Just finished this work of art today—loved it! Loved John Green‘s treatment of health (especially mental health in this one), and grief. Loved how I had to look up some art and music to see what the characters were seeing and that I wanted to do that. Characters ring true to life and are believable. Will be looking for anything else John Green publishes!
pickI enjoyed this audiobook and the author‘s premise that we are a society tearing itself apart from the inside because we don‘t act like a unified tribe...like a real community that soldiers-now-veterans had (when they were in war) and like traditional native and indigenous communities have. And the result is our violence and national PTSD. Without community and compassion to see our common humanity and struggle, we are all just dead inside.
pickSo this is a book for people who need discipline with themselves and others in order to get stuff accomplished... and live the life they want like not being spread too thin, and being on time, and not feeling manipulated or abused. A good wake up call with a heavy Christian current running through it but beneficial therapy for me at this particular point in my life. I‘ve learned to be more responsible for my own life and things are getting done!
@jesshowbooks #friyayintro
1. National Book Festival in DC! Then cleaning up my office which someone who will remain unnamed neglected and hoarded copious amounts of paper in...
2. I am in love with The Fault in Our Stars and Word by Word (tagged). Oh wait! There‘s Boundaries too! More on that later...
3. Pickles...relish...yuck!
4. Nope, but I am just now learning to ride a bike at the tender age of 33.
pickOMG. How did I not read this until now? I just spent 5-6 hours between last night and today devouring this perfect little book. I mean I gobbled it up, cried, sniffed, captured a lot of quotes. It was just perfect. I don‘t give a 5/5 easily, but this author...I mean, he just seems to understand humanity, emotion, anxiety, teenagers...the writing was so real and exquisite, completely human and humane. Tell me, would I like Turtles All the Way Down?
@Bookworm83 @tpixie I feel so dense. This is what my home screen looks like. I don‘t see any messages...or hashtags! How do I get to the messages on this platform. It is only giving me customization settings links.
pickJust finished this one. Feel good rom com...mode my lips turn up at the corners a bit! Now I‘m off to see the Netflix version! I think I‘ll like the text better though than seeing grown folks trying to play high schoolers navigating their feelings of what love is...🧐
so-soSo I finally finished. I found the different voices between estranged mother, child, and father to be interesting at first. In the end, I just felt sad and sorry for the messy situation that happened to the family that created those estranged voices. What makes this book so-so for me is that it just ended abruptly and haltingly. I didn‘t appreciate that after investing substantial energy into living these characters‘ lives 😂.
pickBeautiful book championing girls' education and indentured servitude in Pakistan. I enjoyed this much more than Written in the Stars. The plot was easy to digest and "easy" on the heart. Women seem bound to have a Cinderella narrative as a part of their lives whether in the "1stworld" or "3rdworld". There‘s always some evil plot to get us to do the cleaning, cooking, and maid work when we are not only capable but also driven to do so much more.
“Good manners, good morality, and good grammar all go hand in hand.” 😂😂😂
-from the chapter IT‘S: On “Grammar”
pickThis is gonna be a long one so brave yourselves as I have a monologue replying to myself to give you everything this book has got. WOW. What a voice this anthology has...as a group of different, diverse voices! It's a symphony of solos that touch each other, and it's worth your time...just like the best acapella.
pickJust finished this in 4 days after being on my TBR forever. A bit dark, but highly probable and believable. It‘s pretty depressing and I thought I‘d like it more as a major fan of dystopia and Octavia, but it‘s only 3/5 for me. I liked the preview of Parable of the Talents that came at the end more...I think hearing more voices and narratives than just Lauren‘s point of view is more intriguing. We shall see!
The Hate U Give will be out in movies in October! Looks like they are sticking close to the book! That means so much!!!! This was my fave read of 2017! YAAAS!!!
https://mobile.twitter.com/TheHateUGive/status/1011041282263678976/video/1
@Bookladylinda Hey, there! How are you—are you read to buddy read this? It was Octavia Butler‘s birthday anniversary yesterday, and though I have few editions of this book in hard copy and paper back, I prefer ebooks and just got the ebook yesterday. I‘m ready to start—how about you?
pickTeenage angst & curiosity. Questions whether love is worth the pain it causes. To care can be a gift and curse. Yeah, this one has YA stamped all over it. Not bad-the creativity of each chapter‘s design held my interest-but so predictable unlike The Sun is Also a Star, which I liked SO much more. I can‘t bring myself to watch the movie. But I will check out the MC‘s reading list and pick up a copy of The Little Prince and The Bluest Eye. 😉
pickFinished this last Saturday 4/28/18 and enjoyed it. Makes me want to write a prayer journal myself. I could relate to a lot of her sentiments..I wonder if Flannery ever read Rumi? Her words resound those of the mystics...we would have def been friends and gone to dinner parties together had we crossed paths in this life. It‘s nice that we are crossing paths through literature. Picked this up because Flannery is mentioned in Saints & Misfits.
pickBeautiful, inspirational and a literary delight to the senses! I just can‘t get over the fact of how much she accomplished given deafness and blindness. She lived stubbornly to pave her own path to joy. A lesson in gratitude and vulnerability and bravery to anyone who‘s game to listen. I wish she wrote more...do you know she loved to crochet and knit, too?!?
“Literature is my utopia.”
Just finished an audiobook of Helen Keller‘s autobiography with my kids and Helen Keller and I totally would have been friends. She speaks of book friends, tree friends, and overcoming adversity. She was a reader before she was even able to talk or write and loved the friendship of books...they never looked down at her or discriminated against her. How many lives we can live through literature!
pickPicked this up for poetry month and I‘m happy I did!! Raw, honest, tantalizing...feminine, sexy, genuine, hormonal—Kaur has inspired me to read more poetry! I think it will set the mood for my own writing and help me put things in perspective.
I went on a little adventure today with my mom for her bday. We found this place in B‘more where the books are COMPLETELY and TOTALLY FREE! You go in, you get books, you don‘t pay, you bring them home. Aaaah! It felt like it was my bday too!! Check it out sometime if you‘re ever on the East Coast! And make sure to donate some books too to keep the FREEdom going!
1. Female
2. 3 e‘s
3. Silver or Gold
4. White and Black
5. Roxane Gay
6. “That”
Thanks @RebelReader for your post! Thanks @Kaye for this little quiz!
1. My fave bookmarks these days given to me by @Bookladylinda . Books help us grow 🙂!
2. I can‘t seem to get through in 1984 and I‘ve been trying to read it since high school. This is the year to succeed though!
3. Leftovers (noodles, green beans, samosas, curried beef patties)
4. #diversevoices
5. Jean Auel‘s The Mammoth Hunters
pickA keeper! I read this book with my 8 y.o. to discuss and compare/contrast with the new movie remake of it. I enjoyed the movie and finished the book after the movie. I felt in awe with both. I love the themes in this book on equity vs. equality, on light vs. dark, on the power of love and pure essence...I was surprised at how deeply spiritual this book was and can‘t wait to read more from the Quintet. I hope the succeeding books don‘t disappoint!
Confession#1: I‘ve never tried Korean food before.
Confession#2: I dislike meal photos on social media.
After reading about Korean culture in this novel (esp. food), I saw kimchi at the grocery store and couldn‘t resist. It probably doesn‘t taste as good as it would in a restaurant but I just yearned to be closer to the characters! It‘s not so bad! Spicy, sour, and would go well w/ some bread and hummus in my book! First foodie photo ever!☝🏽
pickJust finished this lovely meal of a book. I love the interconnectedness theme. It reminded me of the movie Crash. Loved the characters. The plot. Everything, everything 😍. I look forward to reading more from this author. So many great quotes and love the #diverseread. Caused some deep thinking about love and how we all affect each other. A true feel good and beyond satisfactory read. Made the end of my day brighter.
I started Everything, Everything about a month ago and couldn‘t get into that girl‘s bubble. I started The Sun is Also a Star and I‘m sailing. In love. Juicing all the author‘s words for their emotion and connection to me and the world I know. I love her character descriptions. I love her monologue on “irie”. I love being able to relate...to teen angst amidst family pressure to “make it” and perform well, and identity-home struggles. 😍
YA and Fantasy Lovers—I‘m looking out for this in August. Excerpt and more about the book here: http://ew.com/books/2018/02/19/mirage-somaiya-daud-preview/
I‘m so excited Litsy already has a page for this before it has even hit the shelves!! 😍
Thanks @ElishaLovesBooks for the tag and thinking of me!! 😍❤️
1. Ebook (precisely for the ease of thumbing through text at all hours, not making a sound, with a big family)
2. 9, sometimes 9.5 or 10
3. Cookies! Lots of ‘em! Chocolate chip or Oreos or Fig Newtons or...😂
4. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and other 90s shows
5. @wearingskirts @noush #friyayintro Introduce yourself new Littens!
@jesshowbooks
Welcome Kathleen to Litsy @wearingskirts ! I have converted yet another soul to Litsy!! Yaaaaas! 😂 you‘ll find plenty of like-minded folks here...like other bookish knitters and crocheters, such as @julesG @RestlessFickleBookSlut @Michelle_mck @BookInMyHands To start and feel your way around this lovely community, just look up a book you adore—post about it or follow some folks who adore it too! You‘ll find plenty of recommendations, too!
pickHmmm...I considered giving 2 reviews, one non-spoiler, one def spoiler cuz I wanted to vent about what was happening in the book so bad. Wanted to punch and curse out a few folks & say WTF or WTH?? But I‘m gonna take a step back and say, if I have emotions like these surrounding a fictional character about what does happen to some in real life, then I guess that‘s pretty good writing. While there was nothing spectacular about the writing style👇🏽
“Do wardens expect gratitude from inmates for the luxuriousness of their cage?”
“Maybe, I think, if I don‘t look up, if I simply look down and never look up again for the rest of my life, the feelings buried within will never rise to the surface. I can accept the numbness instead of the madness that could follow.”
#friyayintro @jesshowbooks
1. Oreo ice cream cake or cookies n cream ice cream
2. La Casa de Papel
3. X by Ilyasah Shabazz
4. A year and some change
5. Okie dokie!
@Bookladylinda Stop whatever you‘re doing now and go check your mail! Your #dystopianblues package has been delivered! I shall now wait in complete anticipation until you open it....
@Bookladylinda OMG OMG OMG. Confession: the whole of December and most of January I was in a slump. Fear, grief, and anxiety...but not enough for a full panic attack though I almost got there. @Bookladylinda your #dystopianblues package totally brought me a smile. It‘s amazing how well you shopped when you don‘t really know me! I‘m so happy to be a proud owner of these bookish gems...especially THUG and Dear Fahrenheit451...con‘t 👇🏽
I couldn‘t wait any longer. It‘s been January 25th on my side of the world for around 7 hours and 45 minutes. From the looks of it, my #dystopianblues partner @Bookladylinda has been researching me and knows my fave color...I‘m totally being spoiled! Is it too early to eat chocolate if one hasn‘t had breakfast??😂
It‘s here, it‘s here @Bookladylinda @Mommamanzi !! I can hardly wait for tomorrow to open it!! It feels like it‘s my bday!! I‘m seriously debating whether to wait for 12 o‘clock on the dot or be in solidarity with you and wait for you to receive my package before opening mine!!! 🤔🤭🤗 I‘ll do the latter, cuz that‘s what‘s right!! I‘ll be stalking the tracking number until the ...I‘m so excited! I‘m gonna have to hide it from myself!!
It‘s on its way @Bookladylinda ! It took me a while and I rushed today but it has finally been done! Can u blame me? It‘s my first swap ever!!! So excited and I hope you like your goodies, too!!
Just started Written in the Stars, then will follow it up with The Bloodprint. Two books by Muslim female authors with ethnic origins in the Indian subcontinent. One of my resolutions this year is to get over my debilitating fears, anxieties, and grief from the past so I can move onward and upward—forward march! Saeed is talking about fears and control issues I know all too well. Loving it so far but anxious as to what I‘ll be hit with.
pickIt was so nice to wake up this morning and finish this—Jason Reynold‘s first book. If you are a knitter, into diverse reads, social justice, spectrum disorders, urban black studies, esp. regarding youth, you‘ll appreciate this. I‘ve read a few of his works but now am committed to reading all of the author‘s works. I now know why the title is as it is, but why does the cover clearly feature a crocheted gun rather than a knitted one?! 🤦🏽♀️🤣😂☺️
1. Bed, sofa, inside, outside, lawn chair, walking around—just about everywhere!
2. Random piece of paper 😂🤣
3. End at a chapter or at the end of a page with a full complete sentence FULL STOP.
4. Yup, usually tea and cookies
5. Nope
6. I‘m a book player
7. Everywhere
8. Silently
9. Never
10. I try my best not to break the spine!
11. No!
12. @RestlessFickleBookSlut @Foxyfictionista @ElishaLovesBooks
I‘ve never been to The Last Bookstore in LA but will now have to put it on my bucket list...Wow! Now this is how decorating with books should look! ❤️👌🏽👍🏽😍 I‘m learning a lot from IG today.
Someone posted this photo on IG today...it‘s supposed to be an upcycled chandelier I guess and it‘s in a nearby mall. But I‘m a bit hurt by it. I know it‘s upcycling...but it looks like a bad way to treat books. What do you think? I was taught that books had feelings too as a child...I don‘t write, underline, or highlight in them...let alone string them up by their covers!!😭😡🤬
The picture cut off Farewell Summer. Looks like I need to add quite a few to my TBR. I‘ve only read Fahrenheit 451, but it remains one of my fave novels to this day. Just sayin‘. #dystopianblues
pickJust finished Dear Martin in time for MLK‘s bday! Yaaaaaaas! Goal achieved! Quick read for me. And good. Liked the characters and made me smile...but if I were to put it up against The Hate U Give, I think The Hate U Give is a much stronger heavyweight and more fascinating read though they both deal with similar subject matter. The Hate U Give inspired me to action and awoke an activist spirit within me whereas Dead Martin preached to the choir.
Hey fellow Littens! One of my main goals of 2018 is to finish writing one of the few stories that tell themselves to me in my head. There is a question I‘ve been asking myself for quite a while now...and I need help! Though I‘m a big reader of dystopia, I have no idea what I‘d bring if my reality turned into the above and I had limited time to leave home. Will you help me out? #dystopianblues Thanks!!
#friyayintro @jesshowbooks
1. Neither!
2. Ready Player One!
3. Clean up the house and get some r&r!
4. Speak with the animals (I speak 4 languages now and feel confident that I could learn more if I really tried)
5. No minor but a double major—art education and international studies
I‘m not big on the fantasy genre, but this book is too tempting to pass up! It‘s not out yet—not until September—but write it down—A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney. Folks are calling it Alice in Wonderland meets Buffy Vampire Slayer. Here‘s the sneak peek of the cover and opening pages: http://ew.com/books/2018/01/10/ll-mckinney-a-blade-so-black-sneak-peek/
pickOh my goodness. If you work with children, especially in the middle grade age range, you need this book. Checked out this book from the library and totally adding it to the “to buy” list. The way the author approaches diversity and bullying in the subject matter is enough to win me over but the prose was great too! You‘re missing out if you haven‘t read it! I haven‘t read Brave but my 8 y.o. says Awkward is more about being brave than Brave is!
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