Welcome to Litsy!

#JuneSpecials Day 29: As a young child, Yaffa loved playing and spending time with her friends and also helping out Grandma Alte who was considered to be one of the town‘s photographers, after bringing home a #camera during one of her trips to America. A lovely picturebook biography of how Eishyshok was rebuilt through photographs and memories of precious lives cherished and lived. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-pMY

Over the last few years I have stopped reading about WWII because it‘s been so overwhelming. This one was interesting but a hard read. The author discusses some of the early history that lead to the Holocaust, the propaganda, the acceptance of many as the Nazi party pushed its agenda forward. He discusses that it‘s impossible for any one person to be an expert in the Holocaust because it covers so many areas, regions, counties of Europe.

While reading the second chapter, I predicted this would be a 5⭐️ read. Alexa Hagerty recounts her time in uncovering mass graves after a genocide in Guatemala and a military junta in Argentina. She handles her subject matter with care and reverence. This book is HEAVY (my cat was temporarily tasked with employment as my emotional support animal over the last 10 days) but it is well worth reading. Cont in comments...

I read this passage today & felt how applicable it is to today. Especially with what is happening to so many immigrant families in the US right now. This was a letter written by a French priest in 1942 that was read to most of the churches in Toulouse. Currently, I still don‘t understand how people call themselves a Christian & have no qualms about what is happening to so many innocent people. #ranttime

#JuneSpecials Day 1: #GoBarefoot - This book is an account of the mythical, larger-than-life Barefoot Woman who fashioned a displaced life to one suffused with pride, preparing her young to claw their way eventually into the lives that they truly deserve, regardless of present circumstances. My full review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-kPf

This is #Rwanda President Paul Kagame‘s story through 2008 (he‘s still president today). A young Tutsi refugee from the violence by the Hutus even back in the 1950s, he fought in Uganda, secretly training to become a rebel soldier to try to return to Rwanda. As he built a secret army, the genocide in 1994 occurred. He was able to dismantle the Hutu government and would eventually be elected president. He assembled a Hutu/Tutsi government, and ⬇️

A humble man remains decent during a civil war in his beloved country. He doesn't shy from the atrocities he witnesses. He also still has lingering anger toward UN for taking so long to get involved and being hesitant in calling the atrocities a genocide. Even though he lives in Belgium, his heart remains in Rwanda, and he continues to be afraid for its future, of another genocide. A MUST READ. #FoodandLit @Texreader @Catsandbooks

I‘ve started this audiobook tonight, my third book for #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

It was not the largest genocide in the history of the world, but it was the fastest and most efficient.

I watched Hotel Rwanda many years ago. When my youngest was watching it in her social studies class this past March, it left her unsettled, and she needed to talk. I knew what book I wanted to read to get more information. You can't explain hate, I know, but you can remember. #FoodandLit @Texreader @Catsandbooks

Obviously this is a hard book to read. I‘m just not in the right head space right now to read it. So I‘m going to mark it unread rather than bailed (it doesn‘t deserve a bad rating because I‘m not up to reading it now). I need something a lot lighter. So I‘ll find another book that might work better for me now. #Rwanda #foodandlit @Catsandbooks