Welcome to Litsy!

Well this has been on my TBR pile since publication, I have Young Mungo awaiting collection at Waterstones and Shuggie Bain has been listed on the Platinum Jubilee Reading List. I am hoping after just finishing The House in the Cerulean Sea that I have enough warm feels to face this.

My heart is squeezing. I cried for them all. Agnes who‘s addictions ran stronger than her childrens needs. For her children, equally as they realized they had to take care of themselves first. I cried for hope. I cried for the author who was so descriptive in his characters that I knew he had endured this and writing in fiction was easier than autobiographical. If you haven‘t endured a family addiction, read this. If you have, you must.

“Shuggie…understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grace and held her head high. When she had disgraced herself with drink, she got up the next day, put on her best coat, and faced the world “ Bravery forms in many looks.

I was really struggling with reading this, so I switched over to the audio and it is such a better experience. I am definitely going to need something cheerful and fun after though.

Wow! A beautifully written, heart breaker of a book. I both read the book and listened to the #audio and it was good to switch it up-great to hear the accents and tone on audio, but the written text helped avoid confusion at times. Hard to get through at times, but ultimately glad I heard his story. #MountTBR #BookspinBingo #marvellousmarch @TheAromaofBooks @Andrew65

Speaking the truth? This book scares me to read. So what to do? Feel the fear and read it anyway.

A tumultuous yet rewarding Scottish Yarn that's been soaked in the trauma of alcoholism.

1️⃣ Definitely Goodreads, I've used that the longest and I really like it for tracking my reads and getting recommendations.

Add me⤵️
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/93434926-michael-theneverendingtbr

2️⃣ Yes, my goal is 150 books. It'll be the most I've ever read in a year if I complete it. I've not failed on my reading goals yet! ✊

3️⃣ Tagged! 🧡

Thanks for the tag @DarkMina

I tag @Ast_Arslan @youneverarrived @Cathythoughts

My favourite read for #May. May was a very strong reading month for me; I got 5 books done and was my third strongest reading month and until November, I didn‘t read as much as I did in May. I also had 2 other books that could have qualified for favourite read and were very close to becoming the favourite read. #12booksof2021

#12booksof2021 #4thbookof2021 #April

I had a major reading slump in April and only reported 4 books read for the month. The Booker Prize winner was the best of them, but I didn't like it enough for it to make my #Top21of21 list.

@Andrew65

#12Booksof2021 February favorite. Broke my heart, but oh so good. Did a mix of print and audio for this one. Audio is excellent.

#1stBookof2021 #January

Thank goodness for Goodreads as I don‘t what I read in which month. 😳

@Andrew65 #12Booksof2021

“Why the fuck did you bring me here?” His answer? “I had to see if you would actually come. She had loved him, and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good. Agnes Bain was too rare a thing to let someone else love. It wouldn‘t do to leave pieces of her for another man to repair later.” Stuart depicts, in a brutal starkness, the breaking down of a person. He also shows a solidness, however, of undeniable character & daring style.

This year started our strong- flagged in the middle and picked up for a fun finish!

I read this one for a book challenge (Booker prize winner). It was not my cup of tea and was very long and drawn out. It was dark and depressing and hard to finish. Book #71 in 2021

Super depressing, but absolutely brilliant. You‘re rooting for Shuggie the whole way through, beautifully written.

From #Sharjahinternationalbookfestival

Intriguing look behind the scenes of how the Booker Prize is judged! I didn‘t know it was televised. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/05/arguments-anticipation-and-careful...

I put this brilliant book down exhausted by this sad story of the effect of alcoholism upon a family. In Agnes, mother of shuggie and his 2 half siblings, we meet a woman who is lively, funny, and beautiful but humiliated by the men in her life who even when she seems to escape from her addiction at one point is drawn back in by a man's stupidity. The impact on shuggie is inevitable with the story book ended by his sorry circs after leaving home.

This is a beauty of book. I loved these characters and enjoyed every painful moment I got to spend with them. It‘s highly worth your time.

Reading this was quite a painful experience because of the hopelessness and destruction of the characters‘ lives by poverty and alcohol. The children‘s love for their alcoholic parents, and the way they dedicate their young lives to saving them, is heartbreaking.

I have never read the last page of a book- not even if I abandon a book. Just why? I hate spoilers, too. Book blurbs that give away too much is another of my pet peeves. I‘d love to hear some of yours.

Shuggie's love for his alcoholic mother is so fierce and unwavering it'll break your heart.

There isn't much 'happy' to be found here, but this is a powerful book and worth the read.

Really glad I‘m finally reading this. I was worried it would be very dark, which it is, but 70 pages in I really care about the characters.

Which one next? Looking forward to all three, they all come highly recommended by friends.

For those in Canada… Shuggie Bain is an Amazon kindle daily deal. I thought this book was excellent - a 5⭐️ read for me

SO sad, but so good.
#TournamentofBooks #ToB #Booker

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it. Some will be old, some will be new - don't judge me, I have a lot of books.

Day 82th

Join the fun if you want!

#tbrpile

Long, crappy day at work followed by long, crappy commute home from work. And I missed my yoga class. 😖 So I‘m sitting on the couch with food and a book instead. That counts as self-care, right? I mean, at least there‘s fruit involved. 😀

Bloody hell- Bleak, brutal, heart breaking and hard hitting on poverty & alcoholism and how they break a family, but just brilliant.

This idea of this book intimidated me. Maybe it was the unusual title or the fact that it won the Booker prize. This was such a surprise. So accessible, so engaging, and so well written. Shuggie seemed reals and is a character that I will be thinking about for a while. 5*

Wow, this is a great one. The vivid imagery made me feel like feel the hunger pains and see the poverty. Sad, but not without hope.

This is an incredibly powerful, tragic and beautifully written story.

It's a story about a child and his alcoholic mother and the poverty and deprivation in Glasgow, Scotland in the 80s, during the Thatcher era.

The Glaswegian slang might be hard for some people to understand but I'm a Glaswegian myself so it was normal for me, i can actually relate to a lot in this book also and it's made me want to read more books that are set where I grew up.

Rough. Beautiful but a hard read.

It‘s taken me ages to finish this one, I didn‘t want to read more but I wanted to finish it to see how it ended. Heartbreaking, dark and depressing throughout but so powerful. I did find it a bit cliched and repetitive at times
A pick if you‘re in the right headspace for it
4 ⭐️

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 being Scottish I relate to this 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Hubby is inside sleeping off a 54-hour shift at the fire station. So it‘s just me and Shuggie by the pool for the afternoon.

#summer2021
Read at the pool

In Shuggie Bain, alcoholism flips the parent/child relationship. Young Shuggie takes care of his mother Agnes, and Agnes is the one who cries and lashes out — poisoned by the pull of booze and the men who take advantage of women with such addictions. The novel is heartbreaking because a smart boy with a rescuer‘s heart is left to find his own way in an unwelcome world. You can‘t save everyone, he learns, or you‘ll never live your own life.

#sorrynotsorry for this purchase. Middle book is next month‘s book club read. School is almost over and I can NOT wait to hit my deck with my TBR list.

When I finished I wanted to learn the author‘s background as the characters and setting felt so authentic and clearly drawn. Living in WV, I have seen similar devastation and desperation in former coal towns. It felt so visceral and the characters‘ struggles were complex - I particularly thought it was strong in intertwining circumstances with outcome and showing how an addictive cycle can continue. Brutal in many parts. Palate cleanser up next.

I loved it. Such a powerful, authentic depiction of 1980s Glasgow as well as a moving, empathetic portrait of addiction without sentimentality or excuses. The characters are so, so strong and I don't think I've ever rooted for any so desperately. Heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting. For a debut novel this is absolutely mind-blowing. @TheAromaofBooks #bookspin

Tfw you finally finish a book you were struggling through and prepare to start one that his come highly recommended. Hoping it lives up to the recs.

Raw, heartbreaking story about a young boy trying to earn the love of his alcoholic mother while also struggling with his identity.

“The day was flat. That morning his mind had abandoned him and left his body wandering down below.”

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

I‘m about 100 pages in and so far it should be called “Agnes Bain”. Well-written but not what I was expecting.

“Shuggie watched her and said under his breath, “Why can‘t I be enough?””

Inspired by Stuart‘s own life experiences, Shuggie Bain is a heartbreaking account of a son reaching out for his mother‘s love, while also struggling with his identity. Heavily succumbed to alcohol and abuse; and living a loveless life, Agnes (mother) reaches at a stage where she is unable to shower any love for her children. 👇🏽

4.5⭐️ I really liked this book; very descriptive and heartbreaking 💔 I really, really liked the book but I found it really heavy emotionally at times. #2021 #bookerprize #fiction #bookreview #bookstagram #literaryfiction