Welcome to Litsy!

Writing for National Geographic, the author accompanied an expedition into an incredibly remote and untouched region of Honduras in search of proof that an ancient city had once existed in the rainforest. Cutting edge lidar technology enabled them to uncover the past at a site that was truly dangerous, not least from aggressive and deadly fer-de-lance vipers. What they found was amazing, but the risks were even greater than they knew. Fascinating.

Next up - some more nonfiction
After reading chapter one - What could possibly go wrong? 🐍🕷️🐛🐜

It was hard to choose a book for #September , because I read quite a number of standout books! This is Preston‘s nonfiction account of exploration & danger. Preston writes with humor and knows how to build suspense and describe scenes enough that I felt itchy from the bugs. It‘s fascinating. #12BooksOf2023

Honorable mentions:

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims
The Murder of Mr Wickham by Claudia Gray
The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

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

15 stories and essays comes from young adults whose backgrounds are rooted in diverse Latinx countries. A range of issues are addressed, including multiracialism, racism, LGBT issues, immigration and refugee struggles, & more.
Favourites include #Julian4spiderman by Julian Randall and Half In, Half Out by Saraciea Fennell.
#Nonfiction2023 #BlackSheep
#ReadingtheAmericas2023
#Mexico
#Haiti
#Cuba
#Honduras
#Panama
#DominicanRep
#PuertoRico
#Brazil

Although I still have some reading to do this week, I think I‘ve finished all I‘m going to fit in for #ReadingTheAmericas2023. I completed at least 15 books and experienced more countries through them. 7 of these books are also on the #1001books list. This challenge was a great way to continue to broaden my reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

#ReadingTheWorld #ReadTheWorld #2023Stats

Merry Christmas, Littens! I‘m kicking off #12booksof2023 with this book I read in January.

An update on my #ReadingTheAmericas2023 Challenge.

Still got :
5 South American Countries to get
4 Central American Countries (reading a Panama book at the moment)
And quite a few islands!

Thanks to @BarbaraBB @Librarybelle for hosting these great challenges and setting them up on StoryGraph which is a good way to track them.

I wasn‘t familiar with Douglas Preston, journalist, but WOW! He joined the expedition into the rain forest of inner Honduras to report on the search for an ancient lost city. Snakes, bugs, mud, a curse, and so much more. It felt like an Indiana Jones adventure. But real..so all the more terrifying! I couldn‘t put this down! Archaeology, science, medicine. My cuppa tea! I must read another of Preston‘s non fiction. Such a fan now! #novelnovember

#readingtheamericas2023 #honduras What starts out as an allegorical tale of western man‘s relationship to nature slowly turns into a psychological thriller. The narrator is a young teenaged boy and his relationship with his egotistic father careens from worship to loathing as the father‘s hubris brings destruction to his family and as nature does what she does best - surprise!