Welcome to Litsy!

This is why #NYWD is so grand — I‘ve discovered an excellent read that was completely unknown to me prior to appearing on @Mitch ‘s list. Memory is an inmate in a Zimbabwean prison. She‘s writing her life story to someone who may be able to help her out of her situation, which allows readers to gain insight into her tragic childhood, and series of events that led Memory to where she is now. Tragic. My second read for #NewYearWhoDis

Finished this heartbreaker last night while the kids had movie night and the snow fell. It was a perfect cozy evening which only highlighted the devastating circumstances of Memory‘s life. #NYWD

I love starting my weekends with
a book 📖
a chocolate croissant 🥐
a cup of lemon black tea 🍋 ☕️
Getting deeper into Memory‘s story and it‘s a tragic one. I love #NewYearWhoDis because I would have never read this otherwise and it‘s a gem.

My next #NYWD from @Mitch with curry 🍛

#memories
#ConflictedWorlds

💔

Inside a prison in Harare, a woman convicted of killing a wealthy white man retells her story. Beautifully written - disjointed memories connected by smells & tastes, with fleeting visions & strong emotional connections - slowly build the story. With tension & menace never being far off the page, this is an engrossing story that left me questioning how we each remember our past and what from our remember past we choose to bring in to our futures.

For the first time in over a year in at last #readingonlocation - I‘ve missed it soooo much! Thankful for the little cabin in the corner of a farm - complete with its own field. Space and sky after so long inside. I‘m very happy!

Grabbing that perfect half hour when the house is quiet and everyone‘s sleeping to start something new. There should be an English word for the perfect reading moment ......is there in other languages???

If you are looking for African literature that is easy to get into, try this. This was my first book set in Zimbabwe. I really loved this! It gave me a bit of a Jane Eyre wibes. This book has a lot of contemporary themes in the plotline and the story keeps surprising. I highly recommend this! 😊

I'm enjoying this audio book reader. She has a fun way of singing the songs in the book. I feel like I'm getting a better idea of the story when she doesn't just read them aloud but adds the music as well. 😁

My next audio book choise. I'm already hooked! Stories from women's prison. 😍

"Outside Bay‘s department store, two little boys spoke threateningly to the naked breasts of the semi-clad statues of Artemis and Aphrodite. 'We will drink all your milk. We will drink every last drop.'" ?

"I can assure you that there is nothing more menacing than a prison guard glaring at you out of one eye while the other is hidden, Veronica Lake-style, by a mane of flaming red plastic hair with gold highlights. The ghostly presence from The Grudge, all sodden hair and wild white eyes, had nothing on Synodia in the Rihanna."

"But the people that I lived amongst in Umwinsidale lived in a cocoon of privilege that was untouched by the political changes around them, while Mavis is more like that Japanese soldier who continued to fight the Second World War decades after Japan‘s surrender. She simply does not know that anything has changed, and when she is confused has the vacant emptiness of a marble god."

#memories
#BoundTogetherJune

From my tbr!!! 📚📚📚

I had a Reading Spa organised for this summer - a few hours with a bookseller and cake recommending tailored book recommendations for me at a lovely bookstore in Bath. Of course it‘s can‘t go ahead so they‘re converted my voucher into a 6 month personalised book subscription. The first book they chose for me arrived today ! 😍

Memory is an albino Zimbabwean woman convicted for murder. She writes the memories of her life in notebooks to an American journalist and in the process discovers the truth about herself and family. The principle storyline is compelling, but I felt the prison diversions were a distraction and I almost bailed in the first few chapters for that reason. IMO it would have been fantastic with more editing. Nonetheless, a pick for creativity.

I started reading this beauty last night. It seems really promising. I like the way she writes and it is interesting right from the beginning, so I hope this will give me my reading mojo back ☺️

Lovely podcast interview! Now I want to read to read this novel even more - I am bumping this up on the TBR!

Memory is actually the main character‘s name but the story is also told in flashback as Memory recalls how she ended up convicted of murder serving out her sentence at a women‘s prison in Zimbabwe 🇿🇼.
#trytoremember
#WinterWonderland

#Memories
#Fallintoreading

Anyone read this one? I forgot to post it yesterday...

#Heyjune #frommetoyou this meandering, non linear novel takes the form of a set of journals written by Memory an Albino women incarcerated in a Zimbabwean prison for the murder of her ‘adopted‘ white father,to a western journalist. A story about memory, truth, family and fitting in. A tad too much prison vs back story for me. not a recommend if you like concise, pacy plots with clear cut endings but it was a beautiful thought provoking read.

Beautiful #bookmail today!!! Thank you @merelybookish so much for the book and card!!! And thank you @EllieDottie and @jfalkens for the beautiful cards too!!! Nothing like #litsylove to brighten your day ☺️💞💜😘

Midday book and hot cider break ☕️

The Book of Memory is so beautifully written. I‘m reading it slowly instead of rushing through.

#litfic #readdiversebooks #fiction #coverart

This is an emotional journey that the reader takes through the book of Memory. Memory, in prison with the death penalty for a murder she makes clear from the start she did not commit, relays her story in this journalesque narrative. This novel made me very emotional, but not in the teary-eyed way. This was more of a deep, wrenching soul bruising way. Beautiful.

Bedtime reading... it‘s harder to underline when you‘re lying down. 📖🌙😴

Starting this lovely today 📖

1. My favorite baby, Jojen
2. 4 years
3. He loves to eat watermelon!
4. @FireHeartRattlerOfStars
#petsandpaperbacks

Finally having a relaxing day 🙌🏻

After reading Americanah I realized how little I have read books from Africa. Until that time I thought that I read quite diversely but then I realized that I read as diversely as it is possible with whats on offer around here. But there are not so many African writers visible in bookstores and librarys so when I saw this I just had to get it. This fits perfectly with my goal to read more diversely.

My #firstreadoftheyear was a good one. Narrated by a woman in a prison in Zimbabwe, we learn why she is there. Of course, her story is more complicated than it first appears. AND it ticked the first box (set in Africa) for the #LitsyBingo Challenge. #allthebooks2017

#finished #intense
This was another intense book about an albino woman accused of murder in Zimbabwe. A lot of the time I️ was reading this I️ felt like there is a lot I️ don‘t understand about the culture, and yet I️ was captivated by Memory‘s story. This is a book that changes you from reading it.

Trying to steal a few minutes before the school day starts to get a little reading in. It started snowing today in Chi-town. ❄️❄️🌨🌨 #canyoueverhavetoomuchcoffee #nope #teacherlife

Trying to relax after a loooooooong day. Pomegranate white tea ☕️ and lotus cookies 🍪

Took my book to the gym this evening. I️ didn‘t get a chance to read anything but I️ always operate under the principle of #justincase #yoga 😊😊

Getting ready to start this one now! I feel so good after getting things done today- laundry, grocery shopping, 3 mile run, lunch meal prep for the week- I deserve to sit down and read!🏃🏻‍♀️🏃🏻‍♀️🥗👚👕📚 #momlife #currentlyreading

First ever #humpdaypost @MinDea
1. My cozy, warm Uggs
2. The Book of Memory (it might change 😉)
3. Dark 🍫
4. Just seasonal allergies
5. A magnet on the whiteboard in my classroom.

This book is a slow and steady build and takes some patience, but the writing is beautiful. I do think that the last 40 pages or so felt slightly rushed, with so many ends tied up at once after such a long journey to get there. But overall, this is a definite pick for me. AND, it was my 100th book for the year 🎉

Back in LA again - just another #manicmonday 😜

#awesomeautumnbooks

Day 27 #JuneTunz #ManDown [👂🏼🐛Alert ] I love this song, courtesy of my friend @Ms_T 🎵My first thought for today's prompt was The Book Of Memory, which tells the story of a Zimbabwean woman called Memory whose parents sold her to a white man when she was nine. She relates her tale in flashback as she sits in prison, having been convicted of the same white man's murder. Beautifully written, with lush descriptions of time & place ~

I'm giving away this awesome stack of books to one lucky person. Lincoln in the Bardo is signed! I own doubles of all of them so thought it would be fun to do a giveaway. I will ship internationally.

To enter just post a comment stating which is your favorite book (so far) published in 2016-2017.

Closes Monday when I pick a winner at random.

#ThrowbackThursday According to my GoodReads these are the books I was reading last June...I spy one 5 star read, which is interesting because it didn't make my year end BEST list...Modern Lover's is the book on top, which got cut-off.

Book 13: Exploring issues of race, family, mental illness and capital punishment, this was a surprisingly digestible read. Written as a reflection by our protagonist, set across two timelines, we begin to piece together the circumstances that led to her imprisonment, both in jail but also within herself as she seeks to look beyond being only the 'other'...

#aprilbookshowers #samebookdifferentcover

I received the book on the left from the lovely @Cinfhen for cupidgoespostal then a few weeks ago was given the same book with a different cover (purchased in South Africa).

I can't wait to read it!

Today I am eighteen books richer! My friend gave me a massive pile of unwanted books (I know what you're thinking, and I too wondered what "unwanted" books are?!) And as if that wasn't exciting enough, I arrived home to #BookMail. Litsy, you are definitely fuelling my book obsession, and I really didn't need any help to start with!! ????

Quite a beginning! "...I was nine years old and my father and mother sold me to a strange man." We know she's an adult now and in jail for killing that man. So, what happened? That is the novel: narrator Memory's recollections of her life and what led to the crime. Sounds very promising! #FirstLine

#epigraph #Nabokov

After another tough week (much improved by #CupidGoesPostal 💜❤️💜), I'm perusing new paperbacks at happy place @TheBookmarkPR -- pumpkin spice latte and warm pumpkin loaf on hand!

Da spielt man Memory und es kommen einem trotzdem Buchthemen über den Weg. 😙

Playing memory and meeting also books there. 😙