Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m starting off my year with a reread of Ausma Zehanat Khan‘s debut mystery, The Unquiet Dead. I assigned it to my work book club and we meet mid-January to discuss. The mystery centers around the suspicious death of a man who may have ties to war crimes in Bosnia, specifically the Srebrenica massacre. I was in high school during this war, and knew shamefully little about it prior to reading this the first time.

This is a beautiful literary police procedural–a niche genre amidst countless mysteries. The backdrop of this investigation takes the reader back to unimaginable horrors in Bosnia in the early 1990s. It's a visceral experience that made me cry at various points. This is an author to watch out for, and in light of her new Detective Inaya Rahman series set for release tomorrow (11/1/22), I decided to give her first series a read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½

#AlphabetGame #letterU

This was a tough letter but I‘ve settled on the 1st in the Essa Khattak series. Set in Canada, a Muslim detective & his partner quietly investigate the death of a local businessman. Rachel Getty doesn‘t quite understand why until they uncover the suggestion Drayton was living under an assumed name & may have been involved in war crimes in Serbia. Extremely well written & haunting.

#letteru #alphabetgame @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Having a 'tea and cake' party today to celebrate nearly 20 years of my heart transplant!

My #Bookspin for January has been read! Definitely a pick. Maybe 3.5 or 4/5. I like the main characters a lot, and the central mystery was compelling. The setting in the Toronto area was a definite plus. The historical parts of the mystery, set during the Bosnian War, were really difficult reading, and some of the characterizations of women were rather judgmental, but all in all a solid debut. I‘m definitely continuing with the series.

Hmmmm. Reading goals or resolutions: Read 150 books and achieve @Andrew65 ‘s #20in4 at least once! 😉

Word of the year: active. I‘m too sedentary in the things I love to do.

I‘m reading the tagged book and very much enjoying it. Solid mystery set in Canada. Unusual characters and themes, including the massacre at Srebrenica.

Decided to ignore all theses boxes with presents in need of wrapping to finish this book instead. It was okay. The mystery was interesting and connected to the crimes of the Bosnian War which I lived through but know shamefully little about it. I learned from this book. But the internalized misogyny was uncomfortable and distracting. No aspect of a female's body was left undescribed. And all the 'bad women' had big boobs and were oversexed.🙄

Overall a great start to a series. I liked the way the author wove history into present day. There were a few weird things with the way the author wrote about women, but I‘m hoping that won‘t carry on into the next book.

It‘s very rare that I have an afternoon off and the kids are in school. I‘m planning on catching up on #LitsyLove and my work book club book.

A well written book by a new author, in a part of the world I‘m not very familiar with; I learned a lot while enjoying this book. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Day 17 #20series20days @Andrew65

The first in a series of mystery novels based on the cases of a special Canadian investigation unit, Detective Rachel Getty and her boss, Esa Khattak. When a local man, Christopher Drayton, “allegedly“ falls off a cliff they need to find out if it was suicide, murder, or something even more nefarious. They discover that Drayton may have been living under an assumed name and was actually a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995.

There‘s not a new Getty/Khattak mystery this year, which makes me sad. Instead, I‘ve made April my month of Ausma recommendations - books she‘s directly told me about or books/authors she‘s boosted on social media. 💖 I‘ve got three books from March to finish (including one audiobook), and I may be giving up on my #yearofdumas. It‘s turning into a real struggle and I don‘t have the mental spoons to power through. 🤷🏻‍♀️ #apriltbr

I can‘t recommend this highly enough!!!

Added a few more books to my quickly growing audiobook TBR! Including the tagged book, which I hadn‘t heard of before.

https://modernmrsdarcy.com/get-hooked-on-a-new-mystery-series-with-these-10-addi...

I liked how the book blended in history with the story of the case the detectives were trying to solve. The tragedy of the Bosnian war and genocide is brought out and how it continues to impact the lives of those who escaped. I was able to guess at a lot of the murder but it still contained some good reveals. Will probably continue the series.

Ideas for #readingeurope2020 #bosniaherzegovina

(Finished this morning & forgot to review here.) Uhhh overall this was bad. I appreciate the author trying to teach folks about the Srebrenica massacre, & the basis of the mystery was good. But the rest of it was very mediocre, characters were flat & dull, lots of girl hate, weird obsession w/big breasts. The result of the mystery was lackluster, and I uncharacteristically wish the dude was the main POV b/c he was the only interesting one. 2/5 ⭐️

Melanie stood just outside the front door that hung askew in its frame, her arms crossed over her overflowing chest.

[I should have been keeping track of how many snide or slut-shaming comments there‘s been about women‘s bodies, especially their breasts, in this book. This author is more obsessed with them than most teen boys. And it seems in her opinion that having a large chest is a character defect or something.]

Definitely convinced by now that this author has a serious case of girl-hate. Other than Rachel, she writes women in such snidely condescending and superficial ways, almost cartoonishly to be honest. Good lord.

A man improving his property, whether for the sake of its value or for his own creature comfort, hardly seemed the kind of man to contemplate a spine-crushing end to his existence.

[Seriously?! She‘s referring to having some landscaping done. Add suicidal ideation to the list of things the author knows nothing about. “He had some plants put in, no way he killed himself!!!” The fuck.]

They had let the dialogue between the sisters play out because it was more revealing than anything they could have asked.

[Yeah...painfully so. File this one under “adult authors who have apparently never met a teenager nor heard one speak” - the whole conversation is so obviously convenient and awkwardly intentional.]

The Goodreads reviews on this one are interesting to peruse, given that the thing which some people loved about it is the same thing others thought essentially ruined it, heh. Not sure where I‘ll end up, but we shall see! #nowreading

In this powerful debut Asuma Zehanat Khan applies her knowledge of international human rights law (a Ph.D) to bring us a devastating story that confronts the horrors of Srebrenica. Chapter heads from tribunal testimonies lead us into a tale of modern sorrow and what passes for justice.

Beautifully written. Very Important. I‘ve already ordered her next.

#Booked2019 #Summer #MuslimAuthorOrMC

This is one of the better police detective novels I‘ve ever read. I did loads of research into WWII for my graduate work, but I‘m embarrassed to say that my knowledge of the war crimes that took place in Bosnia in the ‘90s is limited. I found myself recognizing so many tactics used by the Nazis that I felt an instinctive nausea. This book was like remedial reading for me in that it taught me things that I⬇️

I was a little lost at the beginning, but once I read more, the book really piqued my interest. It was a well thought out book that had me guessing until the end. It‘s also devastating to read about this true tragedy. #booked2019 #femaledetective #newyearwhodis

Leggings ✅ Blanket ✅ Tea ✅ Book✅ Now if only it were fall instead of summer

#QuotsyAug19

(Day18 - #Catalog)

Because one can never have too many series ongoing. #StartASeries Quite different from my typical British murder and mayhem picks as it is a geopolitical thriller set in Canada. The recounting of the genocide and rape camps in Bosnia was breathtaking. Not at all an easy read but an important one. 4🌟 👇🏼

This is a thought provoking and haunting mystery, the first in the series featuring Inspector Khattak and Sergeant Getty. Khan writes a compelling narrative - I was more focused on her respectful way of presenting some very difficult subject matter as it related to the characters. The author‘s note at the end provides more information about the topics discussed in the book. Well done, and I will definitely continue the series!

Starting this tonight... @MallenNC had this on her #FreakyFriday list last year. I didn‘t have a chance to read it then, so I put it on the list for my library‘s mystery group to read this year.

Happy #Canada Day! These are some of my favorite books set in Canada and a picture of some of my little souvenirs from my trip to Quebec a few years ago. I‘d love to visit more of Canada soon. #LetsTravelJuly

Today I volunteered cleaning up rubbish in a forest which meant I a) did 20000 steps b) got home early c) found myself locked out meaning enforced cider plus reading time.
Really enjoying this so far @ScorpioBookDreams #whodunituk

#bfc

#Booked2019 #MuslimAuthorOrMC I really enjoyed this book. Detectives Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak investigate a mysterious death. A page turner & an important book as it brings us back to look at the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica... I look forward to the second book in this series.

Books read in May (2/2)
I read the books featured here for Ramadan Readathon. The Unquiet Dead was not what I was expecting and I want to continue reading this series! Mariam Sharma Hits the Road was one I normally would have bailed on, but I stuck it out for this challenge 😂

#maywrapup

Harry settling in for the night now .. & me too with tagged book ( so good ! Loving it ) .. his brother is still downstairs hanging out 🙄... he‘ll be up soon. #DogsOfLitsy

I‘m half way through this one for #booked2019 #MuslimAuthorOrMC and I‘m finding it very good ... finally found one that I love👍🏻

I‘ve listened to so many great crime books on Hoopla lately I rounded them up 🔪📚 https://bookriot.com/2019/05/14/hoopla-mystery-and-thriller-audiobooks/

Received the last book of #whodunituk! Can't believe we have come to an end but I reckon I have a strong finisher! Mine also went in the post today to @ScorpioBookDreams xxx

Was surprisingly half decent. While there were aspects that were clunky, I thought it was an interesting topic to broach. 4⭐️#bookreview #bookstagram #letteru #u #litsyatoz2019 #litsyatoz

Mixed thoughts. Impressed by the author‘s credentials, I wanted to learn more about the war crimes committed in Bosnia. Parts of this story were harrowing and important, but it felt inconsistent. I wasn‘t sure about incorporating this story of war crimes into a story about two Canadian detectives. There was so much commentary on what everyone looked like which I found jarring. I know I‘m in the minority as this book has had great reviews...

I thought I was in the mood for this, but I think it‘s going to get very intense very quickly and I‘m not sure my brain can take it - I‘m already frazzled just from Monday! I‘ll give it a few chapters and see...

#whodunnituk read - loved it. Start of a new series for me. Great story, characters and a reminder that we‘re never far away from war, nationalism and hatred. Be vigilant.
#booked2019 #muslimauthorormc

Read and lunch 😁
Enjoying this next #whodunnituk so far.

Thank you Christine for the next # Whodunnituk - I‘ve been looking forward to this one.
Thanks for all the extra goodies 😘

There were a few far fetched plot devices... but overall I liked this! And I‘m going to do some research into Bosnia. I was only 10 when war broke out, so I only have vague memories of news stories about air strikes.

#howjessreadsin2019

I checked this one out on @Melissa_J ‘s recommendation. It‘s good so far — sort of disconcerting to listen to Bosnian atrocities on such a lovely day. 🤔 #audiowalk

A great start to the series, featuring Esa Khattak and his partner Rachel Getty (#femaledetective alert). Takes place not far from where I used to live in Scarborough. A complex plot that delves into the grey areas of justice, the heartbreaking history of the war in Bosnia, family, friendships, and lies. I'll definitely be reading the next one.

#Booked2019 - female detective
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

@LoveToReadLiveToRead - got your parcel today, thanks for sending the next #whodunituk 😊
@Caroline2 - thank you so much for the lovely card and present! So nice of you
@Cathythoughts - thank you so much for the birthday present! I‘m saving opening it until my birthday on Monday but wanted to let you know it arrived! It‘s so sweet of you!
💛💛💛💛💛