Welcome to Litsy!

🐴 Today‘s #CuriousCovers prompt is Pets.
🐴 Although the horses in this book are not pets, I think horses are wonderful pets.
🐎 This book centers around a family that breeds race horses, but that‘s really just the backdrop to a masterful illustration of how generational wealth works. Without hitting you over the head, the author makes a good case for reparations for slavery.
It‘s long and very dark so get in a good headspace first.
🐎🐎🐎🐎

I‘m just about to get started with my #SuperSeptember Readathon with @Andrew65 !
My goal is to:
finish The Sport of Kings. I have 251 pages to go!
read The Baltimore Book of the Dead by Marion Winik.
🐎 And I‘m off!

This was my “doorstopper” choice based on the Book Riot Read Harder challenge. I know nothing of horses and horse racing but of course, this story is much bigger than that, (and I also did learn a lot about horses). Gorgeous writing and really tough to stomach at times.

If you want to drown in the darkness of a Southern family saga, then this is for you. Spoilers below.

Morgan is talented, yes. Her commentary about slavery, racism, classism, patriarchy, etc is important. It should be uncomfortable. But I clawed my way to the end of this LONG book, foolishly hoping someone, anyone, would be redeemed or get justice! But no! Everyone was bound by their bodies and their own ego to an awful end! Even the horses!

It's really hard to read when your book is being used as a pillow!

Real talk: I am struggling with this book. There are parts I get totally engrossed in, but then parts/characters that completely turn me off and make it hard to keep going. I will finish it, but I don't think I'd read anything else by C. E. Morgan.

I am almost half way through. Does it get better? #bookstruggle #thesportofkings #CEMorgan

I‘m posting one book a day from my extensive TBR pile. No description. No explanation. Some will be new. Some will be old. They all spoke to me at one time. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in on the fun if you want to.

Day 9 #tbrpile

It's been sitting in my TBR pile for a couple years. Time to give it a go! 🐎

Got my lineup for potential weekend reads😊American Dirt is for May‘s IRL bookclub and the other 2 just called to me, although both have been on my shelves for a long time. And all three books are #Chunksters 😳😱😲

#DontStopMeNow #MayMovieMagic
Kentucky Derby edition. I don't usually follow horse racing, but happened to be out on Saturday with a friend who had money on Country House, so naturally pretty happy, even though no one stopped Maximum Security besides instant replay.
As for the book- I added it purely on the strength of the recommendations- not sure I would have chosen it otherwise.
Side note: 'Don't Stop Me Now'- pretty good horse name! 🏇

I had a couple of issues with this book but overall it is a compelling family saga set in the world of thoroughbreds in Kentucky. Well developed characters throughout

WOW!!! This book! Just wow. I used some time getting into the story and the characters, but once I did the pages just flew by.

This is the story of a white Dynasty family who were among the founders of Kentucky and everything that entails when it comes to its history and philosophy.

Next up.

This was actually on my tbr for my last years summer vacation, and was one of four books I didn‘t get to then.

So a year after isn‘t too bad, right?

I was expecting a touching family drama about how a father and daughter overcomes racism when an African American groom helps them train and race a horse in the Kentucky derby. Boy was I wrong. This book was very gripping, but boy is it not a touching “feel good” book. I disliked all the main characters, but still really enjoyed this novel. It explores important issues and themes regarding slavery and the repercussions. Definitely worth a read.

I‘m hoping to finish this one up over the weekend. Just over a hundred pages left. At times the writing blows me away. Morgan is certainly a talented storyteller who has a way with words.

@readsusieread and I are off to the state library association board meeting today, but first, reading! Happy Friday!

Thank goodness for in-room coffee ☕️ 💕
I decided on The Sport of Kings for my next big book of the year. My only complaint is that the font size is tiny. 👓

There is so much in this book, and so much to love. I was a little disappointed by the ending, but that seems ridiculous in light of the brilliance that preceded it. Morgan deploys her central organizing metaphor—the fetishistic resemblance between horse breeding and chattel slavery—to devastating effect. This book absolutely deserves its comparisons to Melville and Faulkner.

“[T]he human, he knows what perfect is even though he ain‘t never gonna find a perfect thing on this earth. [...] I done spent my whole life chasing justice. But you think justice is here on earth? Child, I don‘t see no justice. [...] But all them things you can‘t see is what matters most. [...] Lack‘s the most real thing there is! [...] You ain‘t gonna miss something that don‘t matter or ain‘t never had the possibility of existing in this world.”

“She knew that men extracted coal and sometimes died in the mining. She wondered at their deaths. Was it childish to ask why? How many mountains had been uprooted to light a home like hers? [...] Fathers felled the world their children were supposed to live in, Tantalus eternally slaughtering his Pelops. Was it worth it? Was this farm worth it? Was the human nothing but a machine that extracted coal from the hills and horses from the fields?”

Started listening to this today during my shift at the library, and I‘m already two hours in! Morgan‘s writing is so good I find myself wishing I had a physical copy as well.
#audiobook #nowreading #libby

Happy New Year! I wanted to share my top 5 reads of 2017. All were amazing, but The Sport of Kings (tagged) was phenomenal. Here‘s to a fantastic year of reading in 2018! #top5readsof2017

Very mixed feelings about this book.

** Woefully behind on my Litsy admin... So prepare for a deluge of one line reviews! **

Book 21: Family drama, borders and boundaries, horses and dubious breeding... Well written with a range of characters spanning various centuries- but would have liked to spend more time with some of the lesser developed or later introduced characters...

Intense. Less horsy than I would have preferred.#Deweysreadathon

Biggest disappointment since Fates and Furies. It isn‘t easy to write a big book. That said, this one never got anywhere. Introduced a lot of interesting characters who came and went — some came back around but without really doing anything consequential. And the book never found its ‘center‘. I felt frustrated and cheated.

Seven hours into this 23-hour epic. I‘m almost as far into it as my first attempt when I ran out of steam. Will I get any further into it this time around?

#TBRtemptation post 9! Great cover! A thick, historical epic and NYT 2016 Notable Book. Hellsmouth is thoroughbred filly who has a legendary family's fortunes riding on her. The Forges, an old, proud Kentucky family, are first-time horse breeders. Patriarch Henry partners with his ambitious daughter, Henrietta, and ex-con farmhand Allmon, to create a new future out of sheer will to make Hellsmouth a champion. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

#riotgrams #day2 - #orangecovers

Seems like this book has been getting more appreciation since the paperback dropped. I'm looking forward to starting it.

1. Middletown, Ohio 2. The Sport of Kings, C. E. Morgan 3. Days Without End, Sebastian Barry 4. Nancy Drew mysteries 5. Strangers On A Train (Patricia Highsmith, book/Alfred Hitchcock, film) 6. ? #LETSTALKABOUTBOOKSBABY

It's only July 8th and I've already acquired a sizable amount of books...oops!

Absolutely, no question. #bestreadsof2017sofar #jubilantjuly

Big splurge at opening of Interabang, our new independent bookstore!

This is such a dense book, but it contains a lot of worthwhile material on the legacy of slavery, racism, poverty, wealth, and family. I liked the setting of the Kentucky thoroughbred horse racing industry. Overall well written, but there were a few too many digressions.

A very well written novel with descriptive language. This story has everything: love, history, racism, southern culture, pride/ego, grief, horse racing, and so much more. Since I live in the Lexington, Kentucky area, I really enjoyed knowing the areas mentioned and appreciate the horse racing industry. The horse farms around here are spectacular! 🐎

I've read a lot of good books #sofar in 2017. Listed above are some of my favorites.

#teasertuesday
#p27
@Tiffy_Reads

Listening to a racist rant by one of the protagonists in this novel. It could have been lifted wholesale from the other book I'm reading.

"Did he want to grow a garden or did he want to be the kind of guy who grew a garden?"

"Nothing short of genius." So says a blurb on the cover. Ended up buying the print so I can figure out name spellings only to discover my audio must have skipped a few chapters?!?!???? Am here for a bookclub where I am the only one who shows up... should I have another beer? No, the answer is NO.

It doesn't look like my boy is up to running any races... #horseracing #mylazyboy

Dogs don't like posing with eBooks. Oh well! I'm actually listening to the audiobook but wanted the book cover thus iPad. This is the only #TOB2017 title I didn't finish before the tourney. #AmReading #ImeanAmListening #DogsofLitsy #whpg #EstherFest