Welcome to Litsy!

This memoir was about a Latina who climbed Mount Everest. It was filled with memories of growing up in Peru and in the United States, as well as her experience climbing up the mountain. It was very detailed and heartbreaking at times. However, I did feel that this could have been shortened. There were details that I did not need to know about. *trigger warning for child sexual assault

#foodandlit2025 @Texreader @Catsandbooks #nepal

Vasquez-Lavado‘s memoir is my favorite book of the year so far. She deftly weaves the story of her abusive childhood and self-destructive young adulthood with her journey to healing as she attempts to summit Mt. Everest. A story like hers could easily be told in an emotionally heavy-handed way, but Vasquez-Lavado‘s honesty and vulnerability make every last bit of her journey compelling and meaningful. January #bookspin catch up!

The library book sale has been good to me. Too good to me, one might say. Ergo, I give you “Breakfast in a Book Fort” with special cameo from a book I‘m actually reading because, yes, every once in a while I *do* take a break from buying books to read one. 🤪📚

“A memoir of courage”: definitely!! An excellent audiobook narrated by the author who has seen some things! Full of trauma, handled beautifully but described fully, this book shows how Vasquez-Lavado became the woman she is today. Beginning with her childhood rape in Peru through adulthood and addiction in Silicon Valley, loss of her mother, and finally to reach the summit of Mt. Everest with a group of fellow trauma survivors. Inspirational!

Wow. My heart is cracked wide open.

There is nothing I can say to do this book justice. I clutched it to my chest and sobbed after finishing because of all the emotional energy built up, needing to be released, (in addition to the actual subject matter.)

This is tough stuff though, so you need to be prepared for that. TW for child abuse, child sexual abuse, child/sex trafficking, sexual assault, suicide, civil unrest/violence, and more.

30 book recommendations in 30 days...

Day 19 *bonus* book: I'm not even done this book so I can't say how the last third of it will hold up, but I'm confident that even if it is terrible, it will still have been worth it from the experience so far. This is an incredible memoir, but deals with very tough subject matter. TW for child sexual abuse, child abuse, sexual assault, trafficking, confinement, alcoholism, suicide, and more. #30recsin30days

Wow! This book had so many threads and I was completely entangled and wrapped up in each one. Silvia shares her journey from young girl to being one of the few women to scale Everest. In between those years Silvia recalls all the traumas & obstacles that led her to face the mother of all summits. This works for multiple prompts #ReadingTheAmericas23 #Peru
#52Books23 #survivorStory #Booked2023 #SetInMountainRegion
5 star memoir

5⭐️! If, like me, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed is your jam, you absolutely must read this book. Incredible, gutsy, and moving. So well written that even if your idea of “climbing” is getting to the second floor of your home, you‘ll still feel in your bones a glimmer of what it‘s like to climb Everest. I didn‘t know I was missing a woman‘s personal (SO personal) account of this incredible feat until I read this. It‘s Everest, and so much more.

#BookMail Tagged book is a #DoubleDip for #ReadingAmericas23 #Peru & #Booked2023 #SetInAMontainRegion and the other aptly named book was a #MegabookRecommendation 😍

Everything about this memoir is gutsy. It‘s very honest and very vulnerable.
It‘s an epic journey taken in order to face trauma and find self acceptance. Silvia and the women she travels with are inspiring.

‘It‘s awe.
It‘s that sense of being both small and part of something so much bigger than our smallness.
Awe is the gateway drug to healing trauma through nature.
Awe must be experienced. And trauma isn‘t something you can scoop out with a spoon. It has a home in you, and in that home, it lives, often comfortably, sometimes quietly, but always ready to trash the place at a moment‘s notice.‘