Welcome to Litsy!

I took quite a while to get into this story and even had to reread pages quite a few times but I eventually started to be invested in both it and the characters.
Some good twists and plot shocks along the way made it an interesting read and ultimately I enjoyed the book.

This book is brilliant! I loved it! It had me laughing out loud in parts and then my eyes filled with tears in other parts. The writing, plot, characters, and everything about this book was wonderful.I really enjoyed the loud and proud indigenous author‘s voice shining through this novel and the fact she was not afraid to shy away from some really tough subjects. I loved the use of indigenous phrases and language. A great book well worth reading.

Too Much Lip blends The Castle and the Beverly Hillbillies with a storytelling tradition older than any of us can fathom – a unique combination that you‘re unlikely to find anywhere else. I was particularly taken with Lucashenko‘s use of dialect, which weaves the narrative and the dialogue together. Full review here: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/too-much-lip-melissa-lucashenko/

My first quarter of #Booked2021 is completed:
Australia: Too much Lip
Moustache on cover: Show Me a Hero
About doctors or nurses: The Pull of the Stars
Baked goods on cover: Sourdough (although I admit I bailed on that one)
Science written by a woman: The Reality Bubble
Author‘s first name starts with A, B, or C: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead.

I couldn't put this one down and had to pace myself. The story weaves contemporary race, poverty, and colonial issues with mysticism and cultural traditions that hold families together in Australia. One minute a tough callousness, the next a deep-rooted awareness in all living things. This is not a tidy story with a clear bad guy; a whole lot of messy nuance involved.

Thanks #Booked2021 for picking a #setinAustralia prompt, leading me to this! A powerful novel about a gutsy Indigenous woman with a warrant out on her returning to her extended family to bury her grandfather: she arrives to find complexity and change in their family relationships and the future of their traditional lands. Many powerful issues here resonating with those of First Nations people here in Canada: land, family, need for restitution.

Though this story was well-written, it was tough to get into, mainly because of the language. Its authenticity (which is GREAT) made it super challenging. I definitely enjoyed the second half much more than the first. While I didn't love this book, I still think it's worth reading, especially if you're looking for #ownvoices by an Indigenous/Aboriginal author.

#booked2021 #setinaustralia
@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

A strong stark book that grabbed me & never let me go. Set in a particular Aboriginal family , Pretty Mary , Kerry , Donny , Black Superman ...
What lies beneath the surface of the people , the river , the mountains. This book made me feel passionately about its characters , this is high adrenaline reading , I loved it. A book about movement through life ..
‘Chuck at me what you want‘ I may feel my deepest pain , but I‘m still here. A force 👇🏻

1. Too Much Lip ... it‘s outstanding! I‘m halfway/blown away !
2. I was never great at the library ... not organized enough. I love the titles on my shelf ( possession, prob a deadly sin 😬🤷🏼‍♀️

3. Tough one ... I‘ll change my mind as soon as I choose ..... here goes , ✨Marking Time.
✨A Room of Ones Own .
( almost there )
✨Everything Inside .
✨Latecomers

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
Thanks @CarolynM for tag
Tag @TheNeverendingTBR @batsy

Here comes ‘ me time ‘ .... making a start on these this evening...
The Susanna Clarke was not in the original plan ... but I miss her. & look forward to a short story tonight X and looking forward to using my new bookmark .. new year / new bookmark 😁

Happy New Year reading All XXX

The tagged book is a Litsy gift 💝.
Apart from that , I have been on a binge , and there‘s more coming ...

Well Carolyn would you believe it ! This arrived today ( & I‘d only just mentioned it to you again) Thankyou so very much ! Looking forward to the book ! I‘m out of T towels sinse covid ! & I was thinking I‘d fancy a little note book just for the ReadCanada challenge !! Well , I have it all now. Many , many thanks. CathyX

This was the best book I read last year, and, having just re-read it (I finally convinced my IRL book group to choose it) it's the best book I've read this year too. It is unflinching in its portrayal of Aboriginal dispossession and abuse resulting in generational trauma and unapologetic about it's characters' methods of survival yet it has a fundamentally positive tone. #Authenticvoices don't come more authentic than this.

Winner of the Miles Franklin award in 2019, Too Much Lip is the story of Kerry Salter who returns to her family home in rural NSW to see her grandfather before he passes away. It is a fantastic book and I feel like I learned more about Aboriginal culture/history and the perspective of Indigenous Australians. Very thought provoking.

https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy187

Jenny @ReadingEnvy very kindly had me on her podcast again and I talked (burbled enthusiastically) about some recent 5 star books I‘ve read - and Jenny spoke (far more calmly and eloquently) about some favourites too.

I find so many good books listening to ReadingEnvy - I hope some of you do too. You can listen to her podcast in all the usual places or off her website. (Link above)

Reading Envy Podcast Episode 187: Sentient Snails and Spaceships - with @Centique

Paula joins Jenny from New Zealand, where everyone is getting a little antsy from having to stay home. Jenny chats poetry and non-fiction while Paula brings historical and science fiction, and one gritty regional novel winning all the awards in Australia.

https://tinyurl.com/ReadingEnvy187

Here‘s me (denim jacket) and my fellow book clubbers ready and waiting to watch ‘Prize & Prejudice‘‘: 4 award-winning Australian women writers talk about their experiences of winning literary prizes. It was an engaging, eye-opening session.

The authors were: Melissa Lucashenko, Josephine Wilson, Heather Rose & Charlotte Wood.
🤗😍💪👏.

@Jeg I think you must‘ve been hiding 🤔😊

I found most of the characters in this story to be unlikable, flawed but real. How can you enjoy a book that makes you feel so uncomfortable? Great writing, that's how! And a bloody good story!
Another fantastic #Ozfiction book about modern Australia. ❤🖤💛
Gotta say that Lucashenko needs to write a book about Black Superman!

Another ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read. Thank you so much @CarolynM ! This book is like nothing else. Visceral and biting. Angry and loving all at once.
For an outsider like me, knowing little about Aboriginal culture, this is a dive in the deep end - you‘re seeing the impact of generations of colonisation, racism, cruelty, without every reference explained to you, the outsider, in a tidy package. It‘s stronger this way.
An estranged daughter returns ⬇️

How‘s this for a perfect reading spot?! A day out on a friend of my father in law‘s boat (not our baby boat!)

This book is wonderful so far @CarolynM 😊👍

I can't do #19in2019 because I didn't read 19 books that deserve to be included. Since we did the best 6 mid year I decided to do 12 for the year, so here they are. I've listed them in the order I read them. Interestingly, only the last three are from the second half of the year. The only other books that came close for me were The Dutch House and The Man Who Saw Everything. Oh, and the Willa Cathers (which I forgot 😳)

#TopTenoftheDecade #FictionEdition

I've stuck with books published between 2010 and 2019 and gone with the books I remember loving. Tomorrow I'll probably remember others that should have been included. Oh well. Thanks for starting this off @Cinfhen it's fun to see everyone's choices. Thanks for the tag @Centique

Set in Northern New South Wales, Kerry returns to the hometown she fled because her grandfather is dying. Escaping from her past, problems and the law, only to discover that there is a development plan on their sacred family land. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The language was interspersed with slang and dialect, it evoked great imagery. The characters were real and flawed and mostly very likeable.

4.5 ⭐

This was so good! I love how real and raw this is. Its also a really good mix of humour and serious issues.

This is my #indigenousauthor pick for #booked2019
@BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen

It took some time getting into this novel, mainly because of the use of local slang. But then it took off and I was drawn hard into the fast-paced plot about an Aboriginal family. They all have developed their own ways to cope with Australian society and their position within it. Addiction, criminal activities, lethargy, avoidance: it is each for their own, within society and within the family. 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 #ozfiction

#WeeklyForecast 46/19

I started We are Called to Rise today and am absolutely LOVING it so far. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Cindy. Next will be Too Much Lip, which I am so happy was gifted to me by @CarolynM Her review was so good. I‘ll read this one for #ATY2019.
In between I‘ll continue reading the Wells, both in hardcopy and on #SerialRead.
Lovely week ahead, don‘t you think?!

My tentative October TBR—I‘m a huge mood reader so this might change and I wanted to have lots of options. I‘m hoping to have a more productive reading month than September. Here‘s hoping the cooler weather gives me some energy. #fallisbooked @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @OriginalCyn620

Books I read this month. 📚

Brilliant. Great story-telling: drama, action and larger-than-life characters but firmly grounded. Characters are flawed but written w compassion - you empathise & see why they can be self-destructive. Confronting - issues of violence, alcohol & poverty - abut told with love & wonderful humour. Beautiful prose: great rhythm & the dialogue & Bundjalung words ring true - you feel as if you‘re there. All Australians should read this.

Coming up on the podcast - also the Testaments by Margaret Atwood on 10 September. 🙌🏼📚 I‘m currently reading Too Much Lip and loving it!

I am home again. After 32 amazing days across the US it‘s hard to go back to reality now. But things immediately look better since I opened these two bookish parcels. You‘re both so thoughtful, Carolyn and Katja, and I am really touched by your words and the books. Your recommendation of them means a lot! Thank you so much ❤️😘

I‘ve been meaning to read Too Much Lip since it came out, but listening to Melissa Lucashenko speak at the Miles Franklin award night really motivated me to finally pick it up. She‘s incredible.

@CarolynM not only did it make the shortlist, it bloody won Australia‘s Miles Franklin award last night 🙌👏😍 🇦🇺.

Such an awesome book and an awesome result 🖤💛❤️. #ozfiction #indigenousfiction #milesfranklin @Rissreads

Presenting my mid-year report @Cinfhen (saluting emoji)

Too Much Lip is still the best thing I've read this year and I am delighted to say it made the short list for the Miles Franklin Award that was announced last night. The others are in no particular order, but I would probably put Milkman as number 2 on my list. Honourable mention for Big Sky which only just missed the cut.

#Top6Reads

#bookmail

Look at the lovely parcel that arrived in the mail last night from @CarolynM 💕💕 I‘m so stoked with all of it Carolyn - I‘ve been lamenting my lack of depth in Australian novels and this great gift is going to improve that! The card and bookmark are super lovely too 😍
I am putting together a little NZ gift for you! Have you read any Janet Frame by the way?

One of the many things I love about reading is it lets me inside the heads of other people and I get to understand things in a different way. This book did this for me in a big way. I want everyone to read this book. I loved the ending my favourite sort. Thank you @MrsMalaprop

Too Much Lip
Milkman
The Museum of Modern Love
Normal People
The Hate U Give

#BestBookSoFar2019

Holy Moly 😳! This novel is written by an Aboriginal woman about a contemporary Aboriginal family. It‘s modern, punchy, and confronting.

I feel like I‘ve peeked in through a window. Lucashenko has facilitated my access to the lives, language, trauma and triumphs of the Salter family. And I am so very grateful 🙏.

❤️🖤💛🇦🇺 #ozfiction

When you drive over a box of screws and have to spend a couple hours waiting for your punctured tyre to be repaired, you take advantage of the fact that you ALWAYS have your book with you👍📖🧁😋.

It‘s funny because I really wanted to ignore all my chores today so I could finish my book, then this happens ☺️. #silverlinings

I am having the most wonderful, decadent birthday long weekend with my husband and youngest son. We are staying in a boutique hotel in Northbridge, Perth, Western Australia.

Today we wandered to a local fair where there was a secondhand book stall. Hence the beautiful #bookhaul you see here 😍📚. We also went to an exhibition on children‘s book Cicada by Shaun Tan.

Fun fact: I gave birth to my son on my birthday 10 years ago 🎉🥂💕😙.

😩😢 Coffee spillage.

#ozfiction #currentlyreading

Excited to be making a start on this one from Aboriginal author Lucashenko. I enjoyed her award winning novel Mullumbimby and have high hopes for this one.

The title is an Australian expression meaning a person who has too much to say or is being rude or cheeky. Looking forward to a female protagonist who‘s accused of that 👊😁.

1. Night Train to Memphis by Elizabeth Peters
2. Blissfully none! After 4 weekends of having visitors or visiting others we finally have a weekend to ourselves.
3. Easy choice
4. No. My physical abilities verge on the incompetent.
5. Will do

#FriYayIntro

Brilliant. A highly recommended read

It's 43 degrees in Melbourne today, a good day to splash in the pool, or stay in with a good book. And what a good book this is! It made me laugh, made me angry and made me really care about its vivid characters. Trigger warnings for foul language and abuse of all kinds, and a caveat that there are a lot of Aboriginal words and Aussie slang and references that may be difficult for non Australians to understand, I heartily recommend it. #ozfiction

#currentread #ozfiction

This book is raw and painful, and Lucashenko doesn‘t pull her punches as she examines the knock on effects of trauma and violence against Aboriginal people from colonisation onwards, the separation of the people from their land and culture, the impact of the Stolen Generations and how this is still manifesting and effecting people in their daily lives. All of the stars for this one.

Accurate!

Is anyone else participating in the upcoming Author of Colour readathon? It‘s being hosted by booktuber Dana in Colour and my wonderful bookish friend @PoloRaccoon let me know about it. I‘ve posted on the blog about it ...

bit.ly/2AYRgWD