Welcome to Litsy!

A bookdate with my bookish friends 💞

The perfect story about a young girls experience living with another family (an older couple) for one summer while her mother has a baby. The comparison between the couple and her parents, her life with them and her life at home - was touching. It was sweet and sad and hopeful.

#MarchMadness #BookSpinBingo thx for hosting @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES @TheAromaofBooks

Make a great day everyone 🙂

Tagged book takes place in Ireland.
Last book finished (Watching the Ghosts) had a character named Patrick in it.
Kaz (Crooked Kingdom) always has an Ace up his sleeve (previous post).
Three down, two to go -

#WickedWords @AsYouWish

Make a great day everyone -🍀

💯

So short this really was a #quicklunchtimeread
Beautifully written story that says a lot in a very few pages. She has such a haunting way with words.

A lot of love on Litsy lately for this beautifully written, quiet book. Novella in format, it was nice to play the audio on a drive and be able to absorb it in its entirety at just over an hour long. The story is of a girl who is sent to live with relatives, unknown to her, for the summer to make things easier for her family in rural Ireland. The movie titled ‘A Quiet Girl‘ was recently released in theaters about this book and I‘m curious.

“I try to remember another time when I felt like this and am sad because I can‘t remember a time, and happy, too, because I cannot.”

A quiet, lovely novella about a young Irish girl who goes to stay with distant relatives when her mother is having yet another baby and there are just so many mouths to feed. Full of phenomenal writing and filled with the most beautiful, yet simple, passages & messages. Highly recommend! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A young girl is driven by her father to some strangers, while her mother has another baby.

I don‘t want to write anything about this very slim book, other than it had me in tears by the end.

4th book for #MarvellousMarch and #MarchMadness @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#2010 #192025 @Librarybelle

Todays #bookmail

5⭐️ This has similar ambience as Small Things Like These, but I have so much more affection for this short story about a foster girl. Oh, it also has the most friendly wake scene I‘ve ever read. What a gem! A super thin book, I finished this during my commute… and it made me very softie at work today 🥰

At least once a year I try my hand at writing a #bookreport and #weeklyforecast but never seem to keep up the habit for long, still, hope spring eternal so here I am again :)

The tagged book was my hi light of the week!!!

And I know this graphic looks out of control, but most of the started and ongoing books are buddy reads that I‘ll be reading slowly all month or even all year

@Cinfhen

Was it the Irish lilt of the narrator that made this short tale so beautiful? Was it the matter of fact descriptions of the setting that made me love this? Was it the deceptively simple tale that won me over? In 90 minutes I was pulled so deeply into this story and its outcome. I wish I knew how Keegan does it but she brings me quickly and deeply into a world she has created.

Beautiful. Spare. Perfectly told. Young girl from an impoverished family goes to live with distant relatives when her mother is pregnant again, relatives with a bit more means to care for and love her.

Just perfect 😍

Beginning first new read for March! #MarchMadness Really looking forward to this one.

No 5🌟 reads for February. The Rabbit Hutch was close but Foster is my favorite of the two.

#pop23 #shortestbookontbr

Just so beautiful. Keegan writes so deceptively simply, yet each sentence has purpose, captures each act of kindness with a subtle emotional punch. The rural Irish setting gives this tale a timeless feel, and the young POV an innocence that is touching. Heartbreakingly human. @squirrelbrain @barbarabb @cortg @AshleyHoss820 @Kelly_the_Bookish_Sidekick @RaeLovesToRead @MissHel

What can I add to all the positive reviews? Such a gem. #librarybook

I loved this so much. So beautifully written. I teared up at the end.

An unnamed girl spends the summer with a couple whom she is related to but has never met.Why she is sent away is never revealed but the reader guesses it‘s for financial reasons.Throughout the summer the girl works side by side with the woman on the farm.Their chores are meticulously listed.The couple don‘t use her as a help,the work makes her part of the family,she experiences love,attention and care.Central themes are loss but mostly love.

I‘m so impressed again by how much Claire Keegan says in a short story. I thought Foster seemed more completed than Small Things Like These, and it‘s made me reflect more on the life experiences of friends. 7/10

"I am in a spot where I can neither be what I always am nor turn into what I could be. "

Sitting outside starting this book. The Oscar nominated film An Cailín Ciúin (the Quiet Girl) which is the first ever Irish language film to be nominated is based on this short book, so I thought I'd read it.

Like last year I am trying to up my nonfiction game and am doing a bracket for each. I read 3 memoirs in January with The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting slightly edging out the other two. Foster was my only 5 🌟 read in January.

Thank you @chasjjlee for sharing the graphic!

I have really enjoyed #AuldLangSpine the past four years, and thank you to @monalyisha for always giving me such great matches!! @Emilymdxn this year was no exception! The one I‘d most like to read on this list is Foster by Claire Keegan. Thanks for this great giveaway Alyisha! #AuldLangSpineGiveaway

#JanuaryWrapUp. 19 books with 1 DNF and 3 bingos First 5 🌟 read of 2023 is Foster.

4 - 4.75 🌟
The Diamond Eye
Jane and the Stillroom Maid

4🌟
Peach Blossom Spring
The Godmothers
The Corner That Held Them
The Opposite of Butterfly Hunting
Murder in Murray Hill
Disappearing Earth
Out of the Corner
Beyond the Wand
The Love Hypothesis
The Winter Ghosts

The rest were 3 to 3.5 🌟

A fantastic reading month! On to February…

Keegan‘s books are different than any I have read. They contain multitudes: small but mighty, dealing with hard issues but somehow leave me feeling calm and peaceful. Characters who are every day people but have such depth to them. They are stories that stick with me. Foster is no different. I also appreciate some of her male characters - they aren‘t perfect but they are good. I hope there are many more small books to add to my Keegan collection.

A small girl spends the summer with childless relatives in rural Ireland. From that unprepossessing outline, Claire Keegan has crafted a perfect novella about family secrets and the acquisition of wisdom. Beautiful and haunting.

Friday Reads January 27 - Canada Reads; Giller Prize news; comics; audiobooks; Indigenous books

https://youtu.be/dTsHh7X923U

Claire Keegan drafts her story so carefully and tenderly that I was pulled in from the start. A father drops his daughter at the farm of an aunt and uncle she hardly knows. She has no idea how long she will have to stay and is very scared. However from the first moments onwards the couple just show her love and tenderness. The girl learns about life, trust and grief. Keegan manages to do so in as few pages as possible. Perfection.
Thanks Cindy💖

My library hold came in last night, so I thought I‘d spend my time packing & listening to this audio. Before I even selected which books to bring on my trip the audio was over. It‘s a tightly crafted story of family, kindness, grief and love. So poignant/ not a word wasted. Stunning narration. #52Books23 #Under200Pages

Bought this on a whim last night. It was in the new fiction section, but I see it was first published in 2010.

I‘ve not read any other Claire Keegan and thought this novella might help me decide whether I want to read more.

I absolutely loved it. And I most definitely will seek out her others now. Any recommendations welcome…🤗

#WeeklyForecast 04/23

I am reading and cherishing Lucy at the Sea and listening to Babel on audio. I do have a copy too but the audio is very good and easy to listen to. Babel and Olga are for the #ToB23 and Foster I just want to read asap 😀

1. Loved this, beautifully written, simple but full of emotion. Scenes with food and eating particularly reminded me of my childhood, especially the Kimberley biscuits. 5/5

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A young girl is sent to live with distant relatives for the summer. The reason, it seems, is to help relieve some of her parents' burden for a time. During her stay with Mr. & Mrs. Kinsella, she discovers a life quite different from the one she is accustomed to back on her family's farm.

This story is about the power of love and tenderness, as well as how neglect and loss shape how we move through the world.

Book mail! I used my gift certificate to order this one! Small Things Like These was one of my favorites in 2022, so I am looking forward to this book!

What a jewel of a story. Claire Keegan writes so beautifully and takes you to the heart of her characters.

This is a little gem of a book. I am always impressed by well written novellas and authors who can pack a punch in a small book. #Pantone2023 #EmpireYellow #52books #under200pages

Claire Keegan says so much in what she doesn‘t say. Shades of Anne of Green Gables. The love between adoptive parents and children. How kindness makes all the difference, especially for those who have not experienced it

A beautiful, moving novella told from an unnamed narrator who is sent to br fostered by a childless couple in the Irish countryside. Written in haunting prose and captures the meaning of familial love, this is a radiant portrait of the human experience.

5 🌟. Loved this short story! Claire Keegan can set a location in such a clear and efficient way. I found this read very effective. Highly recommend!

With Keegan, each and every word matters.

My favorite kind of writing, so very carefully and well crafted. In this respect she reminds me of another favorite author, Carys Davies.

A beautiful, quiet story about finding family in unexpected moments. A slice of life with a gentle love at its core.

What Keegan does best—a story so simple and understated and yet so achingly beautiful and exquisitely tender. In Foster, a girl is sent to live with distant relations and finds a home she never knew before.

Short story set in Ireland of a girl who stays with a family for a brief period of time. Wonderfully written, poignant, and plot moves at a perfect short story clip.

Through participation in the daily rituals of life in the Irish countryside, a young girl comes to know what it is to be cherished. A small, quiet book; the mundane is sacred between its pages. This was the perfect first taste of Claire Keegan‘s writing. I‘m so eager to read more.

#NetGalley

Claire Keegan may write books with few pages but I promise you that the content, and the power behind her words are far more expansive.

This is a beautiful story about love, about loss, and about being kind to those around you. Keegan's writing reminds me that there is still good in humans. 💚