Welcome to Litsy!

If I had to describe this book in 3 words it would be: devastating, horrifying, and important. Using time travel to show slavery through the eyes of a modern (for the time at least - I believe this was written in the 70‘s) black woman really drove home just how strong the characters had to be to simply survive in the past and kept me hanging on to see if Dana would be able to do it and somehow settle back into her life in the present. I can‘t ⬇️

Not much better this week! 12/100 #TLT

Survey link: https://www.listchallenges.com/litsy-ap-literature-free-response-titles-list-2

Some highlights
1. Kindred
2. The House of the Spirits
3. The Great Gatsby

⭐️⭐️⭐️I loved the concept of this book but found myself super frustrated at the characters. The snapshots of being thrown back to the slave era times was an excellent idea. But using time travel as the tool yet not ever addressing it left me underwhelmed.

I started reading her with The Parable of the Sower, which is so good (go read it now!). This book is also good but not as engrossing or thought provoking. Didn‘t love the two main characters relationship. But the way slavery became real in this story is profound.

Love Butler's work. Rough to read but always important.

#SundayFunday“ @bookmarktavern
I think this book is one of the Platonic ideals for time travel/ science fiction because it doesn't ignore the very real consequences of someone from one time and one contxt, and more importantly a set of rights, would face in a different time. Love recommending this.

Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
What are you reading?
#boleybooks #kindred #octaviaebutler #bookbeast #bookbuds #bookchat #libby

What an amazing read!

For the rest of my review, visit my Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/HVkpbRzuWeQ

Enjoy!

This has hands down one of the best protagonist- antagonist relationships I've read in recent memory. The main character and her white, slave owning ancestor are two people who shouldn't know each other, and Butler writes their interactions like she is herself curious to find out what would happen if a black woman from modern times had to confront a slave holder. There is something unnerving about this realism in an inherently unreal context 👇

I loved this book so much. It could be a considered a horror novel—though not in the sense that you normally think of. Horror that deals with the monsters of humanity, not the supernatural. Hulu adapted it onto the screen but didn‘t renew it for a second season. The year is 1976, in CA, when Dana is suddenly ripped through space and time back to the year 1815, onto Weyland Plantation, VA. She soon realizes she is tied to a child there, the⬇️

#TuesdayTunes @TieDyeDude
Today was a soul/funk day: highly recommended when you need to reduce work stress but also fight drowsiness. When I was choosing the book for this post, I realized my Rufus listen may have been subconsciously inspired by a character of the same name from Kindred, which I'm reading now. And that, in turn, made me wonder if Octavia Butler was a Rufus fan since the novel was released right around peak Rufus popularity 🤔🤯

This book had me thinking all the way through, run! No stay! No run! No stay! What a moral dilemma Dana faced as a slave. Protect myself or protect others? This book is brutal, some of the themes were so hard to read but it‘s a must read. A time travelling historical novel set in 1815 in the Antebellum South. In an interview Butler said ⬇️

It‘s been a while since I‘ve posted my read reviews, so I‘ll have a blast of a few. I loved this book! A lovely combination of fantasy time travel and historical fiction.

#Movie2BookRecs @Klou
Movie: Till

Let‘s talk about my best books of 2023. It‘s been a pretty good reading year, so I had to really think about this list. But I finally narrowed it down. And is it really any surprise that a Brandon Sanderson book is at the top of my list?

What books did you love this year?

For my full thoughts check out my blog post: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/12/29/the-best-books-of-2023/

It‘s a wrap! With a few tweaks (and assuming Dracula fits for “featuring mythology,”) this book by Octavia Butler completes the final prompt needed for #52bookclub2023” 🥳. A great way to finish—Loved this book! Another one that had languished on my TBR pile for too long!

#rushathon #littenlistens

A dark time travel/historical fiction story of a woman who is forcibly transported from 1976 to the antebellum south Maryland. There are layers upon layers to this story, and I highly recommend going in knowing little. I really enjoyed this, though definitely not an easy read. 4.5⭐️
This was on my #DecemberTBR but I finished it so fast!

I was a little worried about the Octavia Butler prompt for the #52bookclub challenge. I'd previously read Parable of the Sower, and was not a fan. But I'm so glad I chose this book! While it can obviously be difficult to read (it does address horrors of slavery, after all), it was incredibly well-written and engaging -- I didn't want to put it down. Definitely worth picking up!

@Endowarrior21 @Readergrrl Have you read any of these? Let me know!!

Simultaneously harrowing and hard to put down.
How to God did Dana survive all that?! (How did anyone?)
OB's characterisation of Rufus will continue to provoke me: acting in accordance with the norms of his culture, he is monstrous. He is not *a monster*, though: she makes him *understandable*, which is infinitely worse.
Powerful book, this!

Interesting concept blended sci-fi/fantasy with the historical perspective on life for enslaved people in the early 1800s. Written in the late 70s. Confronts many big topics with surprises all along the way. Well written.

This is a good story, more fantasy than sci-fi since there‘s no explanation nor interest in the means of time travel, just in the meaning & consequences of the trips. I had a more complicated reaction to it than pals of mine. Following a modern Black woman from the 1970s to the early 1800s in the American south is a harrowing journey. Saving a slave-holder relative must be so hard: it‘s humane, but it also permits his continuing (see comments…)

The night of my last day of school has me starting this beauty. I read this many moons ago so when the graphic novel came out I just had to have it. I am definitely intrigued with time travel but only if I can choose the when and the where. The turmoil the main character experienced was one I won‘t forget and reading it definitely took me on a roller coaster ride.

Wish I hadn‘t waited so long to read this.

This was a heavy read, but worth it. I know Octavia Butler wrote mainly sci-fi, but this to me felt like historical fiction (but with time travel). Painful to read at times, so accurate that it made my heart hurt. Written in 1979 but some eerie parallels to our current society and world. #booked2023 #afrofuturism #tbrtarot #pictureonspine

It was an interesting story idea, but I felt it lacked the bones to be truly good, and in the end, I kind of wished Dana hadn‘t succeeded in saving her many times removed great grandfather that first time, just so the story would be over. It was almost a DNF.

February absolutely flew by but I was able to squeeze in several good reads. And definitely found a new favorite. I can‘t stop thinking about Kindred!

My full wrap up: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/28/february-2023-wrap-up/

Every now and then a story comes along that completely changes the way I view the world, and this was one of them. Seriously, I could gush for hours, but please just go read Kindred. It‘s a true masterpiece.

Full review: https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/27/kindred-review/

Interesting book, unsure what I think so far...

AMAZING!!!! Easily a new favorite. I can‘t believe how long it took me to read this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We spent the weekend in Birmingham so I just had to stop into this gorgeous bookshop at Pepper Place. Oh, and if you‘ve never been to Pepper Place you need to because it‘s amazing. That is all.😍😍😍

https://wildwoodreads.com/2023/02/17/a-weekend-in-birmingham-al/

I read this book as last of the 52 Week Reading Challenge. The prompt was to read a book by Octavia E.Butler.She writes sci-fi, which I don‘t normally like.I was wrong about this book. I found it interesting that it showed slavery from the view of a modern day black woman and from the view of a black woman in the 1800s.This woman just happens to be the same person. Believe me when I tell you that this book is very good, and I highly recommend it

I had the great privilege to be in DC last month for a few days with PPFA. On my first day, I had to stop in Capitol Hill Books! A historical, well loved, tiny book store that is a book lover‘s dream. L bottom picture is looking out from one of the windows shown in the top R pic! I bought a copy of Kindred while there. Last pic: hotel bed has built in book lights!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ½ • Fun fact: I live in the small suburb just north of Seattle that Octavia Butler lived and died in. My local bookstore was her local bookstore!

More historical fiction than science fiction and the hardest parts to read were the parts that once were a reality. I realize that I am privileged and ignorant of this time period, and this book yanked me into Dana's ordeal in a personal, brutal way and taught me so much. Deserving all the stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I rarely read sci-fi or fantasy but got an early start on my book club‘s pick. I enjoyed this and it made me reflect on how so little was taught or mentioned about slavery during my 1970s public education in South Carolina.

Second read for book club and to read while the new tv series is on! A classic, for sure, and so confounding to this day. I like that the series has moved the modern timeline into the near-present. It's so hard to get into the racial mindset of the 1970s and know enough to figure out the dynamics. Confounding!

So good! Time traveling slavery sci-fi that is brilliantly done. #audio #2 #2023

Worked hard getting both trees & all the Christmas decor packed away (ugh) so now it‘s time for lazy reading & football watching. 🙌🏻 This my first Octavia E. Butler! Thoughts? Only a few chapters in, but intrigued.
#52bookclub23 #abookbyOctaviaEButler

My top 22 reads of 2022. This was hard to narrow down 😊 Cheers to 2023 🥂

I almost can't forgive myself for having waited this long to read this book for the first time. Wow. That's all I can think to say because of how powerful it is, particularly for being so far ahead of its time. Literally.

And on a personal note: as a mixed kid who grew up in this often horrible world to become the woman I am today, it cut me deep.

✔️Headed toward the finish line with “Kindred” starting the series this week!📺

Re-reading Octavia Butler‘s “KINDRED” forty-three years since publication. A new Hulu series!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Timeless novel written in the 70s. Dana, a Black woman, lives with her white husband. She gets transported back to 1815 Maryland, interacting w/ her ancestors, both black and white. The novel explores how people survive under oppressors, how easy it is to slip into roles & how difficult it can be to escape them, the difficult moral choices people make to survive, & the complicated relationships between oppressors & oppressed.

In Kindred, Octavia Butler weaves a historical science fiction story of time travel with Dana Franklin, who is called back in time to a slave plantation of her ancestors, exploring the horrifically real lives of slaves and slave owners. The intensity and graphic nature of Dana‘s experiences are masterfully played out in first person past and present perfect tenses, which had a gripping effect.

Starting this next on audio before the show comes out!

There are multiple layers to Kindred. At once it‘s complex and simple, Sci-fi and not Sci-fi, fiction and nonfiction. The beginning suffers a bit from “first-part-itis” — the dialogue can be cringeworthy and the fact that Butler allows her characters to accept what‘s happened with little question is a bit distracting. The dialogue does improve, however, and the story is so good and so important that these minor flaws don‘t matter by the end.