Welcome to Litsy!

May #bookspin

Still working on last months pick and I went with a home theme this month.

After a woman is brutally attacked in/near a ceremonial round house, she and her family struggle to move forward in the aftermath. Seen through the eyes of her 13 yo son, we come to see more of their community and it‘s interconnections as well as how the justice system works (or doesn‘t) on reservation land. A heavy, excellent book.

Excellent, heartbreaking, & a worthy National Book Award winner. After his mother survives a brutal attack, her teenage son suddenly finds himself navigating an adult world where the worst that people can do to each other is on full display. This is a story about violence against women & how difficult it can be to bring perpetrators to justice, a story about lost innocence, & a story about the lengths people will go to for those they love/hate.

Tonight‘s book…

Erdrich continues to be a favorite! This book was devastating, poignant, informative, and surprisingly funny - and it all combines to create a slice-of-life story that is just so real. I didn‘t love the audiobook narration, which came across too old for the coming-of-age theme… but otherwise a solid pick and a great start to #Authoramonth 😊

This book was heartbreaking. #authoramonth @Soubhiville

Starting this one today for #authoramonth

Wow, Soubhi!! You were so generous with this #AuthorAMonth prize pack! My first Olive Edition 🤩 plus my first Le Guin and Okorafor too. The Round House and Haroun were fantastic choices. 👍🏻 I was hoping to read more Australian authors, so I‘m really pleased with Only Killers as my non-AAM choice. Thank you!!

Had to show off my new Elizabeth Warren bookend too!

A soft pick. I enjoyed the story (as much as one can “enjoy” a book about rape and violence against women 😖), although the narrative meandered so much at times that I actually read right over the climax and had to go back and reread that section. This book has been sitting on my shelves for years—thankful for #AuthorAMonth for moving it to the forefront and off the pile. Onward!

Is there anything better than a rainy, gloomy Saturday when you‘re awake before anyone else (except the cat), and you can snuggle right down into the couch and enjoy your stack of books and a mug of tea in glorious solitude?

This was my 4th Louise Erdrich book, but my first for #AuthorAMonth2023 Not in my top favorites, but a solid quality writer that I don‘t mind picking up every now and then.

This audiobook was not read by the author, so may be a good alternative for those of you who didn‘t love her narration.

@Soubhiville

I have found a new favorite author. There is just something about the way this woman writes! It‘s so lyrical and so descriptive and the characters she crafts seem so very real. This is a heartbreaking but at the same time strong read. Truly understand why this woman is an award winning writer.

I haven‘t gotten all of my #authoramonth 2023 books planned out, but I did score this one today at a used book store in Winchester VA, so I have January covered! @Soubhiville

Every time I read Erdrich‘s work, I grow to look at her characters as extended family, to feel for them as I would my own. When they hurt, I cry with them. When they joke, I laugh with them. When they experience injustice I get angry with them.

The Round House is, at its core, about family, both immediate and extended, and what happens in the aftermath of a violent crime. The novel is a wonder, and like family, I will defend it, flaws and all.

@thearomaofbooks #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo

#TBRDeckOfCards #Roll100 #covertocover

Here's my October list. I've been thinking about how I want to structure my reading next year. I am planning to limit my challenges and read either spines of a certain color each month from my shelves or focus on one shelf per month. I did not read near enough of my owned TBR and I am hoping this will help!

OMG. I got to go to Birch Bark, the bookstore that Louise Erdrich owns!

Book 66

I listened to The Round House, a story of how a teenaged son, his father, and his tribe respond to an attack on his mother. The reader's cadence was slow at times; listening at 1.5 speed helped. I recommend it as a book rather than an audiobook. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

1. Sad but well done book set in #NorthDakota
2. I‘ve never been to ND but would love to visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
#RoadTripUSA2022
#TravelTuesday

I like Gary Farmer (he was great in Dead Man, Reservation Dogs) so him narrating this audiobook was a real treat. This was a sad book, examining how rape can sow deep aftereffects of distance, grief, and resentment between family members. Not to mention the slowness of retributive justice, exacerbated by snarls of red tape and confusing land jurisdiction policy: all trials of living on a modern US Native American reservation.

I can‘t really say that I enjoyed this book, but I appreciated it. Even though I live on a reservation and went to school along side indigenous students, I was completely ignorant of Native American history, the criminal justice system, everything. This book addresses the extreme rates of violence against Native women and the flawed jurisdiction laws, leaving many perpetrators walking free.

#lmpbc This was a tough read for me. I could not read it at night because it just made me sad. Erdrich is a master storyteller, I felt like I was in the book observing the events. It just broke my heart many times over for many reasons. I‘m glad it was part of this round though- both books I read were incredible.

I‘m glad this book was picked for #lmpbc but I‘m struggling with it- I have to put it down frequently because I become so upset in some sections, and this was one. The in my face that gerrymandering is nothing new. States are not about expanding rights- they are about limiting and taking and exploiting and it‘s always NOT to benefit people of color. Drawing the maps, redistricting for 250 years.

This is such a brilliant book. The themes of injustice, revenge, and family are all woven together in such a wonderful way. The characters are lovable and real. I couldn‘t stop once I‘d started.
#LouiseErdrich #TheRoundHouse #IndigenousVoices2021

I have been on this train!!! 😂🤣😂 It‘s so disorienting to get off a train in the middle of the night, in the middle of a strange place. As I was reading the interviews in the back of the book, I discovered that Erdrich also got hepatitis in the same small town where my mother attended college. This is what I love so much about local authors. Their stories just as easily could be yours. 💙💙💙
#LouiseErdrich #TheRoundHouse #IndigenousVoices2021

I wasn‘t sure if she‘d made up St. Luke‘s Hospital. Everything up here is Sanford or Essentia, but sure enough, it‘s a Sanford hospital now. 💙💙💙
#LouiseErdrich #TheRoundHouse #IndigenousVoices2021

What a GREAT detail!!! After 20 years away, this is one of the first things we put in the shopping cart our first grocery shopping trip back in MN. These are THE BEST potato chips. Their pretzels are the best, too. Both are in our kitchen right now.
#LouiseErdrich #TheRoundHouse #IndigenousVoices2021 #OldDutchPotatoChips #OldDutchPretzels #OldDutch

#nativeamericanday #falltreasures
 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Taking this audiobook/paperback combo for a ride. I love Erdrich, so I‘m excited for this one. Plus, I‘m finally adding another book to #IndigenousVoices2021 #LouiseErdrich #TheRoundHouse

5 star read. Centers on a violent crime in a tribal community & how clashes between white & Indian law, between Tribal & non-Tribal jurisdictions impacts the case & the community as a whole. Loved how Erdrich used a compelling story w/ great characters to shed light on the historical & current attacks on Tribal sovereignty & the intersections of race & law. A bit late. Hitting mail today. #LMPBC @TheBookKeepers @WanderingBokaneer @phantomx

I have too many books going including tagged, The New Wilderness, Postcolonial Love Poem, Every Last Fear and Invisible. I love hiking, being on water, gardening, fishing, camping. The Round House will be a 5 star read as will Postcolonial Love Poem and fantastic poetry collection that won the Pulitzer. Both are #LMPBC reads! #WeekendReads @rachelsbrittain

Got some reading in down by the Spokane River. Loving this novel. Beautifully drawn characters, compelling story and a great background on tribal law and sovereignty and the long, difficult and ongoing battle to protect tribal rights. I‘m sucked in, which is good considering I need to get in the mail on Monday! #LMPBC @Soff @Chrissyreadit @Pogue

Can never go wrong with Louise Erdrich. This was so gripping from the first chapter, and the character development was amazing and tragic, and even though you are told what still happen on the first page the ending still comes as a shock.

Picked this up for my book club, and I'm still processing my thoughts. Very well-written and interesting enough to get me to finish, but I don't know if I can say I liked it? Some of Joe's thoughts and digressions just weren't my cup of tea. Glad I finally read one of Erdrich's books, though!

This book also deals with revenge, kind of like The Only Good Indians (which I loved). I can‘t wait to read this one, too.
#LouiseErdrich #TheRoundHouse #Revenge

I loved this book. Understandably as Ive so far loved everything by Louise Erdrich. While this is a stand alone novel, it‘s set in the same community as other Erdrich books - so over time as you read them you pick up new facts, new insights, a layering of knowledge of these families. That is very appealing to me - but some people find it distracting.
TW - this book covers a rape and other crimes.⬇️

Weekend acquisitions! I received The Round House for free as this year's selection for Read Across Lawrence/NEA Big Read. Really looking forward to the online events themed around this book. 📚🤓

Popping in for #24b4monday after being reminding by @Clwojick post about needing to get some practice timing myself! Getting the full 24 hours would be good, but with moving chaos, unsure of how likely that is. Hoping to at least start (if not finish) the circled books for #bookspinbingo.

3⭐️ My rating had a lot to do with the fact that it took me awhile to get through it and that I felt that the chapters were a bit too long; wished that they had been chopped up into smaller chunks, as I lost a lot of the storyline in those long chapters. The writing was beautiful and it was an excellent story; just was unable to follow it well #fiction #2020 #bookstagram #ebook #comingofage #mystery #ownvoices #bookreview

In my 20s, working with Native Americans, I devoured her first three novels. And then for some inexplicable reason, drifted away from her later works. But she‘s coming to my hometown this month, and this was a lovely re-introduction.

Well written, made me think and feel some feelings. Also, there aren't a lot of books set in North Dakota, so it's kind of fun to see places you know referenced in a book.
#fictionfeudsociety #ffsshipfaced

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Monday morning reading time

#bookclubbook
The writing was very good! The subject matter is heavy. There is a lot that happened in this book. I can't quite give it 4 stars. It was a good read, but I didn't really love getting back to it. There was a lot of pain and sadness that made it a hard one to love.

A chilling tale of a brutal assault and an inept justice system.

I liked it and read it pretty quickly but it lacked something. I think maybe it was the lack of connection I felt to the characters. Decent read but you know when a book just won‘t be that memorable? One of those for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #indigenousauthor #booked2019

Joe‘s mom is brutally attacked on their Indian reservation and the killer is in limbo between the laws of the reservation and the law off of the reservation. Good look at how the laws are slanted when it comes to reservation happenings. Sometimes hard to read. The need for this story is there but the final was not as I expected. I didn‘t feel that the mom was taken to a peaceful feeling of safety once again in her home.

One hell of a novel with one hell of an ending, one I wish I hadn‘t had to read. I knew it was coming, sensed it, just ... did not want. A beautifully written, smart book that touches on the rapes and sexual assaults of Native women (in this case, an Anishnaane/Ojibwe woman) and what remains, tribal law, and so much more. Boys, the dumb things they do, some deeply hilarious scenes, sad scenes, etc. Louise Erdrich puts the world in her books. 5⭐️

“The grass had not been mowed yet, but the area where cars parked was covered with scrubby little plants. Horses had pulled all the good plants up by the roots and now tense little weeds rasped beneath the tires of my bike.”

This book is so beautifully written! Sad, funny (I just burst out laughing at the four boys listening to the older women talking about how they could learn to stay hard for five hours 😂), so smart. I love Erdrich‘s books.

It‘s been a while since I‘ve devoured an entire book in one day, but I couldn‘t stop listening to this.

My second by Erdrich, and I think it‘s safe to say I‘m a fan. Very well-written, powerful coming-of-age story of a Native American boy trying to deal with the horrible rape of his mom. This story is devastating, but also touching, funny, and beautiful, and it packs a major punch.

My #indigenousauthor book for #Booked2019 ✔️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️