My #guiltypleasure is that I keep buying pretty books that I don‘t need…! So I‘m going to read one of them (at least!) this month for #titlesandtunes.

Whilst driving home last night I had my own #guiltypleasure playlist on LOUD and thought I‘d choose a tune from there. They might have a great baseline, be good for caterwauling along to when you‘ve had a bad day, or just a complete👂🐛. Altogether now…‘I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie‘

I may have accidentally walked into the bookshop today, when really I didn‘t mean to!

I‘ve been umming and aahing about this one for ages. I applied for it on NG but didn‘t get it, the library hasn‘t got it in yet but when I saw those edges I just had to have it. 😍

Bonus - didn‘t even know it was signed until I got it home!

Bit of a #bailfest today, which isn‘t like me! 🤣

I thought this one was proving difficult due to the random incorrectly hyphenated words scattered about the #netgalley download, as well as the off-putting titles, appearing somewhere on every page.

However on reading Holly‘s @Hooked_on_books review I realised that the book itself is tough to get through; it‘s rather pretentiously self-conscious so I‘m giving up.

I requested this from #netgalley a while ago as the author was named on Granta‘s Best Young British Novelists list. I didn‘t get it until this week and I think that could be as it‘s had such poor reviews on NG, so they‘re hoping for better, but not from me. 😬

The book is described as ‘powerfully sensual‘ but at 30% in I haven‘t seen a scintilla of sensuality. It‘s also written without any quotation marks, hardly any paragraphs and no chapters.

I loved this!

Now, don‘t ostracise me from Litsy but this is the first Irby I‘ve read / listened to….

I‘m definitely going to listen to more and have found two on Scribd audio (Wow, No Thank You and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life)

Vanessa is Richard Branson‘s sister so I picked this book in the hope that it would feature Necker Island, in the #britishvirginislands for #readingtheamericas23. It does, although barely, but I‘m still counting it! 🤣

I enjoyed the book as a whole; it was a fun romp through 100 years of their family history,but I would have preferred more depth in some places and there were a few too many names to remember.

I loved this book, following 3 generations of women from #cuba all battling their own demons. I was most invested in Jeanette‘s story, as she struggled with addiction in modern-day Miami. I also found the tangential story about immigrants from #elsalvador fascinating, and liked how it linked in to the main story.

I‘m using this for #cuba, for #readingtgeamericas23, but there‘s a tiny bit of #elsalvador and #mexico in there too.

I was drawn to this cover in the lovely ink@84 indie bookshop in London. It was newly published so there were no reviews, but I decided to take the risk, mainly because it‘s set in 1980s Yorkshire.

This was a compelling read, looking at a family as the father descends into depression, when such things weren‘t spoken about. However, much as I liked it, the narrative style is really unusual, hence showing the extract in the photo, as it takes ⬇️.

#libraryhaul from the last 2 days and 2 libraries! 😁

Bandit Queens is of course for #camplitsy23, although I read it a few months ago.

The next two are also #blameitoncamplitsy. Biography of X started out quite strongly in the voting and then tailed off. The Nursery was nominated by @youneverarrived and sounds interesting.

The remaining books are for #readingtheamericas23. @BarbaraBB @Librarybelle

A fascinating account of one woman who does the ‘unthinkable‘ and abandons her family, including her disabled daughter. We see how her choice affects not only her, but her husband, her son, her best friend. 20 years later her (ex) husband has written a book detailing how he taught their daughter to sign; what will happen when the film rights are optioned?

A completely engrossing book, even if there were a few too many ‘convoluted‘ relationships.

Ashin is a widowed dentist, living out his retirement in Paris, California. The book starts off in a quiet, contemplative way, as Ashin befriends 12 year old Mateo, who moves in next door with his family.

It then turns into a social commentary as more and more people move to this ‘perfect place‘, paying exorbitant prices for housing and then turning the town into where they came from, with fences, signs, dog bans etc.

So far so good, ⬇️

Alex is ‘dismissed‘ as the girlfriend of a wealthy older guy on Long Island and is running from something in her past.

Meh, I had such high hopes for this. I thought it would be very clever, but there was only the old glimmer. It was fairly gripping in places, but you never really fully got in the head of the MC. The ending just really wound me up; it felt lazy to me, like the author had run out of steam. Very frustrating.

It was a rainy morning so I had the time to finish this book.

I‘m not sure whether it was me or the book, but I couldn‘t quite connect to it. Odd, as I absolutely loved Wintering which I read only recently.

This one felt less cohesive as a whole; more a selection of essays. It also felt quite negative, certainly more than Wintering, even though it‘s about finding the enchantment in everyday things.

Still a pick though, but a soft one.

Another fab Kim Stone book, which I inhaled in one sitting this afternoon - I don‘t know how Ms Marsons keeps doing it!

This one is about psychics and, like all the other books, I love how everything about the subject gets explained as we go along but without seeming obvious.

And this one has a cliffhanger at the end….or maybe you‘d call it a hangover to the next book. 🤔

I really liked this, but wish it had gone deeper in many areas. The MC is observed by 3 people as she begins to change both her body and her mind, to become the strongest she can be. This narrative device lends a distance and I never felt like I got inside the MC‘s head.

Still, it left me with many questions, and I can‘t stop thinking about it. (Maybe that is the point, questions rather than answers?)

I loved this! Thank you so much for sending it to me @CarolynM 😘

Franny is grieving after her husband died 3 years ago in a tragic accident. When a single Mum with two kids moves in next door her life is up-ended in all sorts of ways. I loved all of the characters, especially Franny herself and the two kids next door.

If you liked Eudora Honeysett you‘ll love this - it‘s actually a little bit sharper and funnier.

We‘ve had two days of walking so today is a campsite chill-out day.🚐

I‘m over halfway through Happy Hour and loving it; it‘s the perfect holiday read.

Only just started Enchantment and about to start Chrysalis on Kindle, because why read one book when you can read three?! 🤣

I thought I was going to love this and I did. I didn‘t go into it trying to analyse it; I just enjoyed the atmosphere and the beautiful prose. However, I feel like re-reading it straight away to unpick it a bit more; it would have been so good as a #camplitsy23 choice @BarbaraBB @Megabooks (so near but not quite near enough!)

Pic is from the Cleveland Way in North Yorkshire - the blue sky could be the Med in August!

There‘s a shortage of books set on #anguilla but I found this used copy for only 75p and I‘m so glad I did.

It follows the authors as they set up a restaurant on the island and it‘s just my kind of ‘travelogue‘ - all about the lovely people that they meet. Hurricane Luis felt a bit tagged on at the end but still a really nice, easy, read.

As well as being for #readingtheamericas23 this is also my pick for #titlesandtunes #islandvibes

I loved this book of #shortstories about womanhood, girlhood and all different kinds of love. I don‘t think there was a bad one in the collection, which is unusual.

I *think* this is a prompt for #booked2023 although I may not have the exact wording - no spreadsheets here! 🤣

Interesting article in today‘s Guardian newspaper, about how to get audiobooks for less, or for free, and focusing on avoiding Amazon.

Xigxag came out as one of the best options for a non-subscription model, but I thought Spiracle sounded really interesting. (ca per month to subscribe for a choice of 2 ‘exclusive‘ books, or (c8 - (ca per book, supporting small presses (like Fitzcarraldo). There‘s also a lot of books in translation.

I really ought to stop looking on #netgalley…! Just had the following 3 approved today and already I‘m struggling to stay ahead of pub dates. 😬

Actually, Chrysalis is a total #blameitonmegabooks! I may try to read next week, Meg.

Roman Stories jumped out at me from the #netgalley front page, due to the author, and luckily it‘s not out until October so I have plenty of time.

And I can‘t even remember where I heard about My Husband! 🤣

Always good to come home to #bookmail after a long stressy day. Even better when the books are free!

These are my ‘prizes‘ for achieving Platinum status on Penguin Bookmarks. 🐧❤️

Hi #europacollective!

Here are the books to choose from for June 2024. It was so difficult to narrow it down to two…there‘s a little bit of a theme here: both refer to ‘small towns‘ in their blurb.

Links to both books are below.

#authoramonth

This was my first Larson book and I‘m glad he was chosen as an #aam as I found it fascinating.

The Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat during World War I. I liked the mix of viewpoints in the book; passengers‘ stories, both UK and US politics, what was happening on the submarine itself.

Of course, reading about a tragedy like this is ever easy but I thought that this was a balanced view and I learnt a lot.

Loved this story of Marcellus, a giant octopus living in an aquarium who knows he is coming to the end of his life, so decides to help out some friends.

Marcellus is as lovely as Six Thirty (Lessons in Chemistry) and Claude (Still Life) so if you liked those books you‘ll love this one too. I‘m also pleased to have read a book about an anthropomorphic sea creature that didn‘t traumatise me, after Pod! 🤣

Today‘s book mail. Hijab is of course for #camplitsy23 - I just need to be patient and not read it until Meg tells me to!

A Trip to the Beach is a pre-loved copy for #titlesandtunes #islandvibes and also #readingtheamericas23 #anguilla.

I adored this! I‘m sad that this couldn‘t be on the #camplitsy23 list due to publishing dates.

It‘s so nice to see a different side to the young, black experience. Yes, there is prejudice, violence and racism always there in the background but, above all, this book is about love and relationships.

It‘s such a warm book as Stephen navigates his late teens / early twenties and learns to love, lose love, grieve and find love again.

Another book that was on the #camplitsy23 long list. It did reasonably well in the voting and, actually, would have made for some great discussions. It‘s a very opaque book; I‘m not really sure what was going on most of the time and, personally, I don‘t like that in a book.

The book switched between two viewpoints, one first-person and one third-person and it wasn‘t clear at the start that there were two MCs so I was very confused. ⬇️

I couldn‘t review this before, as I knew it hadn‘t made the #camplitsy23 shortlist but you lot didn‘t! 🤣

When I was in London I chatted to 3 booksellers - the first didn‘t rate it at all, and thought it needed editing, the second thought it was the best book ever about the queer, black experience and the third thought it was a ‘nice‘ romance.

I tend to agree with the third - it felt like a typical millennial love story. ⬇️

#camplitsy23

Hello campers! I‘ll be leading our discussions in August.

We‘ll read Romantic Comedy first, discussing it on the weekends of 5th/6th and 12th/13th, followed by The Memory of Animals on the following two weekends. Page / chapter numbers will be confirmed during July.

Then it will be the end of camp (let‘s not think about that now! 😭) and time to vote for your overall favourite - I wonder which book it will be?! All 6 sound fab!

Your camp hosts thought you‘d like to see the next 6 books for #camplitsy23 - those that nearly made it but didn‘t!

It was very close with the winners changing with almost every vote. Questions and August Blue were very close, only missing out by a single vote each. The remaining 4 books received a few votes less, but all were on the same score.

And I make no apologies for using the UK cover of Big Swiss; so much nicer than the US one! 🤣

#titlesandtunes #islandvibes

I was going to read another book for #readingtheamericas23 #anguilla that was available on Scribd, but on looking at it today it sounds like hard work…! I decided that the tagged sounds like fun and I just bought a used copy on Amazon for 75p, which will arrive within the week so plenty of time to read this month.

I hope no-one else picked Message in a Bottle yet - a great tune and appropriate for the theme, I think!

This was 🍌👖fun! (To quote @Cinfhen 🤣)

The blurb at the top says it best; I don‘t like horror and I‘ve never watched The Bachelor but I still really enjoyed it. It follows the final 4 girls on The Catch as they arrive on Otters Island, known for being LGBTQIA friendly, but is there something else there too?!

It‘s certainly not deep and meaningful and the horror isn‘t actually that horrid but it‘s fab as a weird and wacky palate-cleanser.

A combined #bookreport and #weeklyforecast this week.

I loved Carlotta, Still Life was a good read but tough, and I also enjoyed Flight.

The question marks are for #camplitsy23 long listed books, where I don‘t think they‘ll make the shortlist but I can‘t tell you their names until the shortlist is posted in a few days. 😁 🤔

I‘m going to pick one of the two audios for various #bannedbook prompts - any thoughts on which is the best?

Hi campers!

Barbara, Meg and I thought you‘d like to see the books that didn‘t make it onto the long list for #camplitsy23. As you know there were MANY wonderful books nominated, so these are your faves that received 3 or more nominations.

The Ferryman didn‘t make it as it‘s a bit too long for a 2-week read, and all of the others weren‘t available in the UK in time for camp.*

Don‘t forget to vote if you haven‘t done so yet! Link below ⬇️

I‘m really rather pleased with this shortlist. Well, apart from one!

For once, I got it nearly right. Except for Pod, which is just really, really wrong. 😱 Even more convinced now that it‘s going to win, just to spite me as I hated it so much! 🤣

Black Butterflies is my favourite from the long list and the only one I‘m disappointed to not see there is The Bandit Queens.

Visited Daunt Books this morning for a browse, before meeting up with @TrishB @Oryx @jhod @RaeLovesToRead to see the play of A Little Life this afternoon.

I can‘t carry any more books home so I‘ve resorted to taking pictures instead, of books I want to read!

Another fab day in London! Visited 8 bookshops (I think!) - my favourites were Libreria, bottom 2 pictures and Bookbar (books and wine!) where I got the signed Sittenfeld. (Poverty is also signed)

Also liked The Common Press, pictured top, which was a bookshop / cafe with yummy cake.

The Hustvedt and Evans are from a charity bookshop. I‘m pleased to get the Evans as her new one is supposed to be great but it follows on from this one, I think.

When Zona is killed just after her wedding, in 1897, her husband goes on trial for her murder. It‘s based on a true story (historical faction?) and has a slightly gothic twist.

I was going to nominate this for #camplitsy23 but it isn‘t out in the US yet. I‘m glad I didn‘t because, while I enjoyed it, it certainly doesn‘t have the ‘wow‘ factor and I‘m not sure how much discussion it would have generated, other than how women were / are treated.

Thank you @Librarybelle for putting this on my #readersradar for #readingtheamericas23 #ecuador.

Puri travels from Spain to Ecuador to claim a family inheritance but circumstances force her to pretend to be her own husband.

I enjoyed this on audio as I find this ‘lighter‘ kind of HF novel works well that way; I might have found it less interesting in print. (I listened whilst gazing out of the train window on my journey to London)

5 bookshops visited yesterday, and only 2 books purchased…I must make up for that today! 😁

Bought Thunderstone from the tagged shop, (the author wrote 50 Words for Snow) and the Beatrix Pottymouth is for @julesG as she had to have it when I showed her the sweary squirrel picture! 🤣

Also visited the lovely Word on the Water book barge, the British Library, Foyles and the London Review Bookshop.

This is great news!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/17/uk-publishing-industry-reports-rec...

TBH, though, 669m books is about the number I‘ll be adding to my TBR list as a result of the #camplitsy23 nominations! 🤣 Don‘t you agree?! @Megabooks @BarbaraBB

It‘s been so exciting seeing everyone‘s #camplitsy23 nominations today - here are mine! There‘s a couple of duplicates, the Levy and Fuller but hopefully some new ones too!

We‘d love you to join in; if you haven‘t been to camp in previous years and you want to know what it‘s all about, check out the hashtag #camplitsy23 or my previous post, or those on Barbara and Meg‘s pages.

🏕️❤️🏕️❤️🏕️❤️🏕️❤️🏕️❤️🏕️❤️🏕️❤️

Attention all campers! We are pleased to announce #CampLitsy23! We‘re opening nominations for the longlist. We invite folks to suggest 6 books for campers to read this summer. Post your choices on Litsy with #CampLitsy23 and tag your 3 counselors. The nominated books need to be published in 2023 and by 15 June, so campers can procure the final choices.

Nominations are open until 25 April. Then we will publish the longlist for voting. Details ⬇️

Ann and her husband give up their busy lives in Toronto in the mid 90s to sail the Caribbean. This is just my kind of travel book; I love it when it‘s mainly about the wonderful people the travellers meet along the way. The book also contains many recipes too. (Their boat is called Receta)

The blurb says they visit 16 countries, but I don‘t think I spotted them all. Below is my list, some of which I‘m using and some I‘ve already read.

So many wonderful Littens are May babies!

Looking forward to all the fun celebrations coming up! If you‘d like to have your special day added to the #birthdaylove calendar, send your Litsy handle and birthdate to litsybirthdays@gmail.com. You can only apply for yourself so why not tell your friends to join in too!?

Litsyland looks forward to celebrating with you all!

🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉

Well, that was a tough read, and worse for knowing it‘s based on real women who went missing in Chillicothe, Ohio.

I don‘t think I liked it as much as Betty as, weirdly, I found some of the prose too flowery; it jarred with the ugliness of the story. I presume that was the point, to have that contrast, but it didn‘t sit quite right with me.

It wasn‘t quite as bad as A Little Life, but is still filled with *all* the trigger / content warnings.

Here‘s my (not quite short enough!) shortlist for the #womensprize. The list is in approximate order best to worst, but I just can‘t decide on 2 out of 3 for the final 2 places. Each time I figure it out, I don‘t want to lose the other one!

Pod was so awful I‘m booting it off the list completely. I also wouldn‘t mind if the Pin or Patel made it on to the list.

The actual list will be the complete opposite of course! (And Pod will win!) 🤣

#wondrouswednesday

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView 😁

1. No fictional series at the mo, but I‘m loving Between the Covers on BBC - a book club show discussing new releases and old favourites. It‘s the last episode of this series next week and I shall be bereft. (Won‘t we @MicheleinPhilly ?! 😭)

2. I can‘t think of any off the top of my head… #thebookisalwaysbetter 🤣🤣🤣