Welcome to Litsy!

7-10 Jun 2025 (audiobook)
Trent Dalton‘s writing is not for me. I read Boy Swallows Universe and it was ok but this second book really grated on my nerves. Partly, because I really disliked the narrator‘s exceedingly broad accent and her infantilisation of 13yo Molly. Dalton is added to the list of male Australian writers I do not enjoy - such as Tim Winton. I find their short, repetitive sentences irritating. I will not bother with any more books

All over the place. Medical insurance headaches that are already negatively impacting my kids. Over an hour trying to figure out that my daughter can‘t go to her scheduled appointment with the specialist tomorrow. I have been fighting insurance companies since my oldest was born over 28 years ago. I‘m so tired.

On the good side, my youngest son enjoyed the summer reading kickoff and I won for best speaker at Toastmasters.

#mentalhealthmonday

Half past seven on Daphne Major.

#firstlinefridays

Went to the beach with the kids today and I took the wrong book. 😭 😭 😭 I took one I‘d already read.

The weather is gloomy, but the cool feels nice to this middle-aged afab body. I moved away from the desert at exactly the right time. :)

How is the weather in your parts and what is your fave beach/park read?

#summerreading
#beachlife

My 16yo and I have agreed on a reading challenge: We will each read 20 pages a day of On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. If we do that, we will complete the book before we leave on our trip to the Galápagos Islands in a few weeks. And this (somehow?) will enhance our trip. At page 206, am I having regrets? Perhaps.

New bookstack! ☀️ What is everyone reading this long weekend?

Words of advice from Mr. Darwin. Luckily we can still do these things in this country. For now. 🤞🏻 #carpediem

I've seen this quote before, and I love it, but I love this framing of it even more!

Also, I think I need this quote on a t-shirt. For those non-great days.

Barbara Kingsolver is a very good writer, and this book is rich with metaphor and well-drawn parallels between the 2015 and 1870 storylines that illustrate the ideas about America she‘s trying to convey.

But. It‘s not a good book.

The problems are:
- the book is tedious and the story and characters didn‘t draw me in
- I disagreed with much of her overall sociopolitical message, which made it even more tedious to read.

#weekendreads

Reading this one for my in-person book club which meets this Thursday. I suggested it because I enjoyed Demon Copperhead tremendously. This one, unfortunately, is a slog. I‘m about halfway in, and there‘s no plot to speak of - it‘s long on characters discussing social issues and short on story.