Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve read many polarised reviews of this one and to some extent I agree with all of them. It‘s a big book - an epic. Where there was fast paced action and adventure I found it gripping, but I also found myself trudging through sections all too often to be able to call it a pick. I am intrigued to know the direction the rest of the trilogy takes us but might need a less gruesome palette cleanser first. 6/10

I gave up. The prose was too dense, I had no idea what was going on and there was too much rape.

Joint read with my partner. He picked it and I think it almost broke him 😂. It‘s hard to put into words what I thought of it. I hate (and I mean HATED) some parts. It‘s graphic in terms of violence and sex, most of the sex is non-consensual, there is abuse and killing of kids, it has a feverous pacing and style. But the blending of folklore was interesting and I was engaged in the storyline when I could get past the unpleasantness.

One of the strangest books I‘ve read in a long time. I‘m not sure what to make of it yet

Jan selected our February read and I‘m shocked to see he picked not only fiction but a fantasy. He was choosing among 5 books and the other four were all non-fiction. We are allowing rather broad categories for our themes this year. So February could have been either romance Valentine‘s theme or books for black history month (including books written by black authors, centered on the stories of black characters, or about black history).

Making lumpia listening to podcasts.

Photo is from March 2022 when I had picked this book back up AGAIN. I finished it FINALLY with the help of the audio.
This book was really all over the place for me. I wanted to love it but can't. It's very fever dream like. Jumpy and for its length that's hard. I enjoyed the audio but both that and the book had its drawbacks for getting into the story. Also the MANY casual references, to rape bothered me. This is def a person by person book.

Isn‘t this the most beautiful cover?! 😍

I'm trying to get better about abandoning books that aren't doing it for me, and 50 pages in, I really wasn't liking this one, so I'm abandoning it rather than slogging through 600 more pages. I really struggle with bailing, so maybe I'll give it another shot someday. It was my May #Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

Next row in my #readinglogsnake is for Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. Purple representing fantasy. This was an interesting story. Reminiscent of Africian mythology, it is a story within a story, within a story. If you are not paying attention, you can get lost easily. It also covers some controversial topics, which would explain the mixed reviews I have seen. 3/5 ⭐️ #ARRCReads #BooksAndCrafts

Couldn‘t get into this.

The story here sounds promising, but I just couldn‘t focus on this one, for now. The narration is heavily accented, which is really cool, but not conducive to listening at work where things are loud and moving and distracting. The bits and pieces that I kinda managed to absorb were quite heavy, as well… I‘d love to try this one again later this year.

Looking back on all the books we read for the podcast this past year. Not too shabby.

We're back! Matt starts us off talking about a history of the Roosevelts. Then finally, after months of reading, we're ready to discuss Marlon James' novel “Black Leopard, Red Wolf.“ Overall, we were conflicted about the novel and go into our thoughts on the story, themes, writing, and more. Enjoy!

https://anchor.fm/peter-murphy8/episodes/Episode-104-Black-Leopard--Red-Wolf-His...

Belated birthday gifts from my son. He knows me so well! 😃

4🌟This book will not be for everyone. But I loved its originality. I dont read a lot of fantasy anymore but James got me with this one. These characters, the queerness, the violence, and the language. It's compared to Game Of Thrones in many ways but its not Game Of Thrones. Definitely a book you have to try for yourself as it will hit people differently. I am eager to start the next book now! #bookreview

#MarvellousMarch #Readathon
3rd book read @Andrew65

Just finished my reread in preparation for Moon Witch, Spider King. It is a crazy story within crazy stories and it is one of my favorites. It is modeled after very violent mythology and not for the faint of heart, but I fell in love with the insane characters and I'm eager to start the second book.

Finally started back into this book! On a mini-vacay this weekend and though it's still chilly in southern Ontario, things are warming up so it was time for some very bundled up, fire side reading. Lake in background is Erie and on the other side we can see Toledo, Ohio. 👋

I am bailing on this. It's just a bit too much for me now. I will read something else by the author later that's shorter. Also too much sex and violence.

This is what we're rolling with for February.

https://anchor.fm/peter-murphy8

Preparation for the upcoming readathon hosted by @Andrew65
Over 2,400 pages in those 4 books!

So excited! This hold came in. I hope to read it after Passengers. This looks to be the year of series and chunksters!

This was outstanding on the reread.

I never left a review the first time, because I knew I wanted to reread it!

There‘s so much to talk about—(I could never get to it all)—but I was stunned that I never had to go back into the characters list and remind myself of who was who. Everything stuck in my brain better.

It‘s a trippy fantasy novel. The next book comes out this month I believe, and I can‘t wait to see where this goes.

#BeginsWith #Black

3 books on my Kindle TBR

#BeginsWith @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I tried to read this and put it aside, but I'd really like to try it again soon.

But she was Sangoma. To live as her is to know that evil forces rise day and night to come for you. Or wronged spirits.

I‘m rereading this, since book two comes out in a couple months, and it is so much better the second time.

Whereas before I didn‘t get into it until like two hundred pages in, this time I‘m finding it gripping, right from the jump.

It feels intense and extreme and all the characterizations are intriguing.

I know this series got picked up by HBO; I believe it‘s in development hell, but I‘m really hoping it gets made.

I just discovered a new to me podcast that I am enjoying. Sorry the picture isn't clearer.

#TBRPile 📚 “The child is dead. There is nothing left to know.”

I managed to finally finish the tagged book last night, logging 1 hour, 45 minutes & read Anne of Ingelside for 15 minutes before bed. Next up: I‘m going to binge Murderbot on audio! I don‘t know if I‘ll make it to 20 hours this weekend but I‘m going to enjoy reading as much as possible! #20in4Readathon

What is love for child, if not mania? I look at the magic of my smallest boy and cry, and I look at the muscle and might of the oldest, and grin with a pride that we are warned should be only of the gods. And for them and the four in between, I have a love that scares me.

It took well over a hundred pages (closer to two hundred really), but I am all in on this book now. Fully emotionally invested, diving into the lore, putting a lot of time and thought into figuring out the names, places, groups and so on. Marlon James came through in a big way with this.

It reminded me to never take the story of any god or spirit or magical being to be all true. If the gods created everything, was truth not just another creation?

Chain every trigger warning for sex and violence to the spine of this book. Also... lots of gross stuff. Take naps before reading and don‘t miss a line. It may feel like work but if you can imagine that being a good thing then this may be for you. It‘s incredibly bleak but I suspect if I went line by line at the end of the series practically every character will have redeeming qualities. It‘s just that things are complex and it‘s a hard hard world

There is no doubt James is a brilliant writer. This is an epic story and definitely sucked me in at points throughout the book. But I wasn‘t cut out to handle all the violent death scenes. 😂

@KatieDid927 thank you so much for my #elfswap gift. I love everything so much and I will be snacking for the rest of the day. Both of been on my TBR for so long so I‘m super excited to read them. Merry Christmas #elfswap2020

#TBRPile 📚 Tracker is a hunter. He always works alone, but when he is hired to find a missing child, he finds himself part of a strange and secretive group all searching for the same boy in a dangerous, hallucinatory ancient Africa 🐆

Here are my #5*Reads2020 so far. If you like epic fantasy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James blew me away and really stuck with me. All of these books really struck me in some way.

@Chrissyreadit

I can't even find the words to express the complexities of emotion this book evoked in me. At times it was a daunting, terrible read. Not terrible as in badly written, but terrible as in "causing terror." I can see clearly now why this book is often called "the African Game of Thrones." It was difficult to get through during the more gorey scenes. But in between there was humor, love, and magic. Not for the faint of heart, but worth the effort.

"A man will suffer misery to get to the bottom of truth, but he will not suffer boredom."

I've been in a huge and almost never-ending reading slump in 2020. Virtual learning and my anxiety at an all time high made sitting down to read difficult, and that's made me pretty sad. I'm restless. But I only have 10 chapters left in this one, and I'm determined to read one or two chapters a day so I can hopefully finish by the end of this week.

We got a new sectional a couple of days ago, and it's so comfortable. I'll be here all weekend on my comfy couch with a book or two or three lol.

I'll be honest, I've been kind of dreading this book, because it's so unlike what I usually read. I have no idea what's going on, and I don't like any of it. I wish I knew someone who loves it who could convince me to keep going. When the plot is described, there are interesting elements, but the idea of wading through Marlon James' prose to get there is not enticing. I did start getting the hang of it after 25ish pages, so we'll see how it goes.

These #3books are at “the bottom” of my TBR. They are all books I‘ve heard rave reviews for over and over and I certainly plan to get to reading at some point, but so far they haven‘t really jumped out at me as needing to read ASAP. Have you read any of them? If so, what did you think? Do I need to bump either of them up the list?

Rocky approves of our book haul 😍❤🐱📚 #CatsofLitsy

"It reminded me to never take the story of any god or spirit or magical being to be all true. If the gods created everything, was truth not just another creation?"

Pumpkin spice coffee, cinnamon swirl cake, and a good book 😍☕🍰📚

After a long, frustrating week of virtual learning for my kids (and me as their "learning coach,") it feels good to enjoy the rain, a cup of coffee, and my books.

"Something to fight for, or nothing to lose, which makes you a finer warrior? I have no answer."

" 'You were bored.'

'Like a god waiting for man to surprise him.' "