⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I don‘t give a lot of 5 star reviews. Maybe it‘s because I was so enthralled that this book provided the perfect distraction from the world. But it really is a perfect character driver story or historical depiction of the Irish famine and migration.

A few chapters in and already hooked. I‘m anticipating the anger, grief, and trauma to come in this historical literary drama about colonization in Ireland and what carries forward in Canada. The writing is gorgeous and the author is extraordinarily skilled at drawing readers into the lives of the MCs.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I couldn‘t put this down. The writing is crisp, honest, and funny. A book about love and relationships in all their forms. I‘m drawn to portrayals of midlife female MCs experiencing an awakening (and full expression) in their sexual, relational, and personal lives.

(Photo of author Miranda July holding her hit novel All Fours) I am loving this book. It‘s edgy and creative and liberating. I can‘t wait to see where it ends up.

Just started and already enjoying this one. I see mixed reviews here. I‘ll try not to read them so I can have a fresh experience. 📚

Pioneer study of the need for an inner female authority in a masculine-oriented society. Interprets the journey into the underworld of Inanna-lshtar, Goddess of Heaven and Earth, to see Ereshkigal, her dark sister. Very good thus far.

This is a slow novel in the best possible way. Pages and pages dedicated to landscape and weather. Some very smart structural decisions that help conclude substories without distracting from the main story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Current listen. Part memoire, part psycho education and all around a compelling story.

Next up. I‘ve read a lot of good reviews, including here on Litsy. I‘ve read so many great books already this summer. Moon Road, So Late In The Day, Tomb Sweeping, and Intimacies (Lucy Caldwell).

Best book I‘ve read this year - runner up is Claire Keegan‘s So Late in the Day. The main characters are reunited after 3 decades when they get word that their missing daughter‘s bones may have been found on a train on the west coast of Canada. Brilliant prose, every word matters. A gem 5 ⭐️

I cannot say enough about Moon Road by Sarah Leipcigar. I was hooked by the end of page one. The main characters are so well developed, the prose is crisp and sharp, and the story sucks you in.

I couldn‘t wait for this to drop in 🇨🇦 so I ordered it from the UK. I can‘t wait to dive in.

I ordered my copy. The reviews look great and she could write about wallpaper and I‘d be captivated.

Just started this one and I‘m already hooked 📚

If you‘ve read a lot of CK‘s short stories you‘ll see the progression from this to her more recent work. There were some absolute gems here and some that I skimmed. She has a talent for packing a lot of subtext such that each short story feels like a novel.

Up next - Intimacies by Irish author, Lucy Caldwell. I‘m loving short story collections right now. Any recommendations? 📚

4⭐️ A great selection of short stories. Several are stylistically fresh and unique. For example, Li Fan is a 3-pg story about a woman‘s life beginning with her death. Well written and compelling.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 92 pages of brilliant storytelling.

Two exceptional stories. So Late In The Day (not shown) is my fave of this author‘s so far.

I‘m excited to get into this after her last short novel. 📖 I‘ve just finished All About Love by Bell Hooks which may become a repeat. There was so much to reflect on and consider and feel into. I loved it and am looking forward to smart fiction.

Re reading this one. It‘s a bit dated and his ideas are not new to many cultures (which he acknowledges). I appreciate his activist stance against the negligence and abuse of power that has caused a lot of harm for people with trauma histories.

Midway thru this much-hyped story. I am underwhelmed. Likely became my expectations were high. The writing is very good and the style is well executed.

Rereading this gem. There is a lot that works with my experience of love and some that doesn‘t. I guess that‘s part of the magic of reading 💗

Do you ever wish chunksters came in 2 part options. I‘m enjoying this 700+ page historical fiction but it‘s a beast to carry.

My read -
Just started this one and am looking forward to the lyrical writing and historical information.

Not my favourite AP publication. I was often bored. Not that I need a lot of action. But the characters were flat and the story predictable.

I‘ve started Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I‘m a fan of Patchett. This novel is off the a slow start for me but I suspect it could be because I‘m still connected to Bill Furlong (the MC in Small Things Like These). There should be a word for that feeling - when you remain connected to characters long after the final paragraph of a novel.

I absolutely loved this short novel. I found myself thinking about the characters between reads. In only 115 pages I was cracked open by the interweaving of the Irish Magdalen laundries, family complexities, and simple humanity. 5 ⭐️

Next up. I‘ve heard so many great things about CK most recent novel. I just finished The Marriage Portrait which was a 4.5 ⭐️read. Maybe even a 5⭐️

I have 100 pages left in this spectacular reimagining based on the life of Lucrezia de Medici. The prose is outstanding and I was instantly carried away into the MC‘s story. The author is in a league of her own and this is a favourite from her body of work.

Oh, I‘ve been so spoiled by novels like Uprooted and Spinning Silver. I liked this novel and the complicated heroes but it didn‘t grab me the way Novik‘s writing has. I say this because these authors are often compared. 3 ⭐️

Hi all - I want Jane Eyre to be my next book. In fact, I want to reread Beauty and the Beast at the same time to explore the thematic similarities. 📚 Can anyone recommend an edition with 12 point font? I struggle with many of the classic prints bc the fonts are often quite small. Thx

4⭐️ beautifully written and well paced storytelling. The forest, and coastal landscapes as well as the people living in them are so compelling. I could almost smell the pine and tidal changes. A very good read. #victoriadayreadathon 🇨🇦

The writing, story and attention brought to both poverty and the opioid crisis make this a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read.

Up next, FAYNE by Anne Marie McDonald. I loved Fall On Your Knees and can‘t wait to see what the author has cooked up in her latest novel.

Lowman is a fascinating person and a western leader in conservation.

She pushed our gaze beyond eye level to consider and explore what lies above and lives in tree canopies - which she calls the 8th continent.

Lowman is an adept storyteller interweaving chapters about trees and non human kin (ie insects, birds) as well as (frustrating, infuriating, and inspiring) stories of her personal and professional challenges as a woman in science.

📚Just started this and already hooked. I am a fan of naturalist writing, including greats like Terry Tempest Williams (if you haven‘t read When Women Were Birds…). The author is quick to point out that places like Costa Rica are not the most biodiverse on earth. Rather they are the most studied and funded by the US. She challenges us to look beyond what we think we know. 💫🌲♥️

⭐️⭐️ Not a popular opinion. I found this book flat and predicatble. I knew from the writing that ‘everything would turn out‘ for all the likeable characters. The dog was a pleasant surprise and added something but overall this was a disappointment.

I couldn‘t settle into this one. Could be that I‘m also knee deep in research for my thesis paper. Anyway, it‘s back on my TBR pile and I‘ve picked up Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus instead.

up next 📖

⭐️ I‘ll generously give this novel one star because of the overall message and resource list. I found this predictable and most of all, boring. Not a popular option - I know. 📷 illustrated shelf.

This book needed a better edit. The author tried to tie in too many threads and many of them were left dangling. I don‘t need resolution but many of the storylines felt like sketches rather than stories (E.g. MC mom, Tilda, tension in the suffragette movement).
The history of the dictionary and how words were vetted is so important and I wanted to love this book. Overall it read like a 3 hr movie that should have been 90-minutes.

Is it me or this a slow start. I really want to like this but it‘s not grabbing me (yet). I‘m spoiled by several amazing recent reads (Madeleine Miller, Natalie Haynes).

My next read is another sort of retelling. This time it‘s the non-fiction retelling of the lives of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper.

“But this is a women's war, just as much as it is the men's, and the poet will look upon their pain - the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men - and he will tell it, or he will tell nothing at all. They have waited long enough for their turn”

I loved this retelling as much as Circe and Song of Achilles. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Next up -
I‘ve heard Natalie Haynes on BBC and can‘t wait to read all of her books.

This is a difficult book to summarize as it is really genre defying. It is the story of two boys who meet in an orphanage. The plot is compelling, bizarre and full of shocking and fascinating content (e.g., self-mutilation, pet alligators and weird sex adventures).

Next up on my reading list. I‘ve enjoyed other Japanese writers, including H. Murakami (Wind Up Bird Chronicles). I‘ve heard this one has a slightly comic element.