Welcome to Litsy!

(2015) Moreno-Garcia's debut novel is a YAish book about three high school kids in 1988 Mexico City who use music to work magic, in a dual timeline with a story about their adult selves reconnecting twenty years later. The 1988 story is appealing and its high school character dynamics ring true for me. It's less clear to me what the author intended with the later timeline, which for my taste could have been omitted. Soft pick.

A trio of teens in 80s Mexico City discover they can cast spells through music, but decades later aren't speaking to each other when Meche returns to Mexico for her estranged fathers funeral. This book felt like it couldn't make up its mind between being YA and adult and while there was a lot to enjoy, there was also a lot that left me wanting, including the repeated use of the F slur to bully a straight character. A low pick at 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Women's History month #WeekendReads !

1. Signal to Noise and The Ballad of Perilous Graves

2. Jane Austen and Silvia Moreno Garcia

3. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

At the recommendation of @vivastory I requested that my library order this! 😄 I'm really really excited to read it! So far I have never encountered a Silvia Moreno-Garcia book that I did not love! 💕📚

#TBRPile 📚 “It was eighteen years since she‘d seen the city. Twenty since she‘d last seen her father. Now he was dead.”

As a group of three outcasts discover that music gives them magical powers, their worlds start to change. Growing up is difficult without magic, and when the three friends start clashing over when and how to use their powers, their friendship begins to crumble.

I enjoyed this one, but it isn't as strong as the author's other books.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #Scarathlon2020 #TeamHarkness @StayCurious

Yesssssss! I was beginning to worry USPS had lost this since they first said it couldn‘t be delivered, then that I should pick it up, then that it was being redelivered. I was upset because the paperback isn‘t available on Amazon anymore. 😱 So glad it can in!

A really fun story about three teenage friends: Meche, Daniela & Sebastian whose lives change when they discover the literal magical properties of certain records. Friendship, love, music & hexes!

Can anyone pull up this book? It gives me a blank screen when I select it...

We read this book #SetinMexico for #EclecticReaders, and while it wasn't my favorite, I still like the idea of music magic!
#BiblioMAYnia @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

#SeptemberWrapUp Finished five books in September. Four nonfiction and one fiction, which is unusual for me. I think the tagged book is my favorite if I had to pick one, but I'd also highly recommend Because Internet.

Still looking for the best way to make a cover collage!

Based on the first half, I wasn't expecting to like this book as well as I did. I'm not really into teenage angst or name-dropping of musical artists and songs, and this book has both in spades. But for all that, I ended up enjoying it. I found Meche all too relatable as a character, and I appreciated how the two interlocking timelines worked together to show her personal growth.

There's a reviewer on goodreads who said he wanted to read a book set in Mexico but "very little attention was paid to the setting." I hope he also gets mad when he reads books set in New York and the characters don't spend all their time going to Broadway plays and visiting the Statue of Liberty.

Starting a new book. I'm a little nervous about this one because the marketing seems to position it as a sort of fantasy High Fidelity, and I hated High Fidelity (the movie; I didn't subject myself to the book). But friends have told me I'd like this one, so I'm trying to put aside my immediate reaction.

On to the LAST book in my 2019 Read Harder challenge! #readharder2019

The slowest of burns, esp. at the start. I wanted to be invested in the story b/c I love the idea of music magic! But I couldn't become invested in Meche, who was such a bully & obsessed w/her own power. Realistic? Probably, but not fun to read. Sebastian & Vicente were more interesting characters, despite their flaws. By the end, the author did tie things together well, but it wasn't enough to make me forget how long it took to get there.

‪It‘s Day 1 of #EclecticSpringBreak! On this #podcast episode we discuss the pros & cons of genre definitions, genres vs. categories, genre-bending books, and then talk about this hard-to-categorize book. Listen at eclecticreaders.fireside.fm/60 or your fave podcatcher #EclecticReaders ‬

Day 1 of #EclecticSpringBreak! We discussed the pros and cons of genre definitions, genres vs. categories, and then talked about this hard-to-define book. @EclecticReaders #EclecticReaders @Ruri_kaichou @Merethebookgal

This is a thing that's happening this week! Tomorrow is our monthly episode on the tagged book, and then special episodes all week long! I was present at these interviews, and I still can't wait to hear them, because these authors were so incredibly nice and funny. I hope you all enjoy!
#EclecticReaders @EclecticReaders

#SelfCareSunday is talking about books with your friends, then having pancake brunch with your family.
#SpringintoReading

It was okay. The magic concept with the music was really interesting, but I didn‘t feel very invested in the characters, and the constant 20-year jump in time didn‘t help. This is a relatively short book (under 300 pgs) but it took me foooreeeveeer to finish, and the last chapter was so completely unnecessary it actually made be a bit angry lol.

Hope you‘ll read this book about music and magic with us! #EclecticReaders

📖#signaltonoise was a book I chose for the #readharder challenge and I loved that the author was also a Canadian🇨🇦! The story was very intriguing and I loved the magic! Meche was such an unlikable character...oh man! I haven‘t encountered too many main characters that I didn‘t like but she was just so selfish it drove me crazy! But the story was great and I loved going back between 1988 and 2009. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

1988 & 2009. Music casts literal magic. Our heroine's use of magic brings out the best and worst in her. The bittersweet realism in this book is what keeps it from being flimsy, soft, or too fantastical.

Music is magic, literally. A friendship in 1988 and 2009. Gutting and soooooo good.

My #weekendreads. Stanley is trying to indicate he's annoyed I'm reading and not brushing him.

Anyone else listen to Bookriot‘s SSF Yeah and purchase every title recommended. The only one I didn‘t buy today I already own (The Black Gods Drum). 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️🤣🤷🏻‍♀️

#ilovenovellas

Wow, this one was really good. Was quite a trip back to the 80‘s and then forward to 2009. Was sort of a mystical look at life, growing up, family and friendship. Oh and the magic of music - literally like real magic in music. Enjoyed it!

I was trying to get a pic for today‘s #riotgrams prompt, music, but this one decided she needed to be part of the shot! @bookriot #catsoflitsy

📖 #BookClubPick #LatinX #MagicalRealism

Catching up on my DVR since I hosted book club last night. Our group enjoyed this magic & musically inclined coming of age story.

+ Great friendship & character development
+ Cool original use & concept in combining music & magic!
+ Reminiscent feel of a #YA version of the movie, 'The Craft' which I love!☻

- Takes a bit to get into
- Of the 2 story lines, 1 felt underdeveloped &left us wanting more.

??☕???? #EveningReading #DiverseReads #MagicalRealism

Settling in finally with some hot?to warm up my bones, a couple of cookies to soothe my sweet tooth & my #BookClubPick .
Bummed about it being on my ? vs ?, but my library (both work &public) didn't have it & our meeting is Sunday so...? #BookwormProblems

Excited to get started on it as I've seen it on several "Best of" lists regarding #LatinX literature and #YA lists❣

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU4hINUM8CRphKl_iHe7CaNFDMYrFSHb5 This is the link to the most comprehensive playlist of all 55 #Tracks mentioned in Signal to Noise, a story about 3 kids in Mexico who use music as magic. Some of my faves include Nina Simone‘s Wild is the Wind, Mercedes Sosa‘s Gracias a la Vida, Jacques Brel‘s Ne Me Quitte Pas, and Ella Fitzgerald‘s Midnight Sun. #NuYear

Meche returns to her home town of Mexico City for her father‘s funeral where she must confront her past and friends she left behind. The story is told in alternating time periods where we learn what happened to 15-year old Meche that resulted in her leaving Mexico City and her best friends. I found the book to be a realistic portrayal of teenage relationships (minus the magic), but I did find both teenage and adult Meche to be a bit annoying.

Told in alternating times, Mexico City 1989 when Meche, Sebastian, and Daniela, outcast teenagers who discover they can do magic through music on a record player and Mexico City 2009 when Meche comes back for the funeral of her father, and you find she is estranged from her friends. There was a ton of pop culture references in here that really added to the experience as I was all too happy to look them up. I feel the writing evolved as 👇🏼

Meche (Mercedes), in Mexico City 2009, will be going through her just deceased father‘s notebooks and will come across this entry from 1973. I love this book for all of it‘s music references and the overall effect they give this story. This one choked me up today. The song https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A5iv5I and the English translation http://lyricstranslate.com/en/gracias-la-vida-thanks-life.html-0

I'm rewatching season 1 of #StrangerThings because I saw the trailer for season 2 and OMG it was EVERYTHING!! I've watched it maybe 20 times now. That's how you do a trailer! And that 80s vibe is on point!

I need a fix because Oct 27 is too far away. Paper Girls was a good start but now I'm picking this up. It even says it's for fans of the show. I'm adding it to the stack of books I'm reading. Hoping the book Jenga in my brain doesn't topple. 😆

Day 5 of #RiotGrams: "Magic of the realism and fantastical sort." - Rioter @Kelly ✨

I bought too many books again. Every month I promise to purchase fewer books, but as you can see by my May book haul, I lied to myself. 😊

I've already told myself that there will be absolutely NO Book Outlet orders this month! Well, we'll see. #BookHaul

Love dies in different ways. For most, it is a slow, agonizing death. Meche, however, cut her love the same way the executioner might chop a head: with a single accurate swing.

This has been in my TBR pile for too long. It's time.

👩🏼‍🎤👨🏼‍🎤👩🏼‍🍳🎧💫

Why yes I do love "unlikable" women so much that I made a 100 must-read list: http://bookriot.com/2017/03/20/100-must-read-unlikable-women/

???

My favorite book of the year so far. Set in Mexico City during 1988 and 2009. We follow Meche and her two best friends in a stunning coming of age story where music is literally magic. Something tears them apart until Meche's father dies and she has to return to Mexico City 20 years later. Great characters and relationships. Stunning, emotional turns. And an ending that made me actually hug the book.

Loved the magic elements of this coming of age story set in Mexico. Moreno-Garcia does an excellent job of keeping the two timelinesrunning simultaneously and pulling the reader in and along for the ride. Also -- if you are a lover of the power of music, then this is a good pick for you.

Started out a bit slow but ended up liking it.