Welcome to Litsy!

#Coffeebeanbookclub roll call. Starting this new round June 7th. Send me an email if you‘re interested in this round! Nicoleorlando@hotmail.com

Read this one for book club, otherwise I wouldn't have finished it. Allende is passionate about immigration and tells the story of multiple characters who emigrated for difficult reasons, from Samuel on Kindertransport during WW2 to Anita arriving from El Salvador in 2019. The overly didactic and expositional writing style were frustrating, and I think she tried to do too much in less than 260 pages.

⭐️there has to be better books out there about the immigration experience. This was one choppy mess! Felt not a thing about these cardboard characters

#poetrymatters
@TheSpineView
#truck

I love going into books not knowing anything about the story. This story is about two girls who enter the United States illegally trying to seek asylum. They get caught and are held while it‘s decided if they will get asylum or not. The girls escape and that is where the story really begins. I listened to the audiobook which I really enjoyed. 4*

Midwinter coffee flights!

1. No - but it is nice!
2. I read some children‘s Christmas books while drinking a Gingerbread latte from Starbucks. 🎄☕️

#two4tuesday
@TheSpineView

Highly recommended: captures the courage and terror of people fleeing through #Mexico from #Guatemala, #ElSalvador, and #Honduras in the hope of a safer life in the U.S. Centred on “The Beast,“ a train to which people cling in any way possible through Mexico. Martinez does a fabulous job of interviewing people from various backgrounds and at all stages of the journey. #ReadingtheAmericas2023 #Nonfiction2023 #StillHaventfoundwhatI'mLookingFor

As a narrative, this left some things to be desired. Instead, this is more a spiderweb of connecting characters, touched by trauma and empathy, an overall optimistic look at human condition through the lens of pain experienced during immigration (especially at a young age). Timely for this moment for sure.

A book chosen for the author's nationality and setting, but the narrative voice was so brilliantly done it was one of my best reads of the year.

#12DaysofChristmas