Welcome to Litsy!

I find Maria Eugenia (the Iphigenia of the title) deeply irritating but also lovable. I can't think of many early 20th-c. novels that show the mind of a teenage girl in such detail. She is bright but naive, superficial but thoughtful, bold but shy. And v. volatile. It's clear she is/will be used as a pawn by her family, at the v. least to maintain their status, but v. probably for money too. Impending doom 😬

#FoodandLit
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Tried some Venezuelan food for #foodandlit. Wood fired bbq steak, rice and fries, a shredded chicken arepa on the right and a golfeado which is a cinnamon roll with cheese. The soda was strawberry flavored. Everyone loved the food and the drink it‘s gone except for some of the golfeado (it is an acquired taste, not bad but different enough we have some leftover).

When Simon‘s ancient aunt sells her valuable Simón Bolívar painting to a distant cousin, Simon accompanies the cousin on a boat to #Venezuela, where the cousin plans to return it to its original owner. His aunt raised him, and he very much lives in the past—a boy from the wrong era. On the boat a lot happens: he befriends 2 children accompanying their scientist father, the painting is stolen, and there‘s a murder. Arriving at the Port of ⬇️

My next audiobook for #Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Written by a #Venezuelan author who was an economic minister there, his first fiction book has an extraordinary air of accuracy—even if the love stories feel less than realistic. The book covers the defeat of President Perez by Hugo Chávez, and his rein of socialism that destroyed the vibrant country. He cozied up to Fidel Castro, and Cuba and the USA‘s spies are busy at work there. So much is going on, it‘s a slow read but very interesting. ⬇️

My reading companion for the evening as I listen to the tagged book

For me, everyday is National Cat Lady Day

#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

Like all Allende‘s books I‘ve read, Eva Luna is a winding tale starting with her mother, as a baby with blazing red hair, crawling out of a Latin American jungle knowing nothing of her parents. Eva‘s own story is full of unique characters and loves, including her mother‘s unusual father figure, multiple mother-like guardians, a revolutionary, a colorful transsexual, a child survivor of WWII, and more in a world coming undone in a dictatorship. ⬇️

https://apple.news/Aoerj8gG6TD-92HJbEezumQ

Reading in the tagged book about Hugo Chavez‘s disastrous years as dictator, it‘s true the more things change the more they stay the same. And having read many books last year for #readingtheAmericas and the USA‘s historical support of South and Latin American dictators 😡, I finally understand and support reviving these sanctions.

I feel a little more knowledgeable thanks to Litsy!

#foodandlit

Ebook set in #Iceland is on sale. Works for our June #foodandlit month

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#Venezuela #foodandlit @Catsandbooks