Welcome to Litsy!

1. I have a numerical goal and several reading challenges, some of my own creation and some from Litsy things.
2. I plan my reading for the month around book clubs and such, but I also fill in with more random and serendipitous choices.
3. Reading exposes me to different perspectives and ideas, such as in the tagged book. #wondrouswednesday

Glad I finally picked this up. I learned a lot. Would be a great book to teach in school.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Belated Feb wrap-up! I finished 5 books, but was in a reading slump and nonfiction audio was mainly what I was able to focus on.
🥇How the Word is Passed
🥈Magic Claims
🥉The Second

And the tagged book wins #nonfiction for October #readingbracket2023 @chasjjlee

I learnt a bit... but definitely need to read more around the subject.

#bookspinbingo #doublespin October @TheAromaofBooks

#pop23 #holidaythatisntchristmas (Juneteenth) @Cinfhen @squirrelbrain @Deblovestoread @RaeLovesToRead @LeeRHarry @Bluebird @AshleyHoss820 @MissHel @Cortg

#titlesandtunes #blues @BarbaraBB

Well, at least I know my book fits the #titlesandtunes theme of #blues @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

Going back to the #blues origins for #titlesandtunes with the tagged book. I rarely listen to the genre but this is a favourite song when I do. @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

A must must must read for everyone. This shows how the way we talk about history and even current events needs to be better informed by the truth of enslaved people in our country and the world

Wow. This book is one I will be pressing into the hands of everyone I can get to read it! I love the way it is organized by the locations. The author includes his personal experiences and reflections on the sites and the conversations with he has with people along the way. It's a great mix of history, anthropology, and memoir that is compellingly readable. This came off my shelf for my July #Bookspin selection. @TheAromaofBooks

This was not an easy book to read. Grammatically, it was. But the topic was heavy. There is so much we are not taught, or are taught incorrectly, about slavery. I learned a lot and while I don‘t know if there‘s much I can do to fix the past, I do think fully learning about slavery and who the Africans were before becoming spaces, and how awful blacks have been treated (even to this day) in our country is important.

Fabulous

This book is so powerful and so important to read. The author visits a number of locations primarily throughout the US, exploring the history of the site in relation to slavery. I slowed the speed of the audio way down so I could fully take in the information being provided. So many details I was completely unaware of that just repeatedly broke my heart and blew my mind. This information matters and I'm so glad this book was published.

I will be reflecting on this memoir for awhile. Smith reflects on the impacts of slavery on people and our country thru the lens of visiting 7 physical sites, including Monticello, Angola Prison, NYC, and Goree Island in Senegal. He writes about this history America likes to ignore and the history that is right in front of us if we choose to look and learn. As an example, I didn‘t know the full history of the Statue of Liberty ⬇️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Smith travels the United States visiting plantations, prisons, and lesser-expected locales, gathering information and insight on how the history of slavery is passed through generations and what implications that has on modern society. Fact: Racism is a social construct. This encourages a much-needed reflection on what you‘ve been taught / told; what‘s true and what‘s falsified. Thoughtful and eye-opening. Truly impressive prose.

#BlackHistoryMonth Recommendations Day 11 Nonfiction
Clint Smith is a poet. He is a historian, a teacher, a man of words. His writing is stunning. How The Word Is Passed is a look at how slavery has shaped America. It is deeply researched but yet highly readable because of Smith's poetic writing, that does not stray from fact but does make for impactful reading.
He visits sites and interviews people across the country.

Such a vital and important book. So many secrets uncovered and so much propaganda dispelled. A call to justice and courage and persistence. Glad I read it, and glad I listened to the audiobook, read by the author.

This has been TBR for a while now, but I‘m going to bump it up because I listened this great interview today. https://www.mprnews.org/arts/books

“Were there any good slave owners?” 🙄

P.S. I‘m still upset Kerri Miller‘s MPR morning show was hijacked by the fluff it was replaced with - is there no justice? I think not.

#AuldLangSpine #MLKday
At first I assumed (wrongly) that Clint Smith was a journalist: as he travels to different sites with a link to slavery in the U.S., he asks questions of other visitors and tour guides to hear their views on what the sites (including plantations, museums, a prison, graveyard) reveal about the legacy of slavery. His skill at posing the questions is clear: he neither shys away from creating discomfort nor courts it.👇

Challenging books can show a different way of thinking about things we take for granted. #sundayfunday

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Smith‘s book is an eloquent, personal, & thought-provoking exploration of seven US sites, plus one in Senegal, & what they reveal about slavery, how it is remembered & taught or just glossed over, & it‘s lasting legacy. A necessary book which asks readers to reexamine what they know, ask difficult questions, & learn from a history which is still very much an unresolved part of our present & future. Highly recommended.

#adventrecommends @emilyrose_x

I'm a day behind.

This nonfiction was such a powerful read. It was informative, emotional, and a book I am thankful was written.

In this powerful book, author Clint Smith explores the legacy of slavery by traveling to Monticello, Jefferson's plantation; Angola prison, where slavery transitioned to forced labor without missing a beat; a Confederate heritage celebration; & NYC's Central Park, where an integrated community of free Black residents & Irish immigrants once stood. By turns revelatory & disturbing, a must read for anyone interested in our country's true history.

I finished this one really quick. I loved Smith‘s style of writing. The project he started was examining different places throughout the US & one in Africa. He was looking at the impact of slavery in the past & now the current views on racism. He visited Monticello, Thomas Jefferson‘s home, & how the current tours are changing to reflect what we know now & understand more about the role Jefferson had in slavery. He did discuss about how some

I‘ve read some amazing books this year.

Nonfiction: tagged, All the Young Men, Ten Steps to Nanette

Fiction: The Mercies, The Dance Tree, The Seed Keeper, Fresh Water for Flowers. Also, Unlikely Animals and Mary Jane, both on audio which I suspect added to their charm and made them top reads.

#Littenswanttoknow

Would you like to share your top reads so far @Cinfhen @Andrew65 @TheLudicReader ?

How the Word is Passed
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Tru Biz
Book Lovers
Cloud Cuckoo Land
The Sentence

(2021) Brilliant idea, brilliant execution. It's a collection of essays based on visits to sites that commemorate slavery: Monticello, Whitney Plantation, Angola Prison, and others. Smith contemplates how history is represented and interpreted by visitors, how the representations compare to historical documents, and how the stories we tell continue to affect our lives. The audiobook is narrated by the author, in this case an excellent choice.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is absolutely excellent. Smith visits different sites that pertain to the history of slavery in the US. I appreciated how he included his own personal perspectives, as well as the perspectives of the many people he interviewed. He approaches and discusses these encounters with compassion, regardless of their worldview. I think it‘s a must read - particularly for Americans, but also for anyone who is interested.

Despite the heat, there‘s something unique about reading outside in the summer, don‘t you agree? 😎

📸 NYTBooks IG

Larger article online too.

Excited to finish this in time to count for July. Esther wonders if I read it too fast. I assure her that I learned new perspectives, enjoyed all the googling-research this prompted (the book references so many things that I wanted to SEE and provides no photos so I explored.) And will likely ponder the reckoning, the appreciation, the shifts required in action and thoughts.

Esther approves. “Yes, Mum, this smells like a good book.” #Important #NotonmyBingoCard

(Sorry, this is going to be long, Litsy does not give me enough room!)

I was struck by this passage -- which made me think of both my high school alma mater and my ancestor Asa Ladd, who was executed by the Yankees:

“. . . when they are asked to reckon with the fact that their ancestors fought a war to keep my ancestors enslaved, there is resistance to facts that have been documented by primary sources and contemporaneous evidence. . . .

July 4th reading. Totally coincidental (I've been waiting for this hold to come in for months) but feels appropriate.

May Reads #Maystats #nonfiction #BOTM

Insightful and powerful. There were many points made that made me think, and in many instances the author very effectively framed his viewpoint, especially related to racism, in ways that resonated.

“The history of slavery is the history of the United States” but sadly most of us have been given a whitewashed education. So Clint Smith gives us the history lesson we all should of been taught. By visiting several historical sites linked to the Civil War, we first get the “official “guided tour version & then Smith respectfully & insightfully poses his own questions & observations. Very well done. A bit repetitive but that‘s the point.

My #BookSpin for May
From @MallenNC #NYWD list….I still have a few more to read….

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

#WondrousWednesday

1)TBR shelfie with Rosko in his llama hut. 😻
2)Non-fiction is tagged, fiction The Seed Keeper
3) My first two bails of the year happened this month: How Much These Hills is Gold and North and South.

Everyone show us your shelves 😊

Thank you @ncsufoxes - Jessica! Every choice is amazing and I really appreciate the note and personal connection you shared with the books and the gifts. I am looking forward to tomorrow morning‘s coffee, the chocolate and the notebook (which is not too large.) The Baldwin sentence diagram is brilliant. I was enough of an English nerd that I liked diagramming sentences in school. Love it all. #blitsyswap #bhms

Book reviews to come!

Having recently finished The 1619 Project, I was unsure about reading this so close to it. However, while it is similar subject matter, it's very different in execution.

Clint Smith deserves all the praise he is receiving for this book. His look into specific locations, like Monticello or the Whitney Plantation (background photo), was informative, heartbreaking, and just proves why accurate history needs to be taught.

Highly recommend!

Smith travels the country, exploring sites connected with America‘s history of slavery. He examines the ways these stories are passed down, ignored, remembered, and distorted. He is a remarkable writer, weaving together well-researched history, a wide range of interviews, and his personal reflections as a black man. Smith questions when and how we as Americans will confront and reckon with this central part of our nation's identity. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rating: 5🌟
Book: 7 of 2022

Purposefully planned a full morning of cleaning just so I could put my AirPods in and finish listening to this one. So worth it. Highly recommend.

P.S. I have finally caught up with all my #Litsylove letters since moving. I‘ve been slow but just put a stamp on the final one. Look forward to many, many more 💌

#2022ReadingBracket

Decided to play along with @chasjjlee and see where I end up at the end of the year.

See her feed for a blank bracket if you‘d like to play along.

#ItHadToBeYou #JanuaryStats

13 books
3 Non Fiction

Tagged was 5 🌟 as was All The Young Men.

#RepresentationMatters - #LitsyAwards2021

#bookspinbingo for February & #Blackhistorymonth

#BookReport

Girl: 4.5 🌟 I have one small quibble about one scene that didn‘t ring true. See spoiler comment below
Snowflake: 4🌟
HTWIP: 5🌟 Will definitely be on my #NYWD list for next year. #Bookspin
H: perfectly portrays what happened when women lose out due circumstances beyond their control in 17th century London and need to survive. Really loved the characters 4🌟 #NYWD

Catching up on buddy reads today.

Every bit as amazing as everyone has been saying. I listened to the audiobook but will be buying a copy for my shelves so that I can revisit the things that struck me the most and the places where my attention lagged (which tends to happen to me with audiobooks).

❤❤❤❤❤

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

This was the bonus book for my IRL book club. I am so glad they brought this into my life.