Welcome to Litsy!

Well, that was quick, normally I would not post about a book I find horrifyingly written, but a reminder for me when I fill out my #bookspinbingo card not that I need a reminder of this bad 1920's slap stick imitation writing. And with a lot of racial plot points that I am truly uncomfortable reading knowing a white woman wrote it.
COVID reading moving forward!

A novel written during the Prohibition era based out of Portland, OR where I currently live! A story about a girl running from the Italian mafia out of Harlem finds herself in the only black hotel in Oregon filled with secrets and mysteries. Many many twists and turns with this book some that seemed to match the storyline and some were a bit out there and surprising! I felt a little let down by the ending but overall was a book I enjoyed reading!

All the feels plus a healthy heaping of 1920s jargon, a dash of history, and a thorough grappling of some tough subjects all wrapped up in a hearty cast of fully formed characters. Highly recommend the audio version because January Lavoy is a goddess and she does all the different accents flawlessly.

The plot twists definitely made me glad I kept reading, but I struggled some, mostly with the dialogue and inner monologue of the mc. The author is recreating a gangster, hip, 1920s dialogue, but when every single sentence out of the character's mouths and the thoughts in their heads are figurative, snarky, and/or slang, it's hard to follow, and it can be hard not to think of the characters as caricatures. Great plot - overdone dialect.

Two interesting stories that should not have been in the same book. Also, the language is just exhausting!

The tagged book is set in Portland about an hour north of me. Meet your Baker is set in Ashland about 3 hours south of me.

On the island of Mure, Scotland at Christmas time.

The MacKenzie family from #2 sounds fun.

Want to play @Pageturner1 @Crazeedi @Come-read-with-me ?

#WonderousWednesday

#SuperSeptember Readathon. I finished the 3 I intended and Catching Fire as well. I made good progress on A House and Resistance but didn‘t start Hurley Maker‘s Son. I did start Nefertiti. All in all a successful readathon. Thanks @Andrew65 for hosting. Looking forward to October.

#Bookreport #DoubleSpin The Paragon Hotel was a surprise. I fell in love with the characters and enjoyed the story. It also highlights the racism that was part of Oregon‘s foundation. This part of Oregon‘s history has come to light in my reading over the last couple of years and it is hugely disappointing. 4 🌟 #WeeklyForecast Hope to finish Resistance Women and A House in the Sky this week. Just started Nefertiti.

You‘re supposing that you hold in your hands a manuscript.

The last line of the prologue reads: This is a love letter.

#FirstLineFridays

Here‘s my September #bookspinbingo board. Looking forward to getting some of these read and off my TBR.

"Nobody" Alice James flees from Harlem to Portland with gunshot wounds, trying to escape the New York Mafia.
#ReadTheUSA2020 #Oregon

I got the best gifts for #jolabokaflodswap. I love my book. One of my fave authors of the past years. Dark chocolate, yum.

An heartfelt thank you to @melissajayne you rock. Happy #jolabokaflod to you.

A big thumb's up to @MaleficentBookDragon for organizing the swap.

“Why do I sense that you‘re entirely in earnest?” “Possibly because I‘m half Italian. We‘re the sort who either throw ourselves weeping upon your grave or help you into it.”

A former member of the New York mafia stumbles onto the only black owned and operated hotel in a time when Oregon had laws forbidding from PoC living or working there.

A fascinating story examining racism and transphobia during Prohibition, this does not end wrapped up with a bow. I want to imagine it‘s because a sequel is planned, but the tone says it‘s more like stories like these didn‘t usually end happily or neatly. 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑

Jane Steele is one of my fave books so I had high hope for this and was doubly excited when I found out it was set in the 1920s, my fave time period. It took awhile for me to really get into this, but overall it‘s an interesting story and makes you think how far we‘ve come in the last 100 years. It deals with racism (putting it mildly, lynchings and such), lesbians, a transgender black character, a white gun moll, Italian mobsters, interracial ⬇️

After finishing Gods of Gotham by Lindsay Faye, I found this one released in January and added it to my tbr. Sounds intriguing.

#GrandHotel #WanderingJune

New finds tonight at the #HalfPriceBooks 20% off sale! Great way to start the holiday weekend!

This was a freight train that ambled for 150-200 pages, then hit me with 3 or 4 twists just when I thought the end would never arrive. I can‘t give it a pick, but it redeemed itself from the Pan it was headed towards. Readers must be ready with patience in hand. The social issues addressed make it intriguing, but still ... a little 😴 also.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2019
#theparagonhotel #lyndsayfaye
#netgalley

Happy Mother‘s Day to all celebrating today! 💜🌷💐

Celebrating by having Mother‘s Day tea today with the family on a cold, rainy day (feels like March not May) - but first taking some time for me after a difficult week to enjoy the pretty flowers and start this one I‘ve been looking forward to.

Written from the point of view of an Italian-Welsh flapper in the 1920‘s, Paragon Hotel is both a mafia-laced mystery and an indictment of systemic racism. Half the story is told in flash-backs in Harlem as the Families begin to take hold, and the other half is after Alice makes a run from the mafia all the way to Portland. There, she plays a bit of the white savior in a hotel for black people, which wasn‘t great but I enjoyed the book overall.

Fun book. Pretty quick read. Need to keep this author in the rotation.

This seems like a light-ish vacation read. I need something for the plane and train time. Still working on getting my #arc pile down to unpublished books. 🤞🏻🤞🏻

Getting cozy by the fire. There's also some sweet jazz music playing in the background. Perfect mood for this book.

I'm having my own mini reading retreat today and tomorrow at Timberline Lodge. My husband is skiing. #luckyday

Utterly heartbreaking. Utterly amazing. And an unexpected, but perfect, ending.

This reminded me a tiny bit of her Timothy Wilde series. This book took on A LOT more representation and topics than I was expecting. I cringed everytime someone used the N word and other slurs, and when the KKK was brought in. I have to also credit the author for tackling the subject of racism and fear of anyone not straight in the early 1900s. She didn't sugar coat it and really researched the time period. Makes me look at Portland differently.

A wonderful walk with beautiful birds, so glad it‘s finally feeling like spring!

My hold just came in!

I have been beyond excited to pick this up since I HEARD about it! Enjoyed Faye's writing and in the mood for a historical fiction so IT IS TIME!

Today‘s book haul! Library and bookstore combined. 😍😍😍 See something you like?

#TBRtemptation post 4! Recently published. 1921, we find “Nobody” Alice James on a train with a bullet wound. She‘s fled Harlem and is heading to Portland, Oregon. There, she‘ll wind up at the town‘s all-black hotel—making everyone there uncomfortable, being the only white person there. She‘ll make friends though, confront the KKK, and help look for a missing orphan girl. It‘s a town with a very tangled web indeed. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

I may or may not have said this 500 times already, but everything Faye does turns out amazing. If you liked Jane Steel, you'll love this. The last 100 pages or so were a /wild/ ride. Worth it.

#currentlyreading stack! What are you reading this weekend?

I wished this book would never end! This rollicking good time (which continually reminded me of The Miss Fisher murder mystery series) carried me back and forth across the country from New York's criminal underbelly to Portland's racist hidden history. I wish I could read an entire series about Nobody! 5⭐!

"Can't talk music with a stranger and agree on so much and not end up chummy, that's science."

True of books, too! Happy Valentine's Day, my book chums!

The story is driven by witty, sharp dialogue from the most colourful characters. I found this book to be excellent entertainment.

I am of the firm belief that everything Lyndsay Faye touches turns to gold, and I am /very/ excited about this 😍😍

This was excellent. I definitely recommend it. 💖📚

#NetGalley #ARC

So yeah, I'm completely shocked I'm bailing on a Lyndsay Faye book. I struggle typically with dialogue heavy books to begin with and rarely have a satisfying experience with them but this one has over killed the flapper speak and it's dialogue heavy too. I tried 3 times but I just can't get into it. 😟

Time to get back to this one. I'm not that far into it, but have found it easy to put aside to read 2 other books. Hopefully it hooks me soon.

The Paragon Hotel is a fictionalized account of the one hotel in Portland that allowed customers of color through the 1930s, and the surrounding racism of the times.

I enjoyed the part of the novel set in Portland, but the parallel story set in Harlem seemed less realistic and maybe unnecessary, somewhat clogging the storyline. This is a good read for people who like the flapper jazz era but are looking for a spin on the usual.

Do you have a favorite this week?

#quoteoftheweek

Up next....

Can also use it as a Netgalley knock off since it's sitting there too. I borrowed it from the library instead.

Historical thriller set in 1921, during the Prohibition era. This novel is seeped in secrets, shrouded in mystery, with twists and turns in corners you least expect. Stay for that, and sit in for the jazzy tunes in the time of Billie Holiday, played and sung in sultry smoke-filled speakeasies. Loved this! Full review on my blog.

Thank you #Netgalley and #PutnamBooks for a free eARC of #TheParagonHotel in exchange for an honest review!

《《2019 releases I am looking forward to reading》》
The year is 1922, and The Ku Klux Klan has arrived in Portland in fearful numbers--burning crosses, inciting violence, electing officials, and brutalizing blacks. And only Alice, along with her new "family" of Paragon residents, are willing to search for a missing mulatto child who has mysteriously vanished into the Oregon woods.
Release date: January 8 , 2019

I wanted to love this one but just couldn‘t get into it. I felt the attempt at period-correct language was admirable but, ultimately, distracting, as it wasn‘t well done.

This book was great! It‘s a very interesting historical piece with a perspective I‘ve never seen before. Highly imaginative. Detailed and rich with a plot that just keeps surprising. My only complaint? She uses the word “quelque” FAR too often. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.)

I've loved every single Lyndsay Faye novel I've read and her upcoming release THE PARAGON HOTEL is no exception!
The novel is scheduled for release on January 8! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
My review is live on Roots & Reads:
https://rootsandreads.wordpress.com/2018/12/07/review-the-paragon-hotel/

This book started strong, lagged in the middle for me, and ended on a high. There‘s lots going on with two storylines from the same character; one in NYC dealing with the mafia and one in Portland dealing with racism. Some twisty turns at the end; some I saw coming and some I did not.
Little things irked me about this book like excessive quelques and constant descriptions likening to other things but...still an interesting read.
#netgalley

A new book by the author of Jane Steele😍👏👏👏👏great mail day.