If you've read any Patricia Lockwood before, you'll know she has a unique way of expressing herself. She's a singular, irreverent, poetic voice, and I respect her work.

Some of her latest writing is pure fire. Some of it is so abstract that it lacks clarity and I found it a struggle to extract meaning.

This book explores how the pandemic left her feeling detached from reality both mentally and physically.

Varies from chapter to chapter!

A very pretty red oak ❤️🌳

Reading over Reality 📚📚

This one has some great characters that made for some genuinely entertaining moments.

A memorable episode of the TV series, and as far as I recall, significant changes were made to adapt it.

Enjoyable despite some dodgy behaviour from Poirot!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This one had me slumping hard for the first 40%. There just wasn't anything to draw me into the story. It would have been a DNF... but I don't usually DNF.

And I'm glad I didn't because the second half of this book was good. I started to care.

I don't feel as positively about AI, robotics and automation as the author, but by the end I was invested.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you thought The Honjin Murders had an unnecessarily convoluted solution, wait till you read this one!

I enjoyed this historical murder mystery immensely, although the background events were sobering (it is set in 1940s Osaka). Although written by a modern author, it was interesting to read a Japanese perspective from this time.

The author evidently loves the mystery genre because they've lovingly thrown in all the best elements.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

10th Anniversary edition arrived today.

I have read (but not finished) a lot of books this weekend #turnthepage @Bookwormjillk

It's been a wonderful retreat with the #gladstonerds

@Leniverse @julesG @Oryx @jenniferw88 @squirrelbrain @scripturient @rockpools @TrishB @MicheleinPhilly @BarbaraBB

Books:

Endling
Murder in the House of Omari
Dumb Witness
The Will of the Many
Will there ever be another you

Wish I could stay here another week 🥲💕

Endling was an incredible, multi-faceted read.

Yeva is a conservationist trying to save populations of rare snails from dying out. Nastia and Sol are trying to lure their activist mother out of hiding by staging a kidnapping of marriage-industry bachelors.

Their plans are swiftly derailed by the Russian invasion.

I found the storytelling so compelling that even the unsubtle metafictional elements managed to win me over.

A writer to watch.

#turnthepage @Bookwormjillk

So far this readathon I have finished Endling (rtc), and been reading Dumb Witness, Murder in the House of Omari and the new Patricia Lockwood: will there ever be another you!

Not sure of page counts but I think I'm doing pretty well!!! 🩷

When you're not sure which books to take on the retreat so you get a bit carried away...
#gladstonerds

@Leniverse @julesG @Oryx @scripturient @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB @rockpools @TrishB @jenniferw88 @MicheleinPhilly

Time for some serious reading and sticky toffee pudding 🩷 #gladstonerds

@Leniverse @julesG @Oryx @scripturient @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB @rockpools @TrishB @jenniferw88 @MicheleinPhilly

https://youtube.com/shorts/WF6QbSucLQA?feature=shared

Booker Shortlist reaction in under 3 minutes ^

Who is your winner?

I would guess I'm going to be team Audition, but the others have chance to win me over yet!

Yeah, I'm kidding myself with this one. This is clearly not the book I should be reading right now.

Not a DNF! Just... on hiatus!

I will rejoin the narrative when I feel more inclined to take a philosophical journey up my own 🍑

This book isn't bad, but it is sombre, creepy, scratchy, parasitic, windy, and dense.

If you're after some existential dread, this will be your jam!

Spiralling this week. Full of regret and confusion and sadness.

Going to submerge myself in the surreal, experimental narrative that Cărtărescu has created here.

Also, music.

I wanted to post this on #TuesdayTunes that @TieDyeDude hosts, but for some reason I got a bit shy about posting my Playlists. (In fact, I'm still not going to link it ?)

At the moment, I have an eclectic mix of songs on repeat. Top right is a song that found me on Insta. Amazing track.

The Flood by Aurora is another that I'm overplaying.

"Maybe there was never a daemon... maybe it was just me dreaming..."

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Poetry. Something I throw myself into when I'm in pain and struggling to cope.

This is a new collection from Bad Betty Press, an anthology of poetry on the subject of mental health.

May we continue to find solace in words when things chronically suck.

Sending hugs to anyone who needs one: 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂

I can't cope 😭😭😭

Illumicrate Farseer trilogy editions are beautiful 🩵

I also read this.

There wasn't really much to it.

I don't really feel like I got enough of a sample to be able to deem this bad or good. Every time a story almost got going it ended.

Maybe it worked better as the radio series for which I understand it was initially written?

ARC read on behalf of Station Books.

Another funny, twisty, epistolary mystery from Janice Hallett - this one revolving around a local pub quiz.

Great fun as always. Parodies the eccentricities of British life in a very amusing way. I was more invested in the quiz drama than I was in the actual mystery!

Could have done with losing 100 pages or so, and the plot was completely ridiculous, but still a raucous and entertaining read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not a lot is going well this month (year), but on the plus side... please admire my crystals 🩵

#shelfie

Who had "3" in the sweepstake for how many copies of Katabasis would turn up unannounced? ??‍♀️??‍♀️

STANDING OVATION 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Amazing book 💕💕💕💕

ARC read on behalf of Station Books.

You had me at genre mashup, Japanese, time-loop murder mystery ❤️

Hisataro is trying to stop his grandfather from being murdered, and no matter what he does it just seems to make things worse!

It was entertaining, and actually pretty funny. Lots of drama and secrets to uncover.

My only complaint is that the ending that I thought up (and was convinced would play out) was better than the actual ending 😄

Good Girl was a beautifully written reflection on poverty, identity, xenophobia, youth, shame, and abuse of power.

I'd struggle to name many characters I've hated as vitriolically as Marlowe. He is emblematic of the way people exploit the vulnerability of others.

The romanticisation of recreational drug use is tedious, but makes contextual sense.

This book was poetic and brilliant, but also miserable and devoid of much hope.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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

Book review and discussion
Spoilers / more indepth discussion from 11:28

Started Endling yesterday.

First chapter was so good that I almost don't want to read the rest in case it disappoints.

Brilliant opening ❤️🐌

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

Made a little Hugo reaction video.

This one is short 😄

Such a good book!

If you like your memoirs gritty, edgy, full of irreverence, and brought to life by unusually explicit detail, both emotionally and technically - I recommend you check out Myriam Gurba.

She writes like an artist, but with a startling self-awareness that stops her from being insufferable.

Mean is problematic and provocative, but Gurba almost definitely revels in this.

CONTINUED in comments...

https://youtu.be/qzAH0aNOiDk?feature=shared

Also, if you want to spend 43 minutes with me chatting about books this evening, a new video just landed 🥰🥰

This moon-based-murder-mystery might have been OK (albeit ridiculous) if it wasn't wasn't the egregious racism.

It was so badly handled by both the author and characters that I found it distracting and enraging.

The characters were mostly stereotypes and hard to root for, which was a shame because the hotel itself was an intriguing setting.

I love sci fi murder mysteries, but this one didn't really deliver.

⭐️⭐️

Bookshop.org.uk haul (Station Books)

I want to read all the books but I'm feeling rather ill today so am not really good for much except lying around complaining.

This is an excellent conversation starter and a compelling read. I did feel that a lot of problematic ideas were left unchallenged (which is fine if you are aware of the counterarguments already) and that it could have done with a bit more meat.

Still, it's a provocative, shape shifting narrative that spirals out in an exploration of the zeitgeist and capitalist system. Worth reading if you like social commentary in your contemporary fiction.

https://youtu.be/irRbCL-8Jw4?feature=shared

I've started my series of book reviews and discussions on my channel.

This is the first one for Audition 🩷

First part is spoiler-free, then I flag up when I'm going to get into the nitty gritty.

Even though, frustratingly, I confidently predicted the main twist, I still love Ruth Ware's thrillers and can't wait to read absolutely all of them. There was plenty of atmosphere here, but the predictability and unnecessary jumping back and forth in time made me lean towards a 3⭐️ rather than a 4⭐️ rating.

Decent, but not as good as the Woman in Cabin 10.

I love the Indonesian cover (pictured)

Hannah Setzer has so much more zest for life than I do.

Not only is she running her business, leading community projects, bringing up 4 foster sons and influencing folks to work out and move their bodies in an intentional way, but on top of all that, she has put together this book on what it's like to do all this while being constantly challenged by a world that isn't great at accommodating difference.

Fab perspective. Well worth reading.

Too many tabs open in my brain. I'm already reading most of these 😅

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

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

Some more VERY SERIOUS JOURNALISM 🧐

Camp Litsy fans will be chuffed that Audition made it onto the Longlist 🩷

Will this be the month that I do #roll100 successfully?

Or will this be like every other month where I diligently avoid the list and mood read random stuff instead?

These are all high priority reads so maybe I shall do it 👀

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

I've seen a few of you guys predicting the Booker Longlist. Here is my contribution!!!! 😁

I need to learn to click bait my videos a bit more...

YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE NUMBER 13 lol

Actually you probably won't believe number 13, but I'm kind of only sort of serious haha.

Excited for the announcement next week 👀

So I've just found out that the HRCYED prompt for reading a book within 60 days of its release is not just one book but one book for EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!

Gaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

Good job I've already started this then, isn't it?

Now to Google "really short books released this year"....

Some passionate art-thusiam 🩷

Overblown similes aside this was a lovely book about appreciating all sorts of different art.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was absolutely crap.

I've just spent an hour explaining why on Goodreads, but I'm contemplating deleting my review because it isn't at all tactful.

Seriously though, it's not often that I get this salty over a book.

⭐️

One star

https://youtu.be/hEzxT-BHNPU?feature=shared

Made an A to Z of fiction!

It took far too long to make because I spent hours editing, the file got corrupted and I had to start ALL OVER AGAIN.

So please enjoy 😅😅😅

This was pretty good.

I can't review it properly because SECRET PROJECT UPCOMING 🔥🔥

I've heard that this will no longer be a trilogy and is now a completed duology.

I can't explain why this enrages me so much??? Why am I bothered? The story is complete, apparently, just in fewer volumes.

It still feels wrong!!!!!!!!

Ooh! Look what else appeared! And can you spot another Rae addition? (The Safekeep was already there haha)

Guess who got to live vicariously and do some ordering for their friends' bookshop 💃💃💃💃💃

NEW EXPANDED CRIME & MYSTERY SECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few of these were already there, but a load of these are Rae Specials 😁😁😁

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)