Welcome to Litsy!

Newman certainly writes protagonists who are a lot. At first Rocky seemed like she might be a bit too much for me but like everyone else in her life, I eventually fell under her spell. I had a good time spending a week on vacation with her and her out of the nest children, aging parents, and beleaguered husband. This book had moments where I was so annoyed I thought I would bail and moments that really touched me. Overall a light pick.

August favorite! But James beat it ♥️ Plus I had to add Clare Pooley‘s book as a bonus, if was just amazing and hilarious ♥️♥️ #readingbracket2024 @CSeydel

A book of family, a week on Cape Cod, loss, joy, and processing a little or bit of everything. I love that there‘s a 50 something protagonist. I loved that it takes place in a week on the Cape. I love that there‘s some family genealogy. I love that some of the less central storylines felt so central to understanding the family. I loved that it‘s a shorter book (pssst, agents… shorter books can be successful!).

Well, I might just be speechless. I feel so seen, so cherished, so important. It‘s almost as if she jumped right into my brain and pulled out parts of the main character. I predict a days long book hangover ♥️♥️♥️♥️

“Here's the thing about menopause, though, that I don't entirely understand. We'll exchange a few words like this? A seemingly slight disagreement? Only then rage fizzes up inside my rib cage. It burns and unspools, as berserk and sulfuric as those black-snake fireworks from childhood: one tiny pellet, with seemingly infinite potential to create dark matter-dark matter that's kind of like a magic serpent and kind of like a giant ash turd.”

A pretty perfect summer novel. I felt like I was on vacation with this clan.

@BkClubCare commented that Sandwich is the IT book right now on my #bookspin list, and sure enough, it was chosen!

How It Works Out arrived yesterday as one of a bunch of #CampLitsy24 longlist books I‘ve picked up recently.

As you can see, my up-next shelf is bursting at the seams plus I have 10 library books out! 🤯 I‘ve lost it…🤣

Thanks for continuing this fun challenge, Sarah. 💜💜

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I definitely could relate to this. But it didn‘t live up to the hype. Quick easy read though.

Looks like a fun read!

What a beautiful novel of a week at the summer cottage this family has visited for many years. It centers around Rocky and her husband, parents and adult children. It is a novel of all the feels of family life, raising kids, aging and watching parents as they decline. So well done.

54 year old Rocky arrives at the annual week long vacation at the Cape Cod beach house. Her children are grown her parents are elderly and her relationship with her husband is up and down. But they‘re all there that week, and she loves them all fiercely. In fact this book seems like a love letter to all of them, interspersed with loads of anxiety. I laughed out loud once, but mostly found it repetitious.

This page cracked me up!

I‘ve been going back and forth on how to rate this all day. On one hand the main character was just so much and everyone just seemed to accept that. It didn‘t seem real to me. On the other hand I read this while on vacation in New England with my kids and my parents and that part seemed REAL. In a way it reminded me of the #CampLitsy book All Fours- I‘m ecstatic to see women around my age in books, but yikes do they have to be so over the top?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thought this was a wonderful summer read that nailed the everything-ness of life. I loved hearing from a female character in her fifties. Rocky‘s voice was compelling and memorable, equally funny and piercing. I was an extra guest on this family beach vacation, along for the ride for every emotion, memory, and meal.

I‘m conflicted, I found myself laughing, reading lines to friends, & getting caught up in the family dynamics. I identified w/ someone caught in the middle of aging parents & raising children, though mine are younger. But the kids felt 1 dimensional. The main character is ripe w/ conflicting emotions & big feelings but her adult kids feel like cookie cutter examples of what parents wish they had. It‘s not their story but it kept me from loving it.

This book had me laughing out loud THREE times while reading in bed last night. i even had to read an excerpt to my lit-allergic husband. I feel this woman to my core. Menopausal women, unite! 💪🏻😂 (and whenever Ann Patchett gives it a nod, I‘m in.)

I loved Catherine‘s last book, dove into this one and loved it too. The cover art of this book depicts the story perfectly as Rocky looks fondly at her life through a watercolor lense as she enters menopause, becomes an empty nester and witnesses her husband age more gracefully than she. It‘s also a story about a woman‘s right to choose and even a woman‘s right to have regrets, even though she made what she knew was the right choice for the time.

“You could decide to be happy”. That‘s what a friend says to the narrator of the book, a woman in the midst of menopause and with an empty nest after her children have left home.
In the book they are holidaying in Cape Cod for a week. All of them. They are such a happy family, she has it all, yet she can‘t stop thinking, fearing, feeling angry, etc. I agree with her friend and wish she would decide to enjoy all she had. A light pick.

This one is hard to rate, or explain why I am rating it like I am, even to myself. On the one hand, the characters bother me. Even the nickname of the protagonist bothers me. Their banter annoys me. But then there is the relatable humanness during menopause that makes me forgive it all.

#weeklyforecast 27/24

I am reading James for #CampLitsy24 (I hated Huckleberry Finn long ago and won‘t reread it) and enjoying it. Next will be Sandwich - thanks to @TrishB

Maybe there‘ll be a bit of time left for some John Marrs.

#bookhaul from our York meet-up. I went with the intention of buying Sandwich (hubby thought that was hilarious - that I intended to buy just *one* book!) and spotted this ARC in the Amnesty charity shop. Definitely need to go back there again as Moon Road and Evenings & Weekends were also ARCs, for just Qc each.

Tangled Vines is the Murdaugh murders story, and I‘m seeing the Redemption author speak at a Crime Festival in a few weeks‘ time.

I loved this, very relatable. Menopause- family relationships- mid life wobbles, grown up kids leaving home, elderly parents. Some laugh out loud moments and some very poignant moments.
Matched Sandwich and Paddington purposely 😁

Got an arc in the mail today from HarperCollins. Guess I must have won it somewhere! Always fun. Looks like a good one.