Welcome to Litsy!

#TLT #ThreeListThursday @dabbe

I'm excited to see one of these on Thursday and be able to post on the right day 😄

Top 3 Favs:
1. Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
2. Kindred - Octavia Butler
3. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

There is a lot to take in with this book. I need a second reading at some point but I enjoyed my first read very much. It‘s a raging flood of ideas and issues. A little long winded if I‘m honest but it served a purpose and I wouldn‘t change a thing. A remarkable book and a non-stop flow of quotable sentences. 🫶

Sometimes you read a book because you want an easy answer to something. Not what this book provides: but Ellison‘s “non-answer” is more illuminating and truly descriptive of something as complex and monolithic as America‘s attitude and treatment toward race, versus any definitive “answer.” Invisible Man is one Black man‘s search for identity in mid-20th century Harlem and the Deep South - a narrative true to today and far from being outmoded.

Took me some time, but I did enjoy this. A monster of a book. It goes every which way, rolling as it wants, until suddenly there is structure and its gradually comes to a reality, and then stays there a long time, but not entirely. It pushes a little surreal one way, a little the other, wobbly between literary states. Quite a book and quite an experience.

I am already invested in this unnamed narrator, this invisible man after chapter one. The writing both sucks me in and also has me rereading passages to understand what is happening- it‘s a little like a fever dream.

I‘ve been working through this. About half way now. (Although usually without this little purring helper)

There is still so much in this book that I'm processing, so this review with not give Ellison's classic the true praise it deserves.

While I'm ruminating on it though, just know that this book is a beloved classic for a reason. There is so much to appreciate and discuss that you should do yourself a favor and read it if you never have.

Good read. Although the prologue may have seemed a bit slow, once getting to chapter one, it was a blur. SO many different events occurred, it was like reading five different books in one. It was insane with several situations that I didn't even think would happen. Very interesting theme on identity.
“When I discover who I am, I'll be free.“

"When I discover who I am, I'll be free,"

I highly recommend reading AND listening to the Invisible Man #audiobook narrated fabulously by Joe Morton. #ClassicsClub #cc50 #Classic #NatlBookWinner 1952
#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks Column-4

(So close to Row-4 Bingo, too but don‘t have enough time to read Ask Again Yes AND my book club choice Anxious People.)

“but now a new, painful, contradictory voice had grown up within me, and between its demands for revengeful action and Mary‘s silent pressure I thrived with guilt and puzzlement. I wanted peace and quiet, tranquility, but was too much a boil inside.”
#guilty #Scarathlon #PhotoChallenge #Funwhenthethemeappearswhenneeded #pieinlit #iLovePie #hotfriedpies

I read this when I was a junior in high school. I thought I didn‘t remember any of it, but I actually remembered multiple parts of it. This is such an important novel both literarily and socially. This could be such a conversation starter. Sadly, there were no conversations about this book in my junior English class. This is another of those books that should absolutely be required reading.
#InvisibleMan #RalphEllison #audiobook #BannedBooksWeek

It‘s another #bannedbook. It was pulled from a high schools shelves in 2013. Reasons? #didntfindliteraryvalue #toomuchforteenagers #language #lossofinnocence #rapeandincest #nationalnookaward1953 #booksthatshapedamerica #readbannedbooks

I read this in high school for a research paper. I remember exactly none of it. I‘m excited to spend some time with this classic this week.
#InvisibleMan #RalphEllison #audiobook #BannedBooksWeek

@GingerAntics I still have my copy from high school. I wasn‘t sure I did. It‘s survived a lot of culls and a lot of moves. 🤎

This book is so far from what I expected that I‘m not sure what to make of it. I‘m going to need some time to digest it.

I can say that I loved the writing style and the ways in which Ellison chose to discuss issues of race in America. I also loved Joe Morton‘s narration of the audiobook. He was phenomenal.

super psychedelic, really enjoyed it and definitely have to reflect on it 👍

I really wanted to like this book. As a black person, I related to much of his struggle and recognize he was referencing life in the 1940s, but there was so much bothersome about this book for me. I became increasingly frustrated mainly by his naïveté. He did not get who he was until the end of the book and, by then, I really did not care. Then, his answer was to give into his invisibility. Why?

THIS is a book that puts me in mind of Faulkner‘s “Absalom, Absalom”. THIS is the kinda book that I love to read. It‘s unfolding and unfolding and I don‘t want to put it down. Where and how is it going to lead?

1. Spouse absolutely supports me even though he isn't a reader himself. He even encourages me to but books when I'm super stressed out from work and need the escape.

2. No other serious readers, although now that my dad has finally slowed down a bit since turning 75, he is starting to enjoy reading every now and then.

3. Invisible Man is my white whale. I can say I've started it on several occasions but it's just never been the right time.

Settled in for some morning reading - can't believe I haven't read this one sooner! I'm going to have a hard time putting it down to do my marking and lesson prep today

It's been sitting on my shelf for WAY too long. Finally starting this one tonight

Originally published in 1952 this book remains a classic look at the desperation and exploitation that accompanies being invisible” because of the colour of your skin. Ellison writes eloquently about inequities of the world as it relates to race. It is sad to realize the almost 70 years have passed and many of these issues have not changed. This book is masterful. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My favorite bookstore is moving! Tomorrow they‘re closing up shop and packing up the inventory, so this weekend they had a sale. I wanted to get a picture of the neatly packed box before I unloaded it. 😀
#bookstorehaul

‘Winter conditions‘ indeed, here in Portland!
Good time for reading, although I didn‘t know I was settling into a horror ... 🥺😳😓
#blackhistorymonth #booktuber #snowyreadingday

1. My mom's brother's Bible.
2. Invisible man by Ralph Ellison. Assigned reading in college, and totally bored at first, but it got more complex and compelling as I went aloing. When I reread it a few years later after life experience & a better understanding of 1960s & 70s it had a whole new depth for me.
@Eggs
3. Murder on the Brittany shores, Jean-Luc Bannalec. Didn't connect with the characters, no emotional resonance.

Just reread my old high school copy of this book. I knew there was a reason I held onto it. Still resonates today as it did then and when it was written. A truly remarkable read that is frustrating in the reality that we have not moved the needle much as a society in all this time

This book was a tough read. I recommend everyone read it. I listened to it on audio and then ordered a physical copy to read again.

1. Thailand
2. My job‘s stability and flexibility.

#ThankfulThursday
@Tonidreads328 @Bette @Lauredhel

This is a remarkable novel, and far from an easy read. An often brutal description of the racist violence in both the North and the South in mid 20th century America, the language is strikingly beautiful and evocative. I listened to it on audio and I have to admit I struggled to follow it a bit at times, especially the dream-like sequences. Well worth reading, probably better in print.

A classic, with many rich characters and setting, told via first person perspective. It also speaks to black viewpoints on America. An incredible book. 5/5.

Apparently Ellison began writing Invisible Man in a Vermont barn 75 years ago. For those who are interested, the local NPR just wrote an interesting piece about it. https://www.vpr.org/post/how-invisible-man-was-born-vermont-barn

Next up, from Penguin's "20 to read before you turn 40" list #BlackLivesMatter

I can‘t believe I have not read this. It‘s time.

Excitable, intricate and piercing, Invisible Man breaks down the experiences of being black in a racist society. It tracks the Invisible Man as he moves from university in the Southern states to New York, and how the disenfranchised live in and think in different areas. A fantastic read, I‘m looking forward to doing my essay on it

This may be the time I finish reading this classic

Replenishment for my #BlackHistoryMonth Display! 😊

Have you read any of these?!

#LitsyLovesLibraries #MrBooksDisplays

Reading for the first time. Why now? Because I read a review the other day that said “as close as any writer has ever come to making the page feel like music.” Doesn‘t that pull at the soul? Doesn‘t that prompt an expectation of brilliance? Whatever it is, I‘m ready for it. He‘ll be the voice in the night. I‘ll be the listener. He‘ll tell his story. I‘ll go along for the journey. He‘ll be the teacher. I‘ll be the student.
#ReadSoulLit-Current Read

I‘m counting Invisible Man as my Classic for #jennyis30 - good progress so far in January! Excited to move on to the next prompt but not sure which one I‘ll do next. @jenniferw88

1/15 #jumpstart2020 @Clwojick @StayCurious

Sometimes very brutal and difficult to read but always well-written, thoughtful, and trying to open our eyes our eyes to aspects of black people‘s lives in New York in the 50s. The MC‘s development and way of talking about himself, how the world changed him so slowly into someone so unrecognisable, will stay with me for a long time

Audiowalk with Invisible Man to start the #jumpstart2020 readathon - I started this last year and gave up on it but gave it another go when it came up in the library and now I‘m loving it so much. Im not sure what‘s changed but I can‘t imagine how I ever bailed on it. I‘m walking to meet my friend for dinner rather than getting transport to save money so it‘s nice to get the reading time in! @Clwojick @Lizpixie

“And that I, a little black man with an assumed name should die because a big black man in his hatred and confusion over the nature of a reality that seemed controlled solely by white men whom I knew to be as blind as he, was just too much, too outrageously absurd.”

A thought provoking book but not an uplifting one. #1001books

So listen, I think this is probably a good book, I just found it kind of long winded and confusing a lot of the time. It‘s ALSO really impactful. The opening chapter featuring a “battle royal” is jaw dropping. I am behind on reviews and actually read this right after Native Son, which was well worth it to be able to see the progress and lack thereof between the two novels and today. #modernlibrarytop100

It‘s going to take me a while to process this one. There were parts I understood and parts I doubt I ever will, but my main takeaway is how little has changed since 1947, specifically in regards to racial justice and the value or visibility of black lives.

Kind of a “meh” #bookhaul from the library discard sale. Excited to own Fangirl..Haven‘t read the rest but have been wanting to.