Welcome to Litsy!

Very readable but calling it All Fours lite. Maybe because I am at least 20 years past where these characters are at in life I just don‘t get it.

#TOB26

@squirrelbrain @Hooked_on_books @merelybookish @Bookwormjillk @Chelsea.Poole @BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes @ChaoticMissAdventures

#ToB26

Such a bleak and depressing read. But a good one. Alice becomes mentally ill during her first year at college and it changes her and her life forever: the meds, the frustration, the shame, the friends who can‘t stay, the shattered dreams. I didn‘t always like DeBoer‘s lack of emotion in his writing but it might be the best and most respectful way to share Alice‘s story.

I enjoyed this! Perhaps I needed more of a lighthearted and easy to follow story while hosting family and creating Christmas magic for my kids. Super exhausting, but being accompanied by this band of siblings during their cross-country roadtrip was a welcome addition to my own chaos. Interesting, as I read it following Lion, another #ToB26 longlist title, and both are focused on fathers.

I loved the beginning but after the halfway point I began to feel disinterested. I listened during the holiday rush which was probably a contributing factor, so take this with a grain of salt. Plus, this is the fourth book in a quartet, and the only I‘ve read. Would I have appreciated this more having read the first three? Probably. But I suspect we‘ll never know. lol. Also, this cover! Gorgeous. #ToB26

#WeeklyForecast 52/25

To end the year in style I have started Brightly Shining. Next will be another #ToB26 read (the tagged book) and I want to read our #EuropaCollective January book (in Dutch though, couldn‘t find an English copy where I live).

#ToB26 #25

A son has been living in Tokyo for twelve years when his mother suddenly comes visiting him from the US, after they‘ve been estranged for all those years. Their relationship is a complicated one, their conversations always cut short. Their past is filled with unsolved business, their current lives a search for meaning I think. The Tokyo setting is what I loved most about the book. A light pick.

📸 Chatel, France

Just after I posted that I didn‘t have access to this #ToB26 shortlist title, I found it on Libby with another library through which I have a card. Anyway, I listened to this one and loved the beginning. I was so in through the first half of this director‘s life and connections but the second half didn‘t work for me. I‘m also wondering if it‘s due to the audio and my hectic life around the holidays. I may revisit this in the future.

#ToB26 #24

Vera‘s grandparents left Armenia after the massacre and started anew in Lebanon. Years later Vera and her parents leave for the US when the situation in Lebanon becomes too dangerous.
9/11 brings back memories of a family leaving so much behind, not just danger and war, but also family, friends and happy memories. A thought provoking book.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #Lebanon

📸 Chatel, France

Look at that! I made a sweet potato pie for Christmas 🎄 #CaresPieShow #Dec2025 Book114 🥧 #ToB26 Happy Christmas Eve Eve

#ToB26 #23

This is a very atmospheric and disturbing dystopian book about two sisters, living an isolated life in what mostly is a walled garden and what used to be the kitchen of the mansion they lived in before. A mansion that has been shut down for years because their mother wanted that. I was never quite sure of what happened, what was true and what not. The ending is vague too yet it was a very satisfying read for me.

📸 Chatel, France