Welcome to Litsy!

Raw visual poetry about loneliness, love, how the two might intersect, and the wildness of life. It‘s quite sad, and I see myself in some of these images when my mental health is taking a turn…. I felt connected to this in that way. #foundonlitsy #bookspinbingo #doublespin

This is the menopausal superhero book we didn‘t know we needed, and I am here for it!

Nessa was gifted with the sight and can see dead women and girls. Jo, the women‘s gym owner, has hot flashes that can burn her enemies. When Harriett‘s husband left her, she realized she spent her entire life deferring to men and decided to learn horticulture even if people call her a witch. They join forces to find the serial killer in their neighborhood.

This true crime is totally in my wheelhouse! Not only was the story captivating, I learned a lot about the crazy knot of maritime shipping and Lloyds of London, too.

An oil tanker was traveling through the Gulf of Aden when well armed soldiers claiming to be Somali pirates boarded the ship. While the crew was huddled together, a fire started. This led investigators from multiple countries, one of whom was car bombed, to try to unknot the crimes.

Easily my favorite from the 2021 Booker longlist. A lighthouse caretaker on an otherwise empty spare island finds a body washed up, a still living man. As we begin to get a sense of this place, we see the flickers of the caretakers past. The Adjectives dystopian, bleak, ambiguous come mind. It‘s a terrific novel, tightly constructed, creating wonder and discomfort.

I don‘t think I‘ve read this many fiction books right in a row in a long time! But I‘ve started my first nonfiction this month. The true crime I‘ve tagged.

If Sally Rooney and Ducks Newburyport had a child that ate glue, it would probably be this book. Wonderfully imaginative, Bennett writes as if she‘s a girl growing into her writing style. My favorite chapter was a long rambly one written as a teen. And while this ISN‘T stream of consciousness, the paragraphs do get a bit lengthy, and she employs lists and flights of ideas like Ducks, while having (in later chapters) the millennial angst of Rooney.

This was a great marriage of memoir and pop sci. Reisman seems to be a genuinely curious person and applies this to his medical practice, which has taken him around the world, from Alaska to the Himalayas. Each chapter starts with a body part like skin or the liver and he uses his travels and experiences to elucidate aspects of that organ.

Such a good book. It has been really timely for me right now. I was encouraged to think more about emotional growth and maturity as it is paired with my faith and leadership. We often ignore emotional maturity in the church and that is a mistake. This book laid out clear principles that lead through the process of pursuing health and growth.

Working on this one for Dewey‘s Readathon! Need to finish it by tomorrow afternoon so I can host a live book discussion online! I‘m 1/4 of the way through so far, and it‘s going well - I just need to buckle down and finish it.
This is the most casual I‘ve been about a Dewey‘s in years, and I‘m okay with that. My only goals are to finish 3 books/ read 500 pages. Anyone else participating? #deweys

It had been a while since I had read Kate Morton. Her storytelling always sucks me in. This one is very gothic in its story, with its crumbling castle, inherited madness & secrets upon secrets. Loved it.