Photos from my evening walk today 😊💕🌲☀️

Blue does not have the same meaning to Maggie Nelson as it does to me. And yet, I still loved being drawn into this album of ruminations on the subject.

I was particularly drawn to her thoughts on heartache and desire.

My favourite passages are a bit too sexual for Litsy 😄

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aaaaaaand another Waterstones trip ?

Got chatting to the man at the till who thinks I'll love John Updike and Douglas Stuart. He's the second person to recommend Lonesome Dove to me this year, so I'm sure I'll be back to make another purchase soon ?

I'm particularly intrigued to read about John Donne whose poetry I adore ? "Mark but this flea and mark in this, how little that which thou deniest me is..." (Nice try, Donne ?)

Cocktails & Vietnamese food for lunch today!

"There's absolutely no reason a man like Don Adler should have a different effect on me from the rest of the men in the world. He was no more handsome than Brick Thomas, no more earnest than Ernie Diaz, and he could offer me stardom whether I loved him or not. But these things defy reason. I blame pheromones, ultimately."

Good Lord that was beautiful.

Emily St. John Mandel gives zero shits about the rules of literature. She just does what she does, paints vivid worlds, dances from vignette to vignette and lets it all play out.

Station Eleven took me quite a while to read, whereas I breezed through this spellbound.

Usually I hate it when a plot wanders haphazardly, but this was such a gorgeously written and captivating read that all is forgiven.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars

Thanks for the tags @Yuki_Onna @JenReadsAlot @BrittanyReads 💕💕💕

#thoughtfulthursday @MoonWitch94

I'm hoping to finish The Glass Hotel which is a physical book 😊 It's heading for a 4 stars, although I'm thinking I perhaps should have given Station Eleven 4 stars too because they're about on a par.

I don't mark my books, but I have been known occasionally to dogear select quotes so I can come back to them later. Don't hurt me!!! 😅😅

#pop22 - cutlery on cover
@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB @KarenUK @Megabooks @Cortg @4thhouseontheleft @Laughterhp @jenniferw88 @squirrelbrain

This was OK. An easy read with decent pace and plenty twists and turns. I found it all a bit farfetched, but that's not unusual for the thriller genre!

The characterisation was a little off, so I'd give it ⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars, but I'd encourage you to give it a look if you like a domestic thriller.

@TheSpineView #two4tuesday

1. I'm a Bibliophile 😊

2. Voracious readers read books. Bibliophiles love them. (I'm a lot better at loving books than I am at reading them! 😅)

Supporting local business 💕

#roll100 picks for June. Although I'm very behind 🙈
What have I been doing with myself all day? I haven't finished any books yet this month! 😬

Of these, I have the highest hopes for Captain Corelli's Mandolin. It was recommended to me by the same person that suggested I read the Liveships 💕 (She has proven to be trustworthy! 😄) I also LOVE the cover for The Institute.

It's a good job my tights seem to be Pickle-proof 😅💕

#picklescat #catsoflitsy

Iced latte and orange & passionfruit cake by the lake 💕
Just a short scenic walk from my front door...

New future reading spot?? 😊

Who else is excited? 😄💕

Not sure I told you, but I really like your teeth
That hairy coat of yours with nothing underneath
Not sure you have a name, so I will call you Keith
Oh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
See where you're going, but I don't know where you've been
Is that saliva or blood drippin' off your chin?
If you don't like the name Keith I'ma call you Jim
Oh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

And before that wolf eats my grandma
GIVE THAT WOLF A BANANA

🐺🍌

Trying to selfie with Pickles is not an easy task 😸

#catsoflitsy #picklescat

"Begin at the end: plummeting down the side of the ship in the storm's wild darkness, breath gone with the shock of falling, my camera flying away through the rain -"

#firstlinefridays

#thoughtfulthursday @MoonWitch94

Rae's top tips for mental health:

- Walking
- Cups of tea
- Spending time outside
- Catching up with friends & family
- Eurovision
- Long baths
- Hugs 🫂
- Antiques road trip
- Cosy mysteries
- Write poetry
- Midsomer Murders / Poirot
- Jigsaws
- Metta meditation
- Cake

I don't think I've shown myself much love this week, so I'll have a lie in tomorrow morning 😋

Thanks for the tag @JenReadsAlot

"It wasn't the romance of the century, but it didn't have to be; if you genuinely enjoy someone's company, she'd been thinking lately, if you enjoy your life with them and don't mind sleeping with them, isn't that enough? Do you have to actually be in love for a relationship to be real, whatever REAL means, so long as there's respect and something like friendship?"

(Vincent is a lot more pragmatic than I am when it comes to "love" ?)

"What I'm suggesting," Caroline said softly, "is that the lens can function as a shield between you and the world, when the world's just a little too much to bear. If you can't stand to look at the world directly, maybe it's possible to look at it through the viewfinder..."

Even if you don't like Oasis, this song is gorgeous.

This post is for all of you that are suffering from sadness, grief and emotional pain. I hope you get through it 💕

Lots of love

#thinkpositivebepositive

A few songs to listen to:

Oasis - Stop crying your heart out
The Killers - Be Still
Feeder - Comfort in Sound

💙

@squirrelbrain @Caroline2 Was there anyone else buddy reading The Glass Hotel?? I'm about to get started but I can't remember who else was reading along 😅

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

1) I'm going to say The Glass Hotel & Sea of Tranquility because I need to get better at my buddy reading / book clubbage ☺
My heart is in the realm of the elderlings though. Once I start a Robin Hobb book everything else takes a back seat!

2) Not really - although "general café ambience" can be nice ? Also, you know what I really hate in the background? Whatever Dad is watching on telly ?

Tags below ⬇️⬇️

Jue and I have also been scouting out possible locations to work and caffeinate in 💕 That novel I've been pretending to write might just get written after all 😉

Guess where I've been today 😀

Three books I had never before heard of and another Maggie Nelson poetry book 💕

May also have picked up a few bits and bobs from Monsoon. (Got to look all floaty and summery while reading my new books in the sunshine, right?)

Fate rushes down upon us! ...the days plod past, lulling us into thinking that the doom we fear will always so delay. Then, abruptly, the dark days we've all predicted are upon us,& the time when we could've turned dire fate aside has passed. How old must I be before I learn? There is no time; there is never any time. Tomorrow may never come, but todays are linked inexorably in a chain.. now is always the only time we have to divert disaster.

My mug and book are both so big today that you can't tell the scale 😄 That's a 750-ml cup of tea, right there!

In case any of you missed Pickles while I was away 😁

Me earlier: Mum, I'm worried about Pickles - she smells really bad... do you think she's getting old and can't wash herself properly?

Mum: You do realise she's been sleeping on the compost heap..

#catsoflitsy #picklescat

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs
Thanks for the tag @The_Penniless_Author

1) Not from books I've read, but I do sometimes have ridiculously detailed dreams where I'll be thinking, "This is a great plot! I need to remember this and write it down!!!" ... then it's always just a series of jumbled flavours when I wake up ?

2) Garfield?? ??

3) Work. Exercise. Go outside and photosynthesize. Read. Reconnect with friends. Recuperate.

Bookspin card for May!

I've been struggling to concentrate on reading these last few weeks - first with the excitement of holidays and now with the anticlimax of being back from holidays and exhausted. Fingers crossed I'll be able to immerse myself in imaginary worlds again pretty soon 🤞

Bookspin & doublespin this month are both #pop22 titles and #roll100 included Voodoo Histories which is the book that I've had the longest on my TBR...

My friend just sent me a load of photos from her fancy camera and I miss them all so much 😭😭😭💕

Currently stuck in bed feeling sorry for myself - hopefully will be back in business soon. Wondering whether to read Bluets by Maggie Nelson (a series of prose poetry vignettes about the colour blue) or try to find where I've stashed The Mad Ship for some more magical, seaborne adventures... 💙🌊

Pretty sure I first came across this poem written on the back of a toilet door in a pub in Manchester many years ago. Snapped a picture of it on my phone because I liked it.

His ruminations on love and soul mates speak to my inner 5-year-old (the incurable romantic) 🤣🤣

This morning's coffee crawl 😄 I'm missing Italy's coffee, so Jue and I went in search of the next best thing...

Unfortunately, I'm now so overcaffeinated that I can't concentrate on my book 😵

Look what came through my letterbox this morning 😊💕 @The_Penniless_Author

Waterstones is currently hosting a Read for Ukraine appeal. On Tyranny had been on my Amazon wishlist for a while so I bought that from the available titles, and £10 from this new edition of Death & the Penguin also goes to Oxfam's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

I also ordered Sea of Tranquility, but that's just an extra for me. Also pictured: my new Papier notebooks and planner ❤ Now I just need to use them to write a bestseller 😄

This one is just for those of you who can't resist a good plane photo! 💕

I think the shorts I was wearing when I got on the plane were a bit optimistic. It seems the British weather hasn't improved in my absence.

At least now I can get back to my reading 📚

There were so many enticing and unfamiliar comics and graphic novels in this shop, but I don't think my Italian is good enough yet to be able to read them 😅

I wanted to pick up an Italian copy of Saga, but they didn't have No. 1 ☹

Here is my Bookspin for May (done without access to my bookshelf...) @TheAromaofBooks

A few challenge focused books (roll100 & popsugar), a few from my books-about-sex stack that seems to have grown out of nowhere and a few that I've seen you guys reading and feel I need to experience 💕

Wish me luck! 😄🍀

Last day in Como 😭😭 Very sad to be leaving my friends 💙 Today we took the boat across the lake to Bellagio and Varenna, got very windswept and took an impromptu nap on the beach.

Also if you thought a quattro formaggi pizza was good - this one had SIX cheeses (and added N'duja (danger sausage) of course!!!)

Tomorrow, I'll be back to eating scampi in front of antiques roadtrip, but at least I'll get to see Pickles soon 🥰

Seriously though, this is one of the most beautiful, romantic places I've ever been in my life 💕😭

Today I was let loose in the shops of Como and got overexcited in the Pandora shop (LOOK! It's a tiny, dangly pizza!) Walked all the way to Cernobbio in the sunshine, ate Canoli for breakfast and took in the views.

I have become a little addicted to Italian cappuccinos. Wish I could spend a lot longer here, drinking coffee in the sun, but we've only got one full day left.

Mum assures me that Pickles is OK back home!

And this beautiful place is the Cattedrale Santa Maria Assunta 💕

Today consisted mainly of eating far too much cheese & getting rained on.

Whether it's brunch, cheese & charcuterie from the market, or an enormous takeaway pizza - Como has a lot to offer in the stuffing-ones-face department!!!

Currently trying desperately to dry out some of my clothes for tomorrow as we got absolutely drenched 💦😋

Buona Sera, Littens!

Danni and I have moved on to Lake Como & this place is so beautiful 💕 I'm pretty sure it's been my screensaver at some point without me realising it.

It would be the perfect place for a romantic getaway with its breathtaking views!

The view at the top is from outside Volta lighthouse. I was told 30 mins uphill from the funicular. It was 30 mins practically vertical 😅🤣

So much I want to do here!!! 🥰

I'm not going to spam you all with holiday photos, but I will share a few highlights from the Novecentro gallery 😊

My favourite painting was Nightfall by Umberto Boccioni (3rd down on the left), but there were several others that caught my eye.

Also picked up another couple of notebooks 😉 What does that make? Sette quaderni? 💕

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And here are a few more pictures from our first day in Milan 💕

Very grateful that we got to see The Last Supper, especially since I got distracted by a stationary shop and nearly made us late 😬 (Although now I have a grand total of 5 new quaderni 😊)

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Ciao, amici!

I'm in Milan with my friend Danni. These are some of the photos from our visit to the amazing Duomo di Milano 😊 You can't tell how high up we are on the pics, but we were VERY high up. Throughout our rooftop exploration, we were serenaded by a splendid busker who treated us to everything from The Cranberries to Justin Bieber.

Also, check out the amazing mini-Duomo made out of LEGO (top right) 🥰

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView

1) As long as they're MEANT to be an anti-hero! Sometimes I'm not sure whether characters are supposed to be arseholes!

2) Tagged. I need to re-read this one and finish the trilogy. Glokta is a fabulous character and Joe Abercrombie is from Lancaster where I used to live 💕