Welcome to Litsy!

This is a brutal book. It describes, in relentless detail, the death one suffers from desert heat. This is the daily reality for some who walk from Mexico to the United States. What is the solution? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was hard to read. There's so much corruption, crime, and tragedy in the story. 26 men from poverty-ridden areas of Mexico just wanted to make a better life for their families but were exploited by many and paid a high price. #ReadingTheAmericas2023 #UnitedStates #JoyousJanuary @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB @Andrew65

A must read, a skillfully executed narrative of one example of the daily tragedies occurring along the United States / Mexico border.

I had the great pleasure of meeting the author at a book event. He is an engaging speaker! I have read some of his fiction and loved it. This nonfiction account of the tragic deaths of immigrants crossing the southern border is excellent. Urrea describes the people who make the dangerous crossing with insight and compassion. This is a powerful book.

January books! I feel like I never have much time to read anymore so I‘m pleased with 5 total 👏🏻. There were more so-so novels than amazing ones this month. I gave Devil‘s Highway 4 ⭐️ as it was so interesting, and definitely saved the month! Fallen Skies was one of the worst books I‘ve ever read 😅 hoping things look up in February!

“Cutters read the land like a text. They search the manuscript of the ground for irregularities in its narration. They know the plots and the images by heart. They can see where the punctuation goes. They are the landscape grammarians, got the PhD in reading dirt.”

Absolutely love Urrea‘s style of writing. Incredibly interesting read; also quite disturbing. Have a glass of water handy.

I started a new book this morning, then my cat tried to eat it. 😼📚🥺 #catmom #bookdamage #currentlyreading

Well written. Full of details, yet still stark in the telling. A story of one group, but also of many. Tells us if all the complicated lines intertwined in a group making a crossing and why.

Five men stumbled out of the mountain pass so sunstruck they didn‘t know their own names, couldn‘t remember where they‘d come from, had forgotten how long they‘d been lost.

#FirstLineFriday

The true, harrowing story of 26 men from Mexico who attempted to enter the USA through the desert of southern Arizona in May, 2001, and the 12 that survived.

This was a tough listen. Urrea does not shy away from any of the harsh realities. He speaks about the harsh conditions immigrants are trying to escape, he speaks about the compassion of US citizens, but also the abuses and cruelty. Lots of heart, data, and story. All well done. 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

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I read this in conjunction with American Dirt. While I stand by American Dirt as a great fiction story, to read this own voices non fiction account really completed the narrative for me. This is a harrowing story of a migrant group crossing the border in Yuma. I am so very glad that I got to read this, I don‘t think I would have, if it wasn‘t for American Dirt.

This afternoon, I want to wish a happy #Thanksgiving to anybody who celebrates. A peaceful day for those who don‘t. And for those working today and/or tomorrow, I wish whatever good forces may exist in the universe provide you with a calm, low stress, well compensated day.

And to this community, I want to express my profoundest thanks. This app has been a safe harbor for me. You are all some of the most thoughtful, lovely, and amazing people. ❤️

It‘s pie time y‘all!

#audiobaking

Another book on the tbr stack. 📚 Along the borderline of US and Mexico is the Sonoran Desert where a group of men attempted to cross through in 2001.

Part exhilarating, part heart breaking. Luis ALberto Urrea's recounting of this true story plays out like a Dateline investigative report. He beautifully shows the story from each angle making sure to represent all sides including the Boarder Patrol, the Coyotes, and the hopeful souls that went into the desert and never came out. I can't say enough about how well written this book was.

Love the irony of this last paragraph listed in the “Reading Guide“ after the last chapter ... great way to end such a well written book.

After finishing All the Pretty Horses, I just couldn‘t jump back into my current audio so I went looking for something else in my available listens. This story of a group of men who attempted to walk across the border from Mexico to the U.S. in 2001 seemed a perfect complement to the story I had just finished. It is a harrowing story of persistence, death, and the situation at the border in the early 2000s.

#nonfiction #audiobook #AudiobookSync

#nonfiction2019 #unlikeablecharacter for the smuggler Jesus Lopez-Ramos who led 26 Mexicans over the border and through Arizona‘s remote Devil‘s Highway, through a heatwave of temps and lacking water... 14 died.

This author is an incredible writer , and does a superb audio narration too. I can see how this was nominated for Pulitzer Prize! The story is riveting, and harrowing, and great insight to all the sides of this tragedy.

Beautiful, touching migrant stories. #nonfictionreads #riotgrams

Urrea looks at the Devil's Highway -- a trecherous area of the Arizona/Mexico desert where many immigrants die trying to come into the US, despite the extremely hazardous conditions. He explores the particular case of the Yuma 14 and the prosecution of the "coyote" that guided the group of 30 across (14 died in the attempt). Heartbreaking on so many levels. #nonfictionNovember

I‘m a little in love with this author/human being. Great recommendations here. https://electricliterature.com/pulitzer-finalist-luis-urrea-recommends-five-book...

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This was a heartbreaking and intense true story of 26 men who attempted to cross the border from Mexico into Arizona in May 2001. It was very well told, though the narration for the audiobook could have been improved with a different narrator.

I read 16 books in June! My 4 favorites are in the top row. I reread three Heyers, read a handful of romances and YA books on vacation, a couple of sci fi/fantasy on audio, and then several mysteries & thrillers for review. It was a well-mixed month! #jesshowreads2018

“The guards watched over Mendes with the tenderness of law enforcement agents who have hold of valuable prey.”

The only problem with this amazing audiobook is that it‘s hard to mark up my favorite lines. Urrea has such a way with words!

I only finished 9 books this month, I found myself starting and stopping a lot of books I usually would have found unputdownable
2 audiobooks
3 nonfiction
7 books by women
#bestofmay

This book was a harrowing read. A fair and nuanced story of the hardships, deaths and culture surrounding the process of crossing (or preventing the crossing) of the Mexican/American border illegally. It focuses on one the tragedy of one specific group‘s crossing. #audiobook

1 tagged audiobook & Making Up by Lucy Parker
2 a play date for my son and then just getting ready for the week
3 berry 🥧
#manicmonday

I loved this book. It's a great read for anyone who really wants to understand Mexican immigration and all the gray bits that go along with it. Clearly, it was difficult for Urrea to write this book but he did an absolutely amazing job and still continues to educate people about immigration, the BP, and the Devil's Highway to this day.

I usually check out the weekly free summer audiobooks from Sync to find some good titles for my kids (or at least to save for when they are teens). This week there is one that‘s long been on my own TBR. ❤️ Looking forward to it. (And their other selection is Kwame Alexander‘s Solo, which I‘ve read and loved!) https://audiobooksync.com/

My weekend is pretty busy. Any reading I do during #deweysreadathon will involve one of these two books.

A fitting dedication at the beginning of The Devil‘s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea. The true story of men getting lost in the brutal desert and the Border Patrol men and women who found them. It is a carefully crafted book nevertheless filled with context and perspective that gives space for compassion and thoughtful consideration on a topic often reduced to click-bait headlines. Reading at its best.

Just started The Devil‘s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea and need to finish it before Tuesday (due date at library!). Shouldn‘t be a problem with such a compelling (albeit horrifying) subject told by an incisive but compassionate writer.

I is the hardest letter! #lrc2017 #bingo

The Devil's Highway -- about immigration
Spring Torrents -- on tbr for over a year
Matigari -- set in Africa

Incidentally, all three books got the same rating from me, good but flawed.

An important, heart-breaking, yet very readable work. #setnearwhereyoulive #riotgrams

Investigative reporting on the May 2001 attempt of twenty-six men to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, a region known as the Devil's Highway. More than half of the men did not survive the journey. By focusing on each man and the circumstances that caused them to make the decision to cross the border and risk death, Urrea humanizes a population too often vilified. #maybookflowers #mexicanamericanauthors

I try to avoid the dread dogear, but in books I love, with passages I cannot live without--like the 6 stages of death by hyperthermia--I relax the rules a bit. #booktober #bookmarks

Incredibly vivid. Puts a lot into perspective. As a person working in immigration law, I believe this should be required reading for my profession right now.

This is an incredible account of just some of many who risk their lives crossing the border in hopes of a better life. Urrea writes magnificently about these men and women and the hardships they endure.