Great talk today - saw Laura Shepherd-Robinson and Essie Fox talk about their new books!

Can't wait for The Art of a Lie because I LOVED the Square of Sevens (recommended to me by @julesG )

🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍🍍

Went to see the amazing Yael van der Wouden this evening.

She is a huge Miranda July fan for all you All Fours enthusiasts!

The pictures of me are all terribly unflattering, but here we are 😄

I want to thank you all for your messages on my last post about Pickles.

I would like to share a very unpolished poem that I wrote about her. It was written straight out into my notes app on my phone, and it captures how I felt in the moment.

I don't usually post poetry anywhere, but I've shared so many memories with Pickles over the years, so if anyone was going to appreciate this tribute it would be my Litsy family 🩵

(Floors = floofs)

Today we said goodbye to Pickles.

This is a very difficult post to make because I don't feel I can do justice to how much I loved this smol furry menace 🩷

I know so many of you loved her too 🩵

I'll miss you, baby. You were so special.

Kind of like if Donna Tartt had tried to write American Pie.

The Virgin Suicides was a brilliantly written novel about a family of young women who captured the imagination of the boys in their neighbourhood.

Looking back, the boys try to piece together what led to their self destruction.

Definitely fetishises the girls and their sadness, but still a very good book that draws parallels with the rot and decay of their American way of life.

https://youtu.be/f8gQAkA1bho?feature=shared

My haul from London and Tunbridge Wells!!!!

Went to London.
Came back with a few books!
Not as many as @Branwen hehehe, but still a hefty haul 🥰🥰

This is my second Sager and it was a like not a love again. I don't know what is missing, but there's something that stopped this from reaching the next level of compulsive readability.

Having said that, this book DID manage to creep me out better than any other book this year. There's a lot of off-camera stuff that managed to rattle me more than the average thriller.

Good, but not incredible.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://youtu.be/UzS1f5gbt60?feature=shared

Anyone else planning to do HRCYED????!!!!!

I signed up. Because I can't get enough of reading challenges 😅

Still being stripy in the sunshine 💕

#picklescat #catsoflitsy

Hated it. Sorry.

I've posted a long rant on Goodreads, but don't read it if you loved the book.

⭐️⭐️

Sleeping in the sunshine 💕

#picklescat #catsoflitsy

https://youtu.be/za9u6uC3GyE?feature=shared

I've taken part in a COLLABORATION VIDEO on YouTube 🥰🥰🥰

We read this charming little book and vlogged about it together!!!!!!

This video is on my friend Rachel's channel, but we will each be hosting an episode.

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to The Safekeep for winning the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025!

This book is special.

Eerie, erotic, moving, unsettling... it was one of my absolute favourites of last year and I'm thrilled to bits that it won 🥰

When I first started this, I was CONVINCED I would hate it. The patronising, over-explained writing, the first world problems, the incessant weather descriptions, the whole world doting on Lucy Barton...

And yet... I genuinely do think I'm getting into it.

Normally I hate a tacked-on murder mystery, but it's actually nice to be reading something gentle for a change.

Sorry if I've been spamming you all with review videos lately, but if you're interested in a more thorough discussion of Fundamentally, I tried to capture my thoughts in this video:

https://youtu.be/g8UTKTEjYIM?feature=shared

It is spoiler-free and one of those books that I really do think deserves a wide readership.

Expect dark humour.

Pickles thanks you for all the well wishes, and wants you to know that she is still a fierce tabby tiger! 🥰🥰

Pickles update. Unfortunately, Pickles has a large mass up her nose that there's not much the vets can do about. She has been rapidly going downhill. She can't hear very much, she's wobbly and her nose is blocked.

She still enjoys the sunshine and getting fussed, and she's fine with her new diet of gourmet mousse and Lick-e-lix, but it still breaks my heart.

I love her so much and we're just taking each day as it comes.

#picklescat

https://youtu.be/YOYkqdVEbXk?feature=shared

Who will win the Women's Prize today????

I JUST RECORDED FOR 50 MINUTES. THEN WHEN I WATCHED THE VIDEO BACK MY MIC HAD SWITCHED OFF 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

So I had to do it all over again but EVEN MORE TIRED.

And now it's 2am and I need to edit them so can post on time before Women's Prize announcement.

On the plus side I think I was a lot less rude about some of the books the second time 🤣🤣

Incredible.

Fundamentally is a scathing indictment of bureaucracy that tackles some big themes and poses some big questions.

It lampoons both the system and the individuals that make it up. It's Kafkaesque, morally grey, and satirical in a way that's exaggerated enough for it to be funny, but close enough to be horribly heart sinkingly plausible in its characterisations & depictions of corruption.

And yet, the ending... [see comments]

Just a sample of the writing and commentary offered in this book that tackles rehabilitation of women who joined ISIS.

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView 😊

1) No idea! They just seem to keep arriving. Sometimes multiple copies. Someone yeeted the tagged book over my fence the other day. No recollection of ordering it! (Cool cover though)

2) Both. All the books. Probably preorder more standalones... a lot of the series' I'm reading have been completed and I'm working my way through already.

https://youtu.be/vH2yG0gR788?feature=shared

I turned the challenge into a video @liz_m

#14booksin14weeks

I thought this was awesome.

After reading, I went on Goodreads and the reviews made me think I'd read it wrong!

If you've read it and you've got me on GR please read my spoilery thoughts and let me know what you think.

Because I wasn't confused until I read what others had to say!

I'm Vinting again if any UK folks want to check out my Vinted profile.
Plan on uploading more stuff in future too.

https://www.vinted.co.uk/member/220756078-raewatts

This may not be the most popular offering on the Women's Prize shortlist, but I really enjoyed this entertaining family drama.

The Persians tells the stories of three generations of women ranging from the outrageously rich to the determined and revolutionary. We are taken from Iran in the 1940s to New York in the 2000s.

The characters are flawed and it took me a while to warm to them, but in the end I found a lot to like.

Soft pick.

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs 😊
Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView 💕

1) Don't say pizza and naps. Don't say pizza and naps. Don't say pizza and naps.
I think the most important thing in the world is connection to others. Reading On the Calculation of Volume really drove this point home.

2) 😅📚🍑

3) It was probably something really juvenile like a fart 🤣🤣

@The_Penniless_Author @CBee Yours?

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

1) No, absolutely not. There is simply too much variety and diversity. It's impossible to encapsulate all the rich perspectives and experiences out there.

That doesn't mean we can't try!

2) The tagged is very Millennial and interestingly is based on a book that set about to encapsulate the 60s through a study of objects and a couple. I've not read it, but I'd be interested to know how much this one reflects it.

Let's make June a perfect reading month!

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Heart Lamp is a worthy winner of the International Booker Prize 2025.

Translated from Kannada, this is a collection of short stories centring the lives of Muslim women in India.

Most of them are splendid and showcase not only a warm writing talent, but also the layers of pain and hardship suffered in a patriarchal society.

There were only two that I felt lacked a point or direction.

Contemplative, human, heart-breaking.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one was special.

All the stars 😭💕

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm conflicted.

The writing is great. Sharp and subversive. Lots of social commentary. Centres trans experiences. Some amusing moments.

But I struggled to root for the characters because they were all so very selfish, and showed such little regard for each others' feelings and needs.

Made me miserable in the same way that All Fours and The Pisces did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm only 2 stories in, but they've both been brilliant so far.

Incredible.

An atmospheric imagining of the world, say, 10,000 years or so from now.

At first you will be completely baffled, but I dare you not to get drawn in.

This is a majestic parade of ideas told with such gorgeous simplicity and yet never failing to be entirely compelling.

Cast a spell on me.

Read it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Plan to film a spoiler-free review shortly. Subscribe to the channel or check back if you want to watch!)

"If you are a trans girl who knows many other trans girls, you go to church a lot, because church is where they hold the funerals."

?

Well my prediction couldn't have been more wrong!

Well done to Banu Mushtaq, Deepa Bhasthi and Heart Lamp for winning the International Booker Prize 2025!

I shall be giving it a read and reviewing it on my channel. If you want to hear my thoughts on the other nominees, I do a brief rundown in my prediction vid.

Every book on the shortlist was good 😊

https://youtu.be/n7lrwXGOphc?feature=shared

I predict the International Booker Prize winner (announced tomorrow).

What do you think?

Am I right?

I've been so busy making videos about the International Booker lately that I've neglected reading for myself.

So I'm going to use @Liz_M 's #14books14weeks challenge as an opportunity to read some stuff that I want to read purely for Rae 💙

I decided to choose only from hardbacks that I feel frustrated at having neglected for so long.

Here are my choices 💕

Now where to even start????????

Told through her friendship with the "Narrator" in short vignettes, this is the story of a troubled young woman.

It was written shortly after the death of the author's younger sister, but it is not clear to what degree Fanny is based on her.

It is a moving character piece, that draws a vivid portrait of a complex, multi-faceted personality.

Some very good writing, but I had some issues with (what I assume was) the translation itself.

https://youtu.be/gVzADNBbBaI?feature=shared

Wanna see some beautiful books??

@Yuki_Onna @BeeMagical

Guys... I don't know if youve seen this yet but THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Photo screenshotted from Rare Birds Bookshop, Edinburgh's Instagram story)

🐰💕🐰💕🐰💕🐰

This tale of millennial angst & dissatisfaction is based on the debut novel (Things) by Georges Perec.

Anna & Tom have all the trappings of a good life, but struggle to find contentment in a world of social media and expectation.

Sometimes a little overexplained, this short novel manages to pack in a great deal of social commentary and uses the couple as a single protagonist to discuss the modern condition.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Video review up at 7pm GMT

Pickles is enjoying going outside now that the weather is warm. She has a mass of tissue causing problems up her nose and is now needing softer food. It's not something the vet can fix unfortunately, but we are giving her lots of love and she still seems pretty happy.

#picklescat #catsoflitsy

https://youtu.be/fb2CfEMAvrw?feature=shared

Have posted my review / discussion of this one.

Spoilers. But having said that.... there aren't many plot points to spoil 😁😁😁

I JEST!!!!

https://youtu.be/IDSdg_etAkM?feature=shared

^ made a YouTube video showing off the books I bought in Istanbul

Sorry about the terrible audio on this one.

If anyone has read any Elif Shafak or Orhan Pamuk drop me a message... where should I start????

Thank you for supporting the channel. I keep working on it 😊

Bit late, but let's get back to Book spinning.
I'm off work today feeling absolutely awful.
Was in a reading slump before I started feeling ill 😵😵

Deathly boring and mundane as this might have been, it has BOTHERED me. And that's something.

It's basically Groundhog Day if absolutely nothing of any import or interest happened, but the very NORMALITY of it all is what makes it so terrifyingly chilling.

This was not a pleasant reading experience, and yet, there is a talent to making a reader feel they are going slowly insane, so I can absolutely see this book's worth as an experiment.

Guys, I'm so bored.

Like... so bored.

This is literally Groundhog Day if NOTHING HAPPENED.