Welcome to Litsy!

#BFC2022 update! @wanderinglynn
I am vastly exceeding my walking goal; we had such a long snowy winter and I missed walking so much! Now that the weather is good I just keep wanting to get outside!
But my reading has screeched to a stop this month. I am enjoying the tagged book, and while I could just go with the flow and keep reading, I have been stopping to look up every word or reference I don't know. I'm learning a lot, but progress is slow!

“The Bone Orchard” is unfortunately encountering delays in shipping😢 So I started this, thinking it would be sufficiently different. I‘ve already added some words to my previously-unknown-vocabulary list!

Late for BOTM. Better late than never. #Reading1001 #1001books

#Reading1001 I enjoyed this but I wasn‘t blown away by it. I appreciate the authors/narrators note at the end about why he ended things the way he did.

According to the 1001 editors the reason I didn‘t love this book is because I am over 20 and don‘t have (or feel the need to have) faith.

I liked Larry he was a good person but he was also slightly dull compared to the colour of other characters.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3427275850

Yay #bookspin time!

Thank you @TheAromaofBooks for all your hard work.

My June #bookspin is W Somerset's The Razor's Edge
#doublebookspin is Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

I have had these for years, so long I actually don't know what either is about.

Joining in #bookspin for March! This is my paperback edition. So many good titles languishing on my shelves. Would be happy to finally read any of these...well, happy to read The Sea, The Sea might be a bit strong. 😬 (Maybe #14 won't get picked @TheAromaofBooks 🤞)

Hello! I am fairly new to Litsy and just starting to learn about the games and challenges. I am jumping into #bookspin with @TheAromaofBooks

Here are 20 books that do not fit on my TBR bookcase, 1-10 on the left starting with Maugham 11-20 on the right ending with Ivey.

My meagre haul from this year's library sale. In a short story mood, I guess, and couldn't resist the garish cover on The Razor's Edge. I picked up The Professor in hopes we might have another Bronte readalong in the new year.

#LilithJuly

(Day 12 - #Possession)

“The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.” -Katha Upanishad
The above quote is the epigraph (translated) for “The Razor‘s Edge”; to my mind one of the best novels to illustrate and contrast materialism and spiritualism. The main character, Larry Darrell, wanders in search of a spiritual philosophy to help him find meaning after his experience in WWI.

The book‘s title is based on the Katha Upanishad, and Maugham does a good job of outlining some of the basic enigmas inherent in the protagonist's pursuit of life's fundamental mysteries.
#puzzlebooks #riotgrams @bookriot

Larry was all I wanted to be when I discovered him in college. But what a far cry my life is from the vagabond in search of enlightenment. What I want has changed. But I‘ve also come to realise to travel is a privilege. To seek a deeper meaning is privilege. In retrospect now, Larry‘s life arc seems idealistic. The joy of reading too, is a privilege and I am thankful for it. #Classics #Riotgram #Day12

There were several points at which I thought I might really enjoy this. I was down with Larry wanting to do nothing but "loaf." I like the idea of a character rejecting modern life to pursue deeper meaning. It's where Larry's journey took him that lost me. The Razor's Edge delves deep into eastern philosophy, which has always underwhelmed me. I think a reader drawn to Hinduism, Buddhism and Eastern thought would appreciate Larry more than I did.

I didn‘t love this book but I liked it more than I thought I would. When I got to this gem on page 7: “Thus relieved of material cares he gave himself over to the ruling passion of his life, which was social relationships”, I thought I was done for. 🤢 It reminded me of all the Henry James & Proust I hated in college. But I was won over by the language & wit; it more than made up for the insufferable mansplaining & ALL of the terrible people.

“I enjoyed the splendor of the services, but the one I liked best of all was the Matins. It was at four in the morning. It was wonderfully moving to sit in the church with the night all around you while the monks, mysterious in their habits, their cowls drawn over their heads, sang with their strong voices the plain-song of the liturgy.”

*(Cont‘d in comments👇🏻)

I had early New Year‘s plans tonight. We were on our way to a party. I had my Secret Santa gift in my lap & a bottle of Cabernet in my backpack - but my husband suffered an anxiety attack en route. So, we‘re back home. I responded kindly & gently... but I‘m honestly pretty bummed. I was looking forward to seeing friends who don‘t live close & who I don‘t see often. 😪 On the upside, he‘s feeling better & maybe now I‘ll finish my book before 2018!

This book was published in the early 1940‘s & some of the expressions are just *not* okay... but for some reason, I‘m tickled to death! One of the characters (whose wife is stuck at home taking care of his headache instead of going out to dinner) just exclaimed, with terrible affection, “Poor slut, I think she loves me.” I asked Adam (my husband) if he‘d try to work this into his vocabulary - especially in company. 😂😆

“There are few things so pleasant as a picnic lunch eaten in perfect company.”

(old photo of me & my husband enjoying a sun-ripened raspberry picnic.☀️)

“Let us go,” he said. “I never spend more than one hour in a gallery. That‘s as long as one‘s power of appreciation persists.”

Uh-oh. A nod from Theodore Dreiser? This doesn‘t bode well...🙈

#requiredreading #bookclubbook

A classic hero's journey if ever there was one, I enjoyed dipping into another time. There's a difference between reading a book set in another time and reading a book written in another time. Initially, the dated attitudes regarding women set my teeth on edge. However, by the time I finished it, I still found some of the characters frustrating, yet I see they were foils for the larger theme.

#litsyclassics #litsyclassicsmatches

@merelybookish @Ole

"Nothing in the world is permanent, and we‘re foolish when we ask anything to last." -- Somerset Maugham. Sunset in Vermont. #Whyilovethe802

Stellar storytelling. Young American Larry Darrell talks his way into fighting in WWI - at age 17 - & emerges a changed person with no use for the expectations of others. Narrated by Maugham who anchors the plot, it's not for everyone but I enjoyed it immensely. Off to catch the 1946 film with Tyrone Power to see how it compares.

Yesterday went into the used bookstore with daughter. She was looking for the last 2 books in the Traveling Pants series (found them). Of course I had to get these ☝️for myself 😊. The Maugham is a #blameitonLauraBeth purchase. @LauraBeth did you read this title (the only one of his there)?

I loved the time period WWI through Great depression era. Interesting narration from perspective of an English author entangled with an eccentric American family. Materialism vs Spirituality is a big theme. Author/narrator dwells on aesthetics of female characters but writes them as strong, interesting, and witty. Still stewing on this one.

I love Louisa!

#mandown #junetunz @Cinfhen

Not my usual pick, but was highly recommended. I really enjoyed it!

Name one book that is important to you.

Strep and Maugham.

This was so terribly dull that I struggled to finish. While the writing is excellent it lacked the beautiful flow of The Painted Veil and my interest in the characters quickly waned. It's been on my tbr forever so at least I can cross another off. #TacklingTheTBR #LRC11

"Sometimes a very small thing will have an effect on you out of all proportion to the event. It depends on the circumstances and your mood at the time."

For men and women are not only themselves; they are also the region in which they are born, the city apartment or farm in which they learnt to walk, the games they played as children, the old wives tales they overheard, the food they ate, the schools they attended, the sports they followed, the poets they read, and the God they believed in. It is all these things that have made them what they are, and these...you can't come to know by hearsay...

Perhaps it simply doesn't age well? The prose was sharp; the plot was painfully dull.

Loved this book and really need to revisit it. And like Larry, I acknowledge that the acquisition of knowledge on esoteric subjects may not be practical but it can be a lot of fun

A nearby library has a used book sale twice a year. The books are either donated or taken out of circulation. I buy my father a huge box of them for Christmas each year. I usually pick up a few for myself as well. #augustofpages #day18 #usedbooks

Photo 2 of book haul today. #bookstorefinds
#readeverydayeverywhere

"In all cities there are self-contained groups that exist without intercommunication, small worlds within a greater world that lead their lives, their members dependent upon one another for companionship, as though they inhabited islands separated from each other by an unnavigable strait."