Welcome to Litsy!

See where it says “heartbreaking” at the bottom? No joke.

The characters feel so real, so flawed. Most of the 20-30 something characters‘ parents are Indian or Sri Lankan immigrants, and so arranged marriages are pretty common in their lives. Lucky, a lesbian, married her friend Krishna (who is gay) to avoid losing her family by coming out to them. Her sometimes lover Nisha is about to enter an arranged marriage to a man she‘s never met. ⬇️

I can‘t thank @MeganAnn @Michael_Gee & @Reggie enough for sharing their insight and these novels with me the past 4 months. Reading these queer experiences with your commentary had me feeling joy, nostalgia, anger, sorrow, love, and so much more- and I never felt alone for the ride. Thank you so much for your picks, and while I wish mine wasn‘t filled with such toxic characters, I‘m glad you all devoured it as quickly as I did!

To satisfy her traditional Sri Lankan family, Lucky married Krishna. It works in a way, as they are both gay. But the denial of who she is is slowly eating her away, especially as her ex moves toward her own marriage. This is a searing exploration of sexuality and the clash between self and tradition. It‘s a tough but outstanding read.

#ReadingAsia2021 #SriLanka

@SincerelyWinona @MeganAnn @Reggie #LPMBC

I couldn‘t put this down (it‘s v. compelling & well written). I‘m struggling to distill my thoughts into 1 small Litsy review & ultimately decided I can‘t. I think the cover does the novel a disservice. This is not a playful story. Be prepared to sit closely with a MC who is derisive, passive, bitter, & selfish. That‘s ok (I just wasn‘t prepared). ⬇️

Grief is an impossible meal, so we cut it up into little pieces, dress it in ritual, and take it like a pill.

🖤 Pic from Fyodor Pavlov‘s tarot 🖤

Book 66The beautiful cover is the reason I picked this book off the library's June Pride display. A Sri Lankan-American, gay woman, who married a gay, male friend so her family wouldn't disown her, reconnects with her first love as she helps her friend prepare for an arranged marriage.From page one the story is engaging.The writing is good. The characters are a bit flat and stereotyped, but the book is a quick, enjoyable read.4⭐s

@SincerelyWinona @Reggie @MeganAnn

Halfway through, y‘all, and I am struggling. I find Lucky almost unbearable. She sees everyone around her with such bitterness and judgement, unable to see with any compassion that everyone is making compromises in their life. I hope that she is able to grow past this shirking of responsibility in her own life and stops blaming everyone around her for the choices she makes.

@SincerelyWinona thank you for picking this book because I probably would never have picked it up on my own. Holy crap did it trigger me. All the lying. To themselves, to their family. The fact that their families couldn‘t face the truth of their own kids. I felt like I was suffocating while reading this. Now on to Michael‘s book and your paragraph on 200 which I‘m looking forward to.

“Obama has stopped speaking for a biscuit commercial” gave me serious pause 🤔🤔🤔

Was Obama in a biscuit commercial???

Reaching for my phone to YouTube “Obama + biscuit” before I realized I‘d misread the sentence.

These were my top 5 choices for my book pick for #GroupQ in #LMPBC Round 11. I waited all month to finally decide, but bought the tagged book today. I‘m excited to start marking it up in March!

Excuse me sir, I was reading that...

#leo #tuxedocat #cat #catsoflitsy #reading #yawn #blackandwhitecat #meow #catsandbooks

Read for the queer book club I‘m in. I enjoyed the writing. The ending wasn‘t entirely to my liking. But I think I would definitely read something else from her in the future.
I‘m glad there was some younger members at the club tonight it was a lot of fun. Hopefully the next one follows suit. I‘d like a friend.
#bookclub #sjsindu #marriageofathousandlies #queer #queerbookclub #librarybookclub #library #fiction #ring #nails

A well-written and thought-provoking novel rich with cultural detail. The central conflict is immensely believable and compelling: do you give up your family and that connection to your culture, or do you give up your personal truth? Personally, this book was hard for me to read. I have seen enough gay suffering, and this book doesn't let up on it. Full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3201760057 #ownvoices #queerbooks #hoopla

A look at a culture I am not familiar with. A gay woman and man marry to be accepted by their parents and community. Still, they face pressure and questions. The woman deals with the woman she loves getting married.

Lucky and her husband Kris are both gay, but married in order to appease their traditional Sri Lankan-American families. They each date on the side, which works just fine. Until it doesn‘t. Lucky wants more. She wants to be herself. This book wrangles with the dilemma that so many LGBT folks have to face. Do you come out if it means losing your family? What is the cost of freedom?

Despite not having the depth that I usually prefer in stories, this book swept me away; I loved reading it. The reader follows the main character‘s struggle between her homosexuality and familial Sri Lankan community in and around Boston, exploring the struggle of acceptance in a multitude of forms. While tackling big issues, it was a pretty light read. Your stormy beach day kind of book. #catsoflitsy

A marriage of convenience with a lesbian woman and her gay best friend in a religious Sri Lankan family begins to unravel as Lucky returns home to help take care of her grandmother where her ex lives, and her mother tries to control Lucky‘s life. The tension in this novel between Lucky, her family, her husband, and Nisha is something queer people are too familiar with, but the added racial tension will have you holding your breath.

Not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, I thought the writing was lovely. I‘ve focused on #pridereads this month and was pleased to read a story about queer South Asian folks. On the other, Lucky (the narrator) was the only fully formed character, except maybe the mother. I wasn‘t feeling the romances, didn‘t understand what motivated the characters, and found several plot points (see: runaway sister) superfluous. 3/5

❤️🧡❤️💚💙💜

Finished this #audiobook today and highly recommend it.
There is a lot of heart and pain in this story, and it doesn't come with a standard happy ending, so of course, I love it!

#audiowalk
Sidewalk message: all good things are wild and free 💜💙❤💛💚

Making #bookandbeer Litsy posts a thing! This one is brought to you by #MarriageofAThousandLies & #GoldenMoneyTriple brewed by @victorybeer. I came across it after @roxanegay74 provided her review on @goodreads. Not even two sentences into her review I said- I NEED TO READ IT! Don‘t miss out on reading this book. My only complaint is that I want more! More Lucky! More Nisha! More brown queer love!.

Finished this novel today and I really, really fell for it ❤️. The story of a secretly gay Ski-Lankan woman struggling to accept her truest self and to being bound by family expectations and rules.

A stunning debut that provides compelling explorations on love, marriage, mothers + daughters, authenticity, obligations, and bravery. There are the stories that are written for us, and then there are the ones we write for ourselves.

This isn‘t something I normally would have picked up, but I loved it. I really felt for Lucky and despite having almost nothing in common with her, found her to be a very relatable character. Also, it made me cry a lot...

I had intended to take a warm bath with my book this evening, but Toby had other plans...
I picked this up at work solely because the cover is so pretty - literary fiction isn‘t my thing usually. I‘m really enjoying it though!

My book club is better than your book club. 📚👋🏻😍 #dogsoflitsy #catsoflitsy #bookclub

I didn‘t get any books for Christmas this year, but luckily Santa ThriftBooks came through for me. #thriftbooks #christmas #bookhaul

Dear Cindy, your package arrived on Saturday, I've just fetched it from the post office.

Thank you so much! @Cinfhen

My son sends his thanks as well, he likes the chocolate. It kept him happy, while we were waiting at the opticians'.

Fellow Litten @Cinfhen is getting into the Thanksgiving spirit by giving everyone a chance to receive a book she is culling from her #TBR pile. All you have to do is tag her and let her know which book is in your TBR pile that you will probably never read. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

#NovemberByTheNumbers #23 letters in the title of this book that I own. I bought for $1 because the cover was so striking but realize now, I'm not really interested in reading this...so I'm doing an impromptu #BooksgivingGiveaway tag me below with a book you own but will probably never read...I'll pick a random winner tomorrow ...feel free to share/repost! Happy BooksGiving 💞📚💞📚💕📚

This was a short but powerful read, the kind with a lot of quiet aches.

#lgbtq #culture #comingout #SriLankanAmerican #litfic

This book pulled my heart strings— well-told story about a young married couple —husband and wife are both gay—and how their marriage exists purely to satisfy the expectations of their Sri Lankan culture. The angst of Lucky and her husband Kris is absolutely heartbreaking and is felt throughout the story. Is satisfying the expectations of others ever worth not being true to yourself?

Rainy, drizzly morning ✅

Current read ✅

Pumpkin Spice Latte ✅

Office cubicle ❎❎❎ 😩😩

Having some bright pink strawberry grapefruit iced tea to match my book. 🍓🍊🌺 I took the day off today to read and relax and start the month off on the right foot. Trying to finish this book today. It's moving quickly!

Reading in our local rose garden before it gets too dark! It's beautiful outside tonight. 🌹

I love this book so far. It's equal parts fun and down to earth and serious all at once. You really feel like you're watching in on the main character's life and interactions with her family.

Started listening to this today... wondering if maybe I should switch to print instead?

Trying to sneak some self care into another busy stressful day. I've been looking forward to this book for a while! It'll be nice to read alongside the darker short stories I'm reading. Also, this cover is GORGEOUS. 🍵

Sunday morning #queerbooks and breakfast on a cloudy day.

(It takes a certain queer book to introduce AN ENTIRE HOUSE OF RUGBY PLAYERS. 😉)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved this book!!

A novel about a marriage between a closeted gay man and a closeted lesbian, both from very conservative Sri Lankan-American families? Count me in!

Early for a (friend) date means ya'll get a #booksandbrews post! This book is so amazing and so is my cherry wheat!

It's the second Monday which means it's time for a pre-book club #booksandbrews post! Top: current read and bottom: discussion read. And a delicious blonde from a local brewery, Castle Danger.

In today's #bookmail, we've got two #blameitonlitsy and one #blameitontwitter new reads. Particularly excited for the bottom, billed as a "complex intersction of race, sexuality, and nationality" about a Sri Lankan family.

More #Riotgrams and #PrideMonth books! These #NumberTitles all have numbers in the title (duh) as well as LBQ women characters. The only one I've read yet is Marriage of a Thousand Lies, which was beautiful and sad and hopeful. I guess I better get on it! Has anyone else read any of these? #QueerBooks

"Grief is an impossible meal, so we cut it up into little pieces, dress it up in ritual, and take it like a pill."
#QueerBooks

Catching a few last rays of the sun while reading this ARC and having more of my wine from the Okanagan! I'm pretty sure the already messy situation in this novel is going to get a whole lot messier. #QueerBooks

Just cleaned my apartment so am rewarding myself with wine from the Okanagan, popcorn, and a brand new ARC that I just got in the mail. It's about a marriage of convenience between a gay guy and a lesbian who are Sri Lankan-American. Can't wait to start it! #BookMail #QueerBooks