Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve always dreamt of moving out to the sticks and just living off the land so I was really looking forward to this book. The first half was brilliant; she took me to Alaska with characters I cared about...but then it slipped into melodrama tragedy porn. 😒 I would have liked less awfulness and more Alaska!! 🏔 🎣 🐻 🌲 but still a pick for me because I couldn‘t stop thinking about it...! 👍🏻

I love this time of year! It is when my city holds the Book Bonanza Sale! I am so excited for these finds!

#LilithJuly Ernt Albright will never let his wife Cora leave him because he thinks she belongs to him, that she is his #Possesion.
@Cinfhen @KarenUK

Wow!!! Two movies!! Congratulations Kristin Hannah !!!

The Great Alone is a captivating survivors tale, in more ways that one. It‘s a story that pits man against and inhospitable, unforgiving, and unpredictable environment. It‘s a story that pits man against man. Finally it is a story that pits man against himself.

Was it perfectly executed? Absolutely not. The final third of the novel I felt descended into some unnecessary plot developments, which cluttered the narrative. neverthless, compelling.

The story of Leni, a young girl who moves with her parents to Alaska to live off the land. I hated this book because Leni‘s dad suffered from PTSD and was violent and abusive, and Leni‘s mom was a victim. However, I loved the twists in the story, the cast of characters, and the setting of Alaska. This picture is from my recent trip to Alaska. It is beautiful there, perfect for daydreaming about escaping your life.

Oh the foreboding. This girl, these parents, Alaska.

Getting on the bandwagon for a speed read before this is due back at the library

My goals for this week:
Finish The Great Alone
Finish Early Riser
Re-read The Rossetti Letter
Start The Library Book
No problem, right? It‘s summer. #teachersoflitsy

⭐️ Someone who read this library copy before me was a big “dog-earer”. I began to notice that almost every other page was dog-eared, which to me, meant the book wasn‘t doing it for the reader. At page 200, the dog-earing stopped. I‘m guessing this is when the reader bailed. I am now jealous of the dog-eared reader because they got their life back at page 200.

First day on Litsy. Keep struggling with The Great Alone. It's so complex that I feel angry but also compassion, sad as well as happy, want to throw the book away while want to know what's in the end. Also I'd like to know how male readers think about this book.

A bright, cool morning.
Sitting outside with my coffee and my dogs.
Starting a new book.
💜

A very enjoyable read, really captivating all the way through. Wish I had the strength to visit Alaska. Emotional ending 😢

Set in the 70's a Vietnam vet with PTSD brings his family to Alaska to live off the grid. This coming of age story is told through the eyes of a young girl who is caught between love, what she knows is the right thing to do and danger all around even from those she loves.

New #bookclubread

This book just landed in my top three reads of 2019. It was channeling many “Where the Crawdads Sing” vibes for me. I loved the characters and the way the author portrayed the wilderness of Alaska. “The Great Alone” is a memorable coming of age story focusing on the complexity of love and how it can be used to overcome the darkest of times.

I am a terrible person. I never posted about the #mysterymessageswap and all of the awesome goodies I got from @jenniferw88
Thank you SO much! I love everything! I really love the bookkeeper bookmark, it‘s beautiful! ❤️
I‘ve never read Animal Farm, I was surprised how thin it is. TYSM ❤️😘

This is one of the few books that I finished and then immediately started again. I felt so attached to the characters, I was sad to finish the book and leave them in there

Has anyone read this and hated it? Asking for a friend. 😬

#WanderingJune This is the story of the Allbright family, who moves to the #Mountains of Alaska to live in the wilderness.
@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

#BrighterThanTheSun
#SongsOfSummer

I went with sunset lol! I‘ve got to read this!! I found this signed copy at Goodwill!

5/5
This novel made me happy, sad, furious, hopeful, and all the other feels. I love Lenny and felt true compassion for her and mother.

Photo from kristinhannah.com

I really enjoyed the tagged book, but did not care for Home Front. Any suggestions which one I should read next?

Still chugging along with this book! It's so good, I just have not had the time or energy to read for fun. I have about 200 pages left, so I'm going to *try* to finish it today. 🤞

Realized that I never posted my May reading stats. Finally climbing out of my slump!

👋

I got this book from the library because it is set in #Alaska and I could ✔️ it off my list. I have not read anything by her and I had no idea what to expect. This is one of those books about troubled people with troubled lives that are... well troubling. I liked it. This is been one book that I have been thinking back on the characters and their story since I set it down.
PS does anyone have favorites set in US states they would recommend?

Thirteen-year-old Leni and her parents move to beautiful, dangerous Alaska in the mid-70s, hoping for a new start and finding much more hardship, love and strength than they could have ever imagined.

Read May 28 - June 4
Book 30/55

So I saw this first on @Kalalalatja ‘s feed but it came originally from @britt_brooke - the idea is to post an orange book stack for Gun Violence Awareness Day.

Having just learned a lot more about this subject from reading Parkland I thought I‘d give it a go.

I was quite surprised by how many orange books I had then, how could I have forgotten, 🤪 I suddenly remembered the Penguin shelf! 🐧

Pretty proud of my scoring, especially since most of the blanks are due to my library obsession. Although my current goal is to donate the books I do have and buy only my favorites.

Tagging my favorite read so far this year.

Still reading this one! I love it, I just haven't had a ton of time.

This book is especially interesting to me because Lucas used to catch Dungeness crab and halibut up in Dutch Harbor. His dad bought a fishing boat on a whim, and dragged Lucas and his wife up there. Thankfully Lucas only had to spend summers there as his mom was still in Idaho, but his dad lived in a cabin with no water or power just like the Allbrights.

I'm getting some time to read for the first time in a couple days! Yay. 🤓

I'm only like 20 pages into this book, but I can already tell that it's going to be really good.

I am sooo sleepy. I stayed up way too late last night reading All Your Perfects. I justified it because I had today off, but I forgot I had to meet with my advisor at 9 am. 😭

I don't even think I got an hour of sleep, and now I can't take a nap because my upstairs neighbors are having a tap dance competition (not really, but that's what it sounds like 😅)

Soo, going to just power through and start a new book. I've heard good things about it!

Firstly, I loved that this book was set in Alaska. The descriptions of how to survive in such a remote environment were great. I just didn‘t love the storyline. There were some inconsistencies that an editor or proof reader should have picked up. Plus (without spoiling anything) the way one character kept appearing at every worst possible moment felt a bit implausible and just annoyed me.

“Driveway?” Mama said,staring at the trail through the trees. It looked like it hadn‘t been used in years. Thin-trunked alder trees grew in the path.“Bo‘s been gone a long time. We‘ll have to clear the road of new growth,but for now we‘ll hike in,”Dad said. “#Hike?”Mama said. He set about unpacking the bus. While Leni and Mama stood staring into the trees,Dad divided their necessities into three backpacks and said, “Okay. Here we go.” #QuotsyMay19

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I got sucked in to this one. It's been a while since a book captured me like this. So many terrible things, wrapped up in these pages, yet so good.

So. I started off bored, then I almost quit because I knew some awful shiz was going to happen and I wasn't sure I wanted to take that journey. But then I sucked it up because my book club picked it and I love those bitches. Plus, I have the free audiobook. So I basically 3x listened to it for hours, and I was right, terrible shiz happened. But I started to get attached to my little Alaskan chipmunks, so I slowed it down to (con't below)

This was me on Sunday! I sat on my patio and read the tagged book and got sunburned. And barely noticed because I was into it. Parts were a little more emotional than my normal taste but the characters and story are great and I would recommend.
📸 Random House

This was an emotional, thought-provoking book. The amazing descriptions of Alaska were very real and made me want to some day explore the state, but never to stay. The story moved quickly and I stayed engaged and heartbroken throughout. My only complaint is that the love scenes were ridiculously unrealistic.

What a tough book to review. It's a very very good book, but I didn't enjoy it. It was harsh and sad and the ending was bitter bittersweet. #29 #2019

TBH I prefer physical copies, but I‘m so excited to finally get to read/listen to this one anyway I can!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Yay Kristin Hannah already working on her next book. Cant wait!!

An intense and captivating read. Reminded me a bit of "The Shining." The first book I've read of Kristin Hannah. I now want to read more from her!

I guess I'll go with a so-so, just because I loved the parts about homesteaders and Alaska. I was loving the first part of the book then about half way the characters and the pace got jerky, it totally put me off the story. I wanted to bail but stuck it out hoping it would turn back around but it just got worse as it hurdled to the end.☹

#MayMovieMagic Although they were looking for a bit of heaven in Alaska, in many ways Ernt's road trip to a better life became a #HighwayToHell for Cora and Lani.
@cinfhen @rohit-sawant

The entire time I was reading this, I osscilated between wanting to stop reading (because it's intense & I needed an emotional break) & wanting to NOT stop reading becsuse I wanted to know what happened! Kristin Hannah hasn't missed yet, in my opinion. This isn't easy to read (abusive husband/father, life-threatening situations), but the payoff was so worth it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐✨/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I'll be reading the tagged book for book club later this month, and it was the first book that popped in my mind for #BeatlesMaynia #BeatleMaynia hosted by @Eggs

I'm loving this audiobook and my second book in a row by Kristin Hannah!