Welcome to Litsy!

Safiya grew up under a strict Rastafari father and this is her memoir.

There has never been a single leader followed by all Rastafari which makes everything a little complicated. Each father is ruling his own kingdom and in Safiya's case, her environment was unstable, isolating and the fear of Babylon was real.

Safiya is an award winning poet and in her memoir each sentance is as beautiful as you'd expect, even when harrowing.

Deserving of all the praise heaped upon her, Safiya Sinclair has written the most lyrical memoir I‘ve read. This book is eye-opening, brave, and raw. Born and raised in Jamaica under her father‘s Rasta principles, Safiya is a dutiful daughter. As she comes of age, she realizes her father has flaws and rebels against his strict rules, notably with the symbolic cutting of her dreadlocks as a 20 year old woman. Empowering and beautifully crafted.

#wondrousWednesday

1) My kids all the time and my clients
2) My kids again and all my family! My cat, my books, and my crafts. My clients when I know I‘ve helped them through a sticky situation. And of course Litsy and #LitsyLove!
3) Tagged

Want to play? @Catsandbooks @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @AllDebooks @Cuilin @AnneCecilie @RaeLovesToRead @Daisey @Bookwormjillk @BookwormAHN @BarbaraJean @Deblovestoread @DebinHawaii

I read 7 books in August. 1 for #Turkey #foodandlit (July‘s country), 3 for #Jamaica #foodandlit, 1 for #authoramonth (500+ pages), 1 for #camplitsy, and 2 for #Ireland (1 of my vacation countries this summer). @Catsandbooks @Soubhiville

I will never look at dreadlocks the same way again. The author‘s father is Rastafarian in #Jamaica and raised his family to follow his strictures—his own interpretation of being a Rasta. While young, life was fine as a Rasta with its concomitant dreadlocks, but as the author matured, the father‘s rules became increasingly harsher. Rastafarianism is a misogynistic and ascetic religion, for women. The author literally had to escape this life, and ⬇️

Reggae was the only permitted music in the author‘s Rastafarian household. But when the Dad left the house, I was so happy to hear that the Cranberries were the family‘s revenge band! 🎵 🎶

This book is heartbreaking, and the audio is a must.

#Jamaica #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

#whereareyouMonday

I‘m in #Jamaica for the tagged book and Blackbeard #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I‘m in #Ireland for The Alternatives for #camplitsy2024 @Megabooks @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB

Inviting everyone I tagged (& didn‘t tag yet) to play

My next audiobook. #Jamaica #foodandlit

This is an impressive memoir by a woman that was brought up Rastafari in Jamaica. It took a bit to get into but it is really well written.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

If this wasn‘t shortlisted for the #womensprizeNF I wouldn‘t have been in a rush to read it but I‘m so glad it was as it‘s such a poignantly and beautifully written memoir. I loved listening to the author read her story herself. Brilliant 🖤 #nonfiction2024 (Born a Crime)

This is a beautifully written memoir! I started reading the physical copy and immediately picked up a cadence, not realizing at first that Sinclair is a poet. I was recommended the audio as she reads the words herself and I ended up switching back and forth because her words are brilliant and I loved both reading the words and listening. I learned a lot about the Rastafarian lifestyle and beliefs and look forward to my book discussion tonight!

Today's book bestie got a trip to the beach.

Picked a new book bestie for today's commute.

#BookReport

I had an amazing reading week

I finished my listen of How to Say Babylon, and my reading of both The Battle for Spain and Daddy‘s Gone A-Hunting

I read Xiania and Dr. No

Sadly I had one DNF, Yellowface which just wasn‘t for me

I‘ve just started The Switch

#WeeklyForecast

I‘ve several books that I want to finish this week
I hope to have a good audio week and finish my listening of How to Say Babylon - I have 3 hrs left

I want to finish The Battle for Spain

I‘m going to go finish Daddy‘s Gone A-Hunting today

I want to read Xiania 1 which I is the 1st book in a new series

I will hopefully get a start on Yellowface, I‘ve had this book out several times and it‘s time to find out if it‘s for me

#BookReport

I continued my listening of How to Say Babylon and continued reading The Battle for Spain

I finished Winter in Madrid and read Dominoes

I‘ve started Daddy‘s Gone A-Hunting

I‘ve been in a reading slump lately. Let‘s see if this book, which is one of my favorite genres, can pull me out of it. 🙂

#WeeklyForecast

Continue listening to How to Say Babylon and reading The Battle of Spain

I want to finish Winter in Madrid

Then I‘ll start Dominoes and hopefully I‘ll get a start on Daddy‘s Gone A-Hunting

#BookReport

I continued my listening of How to Say Babylon and the reading of The Battle for Spain

I read The Clue in the Library

I‘m currently reading Winter in Madrid

One of the best memoirs I‘ve read in a long time. Sinclair tells her story of growing up in Jamaica under an increasingly abusive Rastafarian father and difficult circumstances. Her tenacity, poetry, writing and her mother forged her escape. I knew nothing of the founding and tenets of the Rasta religion before reading this memoir.

#WeeklyForecast

I want to continue listening to How to Say Babylon

I want to continue reading The Battle for Spain #Spain #foodandlit, right now I‘m confused there‘s so many different fractions involved

I‘m going to read The Clue in the Library #NancyDrewBR today

I hope to get far into Winter in Madrid another #Spain #foodandlit read

#BookReport

I listened to a little bit more of How to Say Babylon

I finished Dobbelganger and started a new nonfiction book, The Battle for Spain #Spain #foodandlit

I finished The Quiet Tenant and read Nervous Conditions.
And with some intensive reading I hope to finish I Have Some Questions for You today

This book made me wonder why I don‘t read memoirs more often. It was very good. I learned a lot about the Rastafarian way of life. I was surprised by some of what I learned. Before this book, I didn‘t know what the term Babylon meant to the Rasta‘s. I know now, and it‘s not good. Safiya had to endure a tough life under her father‘s rule. I listened to the audio version which was narrated by the author. I highly recommend this book.

#WeeklyForecast

Continue my Women‘s Prize for nonfiction reads; How to Say Babylon and Dobbelganger. I might even finish Doppelganger

I‘ve 3 books that‘s due back at the library on the 12th:
The Quiet Tenant which I‘m about halfway into and had to stop reading last night because it got to scary. Yes, I scare easily
Nervous Conditions that I‘ve wanted to read since I read her essay collection and my May #BookSpin
I Have Some Questions for You

#BookReport

I kept up with my to shortlisted Women‘s Prize for nonfiction books, How to Say Babylon and Dobbelganger

I finished Forgotten on a Sunday

I read North Woods

I‘ve just started The Quiet Tenant

April Reads.

5🌟
How to Say Babylon: Safiya Sinclair 🎧
4🌟
Martyr!: Kaveh Akbar 🎧
The Adversary: Michael Crummey 🎧
2 🌟
The Blue, Beautiful World: Karen Lord 📖
#womensprizeforfiction
#womensprizefornonfiction

#WeeklyForcast

I‘ve just started Dobbelganger and want to continue that. I also want to continue my listening of How to Say Babylon

I‘m currently also reading Forgotten on a Sunday and want to finish that. And then I hope to read, or at least almost finish, North Woods

#BookReport

I finished The Redemption of Galen Pike and Restless Dolly Maunder

I read A Love Song for Ricki Wilde and Monstress vol 8

I continued listening to How to Say Babylon

I even managed to get a start on Forgotten on a Sunday

So I‘m vey happy about my reading this week

Author Safiya Sinclair reflects on growing up in Jamaica with a Rastafarian father who became abusive and how poetry saved her. This has everything I love about memoirs, teaching me about another's experience and drawing the reader in like a confidant.

5 🌟. Outstanding memoir of a poet that grew up in Jamaica. I learned a great deal from this well crafted work. The audio book is read by the author and was great. Read this book! #womensprizefornonfiction

#WeeklyForecast

I want to continue with the listening of How to Say Babylon.

I just read the first story in The Redemption of Galen Pike and it didn‘t go the way I thought, so I‘m looking forward to more stories in this collection

I‘m about halfway into Restless Dolly Maunder and expect to finish it today

Then I want to read A Long Song for Ricki Wilde

And hopefully I also get to start Monstress vol 8

#BookReport

I continued with both Thunderclap and the audio of How to Say Babylon

I finished Enter Ghost
I read The Strangeworlds Travel Agency The Edge of the Ocean and Sweet Desserts

I‘ve started Restless Dolly Maunder

#WeeklyForecast

Continue with both Thunerclap and the audio How to Say Babylon. Both from The Women‘s Prize for Nonfiction Shortlist

I want to finish Enter Ghost, read The Strangeworlds Travel Agency The Edge of the Ocean and hopefully get a start on Sweet Desserts

#BookReport

I had a great reading week probably due to no plans after work and I had yesterday day off work

So I finished Brotherless Night and The Emperor of Rome. Both amazing reads

I read The Wren, the Wren; Soldier Sailor and The Stories at the Red Gate Farm

I continued listening to How to Say Babylon

I‘m currently reading Enter Ghost and Thunderclap

#WeeklyForecast

I want to continue reading The Emperor of Rome

Then the rest of my reading is very Women‘s Prize heavy.
I want to finish Brotherless Night
I want to read The Wren, the Wren
I want to hopefully get a start on Soldier Sailor

I also want to listen to How to say Babylon

4.5⭐
Safiya is gorgeous - her name, her face, her writing. I learned so much from her biography. Rastafari is not a well known culture in my area. It makes sense that it was created in the 1930s, I just didn't realize how frowned upon it is in Jamaica. Reggae gives us such a different view outside of the area. An intense patriarchy religion with a lot of isolation. Safiya gives her story of breaking free. Fantastically written I enjoyed this.

I know this is not the point, and I am learning so much about Rastafari. But I keep looking at how gorgeous Safiya Sinclair is and how much I love her name! I might have a bit of a crush. Her writing is beautiful too.

#WeeklyForecast

Continue my audio How to Say Babylon and to continue my reading of Emperor of Rome

I want to finish The Silent Death

I‘m going to an event with Andrew McMillan on Wednesday and hope to get a start on Pity before that, otherwise I‘ll just read it afterwards

I also hope to get back to some Women‘s Prize for Fiction reading again and get a start on Brotherless Night

#BookReport

I‘ve finished Physical, Ordinary Human Failings and Wifedom

I read the latest Markund and Holt

I‘m currently reading The Silent Death and The Emperor of Rome. I also discovered the tagged as an audio at my audiobook service so I‘ve just started listening to it

A treasure highlighted by the Women‘s Nonfiction Prize longlist. This is a memoir of a difficult impoverished childhood in Jamaica with a domineering Rastafarian father who becomes abusive. It‘s, first, gorgeous, with a poetic prose throughout (brought out especially on audio), but also intense and fascinating. Recommended!

This is my favourite so far from the #womensprizeNF long list (even though I‘ve only read 4! 🙂)

The author grew up in a Rastafarian family in Jamaica, and I was surprised to learn about how strict the religion can be, as well as the views on women and girls.

Safiya is a poet and that really shows in her writing, and I loved her narrating the audio herself. She certainly has a huge capacity for forgiveness, after all that she went through.

Safiya Sinclair is a brave human to revisit the traumas of her youth. Her father was a strict Rastafarian who hated all things Babylon (aka the modern world) and believed women could never be as pure as men (bleh). Despite all of the restrictions that kept Safiya under her father‘s control, she obtained scholarships to the best schools and wrote herself to freedom with her poetry. Fantastic memoir.

January #doublespin @TheAromaofBooks

I was so glad that I was reading the last half of this in the safety of my house because this book had me feeling so many emotions! If you‘re a sucker for strong female leads that overcame insane obstacles, this book is for you. #nonfiction #feminism #safiyasinclair #motivational #memoir

My week in reading. I finished Pearl, Edith Wharton‘s The Mother‘s Recompense (1925), Hemingway and Faulkner in Their Time (2005), and, yesterday, the terrific White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000). Chaucer continues (on The Pardoner‘s Tale), and I‘ve started Penelope Lively‘s memoir at 80, Ammonites and Leaping Fish (2013), an intriguing and poetic memoir, How to Say Babylon (2023) by Jamaican-born Safiya Sinclair 👇

"Behind the veil of trees, night's voices shimmered."

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

Starting this one from the #WomensPrizeNonFiction long list.

Currently listening 🎧
This was on my tbr anyway so when I saw it had been nominated for the women‘s prize for non fiction I thought I would bring it forward. Very much liking the tone and voice in this memoir
I have another 10 marked off from the nominees I would like to read but I think that may be a little ambitious 😂
Are there any that you want to read?

#motivationalmonday @Cupcake12

1. I hope to finally finish putting together my ikea dresser
2. How To Say Babylon
3. Cheerful and sarcastic

Consider yourself tagged!

Today's book haul!! Girl Math is when you use a gift card and B&N rewards points it means the books are free right?

f you liked Educated, you‘ll like this. Sinclair is a poet- and you know it as you read her memoir. Excellent memoir depicting her dysfunctional family, education and intelligence as an escape hatch, and page turning events. I have a few minor complaints, but overall, this is deserving to get the press it‘s getting.