Welcome to Litsy!

October's best book was another classic read for #192025 and I'm glad I chose it. This YA book is focused on Francie, a girl coming of age in the early 1900s. We also spend some time with her mother and the rest of her family, too. It's slow, just a glimpse at a simple life in Brooklyn, their struggles, and the little happy moments but it's good.

#12Booksof2025 @TheEllieMo

I read and reread this book so often that the cover disintegrated into pieces. LOVED it. 🥰
Also adored “A Wrinkle in Time” (the entire series) and “The Phantom Tollbooth.”

@BookmarkTavern
#SundayFunday

Trying to read a few classics this year. This was very good coming of age story of a very poor girl and her family.

#ThreeListThursday

Favorites are the tagged, Lonesome Dove, Dune, P&P, Hunger Games, HP, Jane Eyre, War & Peace and LOTR

I still need to read The Stand and Beloved

@dabbe

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView
1. I think I would consider myself a bibliophile. I may not read as quickly or as much as other bibliophiles but I love the act of reading and my house is overflowing with books.

2. Francie Nolan is my favorite bibliophile.

Tagging: @Librarybelle @TheBookHippie @Bookwormjillk @ravenlee @Daisey @DogMomIrene @wanderinglynn

#aprilpoetrychallenge
#NationalPoetryMonth
@wanderinglynn

With love to Betty Smith's A 🌳 GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 💚

#coverstories
#trees
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I've posted this one before: my blackout poem in honor of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, one of my all-time faves. 💚🌼💚

#poetrymatters
#tree
@TheSpineView

#wintergames2024 @Liseworks #holidaybookdragons

A blackout poem I created in complete homage to Betty Smith's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN.

My latest booktube episode includes a dozen recent reads:
https://youtu.be/pLq4BZFeuIY

#LGBTQ #kidlit #picturebook #audiobook #classic #inTranslation #Canadian #essays #science

#christmascheer
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#wintergames2024 @Liseworks #holidaybookdragons

#sundayfunday (a day late) @BookmarkTavern

I will always be grateful for this book.

1. Every day. How much depends on several factors (including how exhausted I am when I get home from work. 😴) But I read something every day.
2. Most recently it was “The Women” by Kristin Hannah. Blech.
3. The tagged book, for sure! I also consider “A Prayer for Owen Meany” a classic, although I realize John Irving isn‘t for everyone.

Thanks for the tag, @dabbe !
#WondrousWednesday
@Eggs

#StorySettings
#forest
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A blackout poem I created reimagining the tree in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 💚🌳💚

This just wasn‘t for me. Read about 100 pages and I just wasn‘t clicking with it. Returning it to the library since there are other people waiting for it.

#SundayFunday @BookmarkTavern

I've reread the tagged book many times. I will reread Nancy Drew at the drop of a hat. I've reread some Harry Potters as well. I often get the urge to read books I've read before.

I‘m so excited my library hold came in for this…Starting it immediately!

I‘ve been searching for this book for years and I know that we have found each other at the right time.

Good morning! ⛅️
Very much looking forward to this!

I can‘t reach it right now, but I have a 1943 copy of my favorite book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
2. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
3. Becoming (Michelle Obama)

These 3 books rocked my world! Love them all!
Thanks for the tag @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@dabbe
#TLT
#ThreeListThursday

Reading a favorite again. Francie Nolan and I are friends.

my friend started this & it sounds SO good…thinking about making it my next read for the spring🌸🍃😏 has anyone read this?

#poetrymatters
#tree
@TheSpineView

Blackout poetry has a goal of using pre-existing or “found“ text to create something new. Portions of the original text are kept, while other parts are drawn over or crossed out. Well-crafted blackout poetry can give new meanings to old texts.

Here's a blackout poem I created from one page from A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 💚🌳💚

The last “official” episode of my book pod for a minute dropped today… and it‘s not to be missed! Author Ore Agbaje-Williams — who wrote one of my favorite books of 2023 — joins me to chat about *both* of our first experiences reading A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN. 🌳 Listen at the link in my bio!

I loved this coming of age story! I guess it took me a while to read it being that it was published well before I was born. I absolutely loved the story. The tree symbolized so many things. How I felt for this poor family living in NYC back in the 1940s. There were many stories and life lessons within the pages. I‘d love to try to find a movie version. This book is truly a classic, and I‘m glad I finally read it!

#SummerEndReadathon. Book 7
I really enjoyed this story. The struggles of the family seemed sad at first but I couldn‘t help loving how they overcame the struggles and worked hard to have a better life.

I'm having trouble getting into this. I know everyone loves it. When does it pick up?

"Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York."

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

First book choice of the newly formed book club of some of my closest friends. We call ourselves the “Book Bitches”. There are 4 of us and for this round we submitted old favorites. This was my friend Em‘s. Next month is Anne of Green Gables and that was mine 💚

I'll always love Francie, of course, but I felt myself sympathizing so much with Katie on this #reread. Does that mean I'm getting old? #classics

I'm in a bit of a reading slump in that I don't have the ability to concentrate for long, however my goal for the Choose Your Own Goals Readathon is to finish the tagged book, and get started on one of the new ones I have recently purchased. I also would like to listen to audiobooks at least 15-30 minutes each day.
#marvelousmarch #marvellousmarch # readathon #chooseyourowngoals @Andrew65

Continuing the #LitsyLoveReadathon in celebration of #LitsyLove being 5 years old. Got started with about 15 pages of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. Will get to A Pattern Language later today, but first heading out for some time with my two favourite guys (partner and 🐕).
@LitsyLove @StayCurious @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

"It would seem as if all the unwanted children would stick together and be one against the things that were against them. But not so. They hated each other as much as the teacher hated them." p. 150

"They learned no compassion from their own anguish. Thus their suffering was wasted." p. 159

(As a teacher, reading the descriptions in this novel of how casual the adults were about judging/mistreating children is just a series of gut punches ?)

"As she read, at peace with the world and happy as only a little girl could be with a fine book and a little bowl of candy, and all alone in the house, the leaf shadows shifted and the afternoon passed."

Had a New Years party with my God-children tonight, but was sure they would be in bed early enough that I could read myself into 2023...it's 12:40 and I'm just sitting down with my book now. Their parents may not be thrilled with me, but I caved and figured now they have something to brag to their friends about. Guessing most 7 year olds didn't see midnight. Lol

#Tree #DivineDecember @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A turn-of-the-century story in Williamsburg: Brooklyn, NYC, and a classic bildungsroman following the life of Francie Nolan and her hardscrabble life in the tenements of NYC. I loved Francie with all of my heart. I also learned a lot about immigrants in early 20th century NYC. #eyeopener

Here's a link to my blackout poem for this book, if interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_7HFc8TB005J1t-QJ3KabOa35dmI_mOk/view?usp=shari...

“Make a wish.” She held out her little finger and crooked it. Francie hooked her little finger into Aunt Evy‘s. “I wish I could always wear a white dress and carry red roses and that we could always throw money around like we did tonight,” wished Francie.

this book is very important in my family. it took me 9 years to get to it and even then it took me over a month to read. it wasn‘t bad, but it was a little slow moving for my taste. maybe my expectations were too high. i still enjoyed it and the nostalgic feel of it. i also like how the passage of time is so clear yet so subtle.

This tree isn‘t growing it‘s falling. I think my car is okay but there is minor roof damage and I will need new handrails and part of a fence for my back yard. Plus I really think the insurance should take the rest of the tree down.

The tagged is one of my favorites-I‘ve read it several times. Also excellent are:
The Thursday Murder Club
This Tender Land
A Thousand Splendid Suns

#letterT #alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Thanks for the tag @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I am a little behind because I was away, so this is me trying to catch up. #alphabetgame This is actually harder than it looks.
Everyone should read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. The Banquet by Carolyn Slaughter is disturbing and fabulous. Coventry by Helen Humphreys is a quiet, beautiful book and Daisy Jones is the only book I have liked by TJR.