They‘re here! Please excuse my super busy coffee table 😅 #botm

Following the #wonderouswednesday prompt from @Eggs ! Thanks for tagging me.

This is a photo of my grandfather reading! He died when I was young so we don‘t have many photos of him. My mother sent me this picture this week and I thought you‘d all enjoy.

Beautiful to me is the little things in life, the cosy reading spot, the clouds forming shapes in the sky, soft rain. I‘m inspired by people who do small kindnesses for others.

The shard isn‘t on litsy yet but I‘m excited to read urn #botm

StoryGraph stats from last year! I made a real effort with queer books for #lgbtbookbingo!

It looks like I forgot to add a couple books, I take much better care in updating goodreads. I can‘t figure out what‘s missing though. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just wanted to take a moment and update you all about my beloved #littenkitten Nala who passed away just before Christmas.

She was honestly the best cat and I‘ve been struggling without her little footsteps and her greeting me at the door everyday. She lost a battle with cancer and it was time.

Safe passage over the rainbow bridge baby.

#catsoflitsy 😿

Finished this over the break but forgot to update here!

I was very confused for most of this book and had a hard time with it. All my friends rate it 5 ⭐️ but for me it‘s more a 3.

I‘ve had covid over the last week but finally feeling better! Fingers crossed I can go to work tomorrow.

Coming clean is about Kim‘s life growing up in a home filled to the brim. Her father is a hoarder.

4/5⭐️

It was moving and a topic I‘m very interested in, I have some hoarding tendencies and purge everything once or twice a year. After 9/11 I collected 100s of newspapers and magazines about it until my mom found them and threw them all out. It was devastating since it was my way of coping with the tragedy.

Final day of covid infection I hope.

Been a while since I‘ve posted. Haven‘t been in the mood to read because of some personal stuff happening.

My friend at work leant me this and I‘m finally giving it a go! I love scifi so I hope I enjoy.

Adorable and relatable as always. I love Allie Brosh‘s work.

I almost cried at the part about her sister though, while in the airport waiting for my flight.

Stuck in the airport for 5 hours after my flight was delayed. So I bought some books! Excited for these two. 😄

I saw @slategreyskies posted their #Storygraph stats so I thought I‘d do the same!

I guess I really like queer books 😂

Reading is not going well. Someone stole my book! 🐈

#catsoflitsy #littenkitten

Black book swap at Cafe con Libros! Bring a black or POC author book to trade!

I ended up picking up all about love by bell hooks.

Went to a book talk with a friend for her favourite pornstar Maitland Ward. She‘s written a book called Rated X! Pretty interesting hearing her story and how affirmed she feels working for a woman owned porn company.

Really different to my normal reading and very interesting! I‘ll let you all know if it‘s worth reading.

At another book talk at the 92Y!

The Scotiabank Giller Prize nominees are out! (It‘s a Canadian prize for the best novel, graphic novel or short story published in English in Canada)

I‘ve never heard of any of these before! Have any of you?

I loved these graphic novels as a teenager and the show is so good! I loved that lucifer is a woman and their selection of death (my favourite character) was great.

So yes this is a series (and graphic novel!!) recommendation but it‘s so good I can‘t resist. Has anyone else watched it?

I think I‘m the first on litsy to review this book and unfortunately I wasn‘t sold on it.

This is book 5 in John Burdett‘s series about a Thai detective in Bangkok and this time he‘s investigating illegal organ transplants. It‘s a fast read and I don‘t think I would have bothered if I hadn‘t read the other 4. I starting reading them while I was living in Thailand.

Photo of my parents backyard because it‘s beautiful and I read this on kindle.

I went through a phase of reading tons of Paulo Coelho because I didn‘t know what else to take out from the library and I wanted to recapture the magic of The Alchemist. The Zahir did that for me.

The rest of the books were so-so because they felt like repetitions of the same theme but I loved this one. It‘s about a man on a journey to find his wife who disappears without a note or a trace.

#alphabetgame #letterz @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

A fun foodie book for you all that is an easy read! It‘s a sapphic love story that I really connected with. It‘s not a romance novel, more fiction. It had me hungry for more 😆

I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ but I don‘t have a 5 star book to recommend for #lettery! #alphabetgame #lgbt @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Perhaps a controversial opinion but I didn‘t love this even though by all means I should have.

Lyrical writing - ❤️
Circus - I was in the circus as an aerialist 🎪
Adventure - ❤️
Magic - 🪄 🙌🏻

But still something felt lacking to me. I guessed the twists and turns early on and couldn‘t wait for it to be over. I borrowed it from a friend so I have to give it back soon.

Maybe if I meditate on it I‘ll change my review but for now ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

I don‘t normally read poetry but Ocean Vuong makes it easy to enjoy. Thought provoking and just as good as seeing him in person a few weeks/months ago (what even is time anyway?).

His poems range from during the war in Vietnam to stories about his father. I‘m so glad I have his newest work (Time is a Mother) at home ready to read when I get back.

#truth

Some poetry/nonfiction for #lgbtqiabingo #lgbtbingo
@Kenyazero

I love the quotes at the top of the page that give context to the poems, but this I wasn‘t expecting!

#poetry

This book moved me so much and I cried for her. Sonali writes on her grief after her parents, husband, and two sons pass away in the tsunami that wrecked Sri Lankan shores. It‘s powerful and beautifully written. Definitely recommended.

#alphabetgame #letterW @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Just starting this book of poetry. Not my usual cup of tea but I love Ocean Vuong.

Hi in the corner from my parent‘s golden Winnie!

Oof this book. More of a feeling in words than a story, it‘s about a woman who‘s wife goes into a submarine for a deep sea mission and the submarine fails and she stays trapped underwater. Switching between the wives points of view Miri - discussing the aftermath of her wife‘s return and Leah - describing the time underwater.

I loved this #camplitsy pick but I don‘t know if others will! Sunny day today so I‘m off to kayak now!

Very intense and with a trigger warning for eating disorders, but I thought this book was amazing.

#alphabetgame #letterV @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Just started this! A bit late for the #camplitsy discussion but I‘ll catch up today!

So far it reminds me too much of my divorce from my wife 😬 but we‘ll see how it goes.

Serious trigger warning with this book: eating disorders.

This is the story of Portia De Rossi‘s battle with anorexia and how it almost destroyed her life. Very moving and relatable as someone who also struggled with disordered eating.

An interesting read but definitely triggering so read with caution.

#alohabetgame #letterU @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

No list is complete without Pablo Neruda. Accessible even to those who don‘t read poetry, his work is beautiful.

“I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees” 🌸

#alphabetgame #letterT @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This book has stuck with me for years. A definite must read!

#alphabetgame #letterS @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

At McNally Jackson in LaGuardia! Flying to Canada to visit my family. A week by the lake reading sounds perfect right about now.

Red at the Bone was a great read for anyone who enjoys literary fiction!

#alphabetgame #letterR @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I haven‘t read many Q books but I loved this one!

#alphabetgame #letterQ @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My all time favourite book, I‘m obsessed with the language and beauty of the writing. I even have an Oscar Wilde tattoo!

Runner up is The Power by Naomi Alderman. Both ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in my book.

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks #alphabetgame #letterP

I love Neil Gaiman and this was no exception! It‘s a beautiful dreamlike story about a man remembering his childhood.

#alphabetgame #letterO @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

G - Ghana must go by Taiye Selasi
H - H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
I - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
J - Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
K - The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
L - Lady in Gold by Anne-Marie O‘Conner
M - Mr. Loverman by Bernadine Evaristo
N - The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde

#alphabetgame catch-up!

I have a tattoo of the last one. Maybe I‘ll make a post about it.

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

An interesting series of short stories interconnected by a cat wandering Tokyo. It felt very Japanese despite being by an English writer, although I felt some of the explanations were unnecessary. The presence of the cat felt a little forced sometimes too.

Some of the stories are really sad, the way any story of a big city‘s population would be, but some are hopeful. It was a good mix and I enjoyed the collection a lot!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beautiful but long novel, I promise it‘s worth it.

Fun fact, his wife was an English teacher at my school!

There‘s a bunch of books I could have picked for this that I loved (The English Patient, the Elegance of the Hedgehog, the Emperor Waltz, etc) but I wanted to highlight this short story collection I got during the Brooklyn Book Festival a few years ago.

Dark, quirky and interesting! This short story collection was great. I‘d recommend if you‘re looking for something a little different.

I absolutely loved the language in this book and the feelings evoked by it. It was on my TBR for years and I‘m so glad I got around to reading it. Highly recommended.

#alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#alphabetgame catch up! Here‘s my top for the first few letters.

A - All That‘s Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon
B - A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
C - Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Finally picked my #BOTM! I can‘t wait to read this since it‘s something a bit different from my normal literary fiction choices!

Just started this to take a break from the Night Circus, which I was finding a little slow for my mood at the moment.

I bought this from the kindle daily deals a while back mainly for the cover (so pretty 😍), the fact that it‘s set in Tokyo, and because I love “snap shots of life” stories.

Also I loved the idea of a cat connecting them all. 🐈

Hanging at my favourite local independent bookstore and picking up my copy of Our Wives Under the Sea for the august #CampLitsy read! The bookstore didn‘t originally stock it but they liked it when I ordered it so now they do!

I ended up skipping This Time Tomorrow, partly due to lack of reading time, partly because I wasn‘t as interested in it and I have something else on the go. Let me know if I should rethink that and read it fellow campers!

I know this is nothing like the 100,000 or even 10,000 points others have but it feels like an accomplishment!

Who will be like 7,000??

Reading on the train!

I was expecting to love this but it‘s been a bit slow going so far (I‘m 150 pages in). Does it speed up at all?