Welcome to Litsy!

This is my favorite of the books I‘ve read by George Eliot. I enjoyed how the characters‘ stories were woven together, and how Silas and Eppie found and helped each other to better lives. These characters were much more real to me than some of Eliot‘s others.

📷: I listened as I worked getting the drill ready to plant sunflowers and other jobs around the farm.

#audiobook #1001books #BooksOnTheFarm
#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown July 2025

I enjoyed this, especially the descriptions of some of the locations along the journey, but I agree with some other reviews that the ending was anticlimactic.

📷: I listened to some of this as I was running farm errands, working around the shed, and getting the baler ready to go bale straw. #BooksOnTheFarm

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#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown June 2025

Toni Morrison is a master at describing the most devastating and heartbreaking stories with wonderful language, and to hear this one in her voice added to that. Some of her books strike me much more than others and this is one of stronger. The switching perspectives and sometimes backwards storytelling were somewhat confusing, but they all had purpose and are worth the effort to follow.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001
#TBRTakedown May 2025

This was not the book for me. It‘s a strange, dark story with repetitive scenes from the perspective of a narrator frequently in an opium haze. At least that‘s how it seemed to me. I also think I missed aspects due to differences of culture & translation. I feel there‘s much more symbolism than I‘m aware of.

📷: Gandalf kept me company during my #HammockReading this evening.

#translated #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown April 2025

Parts of this book were bleak and I was almost constantly listening with a slight feeling of dread about what might be about to happen, but I also enjoyed it. It actually ended on a more hopeful note than I expected through most of the story. I felt it described the setting of 1860s New Zealand and the gold rush very well.

#ReadTheWorld #ReadingTheWorld #NewZealand #audiobook #1001books #TBRTakedown

This is a dark story, and although I appreciated it, it did not have the same impact on me as the other Zola novels I‘ve read. In this story of lust and guilt, there were strong feelings of dread, but I didn‘t really have any sympathy for the characters due to their choices.

#1001books #audiobook #TBRTakedown

My first audiobook of 2025 was a #1001books listen. I liked this one better than the previous book I listened to by this author, but her style is not apparently for me. I felt like this book had somewhat disconnected storylines, left too many things unanswered, and ended rather abruptly. I guess that makes it true to life, but I‘m not sure what I am supposed to take away from it.

#audiobook #Reading1001
#TBRTakedown January 2024

This was a quicker listen than I expected. I started it a few days ago, but when I got back to it today I listened straight through to the end. I‘m not much of a reader of espionage novels, but I appreciated the tangle of events and explanations this one explored. I‘ll definitely be interested in picking up another of Le Carré‘s novels.

#audiobooks #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown December 2024

This is a tough book for me to review, and I‘ve actually waited a few days thinking about it. It has some really interesting aspects in the way it‘s told by the son of a couple who were convicted and executed for conspiring to steal secrets for Russia. Yet, it was also complicated to follow as it jumped back and forth in time. Additionally, I wanted more of the sister‘s story.

#audiobook #1001books #Reading1001 #TBRTakedown July 2024

There has not been enough hammock time this summer, but today I finally got a bit with Gandalf for company. I found this book an interesting examination of character and commentary on aging alone, but it was a rather slow and melancholy read for me. I was glad that it ended with a bit of hopefulness.

#Reading1001 #TBRTakedown June 2024
#1001books #HammockReading