I enjoyed this one, immensely. The no-quotation mark thing really bothered me for the first hundred pages but then I got used to it. It seemed to make the story go by faster. The writing style was a perfect match for the poverty Frankie and his family lived in. I‘ll check out the sequel ‘Tis, to see where Frank ends up in America.

Have you seen the movie adaption of Angela‘s Ashes? Is it worth checking out?

This story follows best friends Owen and Johnny. From childhood when Owen unlikely hits a ball at Little League that kills Johnny‘s mom, through young adulthood, where Owen believes he has foreseen his heroic death, saving Vietnamese children during the Vietnam war. Owen doesn‘t believe in chance, he believes he is God‘s instrument and Johnny isn‘t sure what to believe. The story is a commentary on faith, God, the church and true friendship.

I felt the shame and injustice of loving someone the law dictates you can‘t. Of feeling that you are somehow made wrong and that you must hide it from your loved ones while trying to fix what‘s ‘broken‘. To pretend to be something you aren‘t and the inner torment that follows. Finally, the freedom to live and love as you like. This story is about trying to hide who you are and ultimately discovering yourself in unexpected places and people.

Hey Littens! If you are like me and a loner on Goodreads, I‘d LOVE to be friends with you over there. My username is readherwriteher 😊 I won‘t get back over there tonight, but I promise to friend every single one of your cute faces when I check in tomorrow.

I did not love this book. I read it and had no feeling through most of it. Laura stayed the same from beginning to end and maybe that‘s the point of the novel. I didn‘t understand what the book was trying to say, and ultimately that left me frustrated.

WHAT BOOK AM I? I‘m trying to find a book. I know what it‘s about and CANNOT remember the name. It‘s about two girls, I think they are South African or maybe Nigerian, one is put in the sex trade and the other sets out to find her. Then they end up in the States. It‘s a newer release. It‘s driving me crazy because the name is on the tip of my tongue.

This might be my favourite book, ever. It was written like nothing I‘ve read, in a very long-time. The story itself could have been gritty/grizzly and under a heavier hand it could have been a very different tale. Ari is one of those characters who you want to feel sorry for but she won‘t allow it. The book is about finding your family and seeing the good, even in the worst of times. Of stepping up when it would be easier to step back. I LOVED it.

Following two timelines, present day (Avery) and 1939 (Rill). Avery is being groomed for her father‘s seat as governor of South Carolina, and trying to find out more about a mysterious old lady who accosts her at a celebration at a care home. Rill is fighting to keep her four siblings together after they are kidnapped and placed in the care of the Tennessee Children‘s Home Society. Real life meets fiction. I LOVED it and could not put it down.

I foresee an all-nighter with this one. It grabbed me from page one, I can‘t stop turning the pages. 100 pages down, 229 pages to go. 🤓📖
•
What was your last all-nighter book?

“You have a moment of relevancy— when the books, clothes, bars, technology— when everything is speaking directly to you, expressing you exactly. You move toward the edge of the circle and then you‘re abruptly outside the circle. Now what to do with that? Do you stay— peering backward? Or do you walk away?”

This quote summed up the book for me. It was a beautifully messy, coming-of-age story told in a New York restaurant.

I didn‘t figure it out, so that makes it a great thriller for me. It was a bit hard to follow, with the alternate viewpoints, but not to the detriment of the reading experience. It‘s a thriller, but it‘s a good commentary on modern motherhood, the roles we try to play, and the idea of what constitutes ‘perfection‘.

My weekend reads. What books are you spending the weekend with?

FINALLY FRIDAY! I‘m so happy it‘s the weekend. Gonna finish this one, and start A Man Called Ove. What are you reading tonight?

I Have Lost My Way follows Freya, Nathaniel and Harun, and their accidental meeting in Central Park. Each of the young adults is carrying a secret, and through the day they spend together, they each figure out how to navigate their own fork in the road. It‘s a feel good book, and I recommend it if you want to read something quick and easy that will lift your spirits. At only 177 pages, it was a really quick read, too.

Book Haul: New Picks. I picked up three more of Fredrik Backman‘s books on this trip (got Ove used). I‘m also excited for Pachinko and The Heart‘s Invisible Furies because I have heard such great things from all of you.
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Have you read any of these ones?

Getting ready for another road trip tomorrow, and trying to finish I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman tonight. How was your Tuesday?

Book Haul: Used Picks. A Man Called Ove, The Secret History, Bel Canto and Lullabies for Little Criminals were all on my list for Indigo (Canada‘s big chain bookstore), so I got all four used, for the regular price of one of them new. When I find books that are on my To-Buy list at the used book store, I think it‘s the universe telling me I MUST have them. I always hit the used book stores first when book shopping.

Do you buy used books?

This has nothing to do with reading, but I‘d love your opinion on a logo for my blog.

I love quizzes. 😍📝

http://learn.howstuffworks.com/quiz/build-a-library-well-tell-you-which-classic-...

The Female Persuasion by Meg Worlitzer, yay or nay? I can‘t decide. HELP! 🤔📚😩

1) Rude people. I was raised with one rule, and it was to treat others the way I want to be treated. Try to be kind. 🙏🏻😊
2) Cake. Chocolate cake. 🤗🤤
3) If I tell you, I‘ll have to 🔪 you. 😉
4) Romance.
5) Anyone who wants to play, please jump in.

Thanks @jesshowbooks for the awesome #friyayintro

I‘m out of town SANS KIDS with my husband until Sunday. I‘m hoping to squeeze in a book on this trip, but I‘m not guaranteeing anything. 💑

“In the vast expanse of this unpredictable wilderness, you will either become your best self and flourish, or you will run away, screaming, from the dark and the cold and the hardship. There is no middle ground, no safe place; not here, in the Great Alone.”

I devoured this book. I was in Alaska, trying to live off the land, to survive the brutal elements and my dysfunctional family. The ending was predictable, but still really satisfying to me.

Devouring this one. It‘s amazing, I feel like I‘m trying to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. What are you reading right now?

1) Apple, baby.
2) Kobo eReader.
3) Instagram. Notes. Music.
4) Desktop (iMac) for writing. Phone for social media.

Another amazing #manicmonday @JoScho 💆🏻‍♀️

Behold The Dreamers is the story of an immigrant family wanting the American dream with very little hope of actually achieving it. The book comes full circle with the family realizing what the true meaning of home is and that sometimes you have to let go of what you thought you wanted in order to have a truly better life.

March Wrap-Up:
➕ 13 books read
⭐️ Favourite Book was a three-way tie:
• Beartown
• The Nightingale
• All The Light We Cannot See.
🏅Honourable mentions:
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
• Small Great Things

The two turned around books represent One More Day (returned Library book) and It Ends With Us (ebook).

What was your favourite March read?

“Cycles exist because they are excruciating to break. It takes an astronomical amount of pain and courage to disrupt a familiar pattern. Sometimes it seems easier to just keep running in the same familiar circles rather than facing the fear of jumping and possibly not landing on your feet.”

💆🏻‍♀️ This is so true.

“People spend so much time wondering why the women don‘t leave. Where are all the people who wonder why the men are even abusive? Isn‘t that where the only blame should be placed?”

This book gave me so much insight into domestic abuse. I‘m guilty of posing this very question. The book also pointed out that rarely are people all bad or all good. Most of us are just people who sometimes do bad things.

I‘m hoping to finish It Ends With Us and Behold the Dreamers this weekend. Will you squeeze in some reading between egg hunts, family gatherings and copious amounts of chocolate?

“You say you don‘t see colour... but that‘s all you see. You‘re so hyper aware of it, and of trying to look like you aren‘t prejudiced, you can‘t even understand that when you say race doesn‘t matter, all I hear is you dismissing what I‘ve felt, what I‘ve lived, what it‘s like to be put down because of the colour of my skin.”

This book was a great look in the mirror. I will say though, it seemed more of a story for white women about race.

1) 50 Book Pledge Website and Goodreads.
2) Third Person Narrative.
3) I‘ll be sleeping for most of it, then reading.
4) @thereadingowlvina @PenguinInFlight @MallenNC

Thanks to @GarthRanzz for a fun #triviathursday 💆🏻‍♀️

📚📖 Just helping to spread the word. Can‘t wait to see you on the flip side! #LitsyMaintenance #LitsyDowntime #LibraryThing

Halfway through this one, and it‘s been hard to read. I have to put it down and calm myself down after Turk‘s chapters. What‘s the last book you read that was unsettling for you?

“To Canadians everything is equal. Joni Mitchell is interchangeable with a secretary at open-mic night. Frank Gehry is no greater than a hack pumping out McMansions on AutoCAD. John Candy is no funnier than uncle Lou when he gets a couple of beers in him. No wonder the only Canadians anyone‘s ever heard of are the ones who have gotten the hell out. Anyone with talent who stayed would be flattened under an avalanche of equality.” 😂 #ProudCanadian

OUOTE 1: “In a way, I see religion as the pinnacle of human achievement....As a species, God might be the greatest gift we‘ve ever given ourselves. The gift of sanity.”

QUOTE 2: “What kind of God would create a person, of which, he so disapproved? Simon can only think of two answers: either there‘s no God at all, or Simon was a mistake, a fuck-up. He‘s never been sure which option scares him more.”

This sounds about right. 🤓
Take the Quiz here: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ambili/pick-some-books-and-well-tell-you-which-word-des...

Book lovers, what are you doing tonight? I am, you guessed it, spending the night in reading, Where‘d You Go Bernadette? 🤓📖

I could not turn the pages fast enough. A blind girl hiding a cursed diamond in France and helping her great-uncle broadcast in secret for the resistance. A brilliant young German orphan, swept into the war for his skill with radios and technology. It all comes to a head as the war enters its end, the Germans closing in on the gem and the broadcasters. It was beautiful. I wish I hadn‘t read it, so I could read it again for the first time.

Tells the story of Lucy and Gabe, their meeting at Columbia on September 11, 2001 and follows the next 13 years of their star-crossed love. Lucy gets married to Darren, who adores her and they start a family together, while Gabe is off being a photojournalist in the middle-East. It all comes to a head, and the ending mimicked Lucy and Gabe‘s entire relationship so maybe it wasn‘t as contrived as I think, so much as just incredibly Shakespearean.

1)Big City, but I live in a small town.
2)Rock on the Radio. Alt Rock, to be exact.
3)Literary Fiction.
4)I‘m okay with pineapple on pizza, like once a year.
5)Rhett Butler, but Pride and Prejudice is on my TBR for April and this answer may change.

I can‘t wait to see your answers this week #Littens. ❤️ Don‘t forger to #thisorthat and tag me so I can see it.

1) My kid. His brother coloured his face with a Sharpie at 5:00 in the morning because he wanted to be a puppy. That‘s why his tongue is hanging out. 🐶
2) I love my #LitsyFam because you have welcomed me so warmly. Everyone here is so helpful, I feel like I‘ve found my people! I adore you guys.
3) Anyone who wants to share random acts of kindness, please do. I‘ve done a lot them, but I‘m drawing a blank.

Thanks for the #HumpDayPost @MinDea

Happy Hump Day fellow book lovers! What book‘s helping you get through today? I‘ve been in WWII France and Germany all afternoon with All The Light We Cannot See. There are reasons this book won the Pulitzer. So. Good. And I‘m only halfway through.

“But this is what loss has taught me of love. Our house isn‘t simply empty, our home has been emptied. Love makes a place in your life, it makes a place for itself in your bed. Invisibly, it makes a place in your body, rerouting all your blood vessels, throbbing right alongside your heart. When it‘s gone, nothing is whole again.”

I‘m still not sure what I think of this book. I‘m still thinking about it, 2 days later, so that says something to me.

“When people ask how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn‘t spoken to another person in two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.”

I enjoyed this book. Eleanor alone is a quirky wonder but then there is a cast of zany characters that help Eleanor on her journey to discovering that she is not, in fact, completely fine. Deals with a tough subject with so much heart.

1) Black Beauty.
2) One, a cat named Willow.
3) Monkey. 🐵🙈🙉🙊🐒
4) A domestic housecat because of all the sleep. I wouldn‘t want to be in the wild, because with my luck I‘d die.

Thanks for another fun #ManicMonday @JoScho 😘

What are your Sunday rituals? My Sunday‘s always include reading, laundry and checking my horoscope on Free People‘s Blog. I started An American Marriage late last night and hope to finish it today.

How are you celebrating St. Patrick‘s Day? I‘m celebrating with The Light We Lost. Not even a green book! I‘m losing at life today. 😂

1) So many favourites, but I chose The Secret World of Og by Pierre Berton.
2) Chaos.
3) Both. But I find it harder to read in public.
4) I‘m what you‘d call ‘indoorsy‘. I like reading outside, does that count as outdoor activities? 🤔🤓📚

Thanks for a wonderful #weekendchat @CSeydel 🙏🏻😊

I must know: HOW do you keep the oils from your skin staining your cloth hardcover books? It is driving me crazy. 🤯 HELP.