Welcome to Litsy!

First (only?) snowdrop in the garden.

She had finally found a way to get rid of this place, this apartment that had taunted her with its sadness, its poverty, with the dirty windows, the misshapen and faded couch and the coffee table with rings from mugs like wet footprints that had dried on the surface. But then another part of her wanted to throw her body onto those piles and stay there forever like a waiting room until her mother came back...

Lovely book so far! I'm on page 150 and I'm really intrigued about the story of Mina

The Byron Bay Library had a book sale on while I was there. Grand total $3.50. Afterwards I went to The Beach hotel for lunch and had a delicious poke bowl and white wine with my mum, nan, niece and sister while the boys went fishing.

I like the idea but I wish the characters had more depth and were more well rounded. However, I can see how someone would disagree with me. For some reason it just didn't hit quite right with me. It wasn't a story that I walked away from that made me so happy that I read it.

After finishing the tagged book, I‘ve completed 488 books this year… which is exactly how many I read last year. I‘m crushing it this year! ☺️

This is an amazing read of family and love.

This wasn't an easy read, but it was worth it. A beautiful meditation on grief, family, and the life of an immigrant in the US. Read the second half in December, after life went crazy in November and I couldn't finish it with #sundaybuddyread. #WGwordsearch 560 pts
#wintergames #teamgamesleigher @StayCurious
#bookspinbingo #thefestivereadathon #averymerryreadathon #wintercosy #averymerrybingo #adventathon #dashingDecember 6 hrs =420

4.5 ⭐️

~Considering all of the characters involved, this story is very easy to follow and it moves quickly.
~I related to a lot of the elements of being first-generation American and felt for both Margot and Mina.
~The genre felt all over the place, but I don't think it was a bad thing- it just felt like a complicated story of intertwined lives.
~Some elements felt unresolved- the driver, the trip to Vegas, etc.

A solid pick for me, but more a mother-daughter, immigrant experience & coming of age story than the mystery it gets tagged as. Although Margot investigates her mother‘s death, it focuses more on Mina‘s life, her secrets & the divide between an immigrant parent & her American-born daughter. I enjoyed reading it with the #sundaybuddyread group because of the discussions & the descriptions of LA, Korea Town & the delicious food brought it to life.

How well can we really know our parents? In this modern murder mystery a daughter must untangle her Korean immigrant mother‘s secretive past in the hopes of getting answers to both her mother‘s death and her own life. It kept me guessing until the end.

Kim should write more novel-length fiction. She spun such beautiful characters in this novel. The mystery aspect didn‘t really work for me but I loved Mina‘s story, it was so captivating.

What a gem this ended up being. I did not expect to like this one as much as I did. The story of Margot (an only child raised by a single Korean immigrant mother) and her investigation into her mother‘s life as well as her own heritage. I loved LA as a character and the food descriptions had me salivating! Read for #sundaybuddyread and was my #bookspin for October

I really wanted to like this one, and was very interested in Mina's story. The parts with Margot's story, though, almost seemed like they were written by someone else- the writing and dialogue, as well as Margot's thoughts and actions just didn't always seem to make sense.

This one started off well but as it progressed found my concentration was drifting. Felt it needed more pace and direction in the story. May be better if read than audiobook but wasn‘t able to get a copy of the book #SundayBuddyRead

7th and last book finished for #NovelNovember

My 3rd Saturday of the month dinner is the dim sum (radish cakes, shrimp & chive dumplings & taro puffs) I grab from the craft & product market by my house. I spent a good portion of the day laying about getting over the after-effects of my booster shot so a late dinner & my chapters for #sundaybuddyread discussion tomorrow. It‘s Chinese food rather than the Korean food in the book, but it is still delicious.

For #NovelNovember day #4, I'm focusing on reading this week's discussion section of The Last Story of Mina Lee for #SundayBuddyRead. @Andrew65

Started listening to the second section of the book ready for #SundayBuddyRead

Reading this as part of #NovelNovember and #AnyWayYouReadathon