Welcome to Litsy!

Dorothy Allison died today. As if this week hasn‘t already been enough. Former Carolina girl, rambunctious out and proud lesbian, powerhouse writer. I was fortunate enough to meet her and hear her lecture twice. She was an inspiration to many. She will truly be missed.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. I will provide no description and no reason for wanting to read it. I just do. Some will be old, and some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookaDay2023

Happy Friday all!!!

I finished this with Cordélia in my lap, and I was glad for the comfort. This is a difficult book, subject matter wise. Well written, but gut wrenching. TW for child abuse and rape.
#bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

I started this for my #bookspin today and found this bookmark hiding inside. @TheAromaofBooks

Well this was devastating. An excruciatingly heartbreaking look at child abuse, told from the child‘s point of view. Very graphic.

It‘s also a tale of poverty in rural South Carolina in the 50‘s-60‘s. Unfortunately I don‘t think much has changed since then for those born into this kind of situation. Opportunity to get out of this sort of life is not easy to come by.

This very rarely happens in Texas! I‘m just North of Austin and we have 4-6 inches, depending on where you measure since it‘s fluffy drifting snow. And it‘s cold enough it didn‘t melt today at all. Even our grocery stores have closed!

I spent the day wrapped in blankets with this book. So well written but so sad! There‘s no way I‘m driving tomorrow, so I‘ll probably finish by then.

A friend recommended this classic to me a while ago. Excellent, upsetting and important are three words I‘d use to describe it. Semi-autobiographical fiction that felt very real, authentic and honest. Powerful and traumatic. Thank you Dorothy Allison 🙏.

#3books #thatmadememad

It‘s ironic that I really liked all these books but in certain ways they all made me mad!

The ending of Lovely Bones ruined the whole book for me and made me roll my eyes.

Crazy in Alabama had a few characters that I wanted to throttle and the social injustice of course is rage inducing.

Don‘t want to say too much about Bastard Out of Carolina because it‘s a spoiler but if you‘ve read it, you know what I mean.

Extreme content warning for anyone wanting to read this book! Without spoilers there‘s multiple Sexual assaults, read with caution. This book follows a girl growing up in South Carolina, it deals with class issues, abuse and other societal issues she faces. Bones mother was 15 when she was born, this sets the stage for how the towns folk treat her. The book goes through her life from birth to about 13 I think.

#7days7books Day 6
Books that changed me or had a lasting impression.

@Blueberry would you participate?

Yes, it‘s traumatic and distressing in places with depictions of abuse (physical and sexual). However, this is a must-read, given that it is a semi-autobiographical novel as well as a #bannedbook- we owe it to the author to allow her message to be heard.

#readingUSA 2019
#southcarolina

@TrishB @Cinfhen @Balibee146 @BarbaraBB - do give it a go, it has an underlying positivity too, and it fits the #bannedbook prompt for #booked2020....

I don‘t think I‘ve ever been so devastated by a book as I was at the end of this one. I‘m still thinking about it weeks later. I can‘t stop telling people about it either-it was so good and yet I hesitate to recommend it. It‘s about the titular bastard, a young girl named Bone who is growing up amid a rough but mostly loving extended family, tormented by an abusive stepfather. An extremely tough read but a very very good book.

Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.

Honest and raw portrayal of Appalachia through the eyes of a young woman. There are certainly difficult moments to read through as this book focuses on childhood abuse and her longing for escape, but Allison doesn‘t hold back from the beautiful or hideous moments, telling the tale of an often forgotten and misunderstood culture, full of impossibly strong people and their compelling narratives. #queerauthors

It‘s 2am and I don‘t have the words to accurately describe what this book has done to me. I was filled with rage, my heart broke, my eyes welled, my teeth gnashed, and I was struck speechless by the beautiful prose. Good books don‘t always make you feel good but they should show you something important.

It is a sad story for sure.

#amreading

I just answered a question on Jeopardy about The Jungle and classified it among my top three most disturbing reads. And of course that got me wondering...what are other Littens most disturbing reads? #disturbingreads #LitsyAfterDark

Currently reading, after the cat finishes napping on my book.

My next read looks sad but very good.

Post a book you love each day for 7 days, without review or comment, using the hashtag #7favesin7days in your post so we can keep it going.

Day 6

Now reading. #readingatwork

So, I think I read this book in high school and it's on sale. It's also been banned in some places, and I'm a sucker for banned books, because I don't believe in banning them. I usually buy banned books if they go on sale, so, I did.

#kindledeal #bannedbook

#bookhaul #getindie
I picked up Pegasus for Man Cub because he‘s interested in mythology at the moment and $4 isn‘t bad. If you have any suggestions beyond Rick Roardin for mythology books or series (it doesn‘t have to be Greek myth it can be any kind) I would welcome them.

This time “Carolina” refers to SC, but sometimes it means NC. And @Ash.on.the.line it totally counts to have part of the state‘s name when it‘s a two part name. #stateinthetitle #readingresolutions @Jess7

#LiteraryFiction #AroundTheYearIn52Books

#nov📚📷 #emojinov Day 1: #📚🔜

The bottom three books in this stack are books in progress. If I can finish All the King‘s Men by the end of the month, I‘ll jump into one of the top two books. #tbr

Already looking forward to my massive holiday reading binge in December..

Rearranged my #TBR shelf

My sister borrowed this book and mailed it back along with my 10 yr old's iPod.
And he thought the book was for him 😮😐😁😂🙄🙃😮

If you have trigger warnings, stay away from this book.

It's such a heartbreaking, challenging, but necessary story. It's one of those that you're glad it's told because it gives visibility to people who have experienced childhood rape and abuse, but you're sad that anyone should have to go through that. You're sad that story HAS to be told. It'll break your heart and shatter your soul, but it's such necessary read. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This book is one big ol' trigger warning, but if that doesn't deter you, it's an insightful and devastating read.

It's taking me FOREVER to read this because the abuse scenes are so real. This is absolutely a good book, but think twice if you have abuse triggers. 💜

Ruth Anne "Bone" Boatwright has a tough life and rowdy kin who fight hard but love harder. Mama has a string of heartbreaks that break her down so when Glenn comes along, it seems a gift. Bone and her sister are told to call Glenn "daddy" but young Bone knows what he says and does are things daddies don't do.
I found myself crying and raging over some intense scenes. Powerful, lyrical, compelling, and raw - I'll not forget this book any time soon.

Time to start my re-read. It's been a long time (20+ years), so it'll *almost* be like the first time.

This is not an easy book to read. At all. It wasn't as violent or graphic as I had expected based on some descriptions, which was nice, but those scenes were incredibly difficult to get through especially once you remember how old Bone actually is (I kept thinking she was WAY older). There's some nonsense and parts I skimmed a bit but overall, it's a powerful story about choices, abuse, poverty, desperation, family, love, survival, and humanity.

My newest #signedcopy. As I have posted about a million times I have loved this book since high school so being able to see her speak was incredible. #readingwomenmonth

Dorothy Allison was amazing at the San Francisco Public Library today.

#junebookbugs #lgbtqauthors

Read this book years ago, well worth the nomination of a finalist for the National Book Award.

I read this book when I was in high school, when it first came out, and I loved it beyond words, but I have not read it since, and have been wanting to. #soon

This was a really, really good book. So good, I want to read it again.

Cleaning is done for the day. Now it's time to #readabook and #relax

For the second time in less than a month I ordered a hard cover edition and received a paperback. I now have three paperback copies of the same book. Do I try again or give up?

San Francisco Littens- it looks like Dorothy Allison will be at the main library on June 3rd. This is one of my all time favorite books so I am planning to attend.

One for you, one for me. My new book, hiding my first #summersantagoespostal book purchase underneath. I'm really looking forward to this book. I'm sorry to say I hadn't heard of the tagged book until Litsy, not sure how it passed me by, but I can't wait to read. #summersolsticebookexchange @BookishMarginalia

#aprilbookshowers #ruralsetting Set in rural South Carolina. I have a weakness for books set in the rural South, Southern gothic, and the like.

This is probably the book I have #mostrecommended in my life. It is one of my all time favorites and I am always running into people who have never heard of it. #aprilamazingreads

My heart is broken. 💔I read this many years ago but I must have blocked out the last third of the book because it hit me like a sledge hammer. I think this book is important but man does it hurt.

Here is a short stack of some of my books that I #lovetorecommend. I had to stop myself it I would be late to work and the stack would reach the ceiling. #17booklove

This is actually dessert and not my entire meal I swear. It is just a lot prettier than the uninspired salad I threw together tonight. This book is one of my all time favorites so here is #mealandbookilove #17booklove

These are the books I'm committed to for February. I also hope to for in some recommendations from @Josie but these three are a lock.