Welcome to Litsy!

In honor of our podcast interview with Naima Coster this week, we‘re giving away a copy of her gorgeous book! Enter to win at bit.ly/FBCgiveaway51 #giveaway

I didn‘t love it but it was better than OK.
You can get it for free at Amazon Unlimited.

#AyUpAugust #AvenuesandAlleyways this is a book on my TBR ... I love the cover ( the closest I could get to the prompt this morning !! Good morning 😃

Okay, this was a tough read for me. It started off promising, hopes of reading about gentrification and all the comes with it. But this novel fell flat for me. I found myself skimming through the chapters after being 45% into the book. The main character, her actions throughout the book are annoying and was pointless. The novel didn't stay focused for me as it switched POV and settings too often. Too many unlikable characters, some unwarranted.

Current E-Read 😍😍

Reposting. I‘m still mad.

Here‘s what Dee did not need [yesterday], being spoiled on a book I want(ed) to read by a review posted on the library‘s app. I‘m currently reading Pride by Ibi Zoboi and it has a similar setting and protagonist to Halsey Street. And the characters refer to the actual Halsey Street in Pride. It reminded me of the book, so I stopped reading to place a hold. Boom. Spoiler.

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Had to share my misery with y‘all.

I‘m way behind on my reading goal for the year & doubt I‘ll catch up. I‘m committing to this stack (for now, lol) for the Fall & started powering down in the evenings to read. It feels good to get back in a reading groove. The chill of fall and impeding winter will likely help my groove. Bar reading with bourbon soon come. 💕📚

It took me a bit to get into it, but I may have been resistant because I see so much of myself in Penelope. Her relationship with her mother, her father, her racial diversity, her anger. I don‘t know that I‘ve ever seen so much of me in a fictional character. It wasn‘t easy to read and I cried a lot but I loved it.

I appreciated the fraught, complex relationship between mother and daughter in this. So often it is a relationship which is absent or idealized or trivialized in fiction. Also a great book for depicting the process and effects of gentrification.

Took me a bit to get into this book but I persevered. It‘s interesting bc it takes place very close to a neighborhood in Brooklyn I‘ve lived in off and on so I have seen some of the creeping gentrification referred to here.

Aww, great inscription!

I‘ve listened to over six hours of this audiobook and I just can‘t. Nothing is happening and I don‘t care about these characters. I‘m outty!!

At times very difficult to read. The three central characters are all constantly self-destructing while feeling as though it‘s those around them making the poor decisions. They are deeply flawed characters with equally flawed relationships. This book does an incredible job depicting longing for a life not lived and memories that never quite happened.

So many of the descriptions in this book remind me of my own complicated relationship with my mother. Too real.

I'm itching to purchase a new book to read, but with graduation in a few days I won't have time to. Luckily, summer is near which means a SUMMER READING LIST. I'm starting to compile a list of books to read this summer. My goal is to read at least 15 books this summer, as well as add to my personal library! Littens, what books are on your summer reading list and what's your reading goal?

#TBRTuesday

Still working on The Complete Sherlock Holmes. It‘s a behemoth!! This may be aspirational for a week, but it‘s where I‘ll start. Have a couple of ARCs in there that have already been released, so I‘d like to get to them for sure!!

Another beautiful debut novel. Literary Fiction to the max about a young girl who chooses to return home and help her ailing father and has to face many old demons.

This is due to the library this week and I cannot renew...guess this makes it next to read.

Ready for a quality read to cleanse my palette from the saccharin sweetness of the last book.

If she could have written more things she would have: how we do things we do not mean; we do evil things; if we see an open door, we will dart through it, before we lose our guts, no matter who is left behind, we will move at the chance to be free.

Trying to finish Halsey Street today... 📖

Next

January ‘18 reads.
Loved Halsey Street the most - discovering debut authors is my favorite thing

Penelope reluctantly moves from Philadelphia back to Brooklyn to help her aging father. Through her eyes, we see the gentrification of the neighborhoods she knows and while others are flocking to the area, she has to confront the reasons she left. Coster expertly navigates painful family relationships without letting the reader forget the love that lies beneath it all. Love & family are forever complicated and this book illustrates that so well.

My current read. It‘s okay. Reading it for a radio show. Will let you know more when I finish.

Diving in! #halseystreet #diversebooks

A powerful debut novel that casts an unflinching look on broken families and gentrification and how these two things can be intertwined and affect you even when you move away from somewhere. Coster reminds me of Jacqueline Woodson, her character work is masterful and I look forward to reading more of it in the future.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little A Books for an advanced copy.

First ARC of the year! #nowreading

#currentlyreading

I just scored this upcoming release (ebook kindle format) from Amazon First Reads for Amazon Prime Members. I wasn't aware of the Amazon First Reads offering and wanted to share it with other Amazon Prime Members. This find kicks the week off right. 📚🙂📚