Welcome to Litsy!

I was so enamored with this (audio)book that I put off reviewing it, convinced I‘d never be able to do it justice. You know what never helps me write a better review? WAITING. 🙈 Seven months into the year, My Broken Language is tied (with Turtle Diary) for my favorite book thus far. This memoir has everything I love: writing about writing, the sacred & the profane, a mother-daughter relationship, humor, earnestness, and utterly gorgeous prose.

Today, things felt broken. Clouds raced across the sky, the wind whipped fiercely & blew down our backyard tomato plants. Sadly, the library where I work was broken into. Our leaky roof is (finally!) being fixed; the culprits (teens, we‘re sure) riskily climbed the scaffolding to access the 2nd floor. The only room they trashed was the staff kitchen, thankfully. It‘s an historic building with lots of meaning in the stones & on the shelves.👇🏻

Recommended for me by my bibliologist at myTBR.co and I loved it.

Quiara is part Puerto Rican, part Jewish, Philadelphia born and bred, part musician, part English major, a play write, a composer, and a linguist explorer. I‘m so glad she narrated her own book, it‘s beautiful to listen to. Her family and her passion for life are palpable.

She grapples with pieces of her personal and family history to build a picture of her true self.

#weeklyforecast @Cinfhen

I‘d be pleased to finish these four this week. The three I‘m currently reading are all very good.

When Women Were Dragons caught my eye when someone suggested it for #camptob. Although it wasn‘t voted in, I immediately put it on hold from the library and now it‘s here. 😊📚

I hope everyone has a great reading week!

Went to pick up a book order before seeing In The Heights with friends and saw that Quiara Alegría Hudes has a memoir I somehow missed, so obviously picked that up too.

Hudes is a brilliant writer. The beginning of this memoir was difficult and clunky, but as her story came together, I realized her brilliance is making you grapple with the text as she did the many languages of her childhood. As Hudes grew into her voice, the memoir soared and the last third was truly a joy to read. Her narration of the #audiobook adds to the experience. Definitely recommend!

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #NonFiction2021 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Beautifully written memoir infused with love, heartache, and culture. Quiara, called Qui Qui by her family, opens up about her life as a part Native, part Puerto Rican, part Jewish girl growing up in Brooklyn. Her choice of words and the way she writes took my breath away at times. Great memoir. 💚

If anyone would like this book I'm happy to send it to you. #PayItForward

#PayItForward #Giveaway

I won a copy of this through GoodReads and the publisher sent me two. They told me to share with a friend. 💚

I haven't read this yet, but if anyone is interested in this hardcover copy I'd be happy to send it to you. Just comment below and let me know.