Welcome to Litsy!

Oh wow, this is such a haunting, powerfully told story of a council of female slaves plotting an uprising in Jamaica. These characters will stay with me for a long time.

This book is a masterpiece! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

-The New York Times Book Review

I'm starting this novel tonight. I haven't read on my Kindle in sooooo long.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join in if you want!

#ABookADay2023

4.5! Fantastic read but soooo heavy! Pick & proceed with caution.

I love the voices of Marlon James‘ characters: the language that he offers is a true gift. The man is a master story teller. Having read the Dark Star books, I‘m working through his back list. In this painful and powerful novel we are presented with the story of Lilith, a slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation. Set in the 18th century, James shows us the horrors of bondage, and that the thirst for revenge is corruptive, yet in some sense freeing.

#pridebookrec #fiction week

Marlon James is a gay man from Jamaica. His writing is vivid, and gorgeous and he has won many awards. He is also a super nice guy. Get his books and read them!

#QuotsyJul21 Day 24: #Cousin

This book is powerful. It felt like an outcry, a scream that cries out to the reader for some sort of justice, or at least a witness. This book is violent and dark, a direct look at humanity, and how people stripping humanity away from others causes them to lose their own in the process.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟 out of 5 stars
Read date: 2/16/2021

I read Marlon James's The Book of Night Women as part of a buddy read with @readwithtoni, and I could not imagine a better book for a buddy read. The Book of Night Women is compelling and complex, with positively brilliant character development. ⠀
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I said in our discussion that I'd need to re-read to completely absorb the symbolism and style and beauty of this novel--it's SO rich that there's no way I could take in everything on the first read.⬇️

I actively disliked this book for about the first 1/3rd. I think it just took awhile to really get going and I even set it aside for a couple months before coming back to it. It was worth sticking with it because the story is really unique and moving.

Ebook on sale for $1.99 today. This looks good, doesn‘t it?

This is a fun podcast!

I need another podcast like I need a hole in my shoe but this sounds fun. 🎧 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/24/books/marlon-james-podcast-dead-people.html

The best fiction book about slavery I‘ve ever read. I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn‘t reading it. The writing, the characters, the atmosphere were all just spot on. Obviously not an easy read but I‘m glad I finally got around to reading it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bath and book with my pumpkin bath bomb 🎃 (it smells so good!) then going to settle down with a takeaway and watch something halloweeny.

There was a thing on Litsy a while back about books you think would be a five star read and this was one of my picks. It‘s definitely living up to expectations so far. I love the way it‘s written.

I read this book about a month ago. And it's just as fresh in my mind today as it was when I finished it.
The story of Lilith and her struggles as a slave on a sugar plantation. Pulls you in and doesn't let go. Life, love, loyalty, betrayal, with a little bit of spiritual assistance are all a apart of this journey.
We watch Lilith grow from a headstrung child to a dangerously headstrung adult and her choices could doom the whole plantation.

US Kindle Deal today - on my TBR! Stocking up for camping. 😄

Written in the Jamaican dialect of a black slave in the late 1800s, this is a beautifully written book. I thought the language might be hard to navigate but the prose flows. I could not stop reading even when I wanted to look away. The violence in the book is visceral and emotional. The world and the characters are very richly drawn and I felt invested in the key relationships in the book even though these relationships were complicated.

I've had this on my shelf for awhile now and am finally starting it. Bracing myself for the very ugly events that are sure to happen. The main character is a young slave woman with dark skin and green eyes and the novel starts off with a rather bloody and unsettling birth scene. Somehow, I still got drawn into the story even though this seems a bit darker and probably gorier than what I'm used to reading.

1. My apartment building. A bit snowy this morning 🌨
2. I love it here. Far enough from the city to not be tourist-y or trendy, but I've got tons of public transportation options and can walk to lots of shopping.
3. Done. Not a fun read, but a truly amazing piece of work.
4. On my commute, both ways
5. Whatever they order at work, it's gonna be a long day 🤪 Likely Chinese food.

#friyayintro @howjessreads

I had initially queued up Underground Airlines as my next #audiobook, but I decided that my psyche needs a break from the violence and injustice of slavery. I‘m switching to the natural history of falcons now: see comments below for the title.

While #audiobook is a great way to go with novels written in dialect, and narrator Robin Miles delivers a stunning performance, beware the extensive atrocities, crude epithets and sadistic violence in this visceral historical novel set on an 18th-century sugar plantation in Jamaica. Ultimately rewarding, but a difficult reading experience. Part of Recorded Books Griot Audio collection, where I plan to seek out more #AfricanDiaspora voices.

“Maybe it better for bakra and n—— that things go back to what people thinks is the best way, until the fire next time.”

I wonder if Marlon James is making a literary allusion to James Baldwin‘s book or to the spiritual Mary Don‘t You Weep… or perhaps both.

I‘ve owned this volume for a long time and just never took the time to sit down and read it. So here I am at damn near midnight starting a new book. #marlonjames #blackhistorymonth #booklover

Thanks to @Reggie and his review of this novel, I have found the perfect follow-up to An Unkindness of Ghosts. They are set at least 700 years apart, one in Jamaica, one far out in space, but, five chapters in, I find the two books are otherwise similar. And Robin Miles is always a great #audiobook narrator.

This book was EPIC. Only a little over 400pgs and yet felt like it was an 800 pg story. We meet Lilith as a young girl whose mother died giving birth to her. She‘s a slave on a sugar cane plantation in the late 1790‘s Jamaica. As she grows up the world and those around her try to dictate to her what her place is but we find out Lilith has a power and vulnerability that make her, her own person. James is a great writer, there were some twists, 👇🏼

This book is intense. Homer a woman who is the head of the household slave. Tantalus was a slave who got his toes cut off for trying to run away. Robert Quinn is the overseer who got sick when he saw maggots growing on his feet, and it haunts him. It is 1790‘s Jamaica. There‘s a plantation, slaves that all have Greek names, and a lot of mysticism going on. Soooo good but gritty and told in native dialect which can be challenging at times.

Devastating, heartbreaking, so tragic and so violent. A frightening illustration of how evil mankind can be, but also a portrait of the strength and resilience of women. A tough read in many ways but worth the effort.

I suppose this counts as a #BlackHistoryMonth read but mostly I'm just obsessed with Marlon James right now 😝

This was a heavy read. No white washing of slavery, no white saviors. #audiobook

Yo...Did I inadvertently purchase an autographed copy of #TheBookOfNightWomen?! I can‘t read this signature at all lol, but I‘m gonna tell myself it belongs to the author. I read this book soon after it debuted, but I‘m revisiting it again this month for #AfrikanahBookClub. Definitely a page-turner. #MarlonJames #blackwomenread #wellreadblackgirl #nowreading

Perhaps the most wonderful and awful book I've ever read. Incredible, but it hurt my heart. Important.

#TBRtemptation post 3! This award-winner tells the story of Lilith. She's born into slavery on a Jamaican sugar plantation. She's recognized as having a dark power the slave women revere and fear. They've been planning a revolt, & Lilith will play a key role. But she may be the weakest link. A setting rife with dangerous secrets, unspoken jealousies, violence, and vastly conflicting emotions. High praise from reviewers. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

I'm almost done with Marlon James's A Book Of Night Women. It's so brutal yet it's so interesting that I have hardly been able to stop thinking about it.

And I was listening to this wonderful 10th anniversary special cast audio book of The American Gods. It was almost like watching a drama unfold in my head. :')
Here I'm signing off for the night after clocking in 9 hours of reading on #day1 of the #24in48 #readathon.
Night!✨
@24in48

I'm nearly clocking in on four hours. I'm so tired and sleepy yet I cannot stop reading. The book is soo brutal, so though provoking and interesting, I'm loving it so far.
@24in48
#24in48 #readathon #24in48readathon

A Book Of Night Women, is soooo good and the prose so different. I am loving it so far. Didn't realize when one whole hour flew past.
#24in48 #readathon #24in48readathon

@24in48

I'm so psyched to be reading for 24 hours this weekend. This is my #TBR for the #24in48 #readathon.
@24in48 @thereadingwomen

💙 💚 💛 💜

I'm again stymied by not being a romance reader, but it's making me think outside the box. I'm using this for #bodiceripper since her bodice IS falling off and "a novel" is acting as a bit of a nipple cover/modesty shield. ? #booklove17

The voice Marlon James has used is consuming and believable, hearing the story told from a dialect simular to Lilith makes me truly care for the character.

I'm glad that I finished this book. But I did not enjoy it due to its abundance of vulgarities. It was the essence of the tale that won out over my disdain for the many obscene references to the genitals of both sexes. I'm hoping the women weren't really that crude. Despite the distasteful language, I pressed to know more about these women and their lives. I actually caught myself smiling during the last few thoughts that were shared.

"Homer say, Pretty gal go river and see herself in water. Pretty gal drown when she go down to kiss herself." Homer is the "queen bee" of the Montpelier Plantation. This is her warning to Lilith whom God has graced with "the prettiest green eyes anybody ever done see." Overseer Jack Wilkins has the same green eyes.

Someone's comment about the Jamaican dialect prompted me to go audio with this one. Then I thought I wouldn't be able to tolerate 15 hours of it. But I'm becoming immersed in the story and have learned what "Night Women" refers to. So I've developed some level of anticipation and am able to follow it now. And I'll probably be able to follow the Kindle edition as well. I think that's Homer on the cover.

This is a story of a slave girl named Lilith and a few other women on a Jamaican sugar cane plantation who eventually plan something crazy. All of the women have very interesting yet sad stories that explain why they are who they are.

The Jamaican dialect is sometimes hard to follow at the beginning and there is a lot of detailed graphic violence. Despite this I really enjoyed the book.
#thebookofnightwomen #marlonjames

This took me a little longer to read but I never lost interest. A fascinating set of characters who will stay with me for some time.

Just about to launch into this with my AP Lit students. Thinking that the pacing, the language, and the setting will be quite jarring to my students after their immersion in Morrison's A Mercy. I'll be reading along with them, so we'll be exploring the text together. Although excited, I have to admit that I'm a little nervous.

'You see this? Every time you open this you get free.' Wonderful true words! 😀👍