Welcome to Litsy!

This was a really lovely middlegrade read. Ellen is on a class trip to Barcelona. She's Jewish, she's autistic, & she has a great dad. But she feels like her best friend is pulling away from her. When they get put on different teams for a group project, she has to learn how to make new friends & set boundaries in her relationships. There's also a new classmate who uses they pronouns, who makes Ellen think outside the binary categories shes used to

#BeautifulLife. #JuneSpecials

@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Wonderful and original

(This is maybe going to be a long post)

This is totally a #blameitonlitsy - it just kept on appearing and appearing and appearing in my feed. So who am I to fight Reading Destiny? And yes, it was a good thing to listen to it. RD knows what I need.

Because I so, so needed that book. It's short and easy to read, and it has to be. It's written for people in very dark places and those often don't have the strength and energy to read big books. ⬇

Wow. Yeah. That's me. Still.

It was very readable, but wtf was the point? That‘s enough “literature” for meeee

A friend recommended this book to me, & I‘m glad I listened to it because I got to hear the Farsi pronounced correctly instead of me butchering it in my head. I got a little emotional towards the end, a really good story about Darius going to visit family in Iran for the first time. He deals with depression, bullies at school, negative thoughts, & relationship with his dad. Also learned a lot about culture, a bonus to a great YA story.

This has been sitting on my tbr for ages and I read it at the right time. There were some quirks I didn‘t like but the overall feeling was very warm. And I learned so much about Persian culture, especially the food!

Beneath the surface of the protective parts of trauma survivors there exists an undamaged Essence, a Self that is confident, curious, and calm...

A Self that has been sheltered from destruction by the various protectors that have emerged in their efforts to ensure survival.

Once those protectors trust that it is safe to separate, the Self will spontaneously emerge, and the parts can be enlisted in the healing process.

I raved about Thorogood's graphic narrative over the weekend & it has displaced one my selections for #bestof2025 (Barry Windsor-Smith's raw & gritty Wolverine: Weapon X). It's Lonely etc was a ceaselessly surprising, deeply touching portrait of an artist's lifelong mental health struggles & the solace & freedom they were able to find in art. This is one I will be recommending for awhile.