Welcome to Litsy!

Audiobook. Solomon wrote this before Sorrowland, and it's interesting to see how faer writing developed between books. Excellent premise; black, neurodivergent, queer protagonist; own voices. Sadly all plot threads slowly sunk into a swamp and never re-emerged. 1/2

#CoverLove All the Rivers Solomon books I‘ve read have the most amazing #DarkBlue covers that carry over to a dark blue vibe in the books themselves. @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This is the pick for my local LGBTQ+ book club which is meeting tomorrow. The plot was twisty and the characters were interesting. While I felt a bit unsatisfied with some aspects of the story, I think the writing itself was strong. It‘s probably the first time I read a novel with a clearly defined neurodivergent MC. Aster‘s experience of the world is not treated as just a vague label. ⬇️

I didn't actually know much about this when I began it other than it was sci-fi and a journey in space. To say I wasn't prepared is an understatement. It was pretty brutal, though that is part of the point. The story was definitely interesting and kept me waiting for what was going to happen next. I didn't like the ending because it left me with too many questions open ended. TW for violence against children and adults, SA, and medical details.

This novel is raved about and I am so happy to have finally read it even as it devastated me.
Matilda, a colony spaceship with a racially stratified society (think antebellum south, in space) has been moving among the stars for hundreds of years. Increasing blackouts reveal a plot that Solomon uses to explore ideas of gender, race, class, religion, and the myriad ways we can harm one another.
But seriously, this is a phenomenal book, read it!

My favorite book with a #NeurodiverseProtagonist #MarchMagic @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#TransRightsReadathon #AuthorHighlight #RiversSolomon

An Unkindness Of Ghosts is a hard science fiction novel set on a colony ship from Earth. Solomon creates a large and detailed world with Aster an odd mannered science focused girl who is often ostracized by her fellow passengers.

This was one of the most compelling things I‘ve picked up in ages! And one of the most emotionally difficult. The audio was FANTASTIC!

Despite how popular this book is I really knew nothing about it going in except that I loved the cover art, and I was delighted to discover that this both had a lot to say, and was just a fantastic story.

#BBRCAdultBlessTheRains #LGBTQBookBingoNeurodivergent #PopSugar2022ABookWithACharacterOnTheAceSpectrum

Thisis outside of what I usually pick, but I have been challenging myself to step outside my comfort zone to hear perspectives I am unfamiliar with. This book was heavy with symbolism and metaphor. It depicts the caste system and how it impacts this futuristic spaceship on its journey to its final destination. I did have a hard time getting into the genre and realized it is ultimately not my thing. I got a little lost throughout.

After reading the Binti trilogy I was craving another space adventure with black characters. This one hit the spot but it is completey different from Binti. I loved how original this story and the characters were. I've never met anyone like Aster before and I found her so strange but relatable in some ways. Very unique, engaging story. I want to read everything by Rivers Solomon now!

Finished book 3 of Dewey‘s Readathon. #Scarathlon #TeamHendrix #Screamathon #Wickedathon #ReadWithUs #SpookOWeen #OutstandingOctober

Check out this book source: https://sistahscifi.com/
Thanks @bthegood for putting this on my radar! @Chelleo I have a feeling my#Blitsy wishlist will be because of this new bookstore!

A generation spaceship, the Matilda, is a recreation of plantation slavery. The lower the decks, the darker your skin, and how you work for a living. Heroine is learning to be a healer while finding out how and why her mother disappeared. Which is the catalyst for a revolution 🔥of sorts. Stubbornness, smarts, hope, and searing sense of injustice for a revelation!

Read this after my dad finished up. I'm sorry it took so long to finish. I loved it! It was a really good book and I'm glad I asked to read it. I'm usually pretty iffy on sci-fi but it seemed way too good to pass up.

I really enjoyed this book. It has mystery. It has an interesting sci-fi premise. And it has cultural relevance. It really packs a punch.

New audio book. Interesting concept, hopefully it‘s good!

@Bookish_AF @Dragonfairykats @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Picked this up out of the mailbox today and opened it. I am so excited to get reading. My son @CrowvanHalen goes "is that a gift? It looks cool, can I read it first?" Like, boy, I waited since like January 2020 for this thing NO DANGIT

I was not ready for this one to end....and that, in and of itself, tells you a lot about a story. I can definitely see the comparisons to Octavia Butler, and reading it while reading Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and watching the Chauvin Trial, the allusions to slavery and hierarchy in authoritarian societies was very obvious to me. So although it was a dark tale, it was powerful, and I loved the way Solomon articulated thought processes, ⤵️

An amazing audiobook, and amazing characters and a lot of heavier content. It lulled in places, feeling overly packed sometimes, but I do think that also contributes well to the character of Astra.

I finished my January #bookspin book yesterday, but I‘ve struggled with how to rate it.

I finally settled on so-so, 3 stars. My complete review is on GR: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2438060322

Now onto my #doublespin book—Star Daughter!

#wondrouswednesday

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView 😘

1. Tagged

2. Julia Quinn‘s Bridgerton books

3. Beach Lawyer, Geek Abroad, Magical Midlife Madness, Reading Like A Writer, I‘m Tired and I Need a Nap

#motivationalmonday

Thanks for the tag @TheSpineView 😘

1. Mentally prepare for Winter Fit Camp which starts next week. 😆

2. I finished my first jigsaw puzzle of the new year, Reader‘s Paradise that @Chrissyreadit gifted me ❤️ Super fun puzzle.

#sundayfunday

1. Tagged
2. I devoured more books, but I think that was primarily because I finally got into audiobooks and not necessarily because of the insanity that is the year-that-shall-not-be-named.
3. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I don‘t think I‘ve added any yet. I‘m focused on reading the many stacks of unread books I already have.

My January #bookspin (tagged) and #doublespin books.

Bookspin has definitely helped me cull down my stacks of TBRs. And I did not buy a lot of books in the last quarter of 2020. The only books I got were through my 2 subscription boxes, swaps, & gifts.

So here‘s to getting back on track with #bookspin and further reducing my TBR stacks. 🎉 And my January #BFC21 goal of getting a #bookspin bingo.

#12Booksof2020 Day 1 on Day 2

I read this in January thanks to @Bookish_AF and have thought about it often. I need to go back and pick up faer other book, The Deep. I‘m also looking forward to faer next book, Sorrowland.

@Andrew65 I will be more timely with the rest! Thank you for a great idea!

Thank you @Karisa for this amazing #hauntedhollowswap! 🖤 You get me! 😍 You managed to choose three books off my immense TBR that I‘ve been most dying to read. This scarf is beautiful! I don‘t have one in these colors yet and I can‘t wait to wear it. And of course some delicious candies and pumpkin spice pretzels. They will be perfect to snack on this weekend. Thank you for everything. I can‘t think of a more perfect swap package for me. 🖤🎃👻

I wanted to like this book. I liked aspects of it. The overall premise was intriguing and very promising (a slave ship set in the stars). But there were a lot of parts that just left me feeling pretty unmoved. Parts that seemed like they should‘ve been important or emotionally evocative but mostly just fell flat, unrelatable characters with few redeeming qualities and when the ending came and I was just like ‘what?‘

The audiobook was very good, narrator did a great job w her characterizations!

Rating this story is hard. This book is hard. There is so much violence and awful things happening and yet I couldn‘t look away from it all. Aster is a fascinating character but the narrative is tough and the ending just really left me feeling hanging. I‘d be careful in who I recommend this book to, personally.
I did this as an audio, I‘m not sure if I‘d been reading it in book format on my own I‘d have been able to finish it.

I don‘t know how to begin to describe how wonderful this book is! It‘s the story of Aster a woman trapped on a spaceship but it‘s so much more. It‘s a story of LGBTQIA+ rights, social justice and how you define family.

This is a scifi which explores sexuality, gender indentity and slavery in space. The world building in this is fab, everything was so vivid which wasn't the best as theres some truly disturbing scenes in these pages.
Full disclosure, im not an own voices reader of this book and while I enjoyed this i know a ton of stuff went over my head, having just read some spoiler reviews from own voices im blown away with their insight.

#94 of my year. Ordered both of these from MahoganyBooks and I‘m going to read Keep It 100, one affirmation a day for 100 days, and while I‘m doing that I will be reading An Unkindness! I‘m listening to Somebody by Hurts 💁🏻‍♀️

I do love a good play on words.

I‘m excited to share that my second book infographic is finished and up on Instagram! I‘d share all 5 pieces here if I could stack pages! You can check out the whole thing on Instagram, name PopCultureLiterary! #bookinfographic #bookgraphic #scifi #bookstagram

I enjoyed this book, but it's more dystopian than I typically enjoy. The world-ship & society are vividly portrayed, & characters are interesting. It's not an easy read, set in a space society where black slavery is alive and well. I enjoyed having a neuro-atypical protagonist & LGBTQ+ characters. Warnings for suicide, rape, abuse, mental illness, and others. #lgbtqauthors #lgbtq #scifi #queerbook #pocauthors #bipoc

#sundayfunday
1. Both are delightful!
2. I don't usually note the reader, but Krhistine Hvam (who reads Daughter of Smoke and Bone) and Steve West (who reads Strange the Dreamer) do such a good job that I took the time to look them up.
3. Tagged! I'm a little over half way through this one.
@ozma.of.oz

Definitely not my go to genre but absolutely was enthralled by this story.

Ok. This was as amazing as everyone said it was when it came out. I can‘t wait to read more from this author.

I‘m in the middle of moving to a one bedroom down the hall from my studio. With it comes natural light and the hope I can continue to build some reading and me time in to my mornings before work. (I‘m a very naturally tired person and not having much natural light in the old place meant I slept as much as possible. We‘ll see how this goes.)

11 books had LGBTQIA+ characters.
Of those, 5 would be considered "own voice." 2 memoirs - Will Schwalbe and George Takei, but both had to deal with families, not solely on themselves.
Favorite is a tie between The End of Your Life Book Club and An Unkindness of Ghosts (sci-fi).
Shout Out to Cassandra Clare who has many characters who are very important to the plot - not filling space. Love Magnus/Alex

@ChasingOm @Emilymdxn #IntegrateYourShelf

For #pridemonth2020, I'm highlighting 30 openly LGBTQ+ authors. Rivers Solomon is an award winning American author and has a new novel coming out in 2021. Their work has earned received the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses' Firecracker Award in Fiction. #lgbtqvoices #lgbtqauthors #blackauthors #pocauthors #blackvoices

This book has so much...
*A neurodiverse character who identifies as a genderqueer
*A doctor who identifies as transgender
*A generational ship that is divided by race and each race has certain jobs/shifts
*Dictator who plays god - leads topdeckers into dehumanizing and degrading the bottom deckers
*A rebellion

And it was BRILLIANT!

"All she wished for was perfunctory respect paid to the fact that she was, indeed, alive."

#BLMReadingList

1. Find the quiz on @Eggs post. I got water. Flexible and creative (true - except when I had to teach during quarantine).

2. It was a Corrie Belle Hollister book - the first book I bought with my first paycheck at 16. I can't remember the title or author, but I can still remember the MC's name. LOL.

3. Tagged and I can't wait to start. PRIDE and AntiRacist.

#WondrousWednesday @Desha @magyklyXdelish do you want to play?

I really enjoyed the worldbuilding in this one! Issues of race, class, gender/sexuality... but in space. Yes, please! #blackvoices A great one for LGBTQ+ voices too.

@ceci_reads @Enchanted_Bibliophile wanna join in? 😊

Slowly working through this 1000-piece space-themed puzzle, with space-themed audiobooks... of course 😌 most recently, An Unkindness of Ghosts. So different and so good. I can see why it won awards.

Aster removed two scalpels from her med kit to soak in a solution of disinfectant. #firstlinefridays

A new list is out. Pictured are a couple of the many recommendations in the article.

https://lithub.com/our-personalized-quarantine-book-recommendations-round-6/

I‘m a bit behind with my mail, but I wanted to let you know my #LMPBC pick has arrived!

 @whippoorwill815 @jessinikkip @Dragonfairykats

Thank you so much for doing this #newyearwhodis giveaway! @monalyisha

I‘m so happy I joined in this year. Like @whippoorwill815 , I think that we were perfectly matched. I read 3 books in January and enjoyed them all. I tagged the one I think is my favorite. I‘m planning to get to the rest of her books this year. 🤞🏻

Book 3 of #newyearwhodis - The HSS Matilda left Earth 300 years ago in search of a new planet. The ship runs on slavery, with dark-skinned people on the lower decks and light-skinned people on the upper decks. Aster, a healer, lives on the lower decks and may have found a way to initiate change.
I loved this book. It‘s dark and not an easy read at all, but it is gripping. The characters are well written and diverse. Highly recommend!