Welcome to Litsy!

#ItTakesAllKinds

A title & cover #WithRain from my Kindle TBR stack. 🌧️🌸

I read Goodreads reviews just before diving into this one and the own-voice comments impacted my reading experience. My opinions vacillate on this topic but this time I couldn‘t help but wonder how the story would read had the author been of Japanese descent as well as Black. It did however inspire me to google several real life articles on the Black Japanese experience which were very interesting.

Dec ‘23 #DoubleSpin Category: Pub 2020

I enjoyed this book tremendously. Written in a post WWII Japan, it tells the story of a young girl's life in Japan, growing up in a very prominent family. Well written, this book shines light on difficult topics, with sensitivity and raw emotion.

I've read so many good reviews of this book. Excited to get started.

Thank you so much @AmyG !! That sure brightened my day 🥰 #litsylove

#TemptingTitles #WithaWeatherWord

Been on my kindle for awhile now….

☀️☀️☀️☀️ Great book that I will add to my library. There‘s no sunshine & rainbows, but there is beautiful prose. It‘s a love story. It‘s a survival story. It‘s a story about family, hatred, resolve, & acceptance. #bookworm #avidreader #2023reads

He story of an illegitimate, mixed race Japanese girl from an aristocratic family and the trauma after trauma that her bigoted, racist, and evil family puts her through, this had some historical errors and too many soap opera happenings to really resonate with me. Full review at http://booknaround.blogspot.com/2022/10/review-fifty-words-for-rain-by-asha.html

#Rain
#TBR
#ArtfulAugust

☔️ 🌸📚

I was completely enveloped by this story. Nori is a bastard child from a mother that is part of a dying dynasty. The family tries everything to keep Nori a secret to preserve any honor and respect the family name still has. I loved the lyrical writing, and quite frankly I couldn‘t put this novel down.

I purchased this book last month and I would pick it up and put it down hence the reason I selected it for one of my #bookspin books. I was getting to the point I wasn‘t sure I‘d read it. This was by turns a lovely read and heartbreaking one as well. I love this authors voice and found Nori to be a character I wanted to take the journey with. @TheAromaofBooks #travelthroughbooks #japan #bigjunereadathon @Clwojick

A beautifully written, heartbreaking book!

This ebook is on sale today. I bought it for #foodandlit #Japan in August.

People are the worst…and, sometimes, the best. This is a powerful story about family, prejudice, trauma, love, the weight of tradition, and the will to survive, to keep going in the face of incredible odds and a world that doesn‘t value you. Yeah, it‘s heavy and sometimes dark but this book, which is impossible to put down once you start, is a compelling story, with moments of real compassion & understanding, and fantastic read.

Another deep dive into my pile of ARCs for todays‘s reading. We have “gusty snow showers” in the forecast for this afternoon (😠 what‘s up with that Spring?!?) which means it‘s a perfect day to stay inside with a book!

Bookstore haul!

Neon Gods is for book club. My sole purpose for visiting the bookstore was to pick it up. But The Glass Woman and Fifty Words For Rain were both wishlist books and they were both very cheap so it would have been wrong not to give them a home.

Audiobook pick:
Beautifully written and narrated. Character driven, a bit slow at times. This storyline basically fed off of tragedy. Kind of depressing overall.

The title intrigued me. I hope the book does the same. Happy weekend, everyone!

Munchkin 💙

🌸

I went from loving this book to ‘what? why?‘ so fast!

I wonder why I‘m drawn to such tragedy.

This was a heart breaking story of Nori born out of wedlock to a mom that was a Japanese Royal who was trying to escape her own family demons. It was a good story & even though it was incredibly sad you just wanted to keep reading because you became sucked into Nori‘s world. The ending was a little frustrating & felt like the author was just trying to tie up this story into a neat package. One more #bookspin book & #lmbpc book down

My Barnes and Noble deals! They have a bunch of deals currently to compete with Amazon‘s Prime Day and I‘m not mad about it 😆!

Story of a Young Japanese girl who was born out of wedlock and must navigate an uncertain world. Well written until the final 3rd where the story leaves so many things unresolved. Really a depressing story

@ncsufoxes The book should arrive by Saturday. Let me know if you need the tracking number. 😁

⭐⭐⭐⭐
#LMPBC
@rsteve388 @ncsufoxes @EliNeedsMoreShelves

@suvata

Sometimes interesting. Sister relationship with brother was weird. Ending was an unwelcome twist. Overall well written but I didn‘t get the point of the book.

It‘s fine. I really loved it mostly. It was heart breaking but also very beautiful. I think it was very well written. It took a while to read, more because life became busy more than the book itself. Towards the ending there was a scene that, although it made me cry, was a bit cliche for me and a trope I don‘t really enjoy. Other than that it was amazing. There were a few surprises, laughter and tears. All the signs of a wonderful read. 🙂

I was thinking about Dunbar‘s poem Sympathy the other day. This reminds me of it again.

Meekness was not weakness. And boldness was not strength.

This was a beautiful, heartbreaking story about a young women who comes of age in adverse conditions. Finding her own strength to live her life on her terms. Hauntingly beautiful, it was an engrossing read and kept me turning pages with hesitancy but wanting to know what happened. Overalls excellent story, will look for her next book.

The plot is so well paced and gripping. Really enjoying the tension already in this story about a bastard child sent to live with her wealthy grandparents in mid 20th century Japan.

My last 2 book (which I will review soon) were okay. As I was reading them I kept gazing longingly at this book. It‘s been on my TBR forever. I ordered it when it was first released but I never felt like the time was right. Here I am in the middle of shelter in place part 2 🙄and I felt it was time to pick it up. Also my reading mojo has been on super power lately. 😉😂

Finally starting this one. Who has read it?

So yesterday when my friend Apryl and I had lunch and swapped books, these are the books she brought for me. Not sure which one to read, first.😁 #bookswap #options

Book 20 I listened to this novel about Nori, a young girl in Japan in the 1940s, who's abandoned by her mom at her grandparents' massive home.There she learns that her mother had abandoned a son before her.Nori is treated horribly by her grandparents because she is illegitimate. She is given strict rules to follow and no love.The story spans into her adulthood.The story was interesting, the writing was good, and the characters were compelling. 4⭐s

Finished my January #BookSpin book of the month. It was ok - just wanted more for Nori.

Really enjoyed this.

Look how cute the wrapping is on my #jolabokaflodswap from @Hazel2019 ! Is it weird I‘m going to slide some of my kids‘ stocking stuff into these now that I‘ve opened them? 😂 The book looks fabulous and the chocolate, yum. Thank you so much! What a happy Christmas Eve for me. @MaleficentBookDragon

Hardly put this one down and got me all up in my feelings. A wide variety of feelings.
#feastmode @Hestapleton

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧Audiobook💕

Weekend read #AshaLemmie 1st book and already this is going to be a winner.

“From page one, I was rooting for Nori, the illegitimate daughter of a Japanese aristocrat and an African-American soldier. Shackled by family condemnation and the prejudices of post-WWII Japan.

Not sure anything will beat this as my favorite book of 2020.