Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m biggie sizing my hygge hour today. We‘re getting rain for the first time in over a month and I‘m going to sit still and celebrate that.

Check out an award winning book recommendation by Kim on Book Interrupted‘s Manuscript Monday here: https://www.bookinterrupted.com/post/manuscript-monday-the-break

Tough to read, tougher to review. Multiple narrators (at least 10, one of whom is not named at the top of her passages, and only one in first-person) in this multi-generational family story of surviving both specific and general trauma; lots of sentence fragments; present-tense writing (except when it‘s not) - it‘s a lot to track. It‘s good, but tough. Vermette is an indigenous Canadian writer, and very promising. TWs below.

An emotional page turner - this one is realistic, with a haunting violence that permeates the pages and adds an edgyness that feels authentic and experienced. Vermette can tell a story that is for damn sure!

Not a cheery holiday read by any means, but one with resilient, tough women who take care of one another in a brutal world.💕

Hunkering down for a blizzard. ❄️💨 This seems to be an apropos pick and one I‘ve been wanting to read in print for quite a while. I‘m thrilled to see the favorable Litsy reviews.

Bleak and heart breaking this book also shows the resilience of women as they support each other and their families in the face of prejudice, violence, and poverty. I thought this book was fantastic.

It‘s hard to describe how this book is both heartbreakingly tragic, yet wonderful at the same time… very well written, I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Started listening to this recently. It's been on my #tbr for a while.
And it so happens, today is the national awareness day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 💔
#mmiwg

Just a couple chapters in and I‘m already crying.

Katherena Vermette's The Break, which was the focus of the most recent @readwithtoni buddy read, is a brilliant novel set in Winnipeg and centered on a tragedy at the heart of a Métis family.⠀
⠀
The novel begins with a family tree, and that was definitely a sign of things to come. The narration alternates between ten characters—mostly women—whose connections aren't immediately clear. ⬇️

This broke my heart.

I‘ve been meaning to read this one for awhile, so was happy to see the audio had no waitlist today.

Well written and a great reflection on cultural issues and cycles of poverty and violence but the story line was rather bleak.

Thanks to @andrew61 for putting this book on my radar. Told in multiple POVs, Stella a young indigenous mother, witnesses a crime through her window but based on both her heritage and location it‘s nearly 4 hours before the police arrive bringing with them their own prejudices. It‘s an honest but bleak look at stereotypes, cultural differences and unacceptable norms, cycles of violence & aggression especially towards native women. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I just love getting mail and I‘ve been blessed these last couple of weeks! Thanks @mcctrish We are reading Station Eleven for book club next season and I am very excited! Thanks for the cards @StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego @sherryvdh @Pricel101 and @PurpleyPumpkin I can‘t wait to get back to you!

Here is my book haul from the Saskatchewan Festival of Words held in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I spent a lovely weekend listening to author readings, going to my first ever poetry slam, and attending a cookbook inspired rooftop dinner. #canlit #readthenorth #canadianauthors

🚨Unpopular opinion alert!
I struggled to get through this melancholy tale of a family and their challenging relationships. While I enjoyed learning about the history of the Canadian Metis people, the rest was a slog. I didn't find the multiple narrators necessary as they all had a similarly sad voice and felt repetitive. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to discussing in book club tonight! 🤓

🚨🚨PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨🚨US #KindleDailyDeal $2.99 for this much loved book, it‘s getting tons of #LitsyLove FYI @MicheleinPhilly 😘😘

#booked2019 from top left clockwise, indigenous, musician, drink on cover social media, night, clifi.
I really enjoyed this spring challenge which combined 3 books sat on my shelves unloved for a while but were hits, two that I'd no knowledge of but were 5*, and the jon Ronson which was bit scary.
Thanks again for hosting, i hope to finish my 1st summer rd today @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage

I ❤️ 🇨🇦 Going into the Canada Day long weekend reading some #canlit! Been meaning to read this one for awhile and the time has come. #readthenorth #canadareads #winnergovernorgeneralsawardforfiction

That feeling when your home is filled with hundreds of unread books and yet more than half of your immediate tbr stack is borrowed 🤔

It‘s not often that a book with a lot of reviews on Litsy has a 100% rating. The Break is deserving of all the awards and accolades it‘s received. The book begins with Stella, an indigenous woman who witnesses some type of assault one night. The Break then takes us on a journey as the circumstances are unraveled. Extremely well done.

Thanks to @Cathythoughts and @andrew61 for bringing this one to my attention!
A heart breaking story at the centre and lots of tough stories about the trials and tribulations these women have gone through. But a compelling look at families and supporting and getting each other through things.
Awesome read, tough themes.
#indigenousauthor #booked2019

I loved this #BlameItOnLitsy #BlameitonAndrew61 glad not to have missed this one 👍🏻. Generations of women all woven into this story set in Winnipeg against the stark snow & What happens to their girl. The truth spoken is breathtaking. Harsh story , beautifully written

#MayMovieMadness it took me a little while to get into this one .. but #DontStopMeNow as I am reading this well written & heartbreaking story ( so glad today is the May bank Holliday here ♥️👍🏻📖

Next up .. I‘m giving this one a go ! A recent Litsy recommendation 🤞🏻

Indigenous author
Oh i loved this one - A Metis young mum seperated from her family +feeding her baby son in the early hrs looks out to see a horribly violent assault in the snow. Through 10 characters we then see the impact of this incident on their lives, with strong native female family characters the bk looks at tradition, family ties, the underside of a community +violence +
#booked2019 @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen ⏬

A beautiful heart breaker of a book that ends full of hope

This book is breaking my feminist heart, yet, simultaneously building it back up.

Taking a break from laundry 🧺

Winter is killing me, I need sun and warm and green things

Starting this and I can picture exactly where it starts #Winnipeg #universityofmanitoba #imatrailblazer

I have been feeling like I‘m going through my Christmas book pile too fast, my reading game has been strong lately. So I bought 4 books between today and yesterday plus borrowed a library book off my sister. I get a bit crazy when the stack beside my bed isn‘t big enough

The Break begins when a young mother witnesses an assault committed outside of her house on a snowy, isolated strip of land in Winnipeg. Although centered around this horrible crime, this is a not a mystery novel, but rather a novel about the relationships between four generations of Indigenous women. These women‘s voices, relationships, and experiences are difficult to read, but incredibly realistic. The Break is a powerful and haunting read.

I finally picked up this book again after starting it last Canada Reads. It is a near perfectly conceived book, one that feels fresh at the same time as it makes you wonder how it hadn't yet been written before this. It is a slow build which is why it took me a while to read, but the last third of the book is exquisite. The vignettes of the lives of these women are luminous here, vivid, subtle and alive. This book should have won Canada Reads.

Just finished Becoming and Educated. Both were great and although this is very different, I‘m really getting into this. Not an easy read, but I care for these characters.

What a jewel. I do not as a rule do well with books in the present tense but I was compelled through this book in three days. Amazing work.

This book is beautiful. Incredibly sad. Incredibly important. I‘ll be thinking about it for a while.

Day 9 of the @bookriot #Riotgrams challenge: Native and Indigenous reads! These are four of the best books I‘ve read this year, easy. ❤️📚❤️

#Quotsyjuly18
#break

The Break broke me. Generations of women tell different snapshots of their story. First, Stella sees a crime unfold outside her window. She calls the police, but they dismiss her- she's a woman, and she's Métis. Emily and Ziggy go to a party. Phoenix finds herself alone. Their mothers and grandmothers have the same stories & memories-and the thread uniting them is that no one listens. They are women, and they are métis.

Book 18 of #52Booksin2018

While this title started off strong, I found that the ending dragged a bit. Despite that, I really loved all of the characters. I was grateful for the family tree at the beginning of the book as it helped me to keep track of who was who. A gritty and realistic read about some pretty important and timely topics.

This was a fantastic book about a large métis family in Canada. I've noticed some reviews saying that it was hard to keep track of all the characters. It is an unconventional story in that it jumps back and forth between different characters and across different times (so probably not the best books to take big breaks in between reading). But the writing is good, and the author such a could story-teller that it works ??❄️

At the beginning of the year I decided I'd buy one brand new book per month, from an actual bookstore, with a focus on female- or enby-authored titles I hadn't heard much about. Trouble is, I skipped April because I bought so many used novels and I ended up doing the same in May on account of my library stack.

On the plus side, I only spent $12 on books and most of my purchases were things I'd already read, so La TBR barely suffered.

Very tightly constructed novel about an attack on a young girl and her friend. It took me a couple of chapters to get pulled in -- there are a lot of POV in this one, but ultimately it was a very effective way to look at the crime and the lives of those impacted from all angles. It's set in a community of both settler and Indigenous people and those themes run throughout. Excellent storytelling.

Katherena Vermette's book just added another prize to its impressive list. It won the french Canadian Canada Read. I've been voting for it since Monday. I have two books totally different for the week-end. Here's hoping that the weather will be nice enough to read outside. #weekendread