Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m a sucker for multigenerational books so I fell right in with this story of three generations in New Orleans. I would have loved for the author to have gone deeper; the ending sort of just ended without much fanfare.

Got #bookmail today
Brought this to my local bar to enjoy with an adult beverage
Opened it up and voila! I scored a signed copy!🙌🏻🏆

This book beautifully told the stories of three generations fighting to live and love and thrive in a world where the odds are stacked against them at every turn. I was quickly swept up in their stories and I cried over each of them more than once! I would absolutely suggest picking this one up.

The story covers several generations of one family living in New Orleans. There are many different topics that are addressed during the story: racism, drug addiction, Hurricane Katrina & the aftermath particularly in the African American community. I liked the book I just wish the author had gone a little more in depth of some of the characters story. One more #bookspin book down. Although I do not think I‘ll get bingo this month

Book & photos of my walk - takes you under a road and through a tree!

I can‘t remember what review inspired me to read this but it was on an impulse. A good impulse as I really enjoyed it and it made me think hard. The book takes one family in New Orleans - you spend a couple of chapters with each generation as they‘re in their 20s/30s setting the foundations of their adult lives - and then you jump back to the first generation again. ⬇️

Completed another audiobook for the Louisiana leg of our road trip.
The saga of 3 generations trying to make it in the world and the anguish of unfulfilled potential & broken promises. So much to this book. It‘s definitely interested me in wanting to read Sexton‘s The Revisionists.

I got started on Absalom‘s Daughters for our Mississippi leg today and should be almost finished when we get home. The hurricane chased us home a day early.

Grabbed this BookRiot Kindle deal today!

I enjoyed this multigenerational New Orleans set novel. My favorite character was Evelyn, who was a teen in the 40‘s. Her love story was sweet and I would have liked more about her. I think the feeling that will stick with me the most comes from her grandson TC though. His story felt sad and set in a track of inevitability, due to his circumstances.

I look forward to Sexton‘s new book soon. 👍👍

These are the books I‘ll be choosing from for any reading I do this weekend for #LitsyPartyofOne and #MrBook1inaMillion.

I work tomorrow and plan to set up my library this weekend, as well as having a bookclub event and a vet appointment. Honestly not sure how much reading I‘ll be able to do. But I‘m cheering you all on!

Listened on audiobook. Likely wouldn‘t have finished otherwise. Just ok for me, but Mostly because I prefer a strong faced paced plot. This was more of a slow burn.

A heartbreaking and well-written exploration of three generations of a New Orleans family, hemmed in by Jim Crow laws and their own fallibility. It also addresses colorism within the Black community, community policing, addiction, and so much more. It packs a ton of story and character development in a little more than 200 pages. I look forward to reading more from this author!

This jerk.

Next up! Spending a little time in the children‘s section of our library, as close to sharks as we plan on getting.

If you read and loved TURNER HOUSE (as I did) you must read this book.

Set in New Orleans and moving back and forth from 1944 through 2012, we grow to love, cheer for, and grieve with Evelyn, Jackie and T.C. and their extended family/friends.

What a wonderful book!

Another great selection. This story feels very epic in this very compact book. I could not put it down. I wanted to read as fast as I could. This covers three generations of the same family and you can see all the cracks that happen. It felt very real. Immensely enjoyed this one.

Third book from this quarter‘s #TBR. So far the last 5 have been absolutely brilliant. I am reading books I would never even heard of if it wasn‘t for this service. Well worth the price.

Slightly disappointing panel for National Book Foundation (I didn‘t like the moderator at all) - but it was really great to hear Ibi Zoboi and Margaret Wilkerson Sexton read/speak. David Grann was the other author and I‘m not sure if he was nervous or if it was just on off day for him, but he wasn‘t as good a fit for this panel imo. #txbookfest

A family saga spanning three generations, told from the shifting perspectives of Evelyn, her daughter Jackie, and Jackie‘s son T.C. By telling these stories concurrently, the author powerfully illustrates the lingering damage of slavery and racial disparity in the United States. Though each character‘s story takes place at a different time in history, the issues they face change very little over time.

Just finished reading A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. Definitely recommend!

Been working on my #splbookbingo ! Waiting to write in all the books until I‘m done but right now I‘m reading A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. This one was recommended to me by a librarian at Seattle Public Libraries and so far it‘s great!

This was a powerful and heartbreaking read. For such a short book, it packs a lot in less then 300 pages. To see one family's rise and fall over three generations is difficult to see, especially with events outside their control (Hurricane Katrina). The book also covers a wide range of issues that the family deals with, including, class, education, colorism, drugs, crime and poverty. This book should get more attention than its received.

Stopped into one of my favorite local bookstores — Rough Draft in Kingston, NY.

#bookshop #indie #bookstore #bookcovers

New Orleans intrigues me; I hope this does the same. 😊🌸🌼🌺

This is somewhere between a pick and so-so for me. I enjoy multi-generational stories, and while I enjoyed this book, I feel the characters were not fleshed out enough and the book was too short for much character development. I found the story of T.C. in 2010 the most interesting and well-developed. 3.5⭐️ On its way back to you this weekend @sweetpealsd ! I can‘t believe we finished another round already! 🙃

#LMPBC
#GroupQ

I'm seriously raving over this multigenerational family saga set in New Orleans from the 40s through 2010. Covers race, family bonds and dreams, and the power of hope against the odds and full out ripped my heart out. 5/5. This book is why I read the NBA longlist....it wasn't on my radar otherwise.

I‘m a couple of days late in posting my #bookmail - received May‘s pick for the #LMPBC from @mklong - and to the right we have Mr. Jace sporting his lion onesie he received from @mklong with last month‘s selection (which I loved!). Thank you again! And this book looks really good, can‘t wait to read it. ☺️

#GroupQ

🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁

Another great #LMPBC pick for #GroupQ! This slim novel follows three generations of a family in New Orleans. Each generation striving to meet the expectations of the one before, and always being left to feel inadequate. Holding the center for this story is the very touching lifelong love story between Evelyn and Renard. Jumping between 1944, 1986, and 2010 gives this novel the feeling of an epic, but it is all packed neatly into about 250 pages.

An impressive debut novel with an engaging story line spanning three generations of an African American family living in New Orleans. The author covers the important issues of race, poverty, discrimination, drug addiction, and family relationships. Though I found stimulating aspects about each individual part, I didn't feel as deeply connected to the book as I would have liked because of all of the jumping around but well worth the read!

I liked this one—I didn‘t L❤️VE it, but it kept me engaged. It kind of reminded me of Behold the Dreamers in that it‘s a sort of quieter, slower paced debut novel, told in multiple voices. It‘s a multi-generational book, and the storyline from the 80s reminded me a lot of a Terry McMillan novel. I‘d be interested to read what Margaret Wilkerson Sexton writes next. 3.5/5 ⭐️

#ownvoices #blacklitsy

In preparation for my incoming annual trip to New Orleans, I‘m listening to this audiobook

🎧💜🎧💛🎧💚🎧

#ownvoices #NOLA

Very welcome #bookmail yesterday! Finally got our #LMPBC copy of the tagged book weeks after @Bookishgal71 mailed it. It took so long, we thought it was lost and Mindi replaced it. Great job USPS 🙄

Also got my Early Reviewers copy of Curtis Sittenfeld‘s new short story collection that I won on #LibraryThing. Plan to start it on my lunch break today ☺️

This book was not what I expected, but I am still glad I listened to it. It was so interesting to intertwine the 4 generations' stories. And to see how the problems that black people face in this country have changed, but sort of stayed the same, over that time. The characters were drawn brilliantly, even if I didn't always like their actions, or even what they said. Listened to this #audiobook on #hoopla

A new library ebook hold came in and it is making my dinner table look more colourful! Tonight's dinner - special request from the boys for hamachi kama, sushi rice (I used a seasoning packet which includes sliced lotus root, mushrooms and carrots), and airfried Brussels sprouts

Listening to this on hoopla. I love the relationships and the way the author gets in her character's heads. Not sure I'm crazy about the plots in each storyline (particularly in TC's adult storyline), but I like the idea of looking at different generations as they try to figure out who they are and where they are going

Beautifully written. An excellent multi-generational tale spanning from WWII to post-Katrina New Orleans.

Spent a week at bookstores around the south and came back with a pile of books.

I sent my book out today. Finished it a bit early because we will be out of town for spring break. It‘s a good one. Reminds me a bit of The Hate U Give. #groupq #litsymarkuppostalbookclub

This is heart wrenching at times but so well told and smart. I'm a sucker for the family saga, and I appreciated how she used the different generations and their own struggles to show how little some things change over time, on an individual level as well as a societal one. Really powerful read. 4/5 ⭐️

She had learned to smile first thing when people saw her so they wouldn't have the burden of joining her in her despair. She had learned to stretch her cheeks out for thirty seconds, not that she was counting; to answer their questions according to what they might want to hear, not what she was really thinking. I'm good, she'd say, but it had to be with the proper lilt, with the last word stretching up so that it tinkled out like a wind chime.

Fiiiiiinally time to read. #nowreading

A deeply touching book following three generations of the same family. It goes back and forth so you get only a little information at once. A look at New Orleans through time.

Rating: 🍷🍷🍷/5 Cheers!

#ReadSoulLit Day 3/28 - A Family Saga ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀
A KIND OF FREEDOM is a superb debut novel illuminating a multigenerational exploration of an African American family shaped by the limits of freedom, race and class. ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀

#spinesvines #books #wine #diversespines #photochallenge #blackhistorymonth #akindoffreedom

I think I liked this a lot more as an audiobook than I would have had I read a physical copy which is not something I think I have ever thought before. The cast was great and I enjoyed the three story lines. I think on the page I might have wanted more.

We‘ve hit the halfway point and you guys are CRUSHING IT. Your hosts, Kristen and Kerry, have trundled off to bed, but I (Rachel) am just getting my Sunday started. Though I‘m tempted to crawl back into bed with one of these beauties. We‘ve got winners for the Hour Zero Intro Survey and the Hour 18 Challenge up on 24in48.com. Go check to see if you‘ve won a prize!

SUPER SALE ALERT!

I liked very much.

Went to dinner and then visited the bookstore a few years down. First book I‘ve bought for myself in a couple of weeks which must be a record.

4.5 ⭐️. This debut novel takes an intimate look into the lives of the Black community & a family‘s struggles thru 3 generations. Uniquely told thru the lens of 3 voices / 3 generations, there was a tension felt as I read in that I knew how the story would end,but was hoping for a better outcome. I was left with the intense feeling of all that still needs to happen to make it possible for all to be equal & have the life each person dreams about.

I can't wait to get to this one next year. Have you read it? If so, did you like it? #readsoullit