Welcome to Litsy!

Truly iconic, an instant classic fit to stand among its queer horror predecessors like Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House (which this novel echoes throughout). Brutal, terrifying, gross, sexy, both subtle and explicit at the same time in its evisceration of fascism, racism, transphobia, and all the other rot it identifies in British society. A surprisingly moving ending for a horror novel filled with body horror and (internalized) hate.

"The house, not compassionate, ..."

I knew I recognized an echo in this line, and I figured out why last night when I started rereading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, in which early on she writes: "The house, not sane, ..."

I think reading these two at the same time is going to be so good!

#QueerBooks

"Every spot on the planet has something in its past that is worth haunting about. Or if, miraculously, it does not, then there's always the future, which holds far worse for everyone. It haunts backwards."
???

An incredible raw horror novel. It does not flinch - despite oh so many trigger warnings. I love how committed to the darkness the author was. And yet the ending felt a smidge rushed.

This is the type of book that seems to have a message although I‘m not sure what that message is. This book has a lot of hate. Hatred for oneself. Hatred for the other. The main character is a trans woman but there is so much anti trans rhetoric. I don‘t know what to think.

“I get off the bus at about twenty to ten, find a bench at the end of the same street the party‘s on, and wait until it seems appropriate for me to arrive.”

Tell Me I‘m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt is a horribly bleak story told from various perspectives that are all linked in the darkness of a past that won‘t let them go.

I cannot stress this enough, this is a book to tread lightly with. If you are easily impacted by darkness, this may not be a good fit for you.

https://www.ericarobynreads.com/tell-me-im-worthless-by-alison-rumfitt/

I'm not doing a review of this one yet because I'm not sure how to feel. It was a lot, to say the least. It was a very heavy read. I felt like the last 20 pages I just kinda wanted it to be done. Not to say it wasn't good, but it was heavy in a way that became unenjoyable. I like the haunted house aspect the most. I would definitely look into trigger warnings before reading this one! It does have a gorgeous cover!

Maybe it‘s just the audio format (though the performance is actually quite good), but at a third of the way through, I am bailing on this. Maybe it‘s trying to listen while preparing for the holidays that this isn‘t working for me, but this gender-charged novel is light on the traditional haunted house aspects (the house has its own perspective here- and its own horrific political views), but the drugs, sex and language are killing holiday vibes!

"Ila is coming apart. I can tell. She believes so many things at once that her head is starting to hurt."

"The man‘s name was Edmund. He appeared as a man named Edmund might–shorter than he wished, with his hair slicked down and a conspicuous lack of facial hair."

Thanks so much @Reggie ! Talk about a nice surprise to return home to on a Friday evening!

Thanks for the tag @DarkMina @Kdgordon88 😊

1. @Reggie gave it five stars and his review was great and it piqued my interest.

2. Not yet.

3. I haven‘t read/listened to any books this year, but I do have books on the ‘currently reading‘ section of my profile that I need to finish.

#WondrousWednesday

So this is a five huge star read for me. Alice, a trans woman who sees ghost in every wall of every place she has lived for the past 3 years, and Ila, a cis woman who now actively participates as a Terf, were once part of a trio of friends who went into a hateful, full of rage, antiSemitic, haunted house and were the only two to leave. They have different views of what actually happened and will have to meet again to try and find peace. This👇🏼

Ughhh, I‘m so pissed. I left a pen from work in my pants pocket and can now see and hear it tick against the glass. 🤞🏼 the ink doesn‘t leak! Anyways, this is pretty creepy so far. Happy reading, Littens!