Welcome to Litsy!

#happybirthday Stephen King. I'm not a fan of the horror genre but I love a well-written time-travel book. (Which historical event would you try to prevent?) Interestingly, King tried to write this decades before, and then had to leave it for other projects when it wasn't developing the way he wanted. It was worth the wait 😀 I still found parts of the near the ending, and some of the events happening to Sadie, scary. #scarybooks #writerbirthday

#happybirthday to Australian American journalist and Pulitzer Prize novelist Geraldine Brooks. Remember Little Women? Remember when Father leaves for the Civil War and Jo cuts off her hair for money to help pay her way? Remember when Jo cries and Meg promises to curl what is left? March is what Brooks imagined happens to dear old Dad. Oooh-err, I'm sure if his daughters knew their hair would curl or fall out all on its own...

#happybirthday #writerbirthday Roald Dahl. Thank you for inventing the quiet but feisty Matilda, and teaching bookish girls how to stick it to Trunchbulls everywhere ❤️. Littens, may the BFG visit you all and give you good dreams and not whizz poppers, and may all the Twits you know stay off Litsy 😀 #roalddahl

#happybirthday Marian Keyes. This woman has brought me so much joy over the years and yet she does dark so well. I usually tear through her books, giggling my head off like a deranged goose. Hooray to 21 years of reading so far... #happybirthday #writerbirthday #litsyfeature

#happybirthday Alice Sebold. For a novel that opens so violently, there are some lovely character observations by Susie of her friends and her family, even as they can't see nor hear her, and their lives are fractured by the loss of their daughter, sister and friend. #writerbirthday

The title refers to the Matzoh balls that Ruth's father tells her she must eat, but these balls were lying around in the nearby rumpus room so it seemed a shame not to include them as props ... anyhow, this book was a little hit and miss. The way Ruth's father converses with her made me laugh but at times Ruth's concerns frustrated rather than engaged me. Nevertheless, an original read #happybirthday #writerbirthday Lily Brett.

Writers to review/blurb/comment on in September, to celebrate the hours of bookish goodness they've brought us 😀🎉🎈🍾 Feel free to celebrate with me on the appropriate days ... or to let me know who I have forgotten 🤔This list is a little Downunder-biased because I'm an Aussie, but nominations of any writers residing on the Planet Earth are welcome... #happybirthday #writerbirthday

Oranges are not the only fruit, unless they're in season, and it's your day on your son's soccer roster for refreshments. Anyway ... Oranges has much autobiographical material although it is a work of fiction. Jeanette's evangelical mother adopts her, convinced J is destined to be a missionary. All sorts of abuse follow. I heard Winterson on Richard Fidler's podcast recently, amazingly she holds no bitterness. #happybirthday #writerbirthday

#happybirthday Martin Amis. No one points out the absurdity of US hero worship quite like Amis. Many of these essays are from the 1980s, but his interview range is extreme. Amis observes the bizarre in them all - from Reagan to Hefner. Half the essays in this collection critique authors, including Vonnegut. The title is borrowed from Saul Bellows, and in the half of the book that doesn't focus on reviews, the title is very apt. #writerbirthday

August 24: an auspicious birthday, if you want to be a writer. A student recommended TFIOS to me, and I thought it would be just another YA ... wonderful, but still a book that would speak to me less as an adult than it did to them as a teenager . WRONG. I loved this, I would even go completely cornball and say THERE WAS NO FAULT IN GREEN'S STARS WHEN HE WROTE THIS #happybirthday #writerbirthday #thanksforpublishing @PenguinPublishing