Welcome to Litsy!

(1740)

Hooray for the magic of low expectations! I'd braced myself for a tedious slog, so was pleased to find an unexpectedly engaging story of power and resistance. Pamela's obsession with Virtue doesn't resonate, but as a drama of compulsion and consent, it's surprising how much still works. Of course a lot doesn't work: Pamela is as exasperatingly twee as she is sympathetic, and the hero belongs in prison. But I was prepared for so much worse.

An epistolary novel, 🎧.
A story of a village in Kent in 1940, and its mostly female inhabitants finding strength in music and each other. Their joys, sorrows, schemes, and tribulations in the face of the war. It was heartwarming, at times heartbreaking, at times too sweet, at times over the top dramatic. I enjoyed it overall, though I felt it went on for a bit too long. Probably won‘t reread, but would watch a movie if there‘s ever one.

#blameitonlitsy @Soubhiville

An emotional examination of grief and queer identity. Excellent narration!

A farmer‘s wife living in England begins a relationship with a museum curator in Denmark by way of exchanging letters and emails. I thought this was a charming and thoughtful little tale. It‘s well written and very engaging. I enjoy epistolary type of books and this one fitted the bill exactly. I read this for my local book group where we all chose two of our favourites and then picked one or more of the ones we hadn‘t read. An enjoyable read.

My #BookSpin read for September is Samuel Richardson's “Pamela“, a book I've eyed with both interest and dread. Pamela is a milestone in the development of the English novel, but it's a work of “conduct literature,“ a genre I associate with stuffy moralizing, running over 700 pages.

And so for the #DoubleSpin the BookSpin Fates have assigned a much shorter stuffless read as my reward for finishing Pamela.

Thanks for hosting, @TheAromaofBooks !

For my Topics bookclub we are reading “Cryptids” in September, and this was available on audio from my library. I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

Noah is 12 and trans and in deep grief over loss of his best friend Lewis. Lewis loved the legend of Mothman, so Noah starts writing to the Cryptids and leaving the letter notebook outdoors overnight. Someone seems to be reading the letters, but who?

Noah navigates school, new friends, bullies.

Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, to Giorgio Vasari
Livorno, 20 March 1557

So, if I understand correctly, Florence, the city that God entrusted to my care, is now infested not only with conspiracies of murderous nuns but with seditious plebs too? Enough. I must put an end to all this. Find me this Marco Moro, arrest him and throw him in a damp cell.

I regret getting rid of those lions that were stinking up the palace.

“It is. We‘re simulating the interval, to see if everyone can get changed in time. If Woof is under the weather, you‘re excused from the committee meeting tomorrow night. I‘ll take minutes and send them through. Yes, you know the hoaxer. We all do. I don‘t understand why they did such a thing, but I should let them explain themselves first - after the play.”

My local book club have decided the theme this time is for us each pick and submit two of our favourite books, and then read as many of the ones we haven‘t read as we want to. Next time we meet up (24 September) we have to let the club know what we thought of them. Hope that makes sense! ‘Meet Me at the Museum‘ is the second on my list. It‘s a library book.

Do love a map (even one that looks like it needs a chapter of context to be understood....)