Welcome to Litsy!

This loose retelling of David Copperfield explores life in Lee County through the eyes of a young boy nicknamed Demon. From his addict mother to the cruel injustices of the foster care system & drug addiction, the book will break your heart. But it's also so beautifully written & the voice feels so authentic, that you don't care. I wish I‘d read it sooner instead of dragging my feet.

“As a kid, you just accept different worlds w/different rules.”

I can‘t decide if Barbera Kingsolver is a literary genius or a whack that scored a book deal. This is the first book by her that I‘ve managed to get through and it was a ride for sure. Not a roller coaster per se, more of a train without tracks or speed control that occasionally punches you in the face and also can put you to sleep. But it took me over two weeks to get through it. Maybe it‘s a metaphor for the long journey of addiction?

At one point I almost bailed on this, but I decided to keep going. I‘m glad I did, because I ended up loving it.

#motivationalmonday
1. A nice quiet week with a bit of uni work.
2. My back garden which is sodden due to the amount of rain we‘ve had 😢
3. Worcester, UK 🇬🇧. It‘s 9c and wet & windy
4. Tagged

Listening to this and working in the yard. Does anything good happen in this book?

Finally made it into the garden to read! #litsylovereads

Somebody felt neglected 🙄🐈
I don‘t know how I feel finishing this monster of a book. In terms of size and being a sort of memoir. Children born into a drug family and how that influenced his every decision in life. How that kept building up on everything going on in his life. Made me feel angry at the foster program, as it failed this kid over and over again. Book to make you think about a system that is said to be amazing, but actually fails.

Starting this tonight for #litsylovereads
I‘ve heard many things about this book, both good and bad, only one way to find out….

Just checking to see who is joining me for this buddy read this month?!?! Please let me know!

#LitsyLoveReads
#LitsyLove

What are your favorite audiobooks? 📚 🎧

#LitsyLove

I loved my second book of 2024, and I'm still thinking about it! The main character has such a distinct and compelling voice, and the setting comes alive as a character in its own right. It was fantastic on audio! I read David Copperfield in 2023, and I'm glad I did, because I absolutely loved how Kingsolver engaged with it and added depth and nuance to it while bringing it into a modern context. A tough read, but not without tenderness and hope.

I‘m currently listening to this one for our #LitsyLoveReads buddy read! Please let me know if you‘re planning to join me so that I can tag you on discussion day!!

🎧 📚

#LitsyLove

Went for a walk in town, ended up in a tea room but that‘s after visiting the english bookshop... book haul !

Day 1 of the Greater Charlotte book crawl. The tagged book didn‘t quite fit in the pic

This is our #bkclubread this month for #LitsyLoveReads!! Please let me know if you are going to join so that I can tag you!

Everyone is welcome 🤗

#SpringSkies
#LitsyLove

📚 🐍 📚

March favorite, without a doubt! #readingbracket2024 @CSeydel

What a gut punching, heartbreaking, mind boggling, beautiful, intense, and POWERFUL read. Thankful that I finally read this - it‘ll stay with me for a long time 💔

“The wonder is that you could start life with nothing, end with nothing, and lose so much in between.”

5 AM vibes… trying audio again 🫤

This is so sad 😞

#LitsyLoveReads

Next up for #LitsyLoveReads!! Please let me know if you would like to join and be tagged! 📚📚📚

Everyone is welcome!!

#LitsyLove

Next up for our #LitsyLoveReads buddy read! Please let me know if you would like to be tagged for our April discussion!

#LitsyLove

📖📚📖📚📖

1. Basic household finances
2. Tagged book

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

A bit of a wild ride through this one. I enjoyed it. It did feel heavy for me at times—as I have experienced abused and addiction in my own life. It led me to reminiscing some and got personally dreary for a little bit. Thankful for the whole storyline and how things wrapped up in the end.

What a great book. As per the book “a good story doesn‘t just copy life, it pushes back on it”

This was one amazing book!! All the feels…I loved it.

#snowflake #snowflakes #papersnowflakes

Up next for #LitsyLoveReads!! Let me know if you want to be tagged!

#LitsyLove

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

At around 100 pages from the end, I just had to bail...
I think the writing style is really what I didn't connect with. I couldn't enter into the story, I wasn't interested enough to know the end.

1) Get a new knee (total knee replacement) on Tuesday and do physical therapy!
2) As a child, I wanted to be an artist, because I liked to draw, AND I wanted to be a teacher, because I enjoyed some of my teachers so very much.
3) If I recover from the knee surgery quickly, I‘d love to attend a friend‘s wedding in June in Illinois.
4) Currently reading Demon Copperhead (also The Brothers Karamazov—one chapter a day!)
@Cupcake12
#MotivationalMonday

1) I just started Demon Copperhead, which is set in contemporary Appalachia (though I‘ve read that it‘s inspired by Dickens‘ David Copperfield, which was set in rural Suffolk in the 1800s).

2) I have been to Hogwarts! Okay, so it was actually Alnwick Castle in northern England, where parts of the Harry Potter movies were filmed.
@Eggs #WondrousWednesday

Great! Heartbreaking but true

A hard, hard read, but good. If the narrator hadn't been so dissociated from the experiences throughout his entire young life, I don't know if I could have hung on to the end. Fictional, yes, but every single problematic, traumatic, thing this kid went through is what too many have experienced. The accolades for this book are well-deserved.

Books from the Little Free Library on my way to ballet yesterday. I was first to arrive so took the picture then rolled my feet out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautiful, heart-wrenching.
#doublespin for February

#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks
#ReadAway2024 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
#52bookclub24-# 3- more than 40 chapters @BarbaraBB
This audiobook was forever, but omg, it was soooo worth the time. A 5☆ plus. Demon is the narrator, his life set in Lee Conty VA. This is the tale of a boy who really never had a chance, stuck in impossible situations than no child should have to endure. A story of living in a place the world has forgotten⬇️

This one hit hard in all my tenderest places, but what a masterpiece.

A heart wrenching account of the care system during the height of the opioid scandal. Likeable, complex, full of heart & shame Demon is an engaging character that carried the story in tense fever pitch mode for 500+ pgs. As a reworking of David Copperfield it is a genius novel of powerful themes, questions around social justice & fate, but even if you put that genius aside the story is brilliant & Lee County will stay with you for along time.

The next round of my 'BEST OF 2023' videos are up! This time featuring my runners-up! Please let me know what you think! Which books would you have chosen? 📚 💙

Runners Up Best Adult Fiction from 2023!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvPC95PtKLE

Runners Up Best YA Fiction from 2023!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC_RGJpYvlY

Runners Up Best Children's Fiction from 2023!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmPxWWAA9GM

Starting my third #auldlangspine2024. Think this one is going to be a heart breaker! Thanks @Singout for getting me to this one!

There was a lot of interest in these three so I thought we could read all of them! 📚📚📚

January 27th Remarkably Bright Creatures discussion!
February-Hello Beautiful
March- Yellowface
April- Demon Copperhead
May- The River We Remember
June- The Spectacular

#LitsyLoveReads

These are the 3 with the highest votes! Please vote for one of these! We can read one for April and the other for May!

#LitsyLoveReads

Everyone welcome!!

📚📚📚

Very important poll:
Do you use this expression - Holy Roller - and if so, where did you grow up?
I really thought this was specific just to my childhood, and was gobsmacked to find it in a Women‘s Prize winning novel.

I‘m late to the party with this….but this book is fantastic. I don‘t think I‘ll ever forget Demon Copperhead. It‘s touched on so many devastating social issues but remained uplifting!
Brilliant writing ❤️
#literature #social issues #fivestars

I held off reading this knowing it would be selected for my ‘24 my IRL bookclub, and it was! It sits heavy on my heart and maybe this is why… It had the flow of a depression era coming of age story, but Demon is a millennial. Somehow, this telling makes generational poverty and the near impossibility of avoiding or overcoming drug addiction nearly impossible. I rooted for Demon from beginning to end.
Jan #BookSpin Cat: Over 500 pages

My favorite 2023 reads! 📚

I read a total of 30 books this year. This is the fifth year in a row that I haven‘t met my reading goal, but that‘s okay. I still enjoy reading, which is the most important thing, and it‘s my favorite past time. My almost 2-year-old seems to enjoy books and reading just as much as me, which makes my heart so happy ❤️

But I have feeling 2024 is my year, and I might just meet my goal again!

Thank you @Singout for such an interesting and varied list of special reads for #auldlangspine. I‘ve chosen three from your list - I‘ve tried to pick three very different things! Cant wait now to dive right in ! Happy New Year

Turns out I‘m pretty sparing with the 5-⭐️ ratings.

A Christmas Carol
Demon Copperhead
So Many Steves
Giant‘s Bread
Absent in the Spring

Here‘s to a great 2024 of books!

I finished 2023 at 92 books. 32 audiobooks, 23 on paper, and 37 on kindle. Demon Copperhead was my favorite book this year. Here‘s my Top 15:

Demon Copperhead
We All Want Impossible Things
Priestdaddy
Dinosaurs
How Far the Light Reaches
Purple Hibiscus
Tom Lake
Between Two Kingdoms
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Congratulations, the Best is Over
Kiss Me in the Coral Lounge
Gunfight
The Last Devil to Die
Wellness
Above Ground

Last one for 2023✨️

D for A to Z challenge!

#12Booksof2023

My best read of April? Well, define "best"?

On the one hand, Demon Copperhead was the best book I read - story, style, substance, craft, heart all beautifully wrought.

On the other hand, Janet stole my heart completely.

I refuse to choose between them.

@Andrew65

#12DaysofChristmas #Day4

One of the two months where my favorite of the month did not make my #Top23of23. It would be in my top 25, I think.

@Andrew65