Welcome to Litsy!

I‘ve been absent recently. Life has been heavy. I‘m not sure this read is going to help but it‘s next on my TBR. I received it Saturday for #LMPBC #Round15 #GroupT. Here goes ladies! @Kimzey @vonnie862 @Readergrrl

Storygraph September wrap-up. Not a great reading month - I read only 2 books that were 4⭐️ and everything else was pretty middling. It was really only in the second half of the month that I got into a better reading groove.

Thank you @DimeryRene for letting me borrow this one! A beautiful, devastating book about sisters and race. This one will stick with me for a while…

4⭐️ This one has been sitting on my TBR since I picked it for my #BOTM back in 2020 (gasp!). I‘m so glad I finally got to it because this is an excellent book. Following the decades-long consequences of the decisions that twins Stella and Desiree Vignes make upon escaping their tiny Louisiana town, The Vanishing Half depicts the diverging paths of the twins and their daughters from 1950s Louisiana to 1980s Los Angeles.

My #audiowalk led me to a local coffee shop and bakery. Not pictured is the ham and cheese croissant I already devoured. I‘m trying to finish this book, plus one other before the end of the month. I want to be able to start fresh for #Scarathlon in October!

This book has been languishing on my TBR for so long, I put it in my book bag so that it could be my go to if I have some downtime. I‘m waiting for an oil change now, and am taking the opportunity to finally dig in!

Fun and easy read, definitely a page turner. The story is about two twins that go in different directions with their lives and one twin disappearing completely. 4/5

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/2sNW2EgQWeI

Enjoy!

This is going to be an unpopular opinion. I read about 45 pages and couldn't go any further. The plot was soooo slow. I was bored and found my mind wondering every time I picked this book up. This is a great book for a sleepless night, guaranteed to make you sleep like a baby. 🤣🥱

Incredible concept and storyline following the Vignes twins and their daughters. This was my first Brit Bennett novel and I have to say the characters were so well-written and complex that they often felt real. While the end of this story kind of trickled away instead of providing a large resolution, it almost felt more appropriate because that‘s how real life is. It‘s messy, it ebbs and flows and sometimes we just keep moving on.

3/5 ⭐️ This was a soft pick for me. I think it could have been much more powerful, but it just kind of...ended. Hope y'all enjoy it though #LMPBC Group B

#JubilantJuly

Found myself thinking so much after reading this book about identity and the micro cultures we create in our communities.

After finding her first novel not being for me I really enjoyed this one. A multi generational novel of sorts it asks important questions about identify and place as we follow the implications of 16 year old twins running away from home and grappling with race in 20th century America. I📸 Brussels

Hoping to make progress on multiple reads!

🌴The Vanishing Half
🌴All the Light We Cannot See
🌴Last Summer At The Golden Hotel

#JubilantJuly Readathon

Although I enjoyed this book, after the review hype I was left feeling a bit meh

I love how intricate and varying the characters are in Bennett‘s books. She has mastered the writing technique, “show, don‘t tell” and it makes her characters so undeniably real and complex.

Beyond that, her topics are so well balanced & focused.

Here we have twins, both light but still poc. One goes on to have a very dark daughter, the other starts passing as white and has a very caucasian daughter. The similarities and contrasts are striking!

Looking forward to this next round of #LMPBC ☺️
#groupB

#2022Book58
This will likely end up as one of my favorite books this year. I love novels that cover multiple decades and follow various members from one family, and this novel did that so well! Brit Bennett is an amazing writer, and her books always have complex characters, a compelling plot, and absolutely gorgeous sentences.

This book was disappointing. I thought it was a beautiful story but the style of writing didn‘t really draw me in. 6/10

I cannot wait for my book group meeting to talk about this one! So much to think about- colorism/racism, the lasting effect of secrets, what family means…. There‘s a lot going on that I‘m willing to overlook the somewhat dissatisfying ending.

Desiree and Stella are twins born and raised in Mallard, LA, a town where the lightness of one's skin is prized. At 16 the girls flee the confines of their small town and head to New Orleans where one of them disappears. The story follows the trajectory of Desiree and Stella's lives after their separation. 4⭐️

This book was wonderful. I feel that it will be and/or should be stuffed into American Literature coursework immediately. A nuanced look at race, colorism, classism, generational trauma, LGBT issues, what it means to be family and generally how people make their way in life.

Spoilers/my thoughts on the ending in the comments

I really enjoyed this story although I‘m a bit disappointed in the ending. All in all an interesting read with many twists and turns. It was hard to put down once I got into it.

Wow, I loved this book! It was very interesting with amazing character development. It is rare that I like every character! The story was very engaging and developed nicely. It touched on many racial and sexual minority issues that often go undiscussed

This was actually my pick for book club and I wasn‘t all that impressed with it sadly. I just couldn‘t warm to the story or the characters and it‘s taken me a very long time to read as a result

For all my Disney nerds out there!! I actually read this book. Giggled when I saw in it in the Proud Family remake #disney #disneynerd

It felt a little long, as I was definitely ready for it to be over before it was over, but there are some epic, dramatic moments, and Bennett does really well with working on a large, sweeping scope, lending it a cinematic, almost Bildungsroman feel.

She is also terrific at characterization. There are many strong, well defined characters. I can picture some of these people in my head with no problem.

A lot of things to be impressed with here.

I‘m enjoying this pretty well! To me it‘s more of a plot-focused novel, because the writing is not flourishy, but more used as a tool to tell the story. Compare this to “Luster,” for example—it‘s not like that. There are some aspects that make for an epic tale though, Dickensian almost.

I know a miniseries is supposed to come out based on this book…HBO I believe.

Finished the tagged book, and I actually started using Bookly! I liked this book, it was an interesting read on topics that I'm not particulary familiar with. One thing that I didn't like was jumping back and forth in the narration, I've found it at times confusing and it took me out of the story sometimes. 📚📚📚

Currently reading. 📚📚📚

This book was my Book Club‘s pick for this month. I enjoyed it but I was a little disappointed in the ending. The story overall was very interesting to me. It took the characters through many years of their lives and told how the decisions they made in their youth affected not only them but their children many years later.

The Vanishing Half lands somewhere between An American Marriage and Little Fires Everywhere, in terms of tone and style, with a dustier accent of historical fiction. It‘s certainly a provocative read, and one that rightfully holds a prize place in the recent wave of interrogative popular fiction. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/the-vanishing-half-brit-bennett/

This was just super- elegant and eloquent writing with a terrific family drama that is sweeping in its effect. Lovely!

This was a fantastic look at identity and the risks taken to find your own. I usually don‘t care for slice of life type stories, but this seemed to be so much more and was beautifully done. Theirs was my #doublespin for March

Interesting themes (gender roles, discrimination, race, racial passing …), but I expected to be blown away and I wasn‘t. Maybe the reason for that is Slovenian translation🤷🏻‍♀️

Such a great book group choice! We had so many topics to discuss. That said, Bennett keeps the book focused on her characters and their circumstances. She doesn‘t get preachy or too focused on all the various themes. Plus, the genetics aspect dovetailed into some genealogy reading I‘m doing right now. Wins all around!

Full review https://www.TheBibliophage.com #thebibliophage2022

I‘ve finished… and still don‘t know how I feel about it exactly. Some parts I was completely engrossed by and some not so much. Very curious to see how the TV adaptation turns out!

Huh. I‘m half way through and still have somewhat mixed feelings. Let‘s see how it ends…

Wow this book was so interesting. Twins born in the 1950s as black, but potentially white passing in a small town in Louisiana. Both sisters run away at 16, one to return after an abusive partner, one to identify as white and create a whole new life. Their lives eventually intertwine many years later. Their stories are told so truthfully and this book was so captivating.

This was an interesting story, and a well written book.
The ending was a little disappointing.

Perfect reading weather 🌬🌧 and praised book … #weekendreading

This book is very well-written, and I love how fitting the title is with the overarching themes of the book. The ending, however, leaves some things to be desired, though I suppose that is kind of the point.

This book has been on my list for quite some time (Stack add, because of great reviews of this platform 😊).
Looking forward to getting into it.

The end of January, and the start of February turned out to be pretty busy. But I think I'm sort of free now, so time to catch up on my reading. 🙌🏻

And that includes the books I already started, the books I still have to read, and hopefully this certain new release this month. 💙

This was a fantastic look at race and family and sisterhood. Twin girls run away from their small town but the decision of one of the girls to pass as white, leaving the other behind, the changes their lives forever but family is not so easy to run away from. The writing was amazing, the story important, the subject challenging, and the transgender representation great to see. This book definitely lives up to its hype!

I loved this book. I loved the unique story. I loved all the characters. I love Brit Bennett's writing style.
I didn't want the book to end.

I didn‘t want this book to end. I came to the last page and flipped back thinking I skipped pages. I wanted more from Jude and Kennedy. I needed something else from Stella and Desiree. But Brit Bennett did a brilliant job having an open ending. It makes you hope that the characters‘ stories aren‘t over.

It took me a while to get in this book, however once I did, I cared about the characters.

You shouldn‘t tell people the truth because you want to hurt them. You should tell them because they want to know it.