Welcome to Litsy!

#bookmark
Reading while hubby driving to Amherst MA. So love this bookmark @BookBabe !!!

#sundaymorningcoffee #coffeeandbooks #lifeisabook #bookclubpick

Immersed in the life of Stella, who was born in Ieovoli, a dirt poor mountain village in Calabria, Italy. The time is pre and post WWI, when many of these desperate & destitute villagers emigrate to the U.S. At some point Stella arrives in CT, where she still resides. Although based on the author‘s grandmother‘s story & well researched, the novel is fiction.

#olivegroves #bookclubpick
How Stella felt when she worked harvesting olives in a neighbor‘s olive grove. She loved being outdoors.

#weeklyforecast #bookreport #teachersoflitsy
Did not meet my predictions for Stella Fortuna (p.180).Was glued to World Series! 🙌🏻Nationals! Read up to page 77

TKAM: met goal. Finished ch. 3. We have a class of readers this year! The discussions generated with any book we read have been stimulating & so enjoyable. These students are not afraid to share their thinking.
A Thousand Roads- did not open!!!
Garden: audiobook. On ch 13.

#saturdaymorning #coffeeandbooks #perkpetual

Perkpetual: (adj.) time it takes to brew the first pot of coffee in the morning

Stealing some reading time before the day begins.

“warp and weft” for some reason the sound of these words and feel on my mouth and tongue tickles me- perfect alliteration.😛🙄😂

#coffeeandbooks #MondaynightatStorrs #UConnStarbucks
#weeklyforcast.
Easily read 54 pages tonight so far of this more than engaging read. My son takes commuter bus to UConn from Windsor 2 days a week, but Monday one of us drives him to his night class. So I have the luxury of walking, then reading from 6ish to 9. Heavenly gift.

#sundaymorning #coffeeandbooks #bookclubpick #StellaFortuna

Starting my November bookclub pick. Went to hear this author with @CareBear and her talk sold me.

#bookclub #Novemberpick #catsoflitsy

Poe has to be a star. 🌟🌟

I really enjoyed this story, set in southern Italy and then in US. As you can imagine from the title Stella Fortuna has some near death experiences. I liked Stella and she goes through a lot! #bookcovers

#mapsinbooks #Levoli

Love opening a book & discovering a map..❤️📚

#eveningwithanautbor #SimsburyPublicLibrary #Friends of SimsburyPublicLibrary #bookishnightout
Meeting up with @CareBear for this event Tuesday evening. Excited!

Reading the tagged book while waiting in line for tickets to see her 😍. I‘m an hour early and there‘s already quite a line.

I am a bit late with this, but here goes

1. Tagged book
2. The Chestnut Man
3. The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

#weekendreads
@rachelsbrittain

This book was achingly realistic and sad

#7Days7Covers #CoverCrush Day 5 Round 2

Anyone wish to play? Post 7 book covers that you love over 7 days, with no explanation.

#EveningwithanAuthor #TBR #Simsburylibrary
Signed up for this author‘s visit to my local library. Adding this book to this month‘s pile, in hope‘s that I can finish before October 8.📚❤️

It took me way too long to finish this wonderful historical fiction of the fortunate or unfortunate life of Stella Fortuna. Tracing the Fortuna family‘s roots from Italy to America, covering 150 years of drama, hardship, mishaps, marriages, births and deaths this book was absorbing & engaging. Highly recommended. The ending was a bit rushed but I liked that the author wrapped up all the various storylines. #RoadTrippin #BackSeatReader 🤓

*Trigger Warning* This book contains physical and sexual assault on females of all ages. Stella Fortuna, whose name literally means lucky star, has always unintentionally tempted fate and has the scars to prove it. The book is a slow winding account of her life and how little control she had over it due to having the misfortune of being born to an abusive father, as well as her immigrant experience turned American nightmare.

Congrats on your awesome milestone @Megabooks 🥳🥳🥳What a lovely way to celebrate both independent artists and give thanks to our bookish community 😘#25Etsy #Giveaway #LittensAreTheBest
Although I‘m still not done this book, I‘m pretty sure it‘s going to be my favorite read this summer☀️🏖

#AyUpAugust Only on page 136 and Stella has already survived 3 near death experiences😳 If I‘m Stella, I‘d be looking #OverMyShoulder ~ is Stella cursed or blessed??? Thank you @JennyM for putting this book on my radar ~ I‘m LOVING IT‼️‼️‼️

I really loved this one. Spanning multiple generations, it told the story of how Stella came to be born, her mother, and her life. Epic and grand, it was still not afraid to focus on the small moments.

I read 4 books this month and they were all 5 ⭐️! Amazing reading month. 2 #scifi and 2 #historicalfiction #julywrapup

#Unpopularopinion time but I didn‘t love this book. I wanted to and I kept trying to but it just never happened. The whole story is just brutal and sad as if nothing good ever happened to Stella. Don‘t get me wrong, the writing is amazing, the character building off the charts but to spend 450 pages slogging through someone else‘s misery - not really my thing. It did break my heart to learn that the whole thing was inspired by the authors family.

Tiber and I very much enjoyed this multigenerational novel centered around the seven (or eight) deaths of Stella Fortuna. I think I cried for the first time maybe 30 pages in? So stay hydrated, friends, if you pick this one up.

Another booked finished. #24b4Monday #readathon Going to get some of my audiobook in while I straighten up the house.

About half way through this chunkster of a book. It might be a close thing to make my 24 hour goal but I‘m going to give it my best shot. #24b4Monday #readathon

#quotes

This story was really good! Another great book pick by the fearless leader of my store‘s book club! The father was a horrific individual!! Read this book!!

Going to be discussing this at my #library #bookclub this week.

So I guess I just don‘t get this book. Stella is a fantastic character. And in individual pieces, many parts of the story are interesting: many horribly sad and tragic, some almost comedically horrific, some just funny. But there is no plot development really. It‘s just a bunch of things that happen over the course of Stella‘s lifetime.

This one started out strong, then got tedious, and finally disappointing toward the end. It was long and could have used some focus. #hoopla

I only wish I spoke italian to describe how delightful and sad it was. What a delicious depiction of italian life, love, and hardships.

I wanted to love this one but found it to be a slog in audio. I just didn't want to pick it up and hear more of Stella's misfortune. I think I was hoping for a bit of magical realism and less outright tragedy in those seven or eight deaths. There is much here to enjoy and the writing is solid, just wasn't what I was hoping for.

Rainy afternoon reading.

Today I visited a BAM store for the first time. I loved it because:
1. It's only 1 mile from my new house and
2. They gave me so many COUPONS

These are both hefty books but I can't wait to dive into them.

Outstanding debut.5⭐️ what an epic family saga!
#Connecticut #Calabria

A sweeping saga about the life and death of Stella Fortuna, an Italian born American immigrant who had much more modern attitudes than the times she lived in. I think most will already know Stella‘s story in some way - my Grandmother‘s is very similar - and so will resonate deeply. However, I think for some it might also be too painful a read (TW in the comments). But this is Stella‘s story, and it will stay with me for a while ♥️

Turns out, American copy wins. This is why, and this is why I‘ve lost my bookish mind....last night I noticed in the British copy, 2 things were missing: Map end pages of Ievoli, AND the family tree (which I have posted below). I want you to know I didn‘t sleep well last night (hence losing my bookish mind over details). I went to Barnes and Noble today to secure an American copy. I left BN on a bookish high and drove through puddles of sewage👇🏽

For those of you with the British copy of tagged book. Your copy does not have the family tree, so I‘ve taken a photo for you.

Rainy day, but my British edition came in, thanks #bookdepository for such a timely delivery. Now I can continue this baby. #battleofbookcovers British cover wins again! It‘s absolutely beautiful! If only all battles were this beautiful🦚$15.74

I started reading The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames this afternoon. This is such a beautiful and brilliant novel - I want to savour it and devour it at the same time! This is the second book for my 20 Books of Summer challenge. #amreading #StellaFortuna

The author uses her own family history for this tale. The eponymous Stella is not the first to carry her name, with a sister who died during infancy. From rocky beginnings the Fortuna family face poverty, war, migration, and a host of author traumas along the way. Some of the content makes for very uncomfortable reading, but the story is told with detail and respect for a very complex and interesting past.

#GypsyRoad - the life and deaths of Stella Fortuna.

I‘ve just cracked open the tagged book and whoa...I‘m hooked. I think I‘m in for an absolute treat. I‘m calling take-out for dinner 😉

#WanderingJune

Library goodies 📚❣️🙌

This story about how a girl narrowly avoids death so many times is not a light one; however, it's an important book about an immigrant from Italy, about strong women, and how they try to fight to protect themselves and each other.

Featured: Healthtea Book Crate May box

“Family memory is a tricky thing; we repeat some stories to ourselves until we are bored of them, while others inexplicably fall away. Or maybe not inexplicably; maybe some stories, if remembered, would fit too uncomfortably into the present family narrative."

BOTM choice came in!! The cover is so beautiful!! Stella Fortuna is my current read and LOVING it! Her cover is also beautiful!

So many good books on kindle/nook sale today!!! Just a heads up to all to check it out. I bought 6 including the one tagged: The Hiding Place, No Exit, Freefall, The Invited, and The Lady from the Black Lagoon. #bookhaul