Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m going to be a party pooper. I read it all but either it all went over my head or it just didn‘t resonate at all with me or both. I got a glimpse of the restrictions and omnipresent danger imposed by Israel on the Palestinians, for sure. But the rest of it did not capture any emotion from me other than “when will I finish this damn thing?” Shortlisted on the Women‘s Prize list, I‘m delighted that Brotherless Night won.

An actress who lives in London goes to back to Palestine to visit her sister and ends up taking part in a production of Hamlet. Slow moving but often intense, I liked this but wish I had gone with a print version over audio.

May reading roundup!
Finished up the #WomensPrizeForFiction short list with Soldier Sailor (3 ⭐) and Enter Ghost (4.5 ⭐)
And read from many different countries - England, Philippines, Ireland, Holland, US, France, Palestine.

Explored many different topics from Aliens running a donut shop, Shakespear in Palestine, Cain and god, and Teen slashers.

Change and Enter Ghost were my best fiction, Some People Need Killing and Houndred Years War best NF

Amazing. I am so glad I read the Hundred Years War before EG. It gave much needed context to the story. Hammad's writing is impeccable, she weaves the novel with stage/ play writing in an easily digestible way, she tells a story about real characters that were likable. The backbone of the story is about acting, and home. What is home, and what do you want to do with your life and can the coexist.

I think this is an important read even if it's not the most exciting thing ever. The narrator goes to visit her sister in Palestine and ends up playing Gertrude in an Arabic version of Hamlet. It's really the setting that takes this to the next level. Definitely recommend.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Reading time in the North End.

Today's book bestie is getting ready for the train to leave (behind schedule).

#StorySettings Day 14: Where there is a #graveyard, there be ghosts. 💕

Thoughts on the #WomensPrize Shortlist?

I didn't read the whole Longlist, but I'm surprised at Restless Dolly Maunder being here. It was a good read, but nothing superb. I would have liked to see Ordinary Human Failings. And from reviews I've read, In Defense of the Act seemed to be a stand out.

@BarbaraBB @squirrelbrain

British-Palestinian actor Sonia travels to Israel to visit her sister and gets roped into being in a play in the occupied West Bank. Through the narrative, Hammad reveals the realities and difficulties of life for Palestinians in Israel and the constant danger faced. I thought this was terrific and couldn‘t tear myself away from it.

Sonia returns to Haifa, Israel, to visit her sister Haneen. While there she gets pulled into a Palestinian theatre production of Hamlet. As the actors learn their lines and get there feel of the play, we get Sonia and Haneen‘s backstory. We also learn about everyday in this region, how it is to pass through checkpoints and being in the hands of the soldier doing the control, sudden demonstrations and reactions.

I finished this book on my flight back home. Such a slow, quietly powerful read and so very timely. An incredible book where everything feels just beneath the surface and between the lines. I was slightly on edge throughout the story right up until the end.

Very intriguing writing using a theatre production of Hamlet to convey underlying meanings of the conflict in Israel-Palestine. But there are a lot of unnecessary details about the protagonist who btw is unbearably dull. The audiobook narrator is simply horrendous and I think I lost so much of the charm of this book because the narrator straight up botched the reading. Overall, interesting plot but please don‘t get the audio version on audible.

I excepted them to interrogate me at the airport and they did

#FirstLineFridays

I do think I would have benefited at the time from some representation of a similar experience, though, whether in a book or a film, or even something small like a poem. Something for the company, just so I could feel I was walking down a path already trodden by other women, that I was not the first to cut my way through that wilderness.

Finally! I have the hard copy to read.

Sonia, a London-based actress of Palestinian descent goes to Israel to visit her sister. While there's she agrees to participate in a West Bank production of Hamlet. The result is a complex novel about how art can be both a personal and political force. I found it slow but gripping.
Reading this now, it provides insight into the plight and mistreatment of the Palestinian people by Israel since 1948. And now things are so much worse. 😔🍉

Another great read from the #WomensPrize longlist. A story of connection to family, work, homeland and navigating that in difficult circumstances.

Loved this long listed book for the Women's Prize for Fiction. An exploration of where one belongs along with a production of Hamlet. I need to sit with this novel for a while. Highly recommend. 4 🌟

#BookReport 13/24

The tagged book was this week‘s favorite and another #womenprize winner. So far I am loving the longlist with the exception of Hangman, that I couldn‘t connect with. The List is a thought provoking book about social media and #metoo. Another satisfying reading week!

Palestinian actress Sonia has been living in London for years but returns to Palestine to escape from some personal issues and to stay with her sister who lives in Haifa. She joins a local production of Hamlet and participates in daily life with the exhausting day-to-day struggles for Palestines in Israel.
The ending is one that will stick with me

A dense, beautiful and timely read, another winner from the #womenprize longlist.

Reading via my library's ebook collection in "borrowbox" The "double click to view whole table" each time there is a playscript section is not enhancing my reading experience. The paperback comes out on the 14th - I might just hang on for that.

As we turned past a building with a burnt façade, the word 'territory' rang around in my head. It comes with the territory. That's not my territory. Occupied territory. Enemy territory. Unknown territory. What exactly happened on this road to cause this mess? And where were the people standing when whatever it was had happened?

This might be a bit ambitious...

Who else just placed an absolute flurry of holds!?! There were only 4 I couldn't get from libraries, 2 of which aren't (yet) available in Canada. Always excited for the #WomensPrize 🎉🎉🎉

This is an expertly crafted novel which is, in a way, about the Israel-Palestine, specifically its impact on Palestinian identities. I thought it was really clever that Hammad set her protagonist‘s, Sonia‘s struggle to interpret the conflict, her Palestinian identity, and the way her family has been fractured by it, against the backdrop of the struggle she has to interpret Hamlet in Arabic.

I stayed up to finish the last 50 pages last night. What a book. Brilliantly written and so many layers. Yes, it is a woman returning ‘home‘ after personal heartbreaks, they perform Hamlet, in Arabic, set amidst a violent outbreak in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
The ending has your heart thumping.
Written purely from a Palestinian perspective. (Letting people know as it‘s fiction and it‘s not nuanced).

This book is brilliantly written. Have to read slowly as there is so much in it.