Welcome to Litsy!

What a wonderful coming of age story!

The book is set in a hotel in Seattle during the 1990s and I loved how authentically Seattle it felt. There were numerous references to Seattle pop culture (and 90s pop culture in general) throughout, including a chapter cleverly named, “Pleatless in Seattle” (pg. 114).

Full review: https://oddandbookish.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/review-the-sylvan-hotel/

Not my favourite Marie Benedict. There were some liberties that were a little too far for my taste. I also had a hard time following the story sometimes, I don‘t know if I was distracted or what but I won‘t remember this for long.

#audiopuzzling

Starting for Bookclub. We‘ve been told to read it in a slow and relaxed way, savouring it. I think the wine will help with that 👍🏻😁

“It was bewildering, how closely grief ran alongside joy.”

My first Ivey novel. Atmospheric! The setting of Alaskan wilderness is the MC, I would say. But then any book I‘ve read with an Alaskan setting utilizes the starkly primitive and foreboding quality of that region to create mood and foreshadowing. I hope to read more by Ivey.

#Read2025

#LitsyAtoZ

Shockingly hard to get from the library, whether physical book or ebook! Finally gave up and bought it from my local independent bookseller. Excited to start it on my upcoming trip. This cover is too gorgeous for words.

#guest
#charmedcharacter
A young woman is a guest at her boyfriend's family country estate.
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eowyn Ivey always makes the real world magical and the magical seem real. I wasn't sure I liked the last section of this one, up until the ending when I realized that everything happened just as it had to.

Captivating and charming and wonderfully simple… a book about all types of love and how love changes through the years!

In Olive, Again, Strout returns to Crosby, Maine, with more interconnected stories about the prickly, flawed, complex Olive. Older and slightly wiser, she‘s still hard to love—her honesty often veers into rudeness and her lack of self-awareness can be frustrating. That said, Strout has a gift for capturing the human condition in quiet, deeply resonant ways. Poignant, though I preferred the first book. Excellent audio. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 ❤️📚🎧

Heartbreaking and beautifully written story about three people whose lives and fates intertwine throughout time, history and the Epic of Gilgamesh. I‘m enamored with Shafak‘s prose —I will definitely read more of her backlist. My only criticism would be that the ending felt a bit too abrupt after 430 pages of build up to find out how and why all three characters were connected.