Welcome to Litsy!

A wonderfully narrated #audiobook by Irish actress Nicola Coughlan. It's a very voicey novel, told from the perspective of Majella, a neurodivergent woman living in a small Northern Irish town. Her routine of working at the "chipper" & taking care of her alcoholic mom is interrupted when her granny is killed. Her death brings up longstanding wounds: her father's disappearance and the lingering effects of the Troubles. A quiet, slice of life novel.

Doughty masterfully blends memoir about her first year working in a crematory, thoughts on dying "a good death" and how current death industry/cultural beliefs prevent it, & historical tidbits about death in mostly western cultures but not exclusively. It works wonderfully together, especially w/ the engaging writing, dry humour, and commitment to telling it like it is. This book went deeper emotionally than I was expecting, a pleasant surprise.

What a thrilling, fascinating book! A kind of literary thriller / dystopian / horror novel with wonderful writing and authentic, human characters. It follows a post-apocalyptic Northern Anishinaabe reservation community. The focus is on their survival, leaning back into old ways of living off the land, and dealing with a white guy (what a villain!) who shows up wanting to join them. Quite suspenseful, and occasionally downright chilling!

Don't you love it when you start a new book and immediately fall right into the story?
#Indigenous #NativeReads #AwesomeAudiobooks

Finally got to finish this after having to wait to get the #audiobook from the library again after my time ran out! A riveting, enfuriating, passionate book. It follows the year 2017 in Desmond Cole's life as a Black activist/journalist in Toronto. He covers a variety of issues: cops in schools and Pride, police brutality, immigration injustice, integrating the struggles of Indigenous people. A must-read. Excellent audiobook read by the author.

"This idea that Canada's racial injustices are not as bad as they could be, this notion of slavery lite, of racism lite, of what my friend calls the toy version of racism, is a very Canadian way of saying 'Remember what we could do to you, if we wanted to.' "

#CanLit #AwesomeAudiobooks #BlackBooks #BlackVoices #BlackLivesMatter

This #audiobook instantly gripped me and did not let go until the end. Set in a Dublin maternity ward amidst the influenza epidemic of 1918, it takes place over only a few short days but packs in a lot of story, character, and historical immediacy. Julia is a nurse/midwife working w/ expectant mothers with the flu. Two women come quickly into her life, altering her forever. I felt like I was right there in the hospital the whole book. I loved it!

Did some #AudioGardening today and got a nice little harvest of strawberries. I love this book so far. The hero reminds me a lot of an old crush / one who got away so it feels like a kind of wish fulfillment. #Romantsy #AwesomeAudiobooks #audiobook

This excellent writer/smart critic captured my attention even when writing about TV I hadn't seen. Nussbaum loves to dwell in the question rather than focus on the answer, which makes for thought-provoking criticism about specific shows, showrunner profiles, and essays about #MeToo and product placement. I loved her takes on Sex and The City, Jane the Virgin, and Buffy. She excells at being intellectually curious, even about TV dismissed as fluff.

"The soap, the rom com, the romance novel, and more recently, reality television... These are the genres that get dismissed as fluff, which is how our culture regards art that makes women's lives look like fun."

#AwesomeAudiobooks