This is the picture book version of Floella‘s biography, illustrated by Diane Ewen (not the linked version).

As a child in Trinidad, Floella‘s father was invited to move to Britain. Her mother and younger siblings followed later, with Floella and her older siblings travelling a year or so later again. England (and the welcome) was not necessarily what she‘d expected, but she learnt to love the place. And yes the ending made me cry.

It‘s been a lovely booky start to the year. Let‘s see if I can keep it up!

⭐ Cuddy is ‘my‘ read, and I‘m loving it! Like nothing else.
🕵️‍♀️ Trying out Ann Granger on audio, as our library has LOADS of her books. This is historical crime, not too heavy, quite enjoyable.
🦦 Wild Treasures is a seasonal Cornish wildlife book, by a wildlife photographer/broadcaster. Interesting and encouraging but writing just ok.

Happy New Year!
@rachelsbrittain

My first book of the year - almost-sweet Japanese dystopia. Yoshiro is bringing up his great-grandson Mumei. His generation remain strong and healthy, while the children struggle even to eat, in this isolated Tokyo where the soil is poisoned, there are no wild creatures… So many political/environmental/social themes. Intriguing world building and characters, this would make a great bookclub book to argue over! The story… 🤔 less sure.

This is incredible. I‘m looking forward to seeing where every section, every chapter takes us (and how). I have even deployed the magnifying glass without throwing the book across the room (which is my standard reaction to stupidly small print). Just for a page though - if he repeats this too often, book-throwing may ensue.

It won the Goldsmiths with good reason. Layout is important, so I‘d recommend print if you can.

Delighted to get Cuddy as my first BookSpin of the year. This was a Gladstonerds blind date from @LeeRHarry back in October and, from the first few pages, a book I will be sinking into!

While my #bookspin list this year is all physical books I own, my #doublespin is ‘work reading‘ - pushing me to read books that are on the shelves in my branch library, so I‘ve a greater range of ‘immediate‘ recommendations for library customers.

Because I miss that 2nd of the month feeling, I‘m going to give #BookSpin a proper go this year.

And because I‘m SO good at complicating things, I‘m going to play with two lists - one of my own books, and one of ‘work‘ reading - books or authors on the library shelves, that I really should have read. Or read more.

What could possibly go wrong??!

Currently reading/loving this queer story of a mining town. Thanks @squirrelbrain

It‘s a while since I read an unputdownable book, but this one… Someone on BookTube (maybe BenReadsGood?)had it on their Booker predictions list. Of course it didn‘t make it, but…

Set around the Morecombe Bay tragedy, it‘s a story of a changing small community, a young Chinese migrant with virtually no English, and an unexpected friendship with a former cocklepicker who fears losing his independence. It‘s page-turnery and really well done.

Aargh! It can‘t end like that! The dilemma now is whether I find the next in the series quick, or go back and start from the beginning…

A murder wave that makes no sense is sweeping Southampton, while DI Helen Grace is dealing with a coup within her team. Hugely twisty and entertaining- and it read fine as a stand-alone until the last chapter, when reading random books-from-series really turned round and bit me. Aaargh!

…and because I needed a new orange book on audio, and was in the mood for non-fiction, I thought we‘d head to Turkey.

The author‘s father is from Turkey, his mother from Peterborough, and he grew up in the UK. This is his personal story to learn more of the country his father left.

So far so good 👍

So here‘s a surprise.

I‘m really enjoying this! No idea who Miranda July is (I feel like I should know. Is she sort-of famous?) or where we‘re going, but I‘m happy to keep reading (which is only sporadically happening at the moment…).

🍌🩲🤷🏻‍♀️

I loved this. The audio is slow and understated and (for me) perfectly evokes the long hot dread of the summer.

1518. Lisbet‘s baby may actually survive to term after so many losses, but she dare not hope. Her beloved bees are at risk. Her exiled sister-in-law has returned (exiled for what?). And women are dancing.

As the endless summer wears on, Lisbet discovers her own strength, makes unexpected friendships and has her eyes opened.

I‘ve had the bookiest birthday in years! Here‘s the rest of my birthday book hall.

Second Star is meditations on lingering, observing and noticing…

I haven‘t quite worked out what the Garden Against Time is yet, but it‘s very beautiful (with endpaper 🥰)and is blurbed by Nigel Slater and Neil Tennant. Which seems random?

And Manny has been on my radar, and just looks cool.

Thank you for the birthday books @TrishB and @squirrelbrain - I love them both! And I love that Helen‘s card matches Trish‘s book 😁

Pity sounds amazing - just beautiful (and has fab reviews from people that know ☺️). I really must start reading books again!

And How to Read a Tree is just perfect. My uncle, who has set up a family arboretum (as you do) has claimed first dibs on it after me. I‘ve kept meaning to read Gooley‘s books

Thank you 😘

Let‘s attempt a #BookSpin this month!

@TheAromaofBooks

Hi Litsy. I have horribly fallen out of posting this year, (not to mention actually finishing books 🙄), but I miss you guys, and am attempting to come back! I‘ve also just realised that tomorrow‘s a Bank Holiday, so I get a whole weekend (🎉🎉and probably 😴!)

So, Bookshops. It has taken me MONTHS to read this. I love the characters, I love the world, I love the setting (sleepy seaside town with a cafe and a bookshop that needs Serious Work 🤔.

It‘s a beautiful afternoon. Why in the world am I reading George Monbiot‘s latest book on Neoliberalism?

There are words on this page that still make your stomach churn 🥬 Let‘s see if he can come up with a sensible explanation for that little episode.

It is beautifully sunny though.

Maybe I should go home and read Bookshops and Bonedust or something instead!

Libraries Connected (a UK Libraries organisation) are fundraising to send a mobile library to Ukraine.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/mobile-library-to-ukraine

@Chrissyreadit Hi Chrissy. You‘d asked a few months back about this book. I‘ve just got a copy after a long wait at the library. The intro page above is where she‘s coming from (and 100% where I‘m at, and I don‘t think I‘ve see a cookbook that ‘gets‘ that before). I‘ve seen a couple of recipes/tecniques already that I might actually want to try. It‘s worth a look if you can get a library copy.

Given that I‘m SO good at posting to Litsy atm, I thought I‘d give a little update on my Women‘s Prize for NonFiction reading.

Short Version: I‘ve started these! I might even finish some.

Very long version: I love being surprised by prize lists, being encouraged to try things I never would normally and finding I love them. This list does that in spades and it‘s fab.

Absolutely categorically not starting a new book. *

But it was on the returns shelf when I went in this morning. And, after a day of cheerleading and Bhangra dancing, it was still on the shelf when I left this afternoon. (A normal day in this library). So it‘s coming home with me.

And it looks a lot more interesting/readable than I initially expected, so… 🤷🏻‍♀️

*Also Women‘s Prize for Non-Fiction Longlist. Not reading that either.

Shadows at Noon and train journeys at sunset.

Not the easiest read so far, but really interesting…

It‘s prize season. And nothing says International Booker more than daffodils and sunshine 🤔.

Here‘s my #bookspin ‘list‘ for March.

Where to begin?

This was some trip.

It starts off as a farcical fishing trip to put a curse on pause, and turns into… something else. Something with a whole lot of heart and supernatural folkloric beings. And witches. And mosquitoes.

Give it a go if you‘re up for a dose of Finnish weird. I liked this a lot. Whatever it was.

#readaroundtheworld #finland

Announcing this month‘s clear winner in the ‘what the flip am I reading??!‘ category.

It‘s Finnish. There are bugs. There‘s a small town in the back of beyond. There‘s a pike, that isn‘t too keen on being caught*. And there are card games with mythological creatures. Then the police show up.

*Given everything else that‘s going on, I feel the pike has been short-changed on the character-development front.

Also, perfect cover design. Perfect!

@BookwormM I‘ve been waiting for the dates for this for ages. Are you doing this year? My reading has just been derailed by the Women‘s Prize for NF. Would now be a good time to panic?

Currently looking for…

Fiction about or heavily featuring trains or train-drivers, suitable for 10 year-olds.

Thanks in advance!

Facts.
- The Women‘s Prize for Non-Fiction Longlist was announced last night.
- I am absolutely not reading it.
- Apart from the tagged, which I started, & am finding gripping, heart-breaking, and terrifying. Now I‘m into it, I love her voice.
- I might have reserved 4 others. Thankfully the library catalogue went down for maintenance at that point.
- I think this might be a prize we actually need.
- But I‘m absolutely not reading the longlist.

I‘ve seen a lot of mixed reviews for this, but I really, really enjoyed it. It‘s the first book this year I‘ve totally been able to disappear into. Yes, it meanders, and there are a fair few characters to get your head around, but I loved getting to know the characters of Chicken Hill, perhaps I need a new motto (“be more Chona?”) and he managed to ramp up the tension at the end. Massively looking forward to reading McBride‘s other books.

Due to a string of regrettable occurrences, Elina Ylijaako had to catch a pike from a certain pond by June 18th every year.

Her life depended on it.

I haven‘t done a monthly wrap-up in about a million years (or maybe 3) so now seems like a good place to start again

I read 3 books this month, and bailed on one. Meh. On the other hand, outside of Litsy, that‘s not that bad!

I read an ARC called In All Weathers, a fantastic novel in short stories called Good Citizens Need Not Fear, and buddy-read Ultra Processed People (feelings: mixed.)

Good Citizens was my hands-down favourite this month.

I suppose this Saturday relief cover malarkey isn‘t that bad. Trying to squeeze in 15 mins train reading before I start.

Really enjoying this book. Yes, it‘s meandery, but I find I can sink right into it. Has to be back by Friday, so we might need to speed up a bit.

A few of you have said it‘s not his best. Would love to know which James Macbride books I should be stacking then…

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/cant-price-joy-libraries-2865747

I mean, there‘s a lot she‘s missing, but on the whole, yes.

Here, for no reason whatsoever, is a very fishy #BookSpinBingo list for February.

Thanks Sarah @TheAromaofBooks

I‘ll be catching up on last year‘s international Booker reviews over the next weeks- I reviewed them over at thereadersroom.org but they never made it to Litsy. Or NetGalley. 🫣

I reached the end, and immediately wanted to flip to the front and start again. Standing Heavy tells of life as seen thro the eyes of undocumented security guards in Paris – work so tedious it requires an ‘engrossing inner life‘: it‘s this inner life

It‘s a really good premise. The author sets out to intentionally experience what is often considered ‘bad‘ British weather - rain, fog, snow & ice and rain. Where this really worked was where he was meeting other people- the fenland skaters section was fantastic!

And it has made me want to consciously appreciate some of our more trying weather. But I wasn‘t always

I am SO out of practice with reviews. Time to snap out of it!

I really enjoyed this. It‘s your favourite @BookwormM - interconnected short stories 😁 - this time set in a Ukrainian apartment building before/after the fall of the USSR. I would say it‘s at the novel end of the ISS genre - we get to revisit the main characters, and grow to really feel for some of them - even the awful ones have heart. From a young orphan making her

https://lithub.com/for-the-love-of-plants-a-reading-list-of-books-on-nature-and-...

Not sure if this has already been posted, but 11 books on nature and conservation coming out in 2024. Some fab looking titles in here. #naturalitsy @AllDebooks

I may well get bored before the end, but currently I‘m finding this very funny, and way more relatable than it should be.

And any diary-style book that begins January 1st with a full poem version of My Resolution will not be Televised deserves brownie points for sheer brass-necked punnery.

Ukraine, sometime before the fall of the USSR. A New Years Eve visit to a baby house (children‘s home) by Grandfather Frost (definitely NOT St Nicholas), making swans 🦢 out of tyres 🛞. This is how he did it. In case you need to practise at home!

We‘ve already established that the solution to a vegetable canning issue is to grow triangular vegetables.

This book is bizarre. I like it.

Apparently I‘ve been reading this for 2 months now (or not). Lost my place, finally got round to finding it again, and realised I just wasn‘t fussed how it ended. So I bailed.

It‘a a really good set-up! 1851: a body is found under a deadly nightshade bush, in a physic garden full of poisonous plants. But the dual timeline via a journal aspect never grabbed me, & I felt kind of indifferent towards the main characters. Oh well. Gorgeous cover tho!

Possibilities for #ReadAroundTheWorld #Ukraine this month.

I really enjoyed the surreal seagulls of Kurkov‘s Jimi Hendrix Live in Lviv earlier this year. But Good Citizens is really appealing at the moment. I do (usually) like a novel in short stories, if it‘s well done.

Highly unlikely to get through both this month, so Decisions will have to be made!

I made a #BookSpinBingo board for January 🎉 🌈 It‘s forever since I played! Think I need a nice, neat, nifty template if I‘m going to play all year (but making bingo boards is so much (time-consuming) fun!)

Reading 100 Tales from the Tokyo Ghost Cafe this morning which is a wildcard Christmas prez from the brother - alternating chapters of text and graphic novel, and REALLY good. 👻 🐈‍⬛ 🐰

…and let‘s see if we can start the year as we mean to go on, by actually writing the odd review!

Set in rural 1980s Poland, these vignettes of a young girl growing up are beautifully evocative and well-written. There‘s humour, there are several dark episodes, and there‘s wonderful detail of time and place.

But they are very much vignettes. I don‘t mind not-

It‘s been forever since I took part in #bookspin, so it‘s time to dive back in. This year it‘ll be more about the bingo than the bookspin (I don‘t need help deciding which book to start next. I do need help persuading myself to actually finish them or bail). And let‘s face it, it always was about making a list and a bingo board really…

So here‘s my January list. In which i try to finish some of those books on the nightstand 🫣 @TheAromaofBooks

Happy New Year, Litsy!

Wishing you a beautiful year filled with friends, books, time to enjoy both, and the best sort of adventures.

I‘m attempting a festive read on audio. (Bah humbug!) I wasn‘t feeling murdery, and Karen Swan is one of those authors who is SO popular (in a small uk public library) I can always call it research. I used to listen to Joanna Penn‘s self-publishing podcast, and you have to admire these authors who manage to churn out 2 books a year (if she is a real person. PLEASE tell me Karen Swan is a real person, someone?)

Mysterious strangers in Irish coastal villages, 1 living, 1 dead. Who are they, and how will their secrets unfold?

The library‘s new books shelf had a bit of a theme going on. And somehow I‘ve never read John Boyne, so now seemed like the time.

I‘m finally reading a book. Let‘s see how long that lasts!

Set in an apothecary‘s physic garden in 1851. When Jem (Mr Flockhart) uncovers a skeleton as she‘s clearing away deadly nightshade, there appear to be links to her parents.

I‘m not 100% convinced by anyone yet, but the story‘s quite gripping.

#Audioflatpacking!

It‘s WET 💦 out there, and I‘ve finally splurged on shelves-with-drawers-in. I‘ve been after them for months 😁