Welcome to Litsy!

My TBR for the month of April. I just finished Forgotten Sisters and am about to start Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice.

Starting this next 🎧

In the first half of this book Chakrabory lays the foundation for her new series. As a result it is a slow and, frankly not very interesting beginning to what becomes, in the second half a thrill ride through a well-built world. Amina Al-Siafi is a mother, was a ship‘s captain/pirate and returns to the sea to rescue a young, magical girl . Her past shipmates join her on what becomes a life threatening adventure. Looking forward to the next entry.

This book will be in my top 10 of the year. (Things I read in week 1 usually are!) I was really interested in this story but unprepared for how much I would ADORE the voice 😍 written in first person as if the main character is telling her story in her words to a journalist, it‘s SO GOOD. The adventures of a middle aged mother retired pirate with a bad knee… I‘m so happy there‘s more coming. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my current audiobook. Adventures stories are not my typical genre, but a bunch of kittens recommended it a couple years ago so I bought it. I am so caught up with it. I love the characters and all the mythology. It truly is a swashbuckler. It‘s fun to get used to the names from a region of the world I rarely read about and even more fun when I recognize cross religious stories. Halfway through and still being surprised and carried along.

For 2023, I've decided to do a top 10 for both fiction and non-fiction in 2023. Here's the fiction list - in more or less ranked order (the hardest part!):

1. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi
2. When the Angels Left the Old Country
3. System Collapse
4. Legends & Lattes
5. Some Desperate Glory
6. Mammoths at the Gates
7. Station Eleven
8. Nona the Ninth
9. Killers of a Certain Age
10. A Tale for the Time Being

#doublespin #january #nobingo

What an adventure! ❤️📚 A middle aged, female, foul-mouthed pirate, who is a Mom and also kicks ass? Yes, please! This epic novel has magic, demons, otherworldly creatures, peril, found family, and SO much imagination! The conclusion is utterly satisfying, but also leaves the door wide open for more adventure. Do yourself a favor and listen to this on audio. The narration is fantastic and it absolutely added to the experience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 /5 ❤️📚

Listening to this one on audio. Covid has hit our house and I‘m the only one left standing. This has kept me entertained while I‘m washing, and disinfecting, making homemade soup, and delivering meals and drinks to my 4 patients. Really enjoying the adventure and humor so far! ❤️📚

“These things that men obsess over when they hate what they desire, and desire what they cannot possess!”

#12Booksof2023 Day 8: I guess I'm a sucker for an older lady pirate with a one-last-job trope and a wealth of Middle East history and mythology thrown in! My other top read for August was Chain Gang All Stars, but CGAS doesn't need me to put it on blast given all the end of year lists it's on.

I finally had time to choose my novel for #AuldLangSyne 2024! It‘s the Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi, which I conveniently already have downloaded on my kindle. To make myself more ambitious, I also added #DearEdward, which I vaguely remember reading about when it was released. Looking forward to the discussion ☺️ @Karisa

It was a very tough choice between the final two but Amina won out over Murderbot just barely because the Murderbot installment doesn't stand alone very well. I'm pretty happy with what I read for the year overall and there were really only two or three books that were just okay. Everything else I really enjoyed my time with them.
#2023ReadingBracket

I loved everyone of these! #bestof2023

#12Booksof2023 @Andrew65

March

I couldn't help but think of this Rock and Morty episode while Amina was gathering her crew. Tagged was a great listen on audio! I appreciated that it was a complete story while setting up for multiple sequels. I would love to follow the Marawati on future adventures, now that all the set up is out of the way.

I've been away a while again! A phone reset signed me out of my account, I couldn't remember my password, then had some difficulty resetting it! 🤦‍♀️

Anyway, I'm back again now and need to catch up on reviews of the pictured books, the tagged book, and The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, which I finished yesterday.

Anyone else trying to make space on their TBR shelf in anticipation of some possible book gifts in the near future? 😝

I absolutely loved this one! Youtube Thoughts: https://youtu.be/sFUj_iJulKk

Mentally I am here. Loving this one so far. Adventure and humor and magic and also deep pondering on human nature.

“She became a legend …” I like that !

This novel was simply extraordinary and captivating; I was hooked from the first page and did not want the story to end. The characters are phenomenal; they are well developed and intriguing and I loved going on this adventure with them. Dalila is savage but caring, and quick witted, and funny, making her my favorite character in the novel. I liked the little sections, told by Amina‘s scribe, containing information about the Moon of Saba as well.

This novel was simply extraordinary and captivating; I was hooked from the first page and did not want the story to end. The characters are phenomenal; they are well developed and intriguing and I loved going on this adventure with them. Dalila is savage but caring, quick witted, and funny, making her my favorite character in the novel. I liked the little sections, told by Amina‘s scribe, containing information about the Moon of Saba as well.

Audio-craft-assisting! ( @WildAlaskaBibliophile is doing the crafting. I'm just cutting the materials 😁)

Swashbuckling tale of a pirate captain who sails the Indian Ocean with her motley (but lovable) crew. So much fun!

Completed both, but The Invisible Hour would have been a DNF if not for #bookspin ! The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi #doublespin was a fun heroes adventure tale with the main character being a female Muslim pirate. She is lured out of retirement and away from her daughter for the sake of someone else's daughter. The motherhood aspect added depth to her character. Lots of fun side characters, some magical elements, and action-packed adventure.

This book was such fun! Got VERY fantastical towards the end but that certainly kept me on my toes! I loved the hodgepodge of characters and their questionable pasts that somehow all brought them together. A famous lady pirate is pulled from retirement with a job she couldn‘t refuse.

I enjoyed the adventure and the characters. I love that the MC is a strong woman pirate that happens to be a mom also who comes out of retirement to save a girl. This adventure turns magical and I love the character development. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This swashbuckling, Middle Eastern mythology inspired fantasy follows a middle-aged single mom & former pirate captain as she‘s coerced out of retirement for one more adventure. I loved the rep here—the older mc, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian rep, and fantastic queer rep too! The emphasis on plot over character development took this from a 5 star to a 4 star for me, but highly recommended if you‘re in the mood for an adventure on the high seas!

Here is my final list for the 1st #Book2Book It's great to see these books going to fellow Littens. If you could all email me your addresses that would be great. I'd like to get them in the mail Saturday. If you're okay with Media Mail then shipping in on me. Happy Fall almost 🐈‍⬛️

@Soubhiville @TheBookHippie @dabbe @julieclair @TheAromaofBooks @Catsandbooks @AllDebooks @Bookish_Gal @Chrissyreadit @LiteraryinLawrence @Clwojick @Cuilin

This was so fun and action packed and scratched my swashbuckling itch! I liked Amina and her character motivations a lot, as well as her relationship dynamic with her crew. This was very plot focused so I think the characters suffered a bit because of that, and the story got a little off the rails in the second half, but overall I had a great time and this was just the escapist read I needed. Very excited for the next one! 4.5/5⭐️

I‘ve been in a real seafaring and swashbuckling mood lately so let‘s keep it going!

Shannon Chakraborty is definitely in my top authors. I have been (un)patiently waiting to get this one from the library and loved every second! I cannot wait to see what Amina's next adventure will be.

A truly marvelous tale. A diverse crew, in ethnicity, sexuality, religion and gender, leading to the occasional important and thought provoking discussion amidst high action and intricate plot. Did not expect to laugh as often as I did. More supernatural elements than I expected which made me love it more. Gleeful to discover it's going to be a series.

"Tinbu, stop yelling at the tree. Dilala, stop stabbing the tree."
Be nice to the tree, children. ???

🌕 = 💕
🖋️= 🤷🏼‍♂️

Baby! 😻😸

The difference a single word change makes. To insult someone "at depth" versus 'at length': more cutting critique versus haranguing at a shallower level of vituperation for a longer period of time? ?

🙄😄

😍 A beautiful map is always a good start for an adventure story.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This took me longer to get through, as the beginning started off slow and remained that way until about 60% into the book. I found the plot interesting, and I enjoyed how the adventure resolved, especially with the small surprise twist at the end. This was a solid novel, but I‘m still not sure if I‘ll read the rest of this trilogy.

“It is not always easy to do the right thing, Amina al-Sirafi. More often than not, it is a lonely, thankless ordeal. That does not mean it is not worth doing.”

- Khayzur

#BookBinge Day 14: This one #InvolvesAnimals - including a cat and supernatural oceanic animal creatures.

#BookBinge Day 11: #InvolvesWedding of an actual demon and a human being - I binge-read this fantasy novel while in Bodrum a week ago. Review is forthcoming. 💕💕💕

So good! Charming, exciting and fun, I highly recommend you take this ride with a brave pirate with a heart of gold and a quirky crew. Filled with myths, monsters, and action, this would make a great movie! Loved it on #audio! This was my #Bookspin #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

This was a fun new historical fantasy series. The title character is a retired pirate who is sucked back into the life to save the kidnapped granddaughter of a wealthy matron. It leads to an epic fantasy adventure, deeply centered in ancient fables. This was fun, but I didn‘t find the character work to be really deep, besides Amina, we didn‘t get much of history of the characters.⬇️