Welcome to Litsy!

Years ago, I added The Fact of a Body to my Kindle after reading about its acclaim. My fascination with true crime drew me to this story, but I had no idea what else to expect. While some may find it difficult to “enjoy” a story about a sex offender, the trauma of a mother losing her child, and a young woman working hard to reconcile with her past, I genuinely did.

Full Review abookandadog.com/blog/the-fact-of-a-body

•edit• this book was AMAZING! 11/10 recommend! Brilliantly written as a cross between a memoir and true crime!

Another one from the TBR shelf ☺️

This was a tough, complicated read about tough, complicated issues. The author firmly believes they are anti-death penalty, until they view a taped confession of a convicted child predator and murderer & immediately decide he should be sentenced to death. I‘ll admit that when it comes to capital punishment, I am much more stereotypically Texan than most other issues. But I also believe that it is used wrong and that, for most people…(continued)⬇️

My #Bookspin is a little late…I‘ve been preoccupied with meetings and my Rangers winning the World Series!!!

#FirstLineFridays
Sometimes I think I maybe should have gone to law school. This book is making today one of those days.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is VERY difficult. At its core, it‘s about the horrendous murder of 6-year-old Jeremy Guillory. If I‘ve lost you already, its understandable. While studying this crime, the author reflects on personal experiences, providing thoughtful perspective. She‘s tough, tender, thorough, and human. This about the intricacies of behavior and emotion, about abuse, about histories, and ultimately, the flawed US justice system.

Finally, some time for a holiday / winter puzzle! ❄️🐱

#audiopuzzling #booksandbooze

Even though the subject matter was distressing (pedophilia, murder, sexual abuse of children), I couldn't stop listening. It is the author‘s personal story of her own wrestling with her past, emotionally bound up in surprising ways with a murderer on death row. The discussion of the history of her family and of the murder sheds light on the complexities of human behavior and how difficult it really is to discover the truth of one's own stories.

This was my first nonfiction November read & it set the bar high. Check the trigger warnings. The author weaves her personal story into the story of Ricky Langley who she finds out the law firm she is interning for is representing in his death penalty defense. Marzano-Lesnevich knows she is against the death penalty so why is this case so hard? It was raw. It was real. I thought both stories were told without overlooking details in either. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My apartment didn‘t notify me that this had arrived, but today was the first day this week I made it home before they closed anyway. Thank you, Misty and Leigh, for the birthday giveaway gift; I can‘t wait to read it! And I LOVE the beachy bookmarks and sticky tabs (I just know I was a mermaid in a past life🧜‍♀️).
And thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Even though I didn‘t respond to all of them (yet), they made my day. ❤️❤️(cont‘d)⬇️

5 ⭐️s
This one resonated with me on so many levels. I‘ve struggled with my mixed emotions of the man that was my step-grandfather, the man who abused me the way so many in this book were abused. Alex felt like she was speaking both to me and for me, my own thoughts often articulated on the pages. I will cherish this book for the rest of my life. It has made me feel seen and like I‘m not alone. One of the most powerful stories I have ever read. ❤️

This one is hitting me hard. My own personal life experience makes this a much more emotional read than I think it would have been otherwise. I‘ve had to substitute another book for my “take to work read” so I don‘t break down while on the clock. Not sure I‘ll be able to finish this as quickly as I thought. Still, I feel it‘s already having a very cathartic effect on me and I‘m glad it came into my life despite the resurgence of dark memories.

Struggled to get through this one and was sometimes unsettled by the writing style. She is is definitely blunt and does not hold back on details.

I struggled to find the meaning behind this true crime / memoir combo. I wanted to love this but i felt like the author was slightly exploiting the story of the murder of 6 year old Jeremy. I mean I hope the author was able to find peace and healing from writing this book. It just wasn't for me.

Definitely do not like this cover! Reminds me of a high school textbook. I also accidently bought the large print version.

So my motivation to pick up this book after I put it down is LOW. But I am enjoying the story inside. I'm about 50% done with it!

This book splits between a true crime narrative and the authors personal memoir and how both stories end up colliding.
Definitely has *trigger warnings*.

This book was SO good. It‘s probably one of my favorites I‘ve read this year. Huge Trigger Warning though. I don‘t want to be triggering, so look up what this book is about. Really made me think.

When you buy a book online and didn't realize you ordered it as a large print 😂😳

At least the book is shorter than it seems.

A hard listen with a lot of trigger warnings but I loved this! Well written and the author is very honest. She did a wonderful job! 🌟🌟🌟🌟 #20in4 audiobook goal complete!

Yay! I got a second bingo on my #bookspinbingo board 🙂

I found this book on sale at a random bookstore so I decided to take a chance. It is REALLY well written but very disturbing in places.

I thought this book was really great but might be tough for you if you struggle in reading about sexual abuse. The author does a great job covering a defendants story while connecting it to her own experience.

Started a new audiobook while helping Matthew with breakfast! 😀 Couldn‘t be happier that it‘s Friday and I only have 1 Barre class to teach this evening, then I have the weekend off.

Starting my upcoming days off work with a-blanket-and-a-book-burrito kickoff with this gift from @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ❤️📚

Read this one a few months ago and still not sure why I didn't like it more. Part memoir and part true-crime story based on a case of a suspected child killer/ rapist the author encounters as a young defense attorney. The parts where she tries to empathize with the defendant while still reconciling the trauma of her own history of sexual abuse survival are very well-done. I just wish it was all memoir and less true-crime 👇

This was more complex than I was expecting, it covered more ground than most true crime books I‘ve read. It tells the story of a murder (a disturbing and upsetting one) But also discusses how we relate to the justice system, what it means to be for or against the death-penalty, and how we talk about our lives more than we realised that we talk about the justice system. Disturbing and difficult to read in a lot of places, this made me think a lot

Morning all 😊
A less beautiful reading spot today, I‘m exiled from our room again so Matt can work and reading this brilliant if unusually structured true crime book with my coffee. I wish I could spend every day buying coffee and pastries at gorgeous coffee shops but alas, budgeting struck and it‘s instant coffee in the flat today.

It took a bit at the start to get “into it”, as I couldn‘t figure out where the two stories intersected, or why she went back and forth between the two. It‘s a good thing she started each chapter with a place and year, as she did jump around quite a bit between time periods in both her and Ricky‘s lives. It took me a while to get interested in her own story, particularly, but it did get more interesting as the book went on.

The story of the author and a pedofile. The author intertwined the two stories well.

Why not do another readathon?! I'll start by listening to this one! #24B4Monday

The subject of this book is not for everyone, it talks about pedophilia and the murder of a six-year-old boy.
I really appreciated the author's testimony of her own abuse, and her want to understand what push some people to commit such a crime.
However, this book can be quite frustrating to read because it doesn't give any answers, probably because there is no real answer. But I also found it repetitive and lingering at times.

Today's reading plan!
Yesterday night, I finished a huge project for work that kept me busy most of February...
So today, it's reading day for me!!!
I would like to finish two books I started, and to read And Then There Were None.
I deserved my quiet reading day ;)

This book took me 3 weeks to read...so out of character for me, and I am now very behind on my yearly challenge. It was okay, but I just couldn‘t put together the author‘s connection with the case she was writing about 🤷🏻‍♀️

Time to lay in bed and get some reading done...but my cold medicine is about to kick my butt so we shall see how long I last 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️

⭐️⭐️⭐️ I thought this was okay but didn‘t feel like there was any clear resolution to either narrative or why this case in particular triggered a change in the narrator‘s basic beliefs regarding the death penalty. Just a lot that didn‘t get answered for me.

1. Physical
2. Barnes & Noble, local bookstore Next Page Books
3. Yes!
4. Mostly Libby through the library but some iTunes and Audible
5. Tagged audio from Libby

#thursdaysurvey @laurenslibrary

Two heartbreaking stories that center around sexual abuse are told simultaneously and are interwoven. When the author alternated chapters about her life and Jeremy‘s murder, I felt the side by side stories flowed. When the sentences went back and forth between her experiences and those of Jeremy and Ricky, the story lost its power for me and became awkward. It is an interesting way to combine the author‘s life with a tragic murder.
#newyearwhodis

Rose and I are reading and I‘m sipping on a cocktail. Such a perfect Friday night! 😊 This is book #3 for #newyearwhodis and 70 pages in, I‘m pretty obsessed. Thanks @Mitch @monalyisha

My audio hold on this came in three days ago but I‘m still trudging through City of Bones. Had to suspend holds on two other audiobooks. My reading goals aren‘t quite panning out this month. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I‘m reading The Fact of a Body just after finishing episode 6 of Unbelievable... I‘m on a serious true crime kick this week. Has anyone else watched Unbelievable? I‘m absolutely loving it, and this book, so far! 🔎🔪👣

I‘m starting off 2020 fresh and honest, y‘all.

This year, I‘m lowering my expectations and keeping myself accountable. It has truthfully been a very long time since I loved reading, and I desperately want that to change. So in 2020, I‘m going to read one really good book a month, and at least 20 pages a day, in the hopes that it isn‘t too late for me to hop back onto the reading bandwagon. Wish me luck! 📚😊❤️

#120

So like Netflix, when choosing a kobo book, I tend to get bogged down and then 45 minutes have passed and I haven‘t picked a book. So I have been asking my daughter to pick a letter, any letter. Her second choice was F, and this was the first title - which I then realized I also owned in print 🤦‍♀️

Upside is, so far it is excellent, and I just realized I listened to an episode of Small Town Murder about this case AND it removes 2 hoard books!

I traveled all the way to WA to sit in this lovely library and read a book about my home town murder. 😂

Good, not great and even though difficult not as difficult of a read as I thought.

Dual story lines that meet from time to time about a murder and the author‘s personal story.
Oh! Just as the above book cover shows 🤦🏼‍♀️😊 Detailed descriptions of how the killer grew up including bizarre details of what happened before his birth are a focus of the writing. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can‘t quite put my finger on why this book fell flat for me. The idea is good—exploring your own painful past via a parallel story—And I love the way she writes. The topic is disturbing—child sexual assault and murder—but I read a lot of crime. Maybe the structure? It just never quite jelled for me.

I really don‘t know how I feel about this book. Took forever to read. I did not feel anything for anyone involved in this murder and memoir. She combines what happened to her as a child and a man convicted of murder. The argument is sentence to die or life sentence. Weird book.

I really don‘t know how I feel about this book. Took forever to read. I did not feel anything for anyone involved in this murder and memoir. She combines what happened to her as a child and a man convicted of murder. The argument is sentence to die or life sentence. Weird book.

1st book finished for #24in48 #readathon Strong story, well composed, written and researched but it left me wanting a little more. Still a pick though and while it was difficult to read (trigger warning physical and sexual abuse of children), I‘m glad I did.

Up and at it for #24in48 #readathon Got my iced latte and book and reading in a quiet house 😄 I have a couple of family commitments so i@I likely won‘t hit 24 hours, but I love trying! Happy Reading all!

#24in48 stack! Are you ready? I may be overly so. Bottom stack, recent purchases and books I‘ve started. Top stack, all my library holds came in at once. Lofty goals, y‘all! Can‘t wait to get reading!!

Yet another book about child molestation and its impact on the rest of a child‘s life. Marzano feels a connection between her own youth, that of phedophile and murderer Ricky Langley and the mother of the child he killed, which led to his conviction. She wants to understand what has driven them to be able to deal with her own past.

#ReadingUSA2019 #Louisiana
(Pic: Crater Lake, Oregon)