Welcome to Litsy!

Shifting timelines between India and the United States reveal the lives of a grandmother, mother and daughter — each longing for love and belonging but also independence. The misunderstandings and inability to connect with each other are heartbreaking. This is a well written and deeply affecting story of mothers and daughters.

I closed out 2021 with a 5 star read. Definitely in my top 3 for 2021. “What is more painful, the misplaced past or the runaway future? I do not know.” Happy New Year! 🥳

"Push away the past, that vessel in which all emotions curdle to regret."

Sad, beautiful novel-in-stories about three Indian/Indian-American women (grandmother, mother, and granddaughter). Missed chances, second chances, the need for redemption that may not come. Worth the read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Loved this multigenerational story! It's layout and shifting perspectives is gorgeous. The writing is amazing. Love love love.
It's been ony TBR so long and I'm so glad I got a chance to get into this novel.

A family saga about three generations of the women in a Bengali family. This is one of the more touching books I have read in a while. It‘s short at only about 200 pages. You should give it a try.

Someone wasn‘t happy that I moved her a little to pose for a picture, and I got yowled at... so this is the best I got. 😆
Time for #grateful21 !!
1 Booked flights for our trip to the Canary Islands this summer - expensive and scary but so exciting!! Anyone been to Gran Canaria and have tips?
2 Started both the tagged and an audiobook today - I love that new book clean slate feeling.
3 New team at work FEELS like a team, and I‘ve missed that

Read number eight for 2019

Interesting book... I loved reading about Indian culture and the immigrant experience. All three main women make hard choices, seeking self-identity and meaning, but often do it through rebellion and pushing away rather than leaning in. I‘m not sure that any happiness or meaning is found here. Recommend, but not a favorite.

This is a charming story about Mothers and daughters and events-both big and small-that have resounding affects throughout our lives. It‘s a story also about flawed people who don‘t often get it right, but who never stop hoping for better things. Though this wasn‘t a perfect book (the structure and early chapters especially felt a little rough), I‘m glad I read it.

I love books set in India/ Asia
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#FierceFeb #sheWorkshardfortheMoney
The industrious ladies in these moving stories humble me #readingWomen

From my TBR shelf
#anditsaugust. #southasianwriters
@RealLifeReading

a very good read

Satisfaction overwhelmed me. This was something I had achieved by myself,..

What is the nature of life?

... love can feel a lot of different ways, and sometimes it can hurt a lot more.

People get addicted to love. Or just to have someone around.
#amreading #currentlyreading #nowreading #currentread

'wondrously uneventful' evenings and days

Really enjoyed this book. It hits close to home in some parts. It spans 3 generations and the difficulties that they each face. Whether they chose to give up or continue trying at each obstacle they faced. Would recommend this book!

While we are waiting...
My older son with a HP book and me with a new read

#rockinmay #immigrantsong @Cinfhen

One of my favorites from last year , a story that spans a few generations of mothers and daughters. I read this as part of the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club ! #MMDBookClub

This is the first book I've managed to finish in a month. I've been in a complete rut, picking up and abandoning at least a dozen books. Not their fault but mine. This was the perfect salve for a worried mind.

I connected with the Houston and India settings and enjoyed the mother daughter relationships through the generations. This book will leave you craving Indian food!

This was my favorite completed book of January, but other highlights were a reread of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Lord of the Flies, and my current Read of Ship of Magic, which I'll count as a February book. Tags below!

What a beautiful, wonderful book. This story of three generations of an Indian family focuses primarily on the relationships between mothers and daughters. The female characters are all wonderfully flawed and complex individuals with dreams, disappointments and secrets. My favorite kind! I'm sure I've mentioned it before but I also love stories about families, especially messy and flawed ones. A fantastic story.

Book two for #diverseathon.

"Good daughters are fortunate lamps, brightening the family's name. Wicked daughters are firebrands, blackening the family's fame."
#LitsyA-Z

After reading this I want to learn how to make Indian Sweets. It's beautifully written. You can almost smell the curry cooking. As a very straightforward person, I have hard time understanding these women who hide so much from each other. Their bitterness effects not just themselves but everyone around them. The lesson in the end is that only you can make yourself happy.
#LitsyA-Z

When you can't get out of your vehicle cause your at a good part of Audiobook.
#booknerdproblems 🤓

Started this one for #diverseathon last night and I'm loving it so far! I'm trying to remind myself that the small contract job that I'm working on right now is almost over and how nice it will be to get the check! It has been taking all my nights after work for the past 1.5 weeks and I really wanted to just come home and read tonight! 🙄 Going to try to get a chapter in before I pass out. At least I had 24in48 this weekend, it's keeping me sane.

Little late posting this. A good story about the relationship between one line of woman throughout a few generations. #readingchallenge #litsyatoz #letterB

Savoring this one #winterreading

Enjoying this book, this cat and this fire

I really enjoyed this audiobook! Beautifully narrated by multiple readers, it follows the stories of three generations of women from India to the US.
#letterD #LitsyAtoZ #atleast5000milesaway #readharder

Just started this beautiful book

Loving this novel of linked stories. Divakaruni gets the shifts in time and perspective just right. If you love Jhumpa Lahiri, I highly recommend this one. #diversebooks #libraryfinds

A beautifully written quick read. Divakaruni excels in in honestly portraying our shared humanity by writing characters that I really care about.

Mothers and daughters. Also thieving. "I guess I didn't know then that mothers can't save their children even when they wanted to."

I would have likely bailed on this one if it hadn't been an audiobook. It just kept going and whining, and whining and going. In the end, it felt incomplete.

Here are my latest buys from Audible but I'm not sure which I should listen to first. Any recommendations out there for me? #photoadaynov16 #latestbookishbuys

Many years ago I worked retail. #Grateful I don't have to go anywhere near the mall. Great Audible buys last couple of days. Couldn't resist title Kill The Boy Bad. My Metalhead hubby will appreciate. #latestbookishbuys #booksnotblackfri
@RealLifeReading #photoadaynov16

This is the Audible daily deal today. At $2.95 I couldn't resist! This one explores the lives of three generations of women, beginning with the grandmother living in India, to the mom who immigrated to the US and finally her daughter who was born here. I'm about 1/3 through and love it so far.

“I guess that's when people call their mothers - when their world is falling apart.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

Truth!

Road trip! Two hours to destination and a very cranky tired baby has slept. Cannot wait to finish this great book! Will two hours be enough to finish this read? We'll see...

I'm having a moment. When I moved 16 years ago, my HS friends and I kept in touch through handwritten letters. We'd wait weeks for each other's reply. Except for 2 friends, none of us would meet again. There was no Skype, Facebook, or Whatsapp then. Today, we have all these ways to communicate. My DD has daily Skype calls with her grandparents. How time has changed! Reading this book, I feel terrible for Sabitri whose daughter wouldn't visit her.

Lol, that passage!

That's exactly what I told my husband too when our first babysitter asked for extra cash. Unfortunately for us, she left us prematurely. With the cash. 🙄😒

I had to take a break from this book (and reading) since Tuesday. I was too depressed to care. But now I feel better. Better enough to do some reading, which is now more important than ever. If there's something that will make us better people, it's books. And so I am back to this beautiful beautiful book by Chitra Divakaruni.

To read or to practice calligraphy? 🤔

I am so smitten by the art of handlettering and so I got a kit yesterday to try different styles. Can't wait to give it a try but I have got to read too!