The Bird King | 
pickI finished this book today for book club. Maybe because I rushed to finish it seemed a little hard to follow at times, but there was still a lot to enjoy. I loved the Jin characters, the strong female main character, and the gay best friend with magic map skills. It was an intense adventure with a nice moral. Very quotable.
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📷 Picture taken last week at Bryce Canyon National Park
🏳️🌈 #PrideMonth
pickA fantastic story set in the last days of Sultan Abu Abdullah‘s reign in Granada, the arrival of the Inquisition & what that means for Fatima, one of the sultan‘s concubines, & her best friend Hassan, a cartographer whose ability to map places he‘s never seen & bend reality with his pen is inevitably viewed as sorcery by the Inquisition thus forcing them to flee. A story filled with wonder, courage, love, & risking everything for freedom.
Here are my options for #LMPBC #GroupC - Fantasy
I‘ll tag the books below. Let me know if any look good to you. If not, I can pull out another batch!
Working from home all the time is sometimes so cruel to me since I‘m so close to what I‘d rather be doing but can‘t. This is what lurks behind me, taunting me. 😹 #catsoflitsy
So in love with this cover. 😍 Here‘s hoping the book is just as good. 🤞🏻
so-soI enjoyed the story of the clash between cultures but struggled to follow some of the fantasy aspects of this book.
This month‘s sci-fi and fantasy book club pick
pickExcellent read. Took me a little bit to get into but couldn't put down once I started.
pickFinished my puzzle today while listening to this book.
Such a good story with some profund observations.
#audiopuzzling
pickReading this book feels a lot like when you're falling asleep listening to your grandparent tell you a story that their grandparents told them. The plot of the Bird King is relatively bare but the writing is dotted with moments of both profound grief and love. Never read a book so soothing and heartwrenching at the same time.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(Audiobook) This book started off slow, and the narration was killing me, but this ended up being such a beautiful story about non-romantic love powerful enough to change the world. Great characters and I loved the historical backdrop.
“It‘s convenient for girls to be angry about nothing. Girls who are angry about something are dangerous.” -Vikram
G. Willow Wilson, The Bird King
Finished this one while working. Have to say this book was really good. Had me hooked from the start. The narration kept my attention and the pacing was spot on for this book. High recommend this one.
Current work listen. Has anyone else read this one? What did you think? #conversationstarter
pickThis should absolutely be HBO‘s next big thing. A beautiful tale of adventure and love and faith and magic. What a ride.
pickSo fun and so good. Even the Catholics get redeemed! Mervelous exploration of the myriad of ways faith works within and without religion. Oh, and it's also a fun romp across Andalus and the sea, with Bretons and English and jinns and, just, stuff! It's short and I highly recommend it.
First time leaving the house alone again since the second allergy reaction. Going to uni. Why does it feel like I'm walking into death? I'll be reading a bit.
44% in and I like it a lot. Wilson knows how to pace a good story and how to craft a powerful scene. She makes Al Andalus sing off the page and I'm in love with Fatima and fumbling Hassan. Of course, some scenes would work better on a comic book page, but it's not a major problem for me. Devout Catholics might object to being cast as irrational, blood-thirsty fanatics, but it's deserved in the historical context so boohoo. I needed this book.
Again, humbled by all the good wishes. I love you my dear #littens. While this allergic reaction was not technically life threatening (or so they tell me) the fact that it came so quickly after the Sunday event is a bad sign. For those wondering, it was a fruit bar, of a brand I've eaten for years. They'd warned me to expect new reactions, but so soon, from something so familiar, it's a blow. Thank you all. 😘😘😘😘😘
I have been sprung. Verdict : major allergic reaction. Waiting for my husband and son to make it here so we can drive two hours back. Tomorrow I will put fire under my doc's secretaries so I can get an appointment with an allergist ASAP. So tired.
I've read like three pages. I can't think.
pickThis was a beautiful book! It was set during the emergence of Spain on the Iberian peninsula, which is not something I know a lot about, but G. Willow Wilson formed such a vivid world! I loved how the characters were challenged and grew and learnt more about each other.
"Girls who are angry about something are dangerous."
I'm loving this book so far, the world that you are drawn into is mystical while still being amazingly real. #newbook #fivestars
Our local indie bookstore is going out of business at the end of the month.
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Made a quick pit stop there after work and picked up these beauties.
''Yes, you were taught to waste your anger. It's convenient for girls to be angry about nothing. Girls who are angry about something are dangerous.''
''It does no good to fake a conversion of faith. Remember that, my love. The person who wants to burn you alive will find a reason to do it, whether you pretend to agree with them or not.''
Yes, you were taught to waste your anger. It‘s convenient for girls to be angry about nothing. Girls who are angry about something are dangerous. If you want to live, you must learn to use your anger for your own benefit, not the benefit of those who would turn it against you.
#birdking #gwillowwilson #historicalfantasy
pickI really enjoyed Fatima as a character. All of the characters in this story are nuanced and believable. But I especially enjoyed Fatima‘s forthright honestly and bravery.
pickThis was such a magical story. The concubine Fatima and her magical mapmaker friend, Hassan, go on an adventure to escape the Spanish Inquisition. It's a beautiful story about the love of friendship and the power of belief. There are jinn and monks and a magical island. It has almost a fairytale feel and it very captivating. I definitely fell in love with Fatima and Hassan and their journey together. I would definitely recommend this.
“The real struggle on this earth is not between those who want peace and those who want war. It‘s between those who want peace and those who want justice. If justice is what you want, then you may often be right, but you will rarely be happy.”
"And she had escaped: she was free, and though freedom was neither happiness nor safety, though it was in fact a crueler and lonelier thing than she could have imagined, it was real..."
“Once a story leaves the hands of its author, it belongs to the reader. And the reader may see any number of things, conflicting things, contradictory things. The author goes silent. If what he intended mattered so very much, there would be no need for inquisitions and schisms and wars. But he is silent, silent. The author of the poem is silent, the author of the world is silent. We are left with no intentions but our own.”
pickJust finished The Bird King! The plot moves pretty slowly but the writing is absolutely gorgeous and the characters and mythology were great. I loved the Reconquista setting, I never read any fiction set during that time and it felt very fresh to base a fantasy in. Now to pick something else from my growing library stack...
pickA fantasy novel written for me basically. Set at the end of the 15th century in Iberia, at the home of the Sultan of Granada, which is about to fall to Spain and its inquisitors. All the characters are speaking Spanish and Arabic (which, 💖). Fatima, a concubine, is faced with a difficult decision when she realizes the inquisition is after her best friend Hassan, the royal cartographer whose maps are magic. Also there are jinn. High recommend.
pickMagical and historical fiction in one. Really cool story set in the Alhambra.
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panThe storyline and overall concepts borrowed a bit too much of a watered down version of Chronicles of Narnia for me.
Friday's total time is 2 hrs and 22 minutes. And I finished The Bird King. Now, let's see how the rest of the weekend goes.
#24b4Monday
I got in a quick reading session while I was at lunch. Still have 23+ hours to go but something is better than nothing.
#24b4Monday.
1️⃣ Open windows.
2️⃣ Perhaps tagged.
3️⃣ Most of my favs are year round, but carrots right out of the dirt are nice.
4️⃣ 35ºC, not counting humidex. With humidex it's reached past 45ºC a few times since 2010.
5️⃣ @klou @TK-421 @Cinfhen @rohit-sawant 👋👋👋
I don't know if it was me or the book but after a show start this is picking up nicely. Might be at least a solid 4⭐. Let's see how the author lands the ending.
