Welcome to Litsy!

"Black history is Black horror."

I honestly have nothing else to say.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I said what I said 😋

Two 5‘s, two 4‘s, two 3‘s. Titanic one just released 4/2

This book is exceptional. I am blown away, wrecked, and in awe. I both didn‘t want to put it down and had to take breaks from the brutality. Due honors every boy abused, tortured, and/or murdered in schools of this type. This is my first read from her. It won‘t be my last.

A little over 50% done and I can‘t put it down.
@rachelsbrittain

This book was truly amazing. I could feel the raw emotion dripping off the pages. You really did care for these characters. This book made me laugh, cry, shout, and get angry. I do have to say, I think it could have been shortened. I think Gloria's perspective could be cut or at least most parts. At times, there were information dumps that made the pace get very slow. I think that would have taken this amazing book to a spectacular book. 4.5/5

True fact: #litsypenpals make birthdays extra special! Thank you so much @Beck9lol for all the literary birthday love! I can‘t wait to dive into all of these gems and the houseplant book will give me good tips for future plant babies and help to care for the ones I have. 🌱🪴📚 The puzzle looks like so much fun! I‘m blessed to have an extraordinary, thoughtful and kind book friend! Thanks, Becky, for making my birthday a special one! 🥰📚🎂

Think Nickel Boys + ghosts. It's actually really clever what the author does with this. I recommend this for sure. This was my November Aardvark pick.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#Aardvark @AardvarkBookClub

This is such a good book. This is horror but the horror doesn‘t come from the supernatural or made up monsters. Within the first 25 pages the racism of 1950s Florida comes and grabs you by the throat and doesn‘t let go. Half this book is 12 yo Robbie at the school for boys, the other is his sister Gloria doing everything she can to get him out. They both go through their own hell. Due is a great writer, her writing put me right there with 👇🏼

Of course I had to go down a rabbit hole because I didn‘t think she would throw something random out like that. I had no idea these women existed. Check them out: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/seventy-five-years-ago-militarys-only-all...

Off to book club tonight…I‘m pretty sure I‘m the only one who finished the book. 😬 Some months are like that I suppose. 🤷‍♀️

Inspired by the death of her great Uncle at the Dozier School for Boys back in the 1930s, Tananarive Due delivers a gripping and harrowing tale of survival in the face of extreme adversity and cruelty.

Set in the 1950‘s, this is a propulsive page turner that combines engrossing drama and the supernatural while shedding light on the system of dehumanization that, as evidenced by our current prison system, sadly exists to this very day.

Set in rural Florida in 1950, this unflinching depiction of brutality at a reform school follows 12-year-old Robbie Stephens, sentenced for kicking an older white boy, and his 17-year-old sister Gloria, who is determined to secure his freedom. Ghosts haunt the grounds, but the true monsters are among the living. If I'd known how intense this would be, I might not have read it--but once I'd started, I had to know how it would end. Haunting.

Whoa, this book made so sad and angry! It was such a great read (although it was incredibly hard to stomach). It was so well written, and I absolute loved Gloria and Robert. This story was loosely based off Florida‘s Dozier School for Boys- and horrific stories of death, abuse, and other maltreatments that eventually came out from adolescents that were victims of the reform school.

I get why this book was on all the “best of” lists last year. It‘s a very well-written, compelling, & heartbreaking story about a boy sentenced to six months in the notorious Gracetown School for Boys after kicking the son of the largest landowner in town. Inspired by her own family‘s history Due crafts a powerful critique of the Jim Crow South. I enjoyed the book but found it as easy to put down as it was to pick it up. Still, a good read.

Finished my first book of 2024 🤩

Time to start my irl book club selection. This one appeared on a lot of “best of” lists last year and I‘m anticipating a great read. 🤞

Family book haul 😁
Happy Christmas to those celebrating ❤️

My December AND November #aardvark boxes arrived today. (I picked my November books on Nov 1, but there was a delay on the Due book, initially well explained then…not so well explained.) My subsequent customer service encounter wasn‘t great, so this will be the end of the line for me with them. Oh well, I have lots of books to read and many places to get them!

Went to the bookstore to pick up my next irl book club selection and came home with only ONE extra book. I call that a win!

💔💔💔💔💔absolutely devastating!!! I have no words

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One of the best, heartbreaking, chilling historical fiction books I‘ve read. One I think everyone should read.

I have had The Good House in my library for years … so I bought this and read it first.

Based on a true story? Added some serious ghosts.

A young girl & her younger brother are on their own in Florida when her brother defends her reputation and lands in the reformatory for 2 years due to racially motivated circumstances.

You can guess about the horrors! It‘s thorough, interesting, fueled with honesty.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I read one of award-winning Tananarive Due‘s older books, The Good House, to become familiar with her writing before attending this event. It was frightful! The new book, The Reformatory, sounds amazing. It‘s nominated for best Horror Novel of 2023 on GoodReads.

Creepy, emotional, and maddening, this novel is a skillful blending of the scary things in this world and the next. The pacing is a little slow at times but not slow enough to stall my interest. The author's note at the end helps connect the historical aspects of this novel to the present day.

This was incredible! I loved everything about it, including maybe my favorite use of ghosts in a story ever. It's long but also thrilling so it flies by even as it's breaking your heart. FINALLY have read my first Tananarive Due and am eager to explore her backlist bc she's so brilliant (including on social media). I really enjoyed the audio narration, too.

Excited for these November #aardvark picks to come my way. Admittedly I‘ve been in a reading slump. I blame it on #acotar hangover. Hopefully I snap out of it soon.

This is my #aardvark pick for Nov. The description has Nickel Boy vibes + ghosts.

Some November #Aardvark predictions 🤔

I adore this author!

Tananarive Due brings her own voice to the terrible atrocities that occurred at the Dozier School. In this book, the school is called the Gracetown Reformatory. The story follows a young man, Robert, sentenced to six months at the school. Robert has a unique gift; he can see haints.

This book deals more with the horrible acts of humans than the supernatural. It was a powerful read.

#NetGalley #Scarathlon #SpookyGhostClub