Welcome to Litsy!

I received a grant to buy diverse books for my classroom and they have arrived!
#teachersoflitsy

I don‘t understand all the hate on this book, I quite enjoyed it actually. It did take some time for me to get into it, but I did end up really liking it

After FINALLY finishing Pet Semetary, I‘m moving on to better things!

Here‘s what I‘m currently reading!

#TheWooWoo #LindsayWong #Memoir #NonFiction #WhatImCurrentlyReading

I recently read this for our local library book club- a true story- memoir- and it was definitely entertaining. I was engrossed by its graphic... depressing... raw.... emotional... story. It‘s set in the same area where I grew up- so I recognized a lot of places. I‘m not sure if I would recommend to most people, due to its graphic nature and language, but I certainly wanted to see how everything turned out for the author- Lindsay Wong!

Wong‘s immensely captivating (and at times deeply unsettling) biography delves into the ways her Chinese family dealt with mental health issues, the ‘demons‘ that plagued her mother especially, as immigrants living in a Vancouver suburb.

Read August 18-26
Book 45/55

This book didn't really work for me overall. There were moments when I appreciated Wong's sardonic view of the complex mental health problems in her family but at other times it felt like she was turning an awful situation into entertainment that reinforced negative stereotypes of Chinese people and made light of some serious abuse she faced. I get what she was going for, and she really lived through a lot, it just didn't completely land for me.

#audiobookwalk

With 1 hour left, I‘m dropping this. I‘m shaking my head in disgust. For a memoir, it‘s crass and insensitive towards mental health, cultural differences and basically anything else it touches on. It comes across as a series of shock-value stories, that have no reason other than to offend.

⭐️

My friend let me trial her Audible before I make the leap (I‘ll probably be making the leap), and so this is my first audiobook! Boy, does it make you grateful for your family 😳. #currentlylistening

Oh no! I knew my loan on this ebook had run out before I finished it, but I expected to be able to check it out again. Nope, it‘s not in Hoopla anymore. I will have to get a paper copy. Unfortunately, there are 152 people waiting ahead of me. What I love about Hoopla is there‘s never a waiting list because the libraries pay per download.

Next up! (audiobook)
I always have at least an audiobook, a novel, a non-fiction work-related book, a book club book with my nieces, and a book I'm reading with my partner on the go. Anyone else?

Think I‘m going to start trying this approach at work:

Unsure of what to say, I blurted hurriedly, “Do you want to be my friend? If you don‘t, it‘s okay. I don‘t want to waste any time, so you should tell me right away.”

The Woo-Woo
Our house had been christened the Belcarra by its builder in an effort to make everyone forget it was a boxy McMansion.

E.T. synchronicity in concurrent books:
“With his abnormally large head and thin, crooked tree-branch limbs, Uncle E.T. had been a victim of malicious childhood polio and was nicknamed after Spielberg‘s deformed alien.” -Lindsay Wong
“Misha lies on the couch, eyeing the smouldering end of his cigarette. ‘E.T., call home,‘ he says, holding his finger a hair‘s breadth from the orange tip.” -Alex Leslie

Broke a pretty good streak of Picks... just not in the right headspace for this one at the moment. Might come back to it, might not. Who knows.

Another sign of my mood is that I'm 1-4 chapters into like 5 different books... pretty sure one of them will grab me. Or maybe I'll start another one or two 🙃

He stood guard while I watched Canada Reads.

It‘s been a little while since it aired on the West Coast, so I think I‘m safe to say I‘m pleased with today‘s result. For once, my favourite book WASN‘T eliminated first! Yay!

This is an unflinching, yet emotionally distant, memoir which chronicles the author‘s dysfunctional Chinese-Canadian family. Several members of her family suffer from undiagnosed mental illnesses, which they believe are caused by Chinese ghosts. Her memoir is filled with abuse and neglect, and while I commend her for writing so openly, I was hoping for more reflection/growth, and the book would have benefited from some editing #CanadaReads2019

Ugh this book... It's a bit of a slog. The mental illness and resulting family dysfunction described is pretty mind-boggling. And maybe black humour is one way to recount such a story. But it isn't working for me. I commend Lindsay Wong's honesty but as a reader, I just don't feel she was ready (artistically or therapeutically) to write this.

I‘ve been having miserable luck with audiobooks lately. I have started and rejected three in the last week. I find that I am becoming pickier, with more requirements for my audiobook choices.
But this sounds good, in both senses of the word. And it‘s a #canadareads book. Even better! #audiobooks

Canada Reads is great because it introduces people to important books they might have missed.

Canada Reads is frustrating because you (ie, I) feel shitty about bailing on those important books.

Lindsay Wong adds a Chinese-Canadian perspective to the My Childhood Was Awful And I Thought That Was Normal genre. That COUNTS. The first 50% is also so utterly lacking in empathy, and so packed with ableist slurs, that I dreaded picking it up. ⬇️

This family. So dysfunctional. I cringed a lot. I found it very hard to read about the abuse. It was so raw and ugly. Mental illness does not excuse abuse. The story does give some insight into what happens when mental illnesses go untreated and what happens when people don‘t trust “western medicine”. The author seemed a bit detached and used dark humor a lot. Understandably though. It had to be very painful to share.
#CanadaReads2019

The kids are frantically getting ready for school and I‘m just sitting here, with my book, having some tea. The Wong family is messed up! I have housework to do, but I‘m considering taking a me day with the Wongs instead.
#CanadaReads2019

The first of the #CanadaReads shortlist 2019 = done! I think Wong uses dark humour to remove herself from her very uncomfortable reality which sometimes creates distance between the reader and the narrative. For that reason I‘m skeptical if its chances of being declared the ‘one book to move us.‘ Wong is a very good writer though and I hope she at least makes it past the first round.

My February #TBR. Nine of which I have out from the library right now all at once because I have no willpower #sendhelp ! I love this journal but wish it had more space!

The tagged book is the one I'm starting first (for #Canadareads of course!)

The Canada Reads shortlist is out! I've adjusted my library holds accordingly. It looks like a good crop with mental health rep, a refugee memoir, a French novel, and a Holocaust memoir in the mix, but I'm disappointed none of the Indigenous titles from the longlist made the final cut. Needless to say, I haven't cancelled my holds for any of them even though they won't be in the competition. #canadareads

For you, Danielle @CouronneDhiver

Starting this #CanadaReads longlister in front of a toasty fire in solidarity with Canadians experiencing #snowpocalypse Its +4c here today. (I almost had to zip up my coat.) The blossoms are for @CouronneDhiver