Welcome to Litsy!

A group of Elders take a bus from Canada to Albuquerque to visit bucket list destinations and the Gathering of Nations PowWow. 4⭐

Stats time! I‘m pleased I started the year with one fabulous 5-star read (tagged), three 4.5ers (FEEL FREE by Zadie Smith, KNOW MY NAME by Chanel Miller, & THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune), and some solid TBR reduction. I‘m down to double digits, baby!

I read slightly more Americans than usual ahead of my month off from them. I also had way more chunksters than usual thanks to some project books that carried me through a few weeks each.

In clear, evocative prose, Monique Gray Smith balances her characters‘ delight in their current journey with the trauma and heartache they‘ve lived through. I got so swept up in their lives that I felt I was right there with them.

I‘d love to see this on the Canada Reads shortlist, but I hope the longlist will up its profile either way. Everyone who lives in North America should read books like this.

5 stars

I listened to 25% of TILLY AND THE CRAZY EIGHTS yesterday afternoon while I worked on my tiny plastic mosaic, and holy crap. It‘s INTENSE. Monique Gray Smith captures the joy these Elders feel about their life changing road trip, but she doesn‘t shy away from the harder stuff they‘ve faced. I‘ve already cried a lot. #audiocrafting