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#LikeNotLove
review
BarbaraBB
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Pickpick

After reading mixed reviews about this book I was a bit worried about what I would think of it myself but there was no need to. Again McBride creates a community of the most wonderful characters. This one is set in a Jewish-Black neighborhood in Pennsylvania where immigrants try to make the most of it. It‘s a hard life but not without love, friendship and loyalty. An excellent read. #LitsyToB24

Megabooks Glad you enjoyed it!! Are you visiting your mom this weekend? Wherever you are it looks lovely!! 💜💜💜 2mo
Velvetfur Such a pretty photo! 2mo
squirrelbrain So glad you liked it! ❤️ 2mo
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BarbaraBB @Megabooks No it is in a small village close to our beach cabin! I 2mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks @squirrelbrain I can‘t remember of you both already read it? 2mo
Hooked_on_books Oh, that‘s great! I was one of those mixed reviewers, so I‘m glad it worked better for you than for me! 2mo
Ruthiella I‘m reading it now and am also enjoying it. I‘ve come to understand that it‘s more a meandering story than a tightly plotted novel and have tempered my expectations accordingly. 2mo
AmyG Your review now makes me want to read this. 2mo
squirrelbrain I have, I liked it but didn‘t love it. I‘m halfway through my last book from our shortlist - Same Bed. 2mo
Megabooks @BarbaraBB yes, I‘ve read it. It was more #likenotlove for me. 2mo
Megabooks @squirrelbrain I‘m halfway through birthday party, which is my last and struggling with the tiny print! 😵‍💫 2mo
CarolynM Looks like a lovely day☀️ Enjoy! 2mo
BarbaraBB @Megabooks @squirrelbrain You are both reading your last one, wow! Birthday Party has a very small font indeed, I can imagine your struggle! How are you liking Same Bed, Helen? I have two more to go: Happiness Falls and Biography of X 2mo
BarbaraBB @Ruthiella Exactly. I tempered my expectations too yet was engaged by the lovely characters from page 1. I hope you‘ll enjoy it too @AmyG! 2mo
BarbaraBB @CarolynM Thank you, cold but sunny and I can feel a tiny bit of Spring 😘 2mo
squirrelbrain I read Birthday Party on Kindle, Meg, @megabooks which I know you can‘t do, but I imagine it has tiny font in print. I guess it‘s not available on audio anywhere either. I nearly bailed on Same Bed, Barbara, but now I‘m quite enjoying it, even though I don‘t really know what‘s going on. 🤷‍♀️ 2mo
TrishB I really enjoyed this one too. 2mo
sarahbarnes I‘m so glad to see you enjoyed it! I‘ll be reading it soon. Great review. 🩵 2mo
Suet624 I‘m glad you liked it! 2mo
rockpools Oh good! I‘m reading this now, and finding it a lovely book to sink into. Was a bit confused by all the ‘meh‘ reviews. Glad you enjoyed it! 2mo
105 likes3 stack adds20 comments
review
Megabooks
Day | Michael Cunningham
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Pickpick

Great sticker placement. 🙄

Oh how the world changed from 2019 to 2021! Cunningham tracks an extended family‘s single day in April through each of these three years. Most of the book is set up in 2019, and I got really attached to the characters, but I didn‘t feel a sense of resolution in 2021, and it bothered me. More a #LikeNotLove #BorrowNotBuy 🤷🏻‍♀️

sarahbarnes Great review! I never knew how I felt about The Hours when I read it. 3mo
Ruthiella The Hours didn‘t wow me and I liked but didn‘t love A Home at the End of the World. I think he‘s just not a writer for me. 3mo
BarbaraBB So right about the 2021 part! I felt a bit let down too while I loved the book in general. I did love The Hours but A Hoem at the End of the world not so much @sarahbarnes @Ruthiella 3mo
87 likes1 stack add3 comments
review
squirrelbrain
The Book of Cold Cases | Simone St. James
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Pickpick

#aam #authoramonth

This was…. fine. I enjoyed the crime aspect of it but the ghost element did nothing for me. (Was I supposed to be scared? Cos I wasn‘t)

It‘s still a soft pick and it kept my interest on audio whilst I was driving to and from work but I‘m not particularly inspired to read any more by this author.

Caroline2 Yea I felt the same about my read. It started off so good, 1919 in a haunted mental hospital!! A nurse with a past pretending to be a nurse! Yay! Then halfway through, with the ghosts (not scary ghosts really) and the love story, it went right down hill. (edited) 5mo
Megabooks Yeah, I enjoyed this book, but it was def more of a #LikeNotLove situation. 5mo
67 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
Megabooks
Lawn Boy | Jonathan Evison
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Pickpick

Not sure why this is a #BannedBook other that its exploration of a half-Latino young man coming out as gay. I‘d call this New Adult over YA.

Mike can seem to catch a break. He quits a job he loves (mowing lawns) because of an exploitative boss. But he struggles to find work after that, and he and his mom can barely make ends meet. Still, his story rings much more hopeful than sad. A great “be true to your dreams” novel.

willaful Doesn't take much these days. :-( 6mo
Christy2318 Someone I know went viral with her school board meeting rants & police report over this book which was in 11th grade classroom library. She was convinced that the fact that there was a recollection of a sexual experience between 2 young boys made it was pedophilia. But based on other things she said at school board events, race and sexual orientation of the main character were definitely factors. 6mo
Cinfhen First I love the term New Adult!!! And I agree….this book had no basis for being banned let alone one of the MOST challenged books of 2022!! What‘s wrong with people???? 6mo
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BarbaraBB Book banning makes me feel as if we‘re traveling back in time 😱 And I love New Adult 💯🩷 6mo
Cinfhen BTW: I just picked up a new book by Evison - looks good 6mo
Reggie On my list of grey LGBT+ books I have read, this never even enters my mind. I liked this book but for it to be a banned book makes me crazy. 6mo
Megabooks @Reggie right. Very don‘t say gay because I think the larger themes are poverty and being true to yourself. The gay thing is virtually an afterthought. 6mo
Megabooks @Cinfhen interesting! I‘ve read a few and they‘ve all be #LikeNotLove! 6mo
Megabooks @Christy2318 ridiculous! I think sexual exploration among same age peers shouldn‘t be a taboo thing to write about. Especially since I felt Evison handled it well. 6mo
Megabooks @BarbaraBB right? Very scary! Yeah I‘ve heard New Adult for books aimed at/featuring the 17-22 set. A bit more adult themes explored but still aimed at a young audience. @Cinfhen (edited) 6mo
Megabooks @willaful so true. 😞 6mo
75 likes11 comments
blurb
Megabooks
Book Report Beagle | Pamela Klawitter
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Another week with a #BookReport and no reviews! 🤦🏻‍♀️ However I hope to make it up by posting about #CampLitsy later this week. Stay tuned!

A lot of #LikeNotLove books this week, so no hierarchy. I finished another for #AuthorAMonth, and it was a so-so. I read two books about the medical profession and was really moved by both. Chin-Quee did an excellent job of expressing the depression I felt during my training and how isolating it was. ⬇️

sarahbarnes Glad you had a good reading week! 11mo
Megabooks I wanted to love The Bandit Queens more than I did. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Tornado Weather and Ruthy Ramirez were literary mysteries I enjoyed reading but I don‘t think either will stick. Thank you for sending Grown Ups @squirrelbrain 💜 Ida was an interesting character. Definitely a sh!t stirrer! 🤣 Shrew is my fave Shakespeare play, but I didn‘t really care for Tyler‘s adaptation (Vinegar Girl). Also the bulb looks to be an atypical daffodil, Helen! (edited) 11mo
Megabooks Camp Zero and Bottoms Up were both bails deep into the book. Zero‘s main narrator didn‘t work, but I wasn‘t enjoying it enough to go back in print. Bottoms was a bizarre look at the Deep State but some of the descriptions of torture, I just couldn‘t stomach. It was interesting though! 11mo
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Megabooks @sarahbarnes thanks!! 11mo
Cinfhen Wow!!! You read a ton!!! A+ book report 🤓🙌🏻💕 11mo
squirrelbrain I could have sworn that looked just like my alliums! Looking forward to camp - I‘ve packed my bag already! 🏕️ 11mo
BarbaraBB You read a lot! I agree on Tornado Weather and Grown Ups. Looking forward to #CampLitsy23 with you and @squirrelbrain 11mo
84 likes7 comments
review
Megabooks
White Horse: A Novel | Erika T. Wurth
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Pickpick

There were parts of this I truly enjoyed, and Wurth wrote some characters I could root for. Other parts I didn‘t enjoy as much and hopefully my #LMPBC won‘t hate me for pointing out a couple of places that didn‘t make sense. Overall this was a #LikeNotLove pick. So interested to read what you all think!

Headed to you later this week @Lesanne ! #GroupB #botmbacklog

Some daisies that bloom in the fall have broken out of the ground.

LiteraryinLawrence Of course, criticism is part of it! 12mo
Lesanne Like she said, we want to know what you really think! Looking forward to receiving it 😊 12mo
Megabooks @Lesanne I mailed it to you Saturday, and USPS said it should get to you by Thursday. Please let me know if it doesn‘t arrive! 12mo
Lesanne @Megabooks Excellent! I will let you know if it doesn‘t get here 😊 12mo
80 likes4 comments
review
Addison_Reads
Stella Maris | Cormac McCarthy
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Pickpick

#ToB23

I haven't read The Passenger yet but having finished this one now I'm not sure it's necessary to read them in order.

Stella Maris is set in a mental institution and told through conversations between a math prodigy, Alice, and her doctor. The book feels more like one long rambling discussion on grief, life, and philosophy. I found it interesting while reading it, but I'm not sure how much I'll remember in a few weeks.

#likenotlove

Hooked_on_books You don‘t have to read them in order at all, and I found this one far superior to The Passenger. 1y
48 likes1 comment
review
squirrelbrain
The Other Black Girl | Zakiya Dalila Harris
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Pickpick

I didn‘t love this as much as I thought I would from the blurb.

At the start there was far too much scene-setting, taking forever to tell a small part of the story, so I just wanted to shout ‘Get a move on!‘.

Then it all went really weird; not what I expected at all.

Still a (soft) pick though, even if I also hated the ending! 😁

#likenotlove

TrishB I still haven‘t really got my head round the ending. But very unexpected twist. 3y
BarbaraBB I am thinking I‘d love this one too but now I‘m a bit hesitating! 3y
squirrelbrain Yeah, the plot twist is just a bit odd @BarbaraBB (for me, anyway) 🤷‍♀️ 3y
Hooked_on_books I loved the ending. I thought it was perfect for the book. Though devilish! 3y
76 likes4 comments
review
BarbaraBB
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Pickpick

Its independence war leaves #Bangladesh torn apart - the country and its people. Maya and her brother Sohail have become estranged during the years. He has become a devote Muslim, she a fighter for justice and freedom. Their mother tries to keep the family together.

I enjoyed the glimpses into the Bangladeshi way of life and I learned a bit about the country. Like you said @squirrelbrain a book to #likenotlove.

#ReadingAsia2021 🇧🇩

squirrelbrain Glad you liked it too. I think the cover is lovely though! 3y
BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain Absolutely. And I am glad that I read it, I felt much sympathy for Maya. Thanks again for sending it to me. My #swapme Bhutan read will come your way soon, my friend has almost finished it! 😘 3y
squirrelbrain No rush Barbara - I hope your friend is enjoying the book. 3y
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Librarybelle It is a very nice cover! 3y
alisiakae Beautiful cover! I just started my pick for Bangladesh: 3y
BarbaraBB @4thhouseontheleft Yours sounds good!! 3y
60 likes6 comments