Welcome to Litsy!

HAPPY #BOOKSPIN DAY TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE!

It is my favorite day of the month so two new books to add to my immediately read pile. My bookspin is the tagged and double is the windup girl. I did manage to read my bookspin for last month so I'm not behind like I usually am lol.

Should be require reading in Aus schools. A 'fiction' on the stolen generation and general colonisation of Australia, very blunt but well written. It shifts halfway through, a different perspective but a great way of teaching the risks and repetition of invasions.

I think Terra Nullius might have worked better if the metaphor had been explicit from the start. Instead of the Chapter 10 “gotchya” moment, Coleman could have placed us in her “dystopia” from the beginning and let the title make the parallels. My full review is up on the blog now: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/terra-nullius-claire-g-coleman/

Sadly, I just couldn‘t get past the glaring grammatical errors (so. many) or the dullness of the story to like this one. I wanted to! It just was too rough for me. #newyearwhodis #NYWD22

I‘m sure I‘m going to enjoy this even at 1/4 way in. The writing style is unfamiliar and I‘m a little uncomfortable that there are some contradictions than have me stopping and restarting the images in my head or questioning my comprehension of the text. 🤷🏼‍♀️Am I the only one bothered by this? Still, I‘m enjoying this.

Another story about what it was like to be a First Nation person in the early days of white settlement. A local author this is her first book. More truth telling.
#joysbooks2021
@MrsMalaprop

This book is the September pick for the Sword and Laser book club. It starts as a straight historical fiction of the invasion of Australia by the Europeans. The science fiction elements are introduced later on in the novel. I can see how this blending of genres might put off some people. I was captivated by the historical and the science fiction elements. It was not as face-paced as I would have liked, but overall it was engaging and thoughtful.

A definite worthwhile read. A little slow to start, but hang in there until about the 50% mark and it's worth it.

Definitely thought provoking and obvious parallels with the colonisation of Australia.

If I say anymore than this it will spoil the story.

It is rare that I am truly surprised by a book, but this one surprised me in more ways then one. This book made me feel all the feels. Sorrow, Rage, Hope, Shock. At times it was very hard to read on an emotional level and brought tears to my eyes and then another time my mouth was gaping open like a fish because I was dumbfounded. So happy that this book was apart of Round 11 of the #LMPBC. It was recommend that I go into this book ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

It‘s heeeeeeeeere! #lmpbc

#Booked2021 Winter COMPLETE 🎉🎉🎉

1. Set in Australia - Terra Nullius
2. SF written by a Woman - WarCross
3. Baked Goods on Cover - Well Read, Then Dead
4. #CovidHeroes - The Dutch House
5. Mustache on Cover - Jamaica Inn
6. Author's First Name starts with A/B/C - The Ice Queen (Alice Hoffman)

@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

This book is most effective if you go in knowing very little about what you're about to read. So I'll call it a pick and leave it at that!

This one will be heading out soon for its #LMPBC journey! @BookishTrish @Read-y_Picker @DinoMom

#Booked2021 - Set in Australia @Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

#DecolonizeYourShelves #IndiePress #IndigenousLit

Happy International Women's Day! Read Women! Read Internationally! Read!

#7books7days Day 6 (it‘s a day late!🤣)

Books that made a deep impression on me.

@CarolynM @MrsMalaprop

This book was nothing like I had expected. I thought it was going to be a story of the British colonisation of Australia and the impact on indigenous people. It sort of was, but also wasn't. Thanks for the thought-provoking recommendation, @Rissreads , and for letting me borrow your book 😊

#terranullius #clairegcoleman #australianauthors

Wow! Speculative fiction about the horrors of colonization in Australia. Go into it without knowing anything else, trust it, it's worth it. So glad I decided to try the #readingwomen challenge this year, this wouldn't have been on my radar if not for being featured on their fiction award shortlist. And so glad I went in pretty much blind, this blew mind.

The breathtaking inhumanity of the Settlers in Australia imposed upon the Natives is explored through the narrative of runaway “servant” Jacky. Coleman lulls the reader into this story before ripping back the curtain just shy of halfway through. I was shaken and unsettled by this tremendous novel and do not think it hyperbole to call it a masterpiece.

This book was very intense, violent, and eye opening. I didn‘t really know anything Australian/Aboriginal history.

There is a lot of fighting, abuse and killing. But I feel like this is a must read.

The book lagged a bit in the middle. But it picked back up and I didn‘t want to put it down.

#readingwomenchallenge - book off 2018 shortlist
#readharderchallenge - #ownvoices Oceania

#CurrentlyReading

This book is intense. I‘m learning so much about Australia‘s history when colonized by the British. Yes, this is fiction but I‘ve already taken a peek at the Author‘s Note so the story isn‘t true, but the circumstances of the Indigenous people are.

This book would work for anyone doing #Booked2019 for Indigenous author and #ownvoices for Oceania for the #ReadHarderChallenge

#SundayNightReading

Went to a great panel at All Day YA called Climate of Fear with Claire G Coleman, Lili Wilkinson and Neal Shusterman. I hope everyone in the audience went home to read Terra Nullius.

A lotta hype for this book. I enjoyed it although my buddyreaders did not.

As a story of colonization, this book was intense and powerful; as SF, it was less effective. I really wish the cover blurb had not compared it to LeGuin, Butler, and Atwood, three of my all time favorite authors, a comparison that was bound to disappoint. I am still counting it as a pick because it does provide a unique perspective worth reading, as long as you keep your expectations down to Earth.

Two-book Tuesday 📚🍵👍🏻

Initially, I was frustrated by this book. The writing style is almost poetic, but really just repetitive. The characters are weirdly flat and the plot takes a while to go anywhere. But then the author flipped my perspective on its head without my consent, like going up in a hobby plane to look at the local farms then the pilot starts doing barrel rolls. 😳 I ended up sort of loving it and appreciating it deeply, in spite of its imperfections.

I was bored by the first 100 pages of this, but then...well, I uttered aloud, “Oh, shit,” while reading on my kids‘ swingset in the backyard. No spoilers, but I‘m so in with this book now. I‘m even beginning to appreciate the repetitive rhythm of her writing and understand why the characters seemed so flat in the beginning.

I‘ve been working hard minimizing and spring cleaning for a few weeks, so now that we actually have some spring weather, I feel like I‘ve earned a glorious hour of sun-soaked reading time. Bonus: I just realized that this library sale find is signed by the author.

Happy International Women‘s Day! 📚❤️📚

Too tired to take a decent pic but I gulped this down in one (very long) sitting. The build up seemed slow at first but then things fall into place and it's worth it. This is an important book, and truly well crafted.

Terra nullius -- "empty land" -- was the doctrine with which white Europeans used as the basis for invading Australia. It was codified into Australian law until the 1990s, but the impact is still felt.

A society based on dominance, genocide, and colonization can only respond in certain kinds of ways.

You'll think you know where this story is going. Fans of Octavia Butler and Margaret Atwood must read this one.

Books read in January. Book of the month is Terra Nullius - HIGHLY recommend it

This is my Swiss Army Rec for the #24in48 42 hour challenge.

This is such an important book, I think every Australian, everyone who belongs to a culture that has colonised another, and every one living on colonised land should read it.

#alwaywasalwayswillbe

🖤💛❤️

Post apocalyptic fiction set in Australia -- the struggle between natives and settlers has been going on for more than a generation. Jacky, a Native, has escaped and the search is on to being him back. At the same time, Sistra Bagra's school/home for Native children is under investigation. This would be excellent for a book club or to pair with another read on colonization. #24in48

The cover from the upcoming Australian paperback of Terra Nullius. Scheduled for release mid year.

Eye catching isn‘t it?

Note: cover may change.

“We survived, have always survived,” he said with pride, “that Country where I belong, where my family belong, we have walked it forever, we belong there. It looks after us, and anyone else who tries to go there, it doesn‘t look after them so well.”

(Internet photo)

Escape. Pursuit. A desperate quest for freedom. In this impressive, red-hot novel that pays homage to Rabbit Proof Fence and other Indigenous Australian survival narratives, the action shifts between concurrent scenes in multiple Western Australia locations, gradually widening out into a much larger perspective on humanity. Wow. #IndigenousAuthor

(Author photo from Internet)

“Stealing something to eat, that is a crime that would get me flung into jail. Stealing everything, that is just good government.”

…it means ‘Nobody‘s Land‘ or ‘Empty Earth.‘ There were people in Australia when the United Kingdom came; there had been for tens of thousands of years. The declaration of Terra Nullius had the direct effect of defining the Native inhabitants as non-people.

It‘s 6am here in Aus so I‘m starting @24in48 . It‘s also a national day that is currently subject to a lot of debate. It marks the landing of the first fleet in Australia and the invasion and subsequent ongoing land theft and genocide of our Indigenous nations. So my TBR for the first day of the readathon is focused on this.

These were my favourite books for 2018. Not a bad bunch.
6 were #ozfiction
3 were non-fiction
I read 38 books and listened to 15. I‘m very happy with that, 53 in total.
In 2017 I had read 34. A big improvement.
I‘m hoping to physically read 50 books this year in 2019 plus 20 audio. Let the fun begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🧡💙💚🎉📚🎆💜💛❤️

3/5👽. It was weird and interesting.

My classes are done for the semester so I have 3 weeks of nothing but catching up on all the books I have been meaning to read 🤤🤤🤤🎊🎊🎊🙏🙏🙏🙏

What do these three books have in common? They are all post apocalyptic fiction by First Nations authors.(And they are all awesome!)

Wow, this book. It‘s so good and addictive. And just when I thought it was about one thing, bang it gets flipped on it‘s head! Definitely one for your TBR

#ozfiction
Wow! Wow! Wow! I just loved this book! This book has blown me away! Thanks to @MrsMalaprop for the recommendation and I shall use her words to describe the book ‘It‘s a mind fuck!‘
If that doesn‘t make you pick up and read this book then I don‘t know what will. You won‘t regret it, but go in blind so as not to spoil it! I don‘t understand how this book is not more well known?!?!?

Home from Hawaii, it was a wonderful trip and it felt forever long. Happy to have the opportunity to go and also happy to be home with my fur babies. Especially with having gotten very sick on the last day of vacation so I‘m curled up in bed with my #bookmail and watching movies while eating ramen.

HOLY CATS IT‘S TIME FOR FALL READING. This is a small sampling of today‘s new books! It‘s a HUGE new release day. Which ones are you excited to read? 📚❤️📚

A little reminder folks, Terra Nullius is FINALLY coming out in the US this week. Do yourself a favour and get your hands on it!

My weekend is all booked! My reading nest is stocked and I‘m ready for a weekend crash course in September 4th releases. What are you reading this weekend? 📚❤️📚