Welcome to Litsy!

10/10 great commentary on friendship, jealousy, anxiety, social media, and so much about being a 30-something.

MY ROOMMATE IS A VAMPIRE by Jenna Levine
THE GUEST by Emma Cline
GLORIA BUENROSTRO IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND by Brandon Hoàng
CHLORINE by Jade Song
KUSHIEL‘S DART by Jacqueline Carey
MADEMOISELLE REVOLUTION by Zoe Sivak
THE SUBTWEET by Vivek Shraya
THE GOBLIN EMPEROR by Katherine Addison
LUCKY BOY by Shanthi Sekaran
THE VERY UNFORTUNATE WISH OF MELONY YOSHIMURA by Waka T. Brown

I think I missed the part where this was supposedly queer? There‘s no canonically queer people or relationships in this book.
BUT it‘s good in a lot of other ways & brings up many important topics, female friendship, racism/colorism in the music industry, ownership in collabs, social media, accountability, etc etc.
the lack of emotional awareness/labeling that led to miscommunication was concerning & annoying but quick read and mostly enjoyed it

This was a wonderful novel. It dealt with relationships in a social media age and the challenge of navigating social justice issues and celebrity online versus in real life in nuanced ways with beautiful writing. I'm going to seek out more by Vivek Shraya for sure.

🎧 Current Read.

I was engaged by the writing and read this very quickly. The ideas were interesting especially some of the facets of racism in the music industry. It was also great to read a book that focuses on female friendships, creativity and careers and is queer inclusive. However a few days on I‘m quickly forgetting this book. Shraya is a great author but music is just a little outside of my interests so I look forward to what she writes next!

Started out good, finished great. Friendships between women, social media, professional and creative jealousy, racism and shadeism in entertainment, who owns ideas/creative output in a collaboration? So many thoughts and ideas in a small package.

And so so so much Toronto. The Toronto I know and love. #Booked2021 #Here/Hear @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

I listened to the audiobook in one sitting. It was so good. Music artistry and jealousy between brown girls and society.

Vivek Shraya gave the Canadian Literature Centre‘s annual Kreisel lecture tonight. It was great. 😍

I‘m always excited when this list is announced. Lots to discover. And the tagged book, one of my favourites, is on it!

https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/book-category/2020/

“You are not predictable and you are not controllable.”
“Damn. What is [June Jordan] talking about here?”
“Bisexuality.”
“Wow. See? These words need to soar. They can‘t be delivered in a predictable way. You have to sing them. Just try.”

Rukmini made her reflect on how much she missed not always feeling right or sure, how uncertainty was a gift that could lead to adventure or an opportunity to discover something new.
(Author photo from the book cover)

What a great pick for the 200th book in my lesbian book club! Everyone loved it. One of the many aspects we appreciated is that the trans representation is totally embedded and not in any way a conflict aspect of the storyline. #Queer #trans #LGBTQ #CanadianAuthor

Starting a reread tonight, in preparation for book club on Monday.

#12booksof2020 day 4:

I thought this book was a romance when I started it, and somehow this made the focus on the friendship between 2 minority artists perfectly gripping. All friendships are romances of a kind, amiright? This #ownvoices fits a ton of next year's challenges, was an insightful look at allyship and friendship, and made me learn a bit better how Twitter works.

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2020/12/11/the-subtweet-vivek-shraya/

Like all Vivek Shraya‘s work, THE SUBTWEET is compulsively readable and nuanced. She explores creative insecurity, friendship in the age of social media, how music gestates in the artist‘s mind, and who gets to claim ownership of a piece of art. And she delves deep into how all these issues intersect with her characters‘ lives as brown women in a culture determined to tokenize them—when they aren‘t dismissed outright. It‘s powerful, painful stuff.

This one seemed to be quietly gaining good reviews and was suggested to me by Scribd so I‘m gonna give it a whirl 🙂🙂🙂 #tbr #audiobook #suggestions

This book 😍😍. I‘m about half way through and I love it. The way the author writes the inner monologue of the characters is perfection.

I‘ve got a new collection of Tim Hortons references up on my blog today. It‘s a nice way to get a taste of a dozen different Canadian authors‘ works. https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-continuing-saga-of-tim-hortons-in.h...
#CanadianAuthors #CanLit

The Subtweet follows two music artists as they navigate friendship, careers, social media, dominant white culture, and content creation. This wasn't a pick for me, but it's way more than so-so. I didn't like the attitude of one of the women, and have a hard time connecting with the types of drama that permeate both womens' lives. The writing was excellent and any music fans or creators might really enjoy this book! #lgbtq #music #transisbeautiful

Every week, I'm highlighting #lgbtqauthors. 🏳️‍🌈 Canadian musician, writer, and visual artist Vivek Shraya is a woman of many talents. In addition to being a university professor of creative writing, she is also a director on the board of The Tegan and Sara Foundation.

Update: I noticed that she has some or all her books on Spotify.

#lgbtq #lgbtqauthors #lgbtqvoices #transgender #pocauthors #womanauthors

Today on my blog, I fret about being able to judge books as a member of the Shadow Giller jury. #shadowGiller

https://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2020/08/why-oh-why-did-i-agree-to-be-on-shadow....

A novel about friendship, insecurity, and the complicated ways miscommunications hurt each other. When musicians Neela and Rukmini become friends after cover singer Rukmini covers the songwriter's song, they take the internet by storm. Especially when an old, unpublished school project of Rukmini is anonymously released launching her mainstream music career. But is her fame standing in the way of Neela's?

New audiobook for my drive home today

Today's book club virtual meet up was a Zoom call with the author followed by a Q & A. I got more insight onto the book and, I'm absolutely fascinated with Vivek herself-- but for now I'll keep my rating of her book at 3-stars until I've re-read it. Armed with new information/better understanding, I have no doubt that my rating will be bumped up :-)

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 192: Sly Milieu with Thomas

Thomas is back! We discuss reading during a pandemic and more importantly, the books we've managed to order online during the pandemic. Jenny gets Thomas to talk about audiobooks, and we follow every tangent from E.M. Forster to epistolary novels.

Follow the link to listen and subscribe:
http://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy192

This book was chosen by my book club in context of June being Pride Month— So I was expecting some element of LGBTQ+ness to be showcased in this novel about 4 very insecure musicians who perpetuate passive aggressive social stunts for self-validation and petty revenge. But I was disappointed to discover that the only thing queer about this book is the author. It‘s entirely possible I missed something here. We‘ll see what discussion will reveal!

I loved this read that starts with one musician covering the song of another, and how that leads to a friendship until one becomes much more famous than the other. It's about friendship and cultural appropriation. The author does a fantastic job showing how relationships are complicated with texts and social media, and how music can unite and divide. ⤵️

Starting the next selection for the #TimesReads book club and, 20 pages in I can‘t say I really “get” the main character and, I‘m pretty sure I wouldn‘t like her if I met her, but to be fair I haven‘t met The Pearl Rule of pages read to disposition the book yet.

So far, it‘s about a YouTube musician who creates & sings non-traditional music (?) Let‘s see where this goes...

The nuances of friendship, artistic competition & striving to assert individual identity by members of a minority group—in this case, South Asian Canadian women—are extremely well portrayed in this novel set in Toronto. Shifting viewpoints capture misconceptions & insecurities exacerbated by social media. At least one of the women is trans, and I love that it isn‘t in any way an issue for these characters, who feel so real I ached for them. #LGBTQ

She reached for her dad‘s old wooden harmonium, tucked on the bottom row of her bookshelf. He had given it to her when her parents had decided they were officially over the frigid climate and locals and moved back to Pakistan.
(Internet photo)

“The idea had come to her … to write an entire album of songs that focused on the thrill of solitude, the luxuriousness of her own company.“
This novel comes with a link to an entire original soundtrack created by the multitalented Vivek Shraya. I love everything about this.

Rukmini had made out that the girl‘s name was Malika from the mandatory name tent displayed on the edge of her desk but they had never spoken to each other. This wasn‘t unusual—there was an unwritten code of silence amongst brown girls in white rooms. Staying separate was a way to assert their distinctiveness and delay the moment when their classmates would “accidentally” refer to one of them by the other‘s name.
#ownvoices

I‘m starting TWO new books today. I plan to go slow with Thammavongsa‘s collection, interspersing her stories with other reading. I have a feeling Shraya‘s novel is one to dive into, based on the first page. Also, I‘ve been spending a lot of time on Twitter lately and I hope I can substitute my time reading this instead. Celebrating #ownvoices #CanadianAuthors!