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Before We Visit the Goddess
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
90 posts | 80 read | 109 to read
A beautiful, powerful new novel from the bestselling, award-winning author of Sister of My Heart and The Mistress of Spices about three generations of mothers and daughters who must discover their greatest source of strength in one anothera masterful, brilliant tale of a family both united and torn apart by ambition and love. The daughter of a poor baker in rural Bengal, India, Sabitri yearns to get an education, but her familys situation means college is an impossible dream. Then an influential woman from Kolkata takes Sabitri under her wing, but her generosity soon proves dangerous after the girl makes a single, unforgiveable misstep. Years later, Sabitris own daughter, Bela, haunted by her mothers choices, flees abroad with her political refugee loverbut the America she finds is vastly different from the country shed imagined. As the marriage crumbles and Bela is forced to forge her own path, she unwittingly imprints her own child, Tara, with indelible lessons about freedom, heartbreak, and loyalty that will take a lifetime to unravel. In her latest novel, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni explores the complex relationships between mothers and daughters, and the different kinds of love that bind us across generations. Before We Visit the Goddess captures the gorgeous complexity of these multi-generational and transcontinental bonds, sweeping across the twentieth century from the countryside of Bengal, India, to the streets of Houston, Texasan extraordinary journey told through a sparkling symphony of voices.
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review
rachelk
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

Reggie I love Chitra. She has some great short story collections and her Sister of My Heart is one of my top ten books of my life. 3y
rachelk @Reggie Thanks for the recommendation! I just added it to my tbr. 3y
jlhammar I loved this book! 3y
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rachelk @jlhammar Yes! Her writing is so powerful. 3y
Pinta Chitra has such an amazing ear for dialogue—she warned me that friends and fam are always on the alert because they‘ve learned how well she listens! 3y
rachelk @Pinta Oh that‘s interesting! I bet they are on alert! 3y
49 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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BekahPat
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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! 🥳

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PickettT
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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"Push away the past, that vessel in which all emotions curdle to regret."

1 like1 stack add
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MaureenMc
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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heatherspoetlife
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

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suvata
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

Texreader Stacked! 5y
suvata @Texreader I don‘t think you will be disappointed. 5y
MeganAnn Stacked! Great review! ❤️ 5y
suvata @MeganAnn Thanks 5y
Tamra I will! 5y
61 likes6 stack adds5 comments
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mcipher
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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

kspenmoll So glad new team feels like a team- so essential!! 6y
mcipher @kspenmoll It is such a nice difference from my last team - they were nice but in another country and felt really separate. 6y
Dragon 😻 6y
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Eggs Team — underrated but so important 6y
Buechersuechtling A team at work – I know what you mean. Having the chance of a chitchat now and then and someone to ask when a nut needs to be cracked. Plus getting the chance to be a colleague, too. Well … Conclusion: sometimes the obviously little things aren‘t so little and all. 6y
mcipher @Buechersuechtling @Eggs Yes! I‘m not feeling “in” yet but it‘s so nice to see them all together and it‘s only a matter of time til I feel really part of it. 6y
79 likes6 comments
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Bourriquet76
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Read number eight for 2019

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thea-block
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

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Kmmsellers
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

erzascarletbookgasm Lovely bookmark, seems to match the book cover! 7y
39 likes1 comment
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huntersmom1977
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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

BookishMe Her other book, retelling of Hindu mythology, is even more incredible 7y
BookishMe One of my favourites is Amitav Ghosh's 7y
huntersmom1977 @BookishMe Thank you so much for the suggestions! Both look very intriguing and added to my TBR 7y
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BookishMe 👍🏽 happy reading! 👍🏽 7y
BiblioLitten @BookishMe a very good choice! Sisters of my Heart is good too. 7y
BiblioLitten @BookishMe mine too! Beautiful writing ❤ 7y
15 likes6 comments
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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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#FierceFeb #sheWorkshardfortheMoney
The industrious ladies in these moving stories humble me #readingWomen

BookishMe @Cinfhen it made me guilty for not always appreciating how privileged my life is 7y
Cinfhen Same!!! 7y
batsy Lovely picks that I must check out! 7y
BookishMe @batsy if you haven't read either author's a must read is Divakaruni's 7y
30 likes5 comments
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Alytrue
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks So pretty ❤️ 7y
48 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Bookiesh
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Pickpick

a very good read

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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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

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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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What is the nature of life?

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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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... love can feel a lot of different ways, and sometimes it can hurt a lot more.

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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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People get addicted to love. Or just to have someone around.
#amreading #currentlyreading #nowreading #currentread

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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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'wondrously uneventful' evenings and days

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D2tyler13
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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!

1 like1 stack add
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BookishMe
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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While we are waiting...
My older son with a HP book and me with a new read

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Crinoline_Laphroaig
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Cinfhen Have you read it? It's been on my TBR for ages....should I bump it up?!? 8y
Crinoline_Laphroaig @Cinfhen I listened to it. Really good but you'll definitely be wanting Indian food afterwards. Especially the grandmother's sweets. 😊 8y
Cinfhen Good to know, thanks 💕 8y
41 likes1 stack add3 comments
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Freefallinmissy
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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

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razmanda
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

bookwrm526 Wait, does that mean you didn't finish the book club book?!? 8y
razmanda @bookwrm526 Nah, read that in late Jan. Probably contributed to the funk I've been in. 8y
bookwrm526 @razmanda ah, yeah, I put it off until March and was alternating between chapters of it and chapters or lighter things to help lessen the impact! 8y
22 likes3 comments
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BookShark
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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!

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Soubhiville
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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!

67 likes5 comments
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Yamich49
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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.

melissajayne Bought this book and glad to hear of the positive review. 8y
Yamich49 @melissajayne Yes! I hope you enjoy it too! It's beautifully written and actually a pretty quick read. 8y
72 likes7 stack adds2 comments
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Crinoline_Laphroaig
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

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

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Crinoline_Laphroaig
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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

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Crinoline_Laphroaig
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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When you can't get out of your vehicle cause your at a good part of Audiobook.
#booknerdproblems 🤓

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Yamich49
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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.

Kalalalatja What a beautiful book! 😍 8y
Soubhiville I really enjoyed this book. 8y
christineandbooks I loved this book with all its intertwining stories. But I read it on my Kindle so I didn't get to really appreciate the lovely cover! Good luck getting your work done...hope it goes quickly! 8y
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ErikasMindfulShelf I really liked this one. Bought two more of her books after reading it but haven't gotten to them yet. 8y
Yamich49 @christineandbooks Thanks! Finally done and feeling much better! @Kalalalatja Isn't it gorgeous? 8y
Yamich49 @Soubhiville Good to hear! I'm enjoying it so far and may finally have more time tonight to read more of it! 8y
Yamich49 @irre Oooo you'll have to let me know what you think when you read them! I really like her writing style so far. 8y
59 likes4 stack adds7 comments
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Lizbeth
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Mehso-so

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

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MartiW
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Savoring this one #winterreading

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MartiW
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Enjoying this book, this cat and this fire

BookishMarginalia 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 8y
8 likes1 comment
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Soubhiville
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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

Dolly Pretty cover! 8y
NovelGirl82 That's a really pretty cover! It sounds super interesting, too. 8y
BookishMarginalia 👍🏼 8y
71 likes7 stack adds3 comments
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MartiW
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Just started this beautiful book

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librarian365
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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

abbylibrarian I've got this one on my TBR stack!! 8y
librarian365 @abbylibrarian you will love it! 8y
Laetitia.Michau Just finished this...absolutely stunning. A+! 8y
9 likes1 stack add3 comments
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RoBa
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Pickpick

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

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Sararl77
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Pickpick

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

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Soozanne
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Panpan

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.

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v_cuev
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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

Megabooks Dreamland!! It was one of my tops this month!! 8y
MarticaMustRead I really enjoyed "Before we visit the Goddess " and it's a pretty quick read so I'm assuming it would be a fairly quick listen as well. 8y
27 likes2 comments
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Crinoline_Laphroaig
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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

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Soozanne
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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.

2 likes1 stack add
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CherylC
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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“I guess that's when people call their mothers - when their world is falling apart.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Before We Visit the Goddess

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readingonarainyday
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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Truth!

25 likes1 stack add
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readingonarainyday
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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...

CoffeeAndABook Such a good shot!! Did you geht through in time? 8y
readingonarainyday Not yesterday but done just now! Still on time - I wanted to be done before lunch today so all good. 🙂 8y
CoffeeAndABook @readingonarainyday 👍🏻 👍🏻 In case you're still on that trip - have a good time visiting & a peaceful bookish ride back 😉 And otherwise - just a great relaxing Sunday 😄📺📚👨‍👩‍👧☀️ 8y
23 likes3 comments
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readingonarainyday
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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.

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readingonarainyday
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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. 🙄😒

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readingonarainyday
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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.

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readingonarainyday
Before We Visit the Goddess: A Novel | Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
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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!

Redwritinghood It's so much fun. I've taken a couple of classes and pull out my supplies from time to time. 8y
readingonarainyday @Redwritinghood So glad to hear that you enjoy it too. I'm more of a beginner so I can't wait to learn more techniques. 8y
23 likes2 comments