Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m left with mixed feelings. I‘ve tried & failed to read both the print & audio versions before, but the combo worked. All the complaints I usually hear about this are completely true, but they‘re also integral to the tone and atmosphere the author is trying to convey. Anything singular always pleases me, so this is a pick, but I couldn‘t decide if I wanted it to meander along forever or hurry up & get to the point. #Booked2023 #GaslampFantasy

So not the book I thought I‘d learn useful facts from! I remember hearing this term for the first time when I was around 8 years old and desperately wondering what it had to do with 🦍. But I wasn‘t the type of child who asked my parents stuff and this was before the internet, so until I got to this footnote today it never occurred to me to look it up 😂

This was not worth the 1000 pages and 2 months it took me to read this. I wanted so desperately to like this book, but neither the plot nor the characters were at all appealing enough to keep me. Clarke mimicked 19th century style writing (which she did well) and it‘s a very “tell not show” style with flat characters. It can work for a shorter book, but it‘s a slog for 1000 pages. I would have DNFed this, but, of course, book club 😕

Well I‘m feeling rather pleased with myself. I am planning to read mainly from shelf/kindle next year. This is my #booked2023 physical TBR - I had so many that fit the brief! And I also have a couple on my kindle. I‘m just filling out my StoryGraph prompts so I don‘t forget what‘s what! Very excited to get going but first I need to finish up #booked2022 😂

#OminousOctober #Day16 #Wizards This novel is about two wizards, Mr Norrell who is a classically trained wizard, wowing audiences in London until another young wizard, Jonathan Strange comes & challenges his ways. A great read. #Scarathlon #TeamSlaughter 6pts

#manicmonday #LetterJ @CBee

📚 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (not my fav but I haven't read many books starting with J)
👤 Shirley Jackson
🎬 Jack
👨‍🎤 Elton John
🎤 Janie's got a gun - Aerosmith

#ScarathlonDailyPromots #Magic
@StayCurious#TeamMonsterMash

It has been several years since I read this (as I finished it just as we moved into the house 4.5 years ago!) but it is full of #Magic

It is also now apparently a board game for 2-4 players… unsure how exciting it would be but I am intrigued 😂

#ScarathlonDailyPrompts #Scarathlon2022 #TeamMonsterMash

#Alphabetgame #LetterJ

It had to be this one!

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#alphabetgame #letterJ

My most favourite novel of all time

Also Jane Eyre, Jamaica Inn and Jamragh's menagerie

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#AlphabetGame
#LetterJ

I would‘ve went with Junk Raft, but it‘s not a book I would scream from the rooftops for people to read it.
So for this prompt, I‘m going to go with a book on my TBR.

Whew! 😛 I finally finished! 🥳

This was quite challenging, reading it was like reading textbook of sorts. Clarke has a fascinating sense of humor and satire abounds. Thank goodness the pace actually advances somewhat during the last 100 pages or I don‘t know if I could have got through it.

Anyone who finishes this is to be commended. Overall, I‘d say it was worth the journey for me.

Still working my way through this chunkster, I finally made it to the third section yesterday 😮

It still reads a little like a history book, but I‘m gonna keep trying to finish.

Also please welcome my delightful co-worker who just joined Litsy and give her a follow @Sunspeckled

#welcome #LitsyWelcomeWagon

#BookMoods @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#AFriend'sFavorite

#bookmoods #600+pages
I had a look at my litsy photos to find the last biggie I read and noticed it was in that great time for reading between Christmas and New year. I'd had this on my shelf for a while and as ever when I put it down wondered why it had taken me so long to get to it.

1. Knitting and watching movies, I often do both. 😁

2. I mostly just skim reviews. I write them for Litsy and staff picks.

3. Anywhere in the sunshine ☀️😎

#wondrouswednesday
@Eggs

Clarke‘s writing is dense, whimsical, enchanting…all muddled together, lending the book a fuzzy, ethereal feel. I enjoyed the fantasy of a northern England where medieval magic runs rampant, invisible and untapped — awaiting the return of a mysterious king. Alongside the magic, you also get a dose of early 1800s English history (Napoleonic Wars, Lord Byron); the two coincide so seamlessly, it‘s sometimes hard to render fact from fiction.

For the most part, I liked the story of this one, but I needed it to be about half the length. It took way too long to develop and felt bloated in places. If I didn‘t have the audio to go to, I never would have gotten through it. Greta‘s look here about sums up my response.

Last year, I did a post called the TBR Chapter Challenge. Basically, when my physical tbr gets too big I get a little overwhelmed. I decided to do this chapter challenge so that I will actually read the books on my shelf. Plus, I like to see how well I know my reading taste. Here are the three books I chose for this round. Have you read any of these?

TBR Chapter Challenge: https://wildwoodreads.com/2022/02/18/tbr-chapter-challenge-2/

I post this for #FabolousFebruary #readathon by @Andrew65 one day later >< I hope it would be ok anyway
So here are my goals:

1. Finish the tagged book ✔
2. Read Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe (by Benjamin Alire Sáenz)
3. Read Bolla (by Pajtim Statovci)
4. Read Sisters (by Daisy Johnson)

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
#Ithadtobeyou

7. Feb TBR

I would like to finish the tagged one, then I have no other reading plans

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

Thanks for the tag @Eggs @damselsgotballs @TheNeverendingTBR 😘❤

1. Stalking Jack the Ripper
2. Not yet 😅 Unfortunately I'm not spending a lot of time reading these days 🥲
3. Tagged one

#Weekendreading @Andrew65

I'm struggling with this one 😖

#WeekendReads @rachelsbrittain

Thanks for the tag @eeclayton @damselsgotballs 🧡💚

1. Tagged book
2. A little life by Hanya Yanagihara
3. The priory of the orange tree

Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell is a remarkable book, one that says everything it needs to (though it would undoubtedly take many readings to truly hear it all). Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell-susanna-cla...

This is my third attempt to read this. It‘s not that I don‘t find it interesting, just never fully immersed myself in it and hoping the third times the charm. I‘ve already dug in again and am enjoying it. Let‘s hope I can finally finish this chunkster of a book.

#JonathanStrangeandMrNorrell #SusannaClarke #book #ebook #kkndle

Friday extended lunch break. I just need something hot to drink and a break from the screen.

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs ❤

1. The heart's invisible furies, perfect in all its parts
2. A little life, I guess 😅
3. Fantasy 🤟🏻

I tag @peanutnine @RaeLovesToRead @TheNeverendingTBR @Mavey

I finished A little life few days ago... It's a good one, but not the masterpiece I was expecting 😅
I didn't cry at all... maybe my heart is frozen 😅😂

This is one big book about magicians in the 19th century. I hung in there until the end, and the story had some interesting parts, but mostly it seemed repetitive.

An amazing work of imagination + magic which I picked out of my pile of unread bks for my Xmas book with intent to read piraneisi next yr. Imagine Austen + Gaiman create a world in which 2 curious magicians alter the course of history with trips to the peninsular war, Waterloo,Venice,York moors,while the dark origin of magic ,the Raven King, manipulates them with spooky balls in which people are trapped.Beautiful,dark,funny writing.5* loved it.

🎃🍁💀 Love the spooky-time magic!

I am in the minority here most likely; I was bored and annoyed by the characters and plot plus the many many many details strewn throughout the many minutes (pages) of this ever so long chunkster. Norrell is a meany; not evil but selfish and that other magician Strange, though more charming perhaps, is equally selfish and SO dense. My hope is that Arabella and Flora live long happy passionate lives together. #DogsofLitsy #EstherAssisting

#FallTreasures #Day26 #BirdOnCover

This is still #TBR for me. I‘ve put it off mainly due to the length, but it‘s blend of magic and history is totally right up my alley. Someday I will get to it.

📙 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
🍊 Grapefruit
🤩 Court by Tracy Wolff
💞 My wonderful Book Club bff, @CharityBlee

“Her only failure was a foolishness to doubt her own capabilities.” #PieinLit #DogsofLitsy #EstherAssisting #WHPG #wirehairedpointingGRIFFon #naptime #audiobook #chunkster

#ThoughtfulThursday
@MoonWitch94

1. Hanging out with a handsome guy friend

2. Whenever pumpkin spice flavors come out!! Lol (seriously, though, late September for me—no matter what the temperature says in the South)

3. I‘m hoping to read more of the tagged book on audio

#funandgames #friends #LitsyLovelies #gettingtoknowyou

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 59th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

As to whether or not Mr Norrell was in fact old, he was the sort of man who had been old at seventeen.

I can relate 🤣

#currentlyreading

Chapter 1: "The library at Hurtfew"

In which we learn that Mr Segundus is awestruck over Mr Norrell's library filled with books ABOUT magic and books OF magic. There IS a difference, you know, explained to my satisfaction in the footnote.

"Oh, Mr Norrell!" he [Honeyfoot] cried. "Such a quantity of books! Surely we shall find the answers to all our questions here!"

"I doubt it, sir," was Mr Norrell's dry reply.

#currentlyreading #bookblurbs

"But the wonder of the bookcases was nothing to the wonder of the books."

✨?✨?

#currentlyreading #bookblurbs

[...] often Mr Honeyfoot and Mr Segundus would slip away to discuss the one thing which really interested both of them -- why was there no more magic done in England?

#currentlyreading #juststarted #audiobook

Started this one today. We are reading it for our Yearly Read in the Goodreads Book Snails Book Group if you'd like to join us. I'm just now getting around to it. Found it on audiobook, with footnotes and all ✨✨

#juststarted #currentlyreading #currentsituation #doorstoppers #tomes #paperbacks #fiction #novels #inprogress #audiobook #audionerd

Last book of 2020. Narrated brilliantly by Simon Prebble.
I listened wrapped up in my coat & scarf on my winter walks .. it felt brilliant ,I was in a world of my own. Magic began to permeate my life , I felt it everywhere & in the most mundane situations. I walked the woods & the castle demesne... this book became part of my life & made a great memory to mark the end of this year.
My favorite book of 2020 ✨✨✨✨✨beautiful writing ✨

This did not need to be 1000 pages long.

I did it- I finally finished this 😴 while it did get better past the 600 page mark, the ending was very.. meh. I LOVE long books, but only if the length is justified and this just wasn't. It absolutely could have been ~500 pages and it would have been so much more enjoyable!

2.5/5 stars

Can't tell from this picture but it's a snowy day here, perfect for reading ❄ still powering through this one, hoping I can finish it soon. It's becoming less of a chore to pick up so.. I guess that's a win?

#WeeklyForcast , a day late ,

So , still reading ( & hopefully will be reading for some time ... long ) and this time I am really loving tagged book 🤞🏻
Also , I started Greenbanks last night & so far it‘s lovely

We got Netflix this week ( for Christmas really, and for husband ) ... but I watched a couple episodes of Queens Gambit ... I thought it really good. I wonder what the book is like 🤔

Hi Cindy 🙋🏼‍♀️ 😘

I started this years ago & never finished it ... but , having adored Piranesi, I‘m giving this tagged one another go .... 🤞🏻 here goes ....

How many more tea/cat photo combinations will it take before I finish this book?

Almost past the hump of midterms which will just push me into the wave that is finals, but I think I'll have time to read (for fun) this week, which will be a nice change. Also on the agenda this week: Christmas shopping! 🎄🎅