Welcome to Litsy!

This was my final read for 2023. I really enjoyed it. Totally different to Power, which is the only other book of hers that I‘ve read. I don‘t understand the low Litsy rating 🤔.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

What a way for a couple of book nerds to spend a morning on their summer school holidays 🤗.
We breakfasted & caught up on each other‘s news, then Nerissa introduced me to this gigantic, cavernous 2nd hand book warehouse in Fremantle 😲📚👏🙏😍.
@Rissreads
BTW @CarolynM got your Christmas card today 🙏.

I loved this book SO much and I‘m finally watching the film which is just as good as I was hoping - which almost never happens. I adore seeing same sex love stories done so intimately and carefully in the middle of everything really well-drawn deep lives. My major crush on both Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz loved it too.

The cover of the book is misleading. It does not tell the story of two women in love, it is the story of one woman's journey in life, her identity and her perception of Orthodox Judaism. As much as I liked the book for its honesty and beautiful writing, I find it too bleak and negative. I have to admit I didn't like the main characters much...

I enjoyed this book. It taught me a lot about Jewish culture and it focused more on the psychology of dealing with oneself - nature vs nurture and the expectations around us, however I originally picked this up because I thought it would go into more detail about sexuality. If you are looking for that topic, this is not the book you are looking for.

Look at the lovely birthday present I just received in the mail from @CarolynM Thank you so much! It‘s on my TBR and it sounds so good 😍 Booktopia do a very cool job of gift wrapping too 🙌 (that‘s the wrapping in the top left)
Thank you for thinking of me Carolyn, you are extremely kind. 💕

What a splendid, jewel-box-like, precious novel - minute and inlaid with such empathic dedication you have to stop and breathe through the beauty of some sentences. The language of this book is opaque, in the best sense of the word: thick and alive in its own right, a second layer spread over the characters. It is holy, and profane, and fierce and impossibly delicate - and the mythical feel of it lingers for days under your skin.

I enjoyed The Power, so I decided to go back and read this one. At first I thought it was very slow, but once I allowed myself to sink into it I quite enjoyed it. The ending wasn‘t exactly what I wanted, but that‘s my only real complaint.

I liked @KarenUK and @Cinfhen 's #covercrush summaries so I thought I'd do the same. It's been a fun challenge and great to see everyone else's choices. #7days7covers

Thanks for the tag @BarbaraBB

#7covers7days #covercrush #day1

Are you up for joining in @JennyM ?

This book has lyrical prose, genuine characters, and a plot that felt painfully real. It explores the challenging roles relationships play in our lives and how societal expectations can force lives into predictable and safe boxes.

#bisexualbooks

I loved this so much more than The Power! Rich, subtle, complex, full of faith and growth and vivid, original female characters with full inner lives. Can I get a cheer for a queer novel that focuses on growth in yourself and coming to an understanding with your own life as much as prizing getting into a relationship or showing trauma and death in immense detail??

My interest in it ebbed and flowed- I enjoyed reading about Esti more than either Ronit or Dovid, and with the changing POV I sometimes would put the book down for several weeks. In the end, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the story it told. It relies heavily on metaphor and imagination which can make it difficult to follow but also allows you to just float in the words and come to conclusions on your own.

i fucking LOVED this book for reasons that i am sure stretch beyond the obvious identity politics of being a jewish lesbian. while superficially dissimilar to the power, i thought there were united themes here about cultural difference, structural oppression, individual choice, and the nature of freedom. PLUS some very emotional kissing, which i am always in favour of.

This was a thoughtful book focused on women in an unfamiliar (to me) community- so I don‘t know why I didn‘t like it more! None of the threads of plot, nor the characters, particularly interested me or received enough focus in my opinion.

@ReadingRover you absolutely blew me away with this #stuffedstockingswap #sss package! I love everything so, so much! I can‘t believe your note that says there‘s more on its way 😭 I‘m feeling so spoiled and can‘t say thank you enough!!

I was a little underwhelmed by this book. I expected strong characters taking a stand against the intolerance and hypocrisy of religion. But by the end it just seemed to fizzle out with no stand taken or change made. At first I enjoyed the descriptions of the religious practices and teachings but by the end they started to drag. All that said it did keep me interested all the way through, although maybe under incorrect expectations

My new lunchtime read can be started tomorrow as my Libby hold has arrived! I‘ve wanted to read this for ages. I enjoyed Naomi Alderman‘s The Power but I think this will be quite different!

A great book. I appreciated how each chapter was split in two and felt it was informative enough without being overkill. I liked the contrast between the female characters particularly.

Bargain find in a second hand book shop in Suffolk :)
Dreary bank holiday means reading time :)

Loved this book! I‘ve never read anything by Naomi Alderman but picked it up because I‘ve seen trailers for the movie. It was a really interesting look into a Jewish community in Britain, and the relationships of its people. I really like the way Alderman constructed her characters

My obvious choice for #ikissedagirl 💋
Just realized this movie was released in April... has anyone seen it??
#heatofjuly

I‘m not religious and was brought up in a very lackadaisical religious household - but I suspect that this book could have been written about any strict religious community - it just happens to be a Jewish one as it‘s based on the authors upbringing.
I enjoyed this a lot more than The Power, thought the characters were more real and the discussions about societal/religious expectations very current.

My sons next pick. Some stereotypes may be true.....😁

It's Wednesday so I am having my usual order of ??at the coffeeshop and cold brew with coconut milk as it's a humid one today. Started this library e-book. I've seen mixed reviews on it but I put it on hold after reading Alderman's "The Power" and I want to see the movie. I'm just a couple of chapters in but I'm intrigued so far.

I read this on a recommendation of a friend and also I thought it best to read it before the movie comes out 📖🎬 It was a very interesting and powerful read focusing on the main character Ronit and two other characters named Esti and Dovid and their lives in and out of the Jewish faith. #MayBooks

I love this book. I didn‘t expect to given the complaints I kept seeing in reviews about how it was not enough this and too much that. In this case, I believe that a lot of them were… not wrong per se, because your opinions are never wrong. But I think they were looking for something far smaller than what Alderman has given us here.

https://tracyrowanwrites.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/review-disobedience-audible-au...

I liked the book and the film. This is one of those cases in which the film was better because of the actresses and acting. I can‘t rate the accuracy of the Orthodox Jewish community because I know so little on the subject. All the dialogue seems important to the plot. One scene that stuck out to me was when Esti was wearing light pink pjs because of just how little color there is. The spitting during the love making did make me giggle 🤭.

#currentbookquote Silence by Arthur Beecher Carles.

“You see, silence. When in doubt, silence. To most things, silence is the answer. And she‘ll say no, it‘s not. Silence is not power. It‘s not strength. Silence is the means by which the weak remain weak and the strong remain strong. Silence is a method of oppression”.

I‘m reading 📖 the book before seeing the movie 🎥. Here‘s a cover collage.

And last week's books from Audible. The Housemate reminded me that I wasn't going to buy any books this year. I said, at least I lasted a week or two.

A lovely little #BookHaul with a B&N card from Easter. Found out about the film adaptation of Disobedience after I bought it— now to make time to read it before the movie release. 😊

I can see why people like this book, but it never got over being just okay, for me. I couldn‘t really connect to the characters.

It is about three people dealing with the expectations of being Orthodox Jews, but it is about so much more than that, too. What do you do, if your religious and cultural #inheritance isn‘t what you want? What do you do if you don‘t fit in? What do you do about love and loss?

#ReadingResolutions #MarchMadnessChallenge

#ReadingResolutions #Inheritance
#AprilBookishMadness #PurpleCover

Ronit returns to her childhood home after the death of her father to claim her mother's candlesticks, but her inheritance is more than material goods. And the cover is a lovely shade of purple.

#tiredoftalking #aprella

Wise words on silence 💜
(Thanks @batsy for pointing out the focus-button 😊)

My library hold on Naomi Alderman‘s Disobedience finally came in and I tore through it in two days. Though I was disappointed overall. I was so eager to read this one after seeing the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation. The story overall felt flat and too on the nose. Also, I just did not like Ronit. Plus the last page/scene was terrible and overkill, not sure how it got past an editor.

After her father, Rav Krushka, dies, Ronit returns for the #firsttime to the Orthodox Jewish community she grew up in. She once fled because she didn‘t fit it, didn‘t want to fit in, but upon her return she observes and realizes there are always two sides of a story.

#aprella #marchmadnesschallenge #happyeaster!

Did I get your attention??? 🔥
Alderman has redeemed herself for me! I loved this story of a former Orthodox Jewish girl returning to her home in London after her Fathers death. She is forced to confront her past, as well as a secret romance (as the movie poster so clearly presents) I had no idea this was being made into a movie until after reading, and I'm somewhat skeptical... but great casting!
#marchmadnesschallenge

There I go for the #marchmadnesschallenge... of course I was not as smart as @emilyhaldi to get a library card, no I bought them all even though I didn‘t like Roxane Gay and Naomi Alderman before. I think I got kind of carried away.... ☺️

Does any of them work at least for #Booked2018 too??

Ronit Krushka #dontbelieveanymore in her Orthodox Jewish upbringing as she grows into an adult and moves to NYC. When her father dies she travels back to London and is forced to confront her past...

I was not a fan of The Power but am loving this book so far! The story and characters have drawn me in immediately.
@Cinfhen have you read this one? Coincidentally, sounds similar to the book you posted about today 😃

#marchintooz

Newest library haul ... I‘m not giving up on #marchmadnesschallenge yet!! 🙏🏻🤞🏻🍀

Saw the movie‘s trailer. Read who the author was. Excuse me while I disappear for a handful of hours. #BookToScreen

I heard about the movies and I had to read the book first, it was a bittersweet ending. It had really good parts and then it would slow down so I have mixed feelings about this book.