
Let's see how this goes! #BookSpin list ready for February π
@TheAromaofBooks
"Words repeated, distorted, words recreated by those who might bear them a grudge, words stitched to words until they are the winding sheet the family will be buried in when their bodies are found dumped in a ditch, their tongues cut off for speaking too much."
Starting early for #FoodandLit #DominicanRepublic @Catsandbooks @Texreader
pickAbsolutely delightful. A gentle, found family fantasy that leaves the same warm and fuzzy feeling of The House in the Cerulean Sea or The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Loved it.
pickThis one started a bit uneven for me, and it took some time to get into. But the second half whipped by in a flurry of rapidly turned pages. Some POVs were more effective than others (EJ and Allie had the most intriguing sections, IMO). Overall, a worthy read, and one I'd never heard of before #auldlangspine
@Chelsea.Poole @monalyisha
pickAn epic tale of Uganda, family, Tradition vs Colonialism, spirits, curses, and intergenerational trauma. If you can get your hands on the edition with Aaron Bady's Introduction, I highly recommend it, especially if you are reading this from a white, Western space.
#foodandlit #Uganda
@Catsandbooks @Texreader
"... he loved to bend a phrase right up to the breaking point before letting it spring back into place, reverberating wildly."
This guy gets it!
pickA unique writing style, juxtaposing the calming sameness of routine and the jarring panic of the unexpected and unexplained in different settings. I'll be thinking about this one, and feeling its grip on my heart, for a while.
I often get frustrated with marketing that insists on comparing a new book to a past sensation (see: any of the million books that are the "new Bridget Jones" or "Harry Potter for grown ups"). But when a book is actually a retelling of a classic, it should probably be mentioned in the blurb! Marketing this as a crime saga does a disservice to the book. It's a Gatsby retelling. And once I realized that, it totally flipped the reading experience ?
Found these socks at Dollarama today! Love them, couldn't resist, and I had to share π
pickI have no idea how this book escaped my attention before finding it on @Chelsea.Poole 's #auldlangspine list. It is 100% my kind of read. Delightfully quirky and heartfelt without being cheesy, light magical realism, a remarkable cast of characters surrounding a wonderfully dysfunctional family (who manage to function rather well despite it all). And it all comes together with the most madcap, bonkers, fantastic community theatre production. π
pickWhat a lovely read. I read this slowly over the last couple weeks, just one or two essays a day, and it was the perfect way to read it (honestly, I wish I had even longer to really spread them out and savour them, but my book was due back!). As always with collections, some essays were more effective than others, but many will stick with me for quite some time.
#AuldLangSpine @Chelsea.Poole @monalyisha
Yup. Do this all the time.
pickThis was a great book to dip into and read amongst all the others I have on the go. Short sections with beautiful writing, insights into Ojibwe culture and history, and possibly the coolest library I've ever heard of!
#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville
@RowReads1 and @gossamerchild get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@StayCurious and @merelybookish get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@Daisey and @vonnie862 get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@Bookgoil and @Graciouswarriorprincess get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@Marmie7 and @Blerdgal_Fenix get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@OriginalCyn620 and @Soubhiville get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@Bklover and @Cinfhen get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
@LaraReads and @LeslieO get ready for some #MugLove23! You've been matched!
Keep an eye on your inboxes, we'll be sending emails this weekend with all the info you need to shop and swap!
Your hosts, @Cinfhen and @TheKidUpstairs
![[tagged book]](https://image.librarything.com/pics/litsy_webpics/icon_taggedBook@3x.png){kind=icon}
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