Welcome to Litsy!

My first Elizabeth Strout, thanks to the Book Bumble podcast. Olive Kitteridge is a series of interconnected stories about small-town life in Crosby, Maine, with Olive—a sharp-tongued, complex retired teacher—at its center. Slow start, but once I settled in, the emotional depth and flawed, real characters shone. Quiet but powerful, with a satisfying arc. Good on audio. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 ❤️📚

🧙🏼‍♀️

If love was available, one chose it, or didn‘t choose it. And if her platter had been full with the goodness of Henry and she had found it burdensome, had flicked it off crumbs at a time, it was because she had not known what one should know: that day after day was unconsciously squandered.

#TFW all your library holds inexplicably come in at once 😳

Olive is read and often unlikeable, but she is also honest and real. I love how the author wove the story not just through Olive‘s perception, but through the lives she touches as well. I can‘t wait to read the sequel “olive again”.

Strout‘s ability to capture loneliness, regrets, doubt and overall the human condition was astounding. And still I bailed..it‘s a classic case of, “it‘s not you, it‘s me!”. For the present I need something more uplifting and less in my head.

He wanted to put his arms around her, but she had a darkness that seemed to stand beside her like an acquaintance that would not go away.

My aunt found this fabulous rotating bookcase at an antique store, and my sweet father-in-law fixed it up for me. The first authors to go on the shelves: Elizabeth Strout, Maggie O‘Farrell, and Ottessa Moshfegh, along with my Olive Editions 🫒

It‘s a book about aging and loneliness, about loss, love, and regrets. There‘s a sense of saddened sweetness thru the words, which made me feel grateful sometimes, and some other times grieving the loss of certain light and time in my own life.

Getting old may be a scary thing. May we all find a little more ease, grace and courage everyday on the journey forward, with love.

...again. No, if love was available, one chose it, or didn't choose it. And if her platter had been full with the goodness of Henry and she had found it burdensome, had flicked it off crumbs at a time, it was because she had not known what ond should know: that day after day was unconsciously squandered."

A collection of short stories where the character Olive has different levels of importance. Through them we meet her, her family and the people in the town whose lives are intertwined. All the characters and relationships have such depth, it's so well written, so rich in details, the stories have a gentle sadness but at the same time are funny... I can't recommend this enough, will read the second one and anything this author has to offer.

Book & Dessert 🍰😋

Trying to wrap my head around this book. I loved the format of short stories that had a common thread. But then I got frustrated that I didn't know the rest of the story. Olive is such a wonderful, yet terrible, character. I can't give it an extremely high rating, but I put the sequel on library hold immediately, which says something.

⭐⭐⭐✨/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#Booked2023 - short story collection

#BookReport

I kept up with the buddy reading of The Pickwick Papers

Nonfiction always takes longer to read than I expect, so I‘m still reading Lucrezia Borgia

Still listening to the audio of Muttra og meg

I finished Olive Kitterigde and I‘ve read Sepulchre

I‘ve just started Sweet Tooth

Through different people, we get their views on Olive Kitteridge. This shows that people are never one thing and can be different things to different people.

I will definitely read more about Olive and other over Strout‘s novels

#WeeklyForecast

Seriously, I thought this week‘s stack would be less than last week‘s. I suddenly got some more time to read than I had planned

I will continue the buddy read of The Pickwick Papers

I want to finish the Ragde on audio and finish my reading of the tagged. Hopefully I‘ll finish Lucrezia Borgia as well

I want to read Sepulchre and Sweet Tooth, and if I‘m having a really good week I want to get a start on The Shadow Cabinet

#BookReport

Spent the day with a friend so not much reading done today, luckily I did some earlier in the week

I kept up with the buddy read of The Pickwick Papers

I finished Sunshine

I‘ve read The Suspicions of Mr. Whichers, Spy x Family vol 2 and Enola Holmes The Case of the Missing Marquess

I‘m currently reading Lucretia Borgia and Olive Kitteridge, and I‘m actually doing the Ragde on audio.

I'm just over halfway and I'm loving it!
I don't often read very quickly or get so drawn into a book as I am with this one.

So much familiarity in her story and so much to learn about growing up and growing older. So very relatable.

I'm looking forward to watching the series on Netflix with my hubby when I'm done!

In this interlocking series of stories set in Maine, most involving the unfiltered and often off-putting title character, Olive Kittredge, life is punctuated by moments of despair and loss, misunderstanding and profound loneliness. Suicide is a frequent theme. Yet somehow, the final pages hold a life-affirming promise of connection. If there is hope for Olive, as irascible and completely self-unaware as she is, perhaps there is hope for us all.

A bit late to the party I know, but so glad I read it.. I loved the flawed protagonist.. it really shows that we do not always have things figured out as we get older.. we can still have insecurities and baggage from the past. Loved the characters and small town vibes.. I have read her other series, my name is Lucy Barton including Lucy by the Sea and I will read anything Strout writes as I love her writing!

“She didn‘t like to be alone. Even more, she didn‘t like being with people.”

#reRead #notARereader #SoGood

For me, this was a very challenging read for such a small book. It was difficult to keep going at times. But it was poignant and thought-provoking and often bitter. It‘s not one I‘ll say I enjoyed but it was worth my time.

#manicmonday #letterO
1)tagged
2)Stewart O‘Nan
3)The Orphan Train
4)Sinead O‘Connor
5)She‘s Leaving Home

#ManicMonday
@cbee
📕Tagged 💕💕💕
✍🏻 Maggie O‘Farrell
🍿 Ocean‘s Eleven
🎤 One Republic
🎵 One (U2) https://open.spotify.com/track/3G69vJMWsX6ZohTykad2AU?si=op8RkeTrRyyPPckbfZyzkA

I actually had a hard time picking my #LetterO book. I almost selected Ordinary People and One Day, but ultimately it had to be the tagged book because Olive is just such an endearing character and I loved the book way more than I thought I would.
#alphabetgame
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 Lives and loves of several people in a small town in Maine over many years. The writing and characters are really good, but I didn‘t realize going in that this is a series of essays/short stories that are each meant to stand alone, although many of the same characters show up. I was getting frustrated trying to keep track of everyone and finally realized I didn‘t really need to. Enjoyable, but maybe a soft pick.

Great read! Loved it.

A compulsively readable novel in stories tied together by a fascinating, gray complex character in Olive. I loved “A Different Road” and “Criminal” best. Strout is masterful here in the way she examines life‘s small tragedies in agonizingly intimate detail.

Exquisite, sparse, complex, authentic examination of the human condition. Why did I wait so long to read this “flawless masterpiece” (thanks for that phrase Lee 😉)

I really shouldn‘t listen to short stories on audio. Short stories don‘t interest me as much, and when I listen to books I sometimes lose focus. When I lose focus while listening to short stories, then return my focus, they‘ve often moved onto a different story, so I‘ve really missed everything. There is really no way to get interested again. That being said, there were a couple of stories at the end that kept my focus more than any of the others.

I really enjoyed this and will definitely read the next one ‘Olive again‘. It‘s rare to dislike and love a character at the same time. But humans are complex and messy.
This was taken at our writers festival, such a gorgeous day!

Picked these up on a quick Target run. Collecting books and reading books really are two distinct hobbies and I love both.

This is one of those books that‘s festered on my TBR for way too long. So a cold weekend was the perfect time to try the four part miniseries. Amazing story of how hard family can be. Makes me want to read more about it so leaving the book on my TBR to fester a little longer.

Pic is from the last season. Bill Murray showed up at the perfect moment, when it was almost too much to bear.

This book is not it for me. Uninteresting characters, everyone is miserable, bad thing after bad thing (and I LOVED A Little Life, y'all), and worst of all, I just don't care for the writing.

Book club discussion will be interesting.

Of all the books I'm currently reading, this is the one that makes me tense.

This book consists of narratives inside the lives of people from the small (fictional) town of Crosby, Maine. There are recurring characters, of which Olive emerges as a compelling central figure. Olive suffers from depression and the overall feeling of the book is melancholic but hopeful. Strout depicts private thoughts and feelings related to love and loss so insightfully that she brings to life characters that are as real as fiction gets.

This was more a collection of short stories than a novel and a few of them only mentioned Olive. All of them were sad or depressing or disturbing. It was well written but I did not really enjoy it.

Thanks for the tag @Eggs

🎃 Tagged. Hoping to finish it today.
🎃 Playing D&D with my dad Sunday then passing out candy.
🎃 Chocolate!

#wondrouswednesday

Here‘s where this month‘s theme and my favorite kind of books fail to match. Oh well! I will have to cheer on everyone else‘s posts for #Mummy #Scarathlon #PhotoChallenge. I looked at my goodreads lists and found zero references. And so, what I *did* find is something that has me falling in love all over again with Elizabeth Strout! She posted her notes on this tagged book ❤️💖💗💓💞

Small town America and what lurks beneath all those lives, this was gentle yet not at the same time. I hadn‘t realised the book was more a series of short stories. I enjoyed it but to be honest wanted more Olive.

This book, which I think is called a novel but reads more like short stories, has a real “Our Town” vibe to it. Olive, the central character, is a prickly woman who can be rude and judgmental and also kind and compassionate. Strout examines mental illness, relationships, and the beauty in everyday life. https://cannonballread.com/2021/09/olive-kitteridge-elcicco/

Linked story collections operate in an amorphous, & interesting, space between traditional novels & story collections. When they work, as in the case of Strout's character study, they often feel miraculous. In Strout's case, it's not simply the form that makes it so remarkable, rather it's the psychological astuteness & honesty of the human condition, the wry humor of the characters, the fleeting tender moments between acquaintances & strangers

When a character in a linked short story collection makes a cameo appearance nearly 200 pages later.

💔

This book! This story!

Okay.

And so I finally read this wonderful book! I have nothing but praise, although it did make me sad. So masterfully written and beautiful. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐