Welcome to Litsy!

I had this in my library holds for months (back to January‘s #AuldLangSpine list!) and finally said yes to the hold when it came through (again) in September. It was so good I wish I‘d made space in my reading list earlier (and I wish I‘d reviewed it sooner as well!).

True Biz follows one academic year at a boarding school for the deaf, told in alternating perspectives (several students as well as the school‘s headmistress). (Cont‘d ⤵️)

Loved this book! Coming of age & radical education. Students & faculty at River Valley Deaf School- Charlie is the rebellious student who grow up with hearing parents who withheld deaf culture and sign language until she begins attending RVDS. Austin is the all around popular/charismatic kid whose mom is also deaf & dad is a translator. And February is the headmistress, dealing w/ her own relationship woes & fighting to keep the school open.

$2 was a fantastic deal for this book! Looking forward to reading it! #bookhaul #newin

September wrap-up from StoryGraph!

Favorites of the month:
🤙True Biz by Sara Novic
🐍Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
🌊Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
🏔️Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird

These two digital holds came in this morning and I couldn‘t resist (as if I didn‘t have enough on my reading plate right now!). Justifications for checking out two more books when I have a pile of TBRs and challenge/buddy reads giving me the side eye: I finished two books last night, and Libby told me how many times I‘ve postponed both of these holds 😂

Absolutely tore through this audiobook and loved it: the characters‘ stories, the politics, the insights into Deaf culture. Though the end felt a teeny bit rushed, this was still a strong pick for me.

💙 It's not springtime without rain! 😅
💙 Tagged: True Biz by Sara Novic
Shout outs to the runners up: A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear by Matthew
Hongoltz-Hetling and The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
💙 We have a family reunion for my mom's side of the family over Memorial Day
weekend. I can't believe it's already May - where is the year going!!!

Thanks for the tag, @Eggs!
1. Tagged: True Biz by Sara Novic
2. I've been watching Palm Royale, so now I really want to read Mr. & Mrs. American Pie by Juliet McDaniel. (#litsymademedoit)
#two4tuesday

I stayed up past my bedtime last night to finish this gem (worth it). This was so educational, but also a great story. So much insight into the Deaf community. I highly recommend this one.

Currently loving this book. I'm learning a lot, too!

#springskies #bkclubread

Absolutely fascinating as both a portrait of Deaf culture and as a story in general. Loved all the perspectives and political issues and budding romances. Really made me think about the world! #contemporaryfiction

Wow what a clever book. An incredible story, very passionately written. And an excellent insight into deaf culture and deaf history. I learnt so much and thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish there were more like it, if anyone has any other recommendations then let me know!

Thank you very much to @Megabooks @fredthemoose and @Bookwormjillk for the recommendation and advice.

I really enjoyed this. It‘s beautifully conceived, thoughtful and pacey. I was invested in the characters so kept turning the pages to see what happened to them. I loved how Nović integrated sign language and the story was immersed in deaf culture. It‘s drawn from her lived experience so feels authentic rather than tokenistic. Whilst there‘s a ‘message‘ it‘s not too preachy & made me think. The closure of special schools is topical in Oz now too.

#MMDBookClub Pick for September 2023 • 4 Stars

This novel follows the lives of three characters who are connected by a boarding school for the deaf in Ohio. It explores themes of identity, community, disability, and civil rights. Charlie is a rebellious transfer student who is deaf; Austin, a popular senior who is also deaf and whose sister is hearing; and February, a hearing headmistress who is a child of deaf adults.

Rly rly great book. Like… this book makes me want to be a better person 🤘🏽 and also 🤟🏽

So glad I finally read this one! Such a great character novel, looking at struggles w/in the deaf community - debates on cochlear implants, integration in society, & family dynamics. I liked the multiple POVs of different perspectives & the small sections explaining ASL techniques or history of deaf culture. This one really makes you think about privilege & the systemic problem of forcing deaf people to adapt instead of adapting the world for them

“True Biz?” There‘s no way I can pick a winner between my March & April selections right now. That‘ll have to wait. 🙈 But I did fill the grid in a *little* more! Step by step.

#2023ReadingBracket @chasjjlee

WOW! This powerful book is set largely at a boarding school for the deaf & centers around a girl who finds access to language (ASL) & community for the first time in any meaningful way. The author is an instructor of Deaf Studies & part of the deaf community. The characters are brilliantly written & complicated ethics are plumbed in an authentic way. I understand that some readers may be mad about the ambiguous ending…but it feels authentic, too.

I enjoyed this book. It made me think of my husband‘s grandmother, who taught at the Ohio deaf school (above) in Columbus. She always had the best stories. Kids try to get away with lots of things when they don‘t understand noise or volume😀

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks 💕

Here's my Bookspin card for March. My TBRtarot pick was already on the list so I substituted Legends & Lattes.

Looks good to me! 🥰

February Waters was nine years old when she—in the middle of math class, in front of everyone—stabbed herself in the ear with a number two Ticonderoga.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

#pantone2023 #titanite #bluing @Clwojick

I enjoyed this! I will say that I wish the ending weren‘t so abrupt - not that all endings have to be tidy, but I definitely wanted more resolution? Big props to the author for teaching me loads about deaf culture - so much I didn‘t know. Now to find a #pantone2023 match 🤔

“Being motherless was different than being fatherless. It was primal, the archetype for human suffering, like losing the North Star.”
This just put into words how it feels - to lose both parents is awful, but there is just something slightly harder about being motherless. Like you‘ve lost your anchor 😔

Book 10 for this year!

Just finished my first #AuldLangSpine read and can‘t recommend it enough! I‘m ashamed to to admit my knowledge of Deaf culture is limited to what I saw in the show Switched at Birth, so I learned some surprising things here (Alexander Graham Bell, anyone?). I was also infuriated on behalf of Charlie, Elliot, and Sky.

My only complaint is how quickly the ending crept up. I wonder what comes next for everyone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I had a blast doing the OWLS HP reading challenge this year! Finished 39 prompts in all! Here are my faves from the challenge. Now I‘m excited to start planning the new challenge for 2023, themed around Quidditch!
#owlsreadingchallenge

#12booksof2022

I read some real stinkers in June, but I also read this gem of a novel, one of my top reads of the year. #camplitsy gave me the needed to push to read it this year instead of having it languish on my miles long TBR

@LiteraryinLawrence really knocked it out of the park for our #jolabokaflodswap 😄 This book was such a fantastic pick and I am really excited to read it soon! I am so grateful for the chocolates as well! I have to agree: I felt the Wilber buds were better than Hershey‘s kisses too! Thank you so much! Whatever you and yours celebrate this season, Allison, I hope it was magical! ☺️🧡📚 Chelle, thank you for hosting! Such a wonderful idea!

@BennettBookworm Thank you so much! This book sounds AMAZING and the card is so so pretty 😍

Happy Holidays! 🎉

And thank you again to @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting the exchange!

It‘s always exciting when the #ALSpine match lists arrive, and @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks has great picks to choose from! As usual, I‘m going to take my potential reads beyond January!

The checked books are ones I‘ve already read, so to start 2023 I‘ll be reading a couple from my owned TBR 📚and a couple library reads 🔍. I already have True Biz waiting on my airplane moded Kindle, and Night Film was a #NYWD pick I never got to a couple years ago.

Can‘t believe it is time for this already! Which gets your vote? I went with tagged. #BOTM

I studied ASL and Deaf culture for 2 semesters in college when I had a brief interest in becoming a speech pathologist. I also spent a month at Gallaudet in DC.

I loved this excellent #OwnVoices novel that does not shy away from the controversy around CI, and the role (or withholding) of ASL in Deaf education and language acquisition. Also briefly explores BASL and racism within the Deaf community, something I definitely want to learn more about.

Really enjoyed this book and learnt a lot about Deaf culture and the inequities in how Deaf people are treated by a society that expects everyone to be hearing. Told from the POVs of two deaf teenagers and the headmistress of their Deaf school. I most enjoyed the teenagers perspectives and how their family dynamics played out. Including information about ASL and Deaf history in between chapters was a great addition.⬇️

Seventh #owlsreadingchallenge subject passed!!

Care of Magical Creatures:

🌟Niffler: a book with a shiny cover - True Biz
🌟Fantastic beasts: a book with an animal on the cover - Snow Child
🌟Unicorn: most anticipated book - Violin Conspiracy

THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING!! I want to recommend it to every single human I know. A master class in originality and writing that is just so COOL! I felt like reading it was a privilege. And SO educational, as someone who came in knowing next to nothing about ASL and Deaf communities.

I read this with my sisters and Mom as a markup book club - very grateful - so now I need to acquire my own copy!

@Kimberlone definitely came through on this rec. I absolutely loved this book per her suggestion. As a former linguistics major and a brief student of ASL, I‘ve always been equally fascinated by Deaf culture as I am by manual language. I agree the ending was a bit of a fizzle but in many ways book‘s ending mirrored “the end” referenced in the book. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in or limited knowledge of Deaf culture.

I really enjoyed this. My #doublespin for August @TheAromaofBooks

A look into a community of deaf kids at their school. It‘s a subject I never really thought about and I liked learning about it. When I got my hearing aids, I was totally deaf for a few minutes as the molds in my ears took shape. And that‘s what it must be like for the deaf, absolute quiet. This story is about three kids coming to terms with their deafness and places in the world. You should find out about it.

I loved this one. I took sign language in college & loved it. I would have loved to take more classes but it wasn‘t possible. My professor was deaf & we didn‘t have an interpreter in the class so we had to learn quick. I went to UNC Greensboro for my undergrad & the surrounding area had always had a large deaf population due to a school for the deaf being there (it‘s not closed but there are 2 others still in NC). In class we had discussions about

When all of your library reservations arrive at the same time… and it‘s the summer holidays… and you have guests visiting… and you are dog sitting… when am I going to get these read 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ 📚

A novel that centers on Deaf teenagers and their headmistress as they navigate school, hormones, and civil liberty.

Rebellious ✨ Educational ✨ Bridging

2Q22 results are in for my favorite books of the year! Looking forward to the second half of 2022 and crushing my reading goals (hopefully).

I joined the library waiting list after @ValerieAndBooks recommended this. It didn‘t come in time for #CampLitsy but I‘m really glad to have read it anyway. If you‘re not already familiar with the novel, it‘s set at a school for the Deaf in the US—lots of Deaf culture & history + disability rights issues + the woman in charge of the school is a lesbian. All good stuff! Rustling noise is used in the audiobook to indicate manual (ASL) dialog. #LGBTQ

Friday Reads July 8 - In which my books include folk of all kinds: queer; Canadian; Deaf; Indigenous; fey; & affected by war
https://youtu.be/XO9dLINXROc

Adding True Biz to my #LGBTQbookbingo! @Kenyazero

🌈 Set in a high school!

Absolutely fascinating novel centering around a School for the Deaf, its students, and headmistress. Novic, herself deaf, provides a window into deaf culture and an unflinching look at the challenges deaf individuals face. Novic intersperses A.S.L. and deaf culture history throughout the novel, creating a learning experience for the reader that evokes empathy and awareness that can truly affect change. I was blown away. True biz. 5⭐️

Great story about life at a school for the Deaf! Glad it was a #CampLitsy pick! I really enjoyed the pages of explaining ASL and other aspects of Deaf culture. I knew a bit about it before but learning there‘s a Black ASL as a result of segregation in the schools was definitely eye opening.

I‘m going to try and learn a few more signs myself!