Welcome to Litsy!

Informative. Disturbing. Sometimes funny. How do you describe this book? It sucks you in with a premise of a ridiculous “infomercial” for American Beef exports, and unwraps layers of things we don‘t like to think about. I don‘t eat factory-farmed meat but if I did before this book would have made me stop. Not preachy, but gets the message through loud and clear.

What. A. Book.
Blows my mind it was written 25+ years ago bc it‘s every bit as heartbreaking and relevant today. Triggers abound tho. I‘m not technically a full vegetarian (more like flirting with it these days lol) but this makes me want to commit. Beyond just meat tho, the heart of the story is anti capitalist, pro feminist, it‘s just so *much* 🤠 #AuthorAMonth

Slotting in my #AuthorAMonth right under the wire 😅

I had originally planned to read two by this author because the titles seemed intriguing - perhaps another time. Like a lot of the authors this year, she is “new” to me.

I thought this was great. And it's possible that I might be inclined to eat (even more) vegetables. I actually didn't read the blurb before starting and was under the impression that this was some sort of memoir. Wrong.

#AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Thanks #AuthorAMonth readers for voting for Ruth Ozeki! This is the first I‘ve read of hers and it will not be my last. I loved it! And it‘s her debut, impressive.

There are a lot of topics addressed but the things I loved were Jane the documentary director‘s undermining of her racist, misogynistic boss and the dark look at the meat industry. I‘m glad I don‘t eat meat!

Lots of content warnings, look them up if needed.

Ruth Ozeki is one the greatest of all goddamn time !

such a powerful story, absolutely loved!

I recently went through my top reads since I started keeping track in 1999. One of my favorite titles from 1999 and still resonates with me was this first book I read from one of my now favorite authors. I can still call up images and emotions from the basic storyline. #adventrecommends

This book was great! So much creepy information about hormones and cattle and slaughterhouses, but the story that‘s told is so easy to get into. I loved both of the female leads. This is a book you should read more than once!

Quirky but also dark and unsettling, I can see this appealing to people who wish Convenience Store Woman had gone deeper into the characters. A Japanese woman and a Japanese-American each interact with a bizarre documentary series promoting American beef in japan, which gets into examining control and how food exposes fault lines in traditional conservative values. Not easy to read but fascinating and I‘m glad I did

Tw for domestic abuse.

"Pain returned, like a pulse or a heartbeat. Sometimes it feels as if the mind has fingers, and in this lull of sound and light and motion, I let mine probe—gently, tentatively—at the pain‘s source."

"Skinning a giant carcass is like peeling the pajamas off a dozing twelve-foot child."

"Gripping my hair hard in his fist, he shook my head like a dirty onion."
Today in odd similes.

Bunny Dunn lays down the law. Damn.

"Her eyes went starry, and the world went black. She stood there for a moment, like a cartoon character who gets socked in the nose and sent reeling round and round while all the pretty little birds twitter, then her knees buckled and the floor disappeared altogether."

"One of the first things I ask a prospective driver is whether or not he likes to talk. Then I ask him what he knows about. Dave said, “Nope” and “Farms.” I hired him on the spot."
Total rideshare-service mood, even though this book is from the nineties.

"In Japan, ghosts have no legs. Often they are wronged women who are not even dead yet, whose extremity of suffering forces the spirit from the body to torment their oppressors. Living ghosts. Neither here nor there."

This book is reminding me a little of You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine, one of my all-time favorites.

"In modern-day Japan, militarism is treated like a sexual deviation—when you see perverts practicing it on the street, you ignore them, look the other way."

This was a powerful and entertaining book. I really am glad I read it. So many characters I just loved. It brings up a lot and is not always easy to read due to various subjects but so well executed.

Sugar Bear is ready for story time.

#fiercefeb #9to5
I wanted to pick a book I‘ve loved about a woman doing her #9to5 so this fits. Jane is a documentarian making a food show for Japan sponsored by a US meat exporter. So she‘s going around filming women cooking meat and factories/farms and starts digging behind the propaganda. Meanwhile Akiko‘s mean husband is making her watch the show and cook the recipes.
A great novel but it may gross you out.

I'm not officially doing Litsy A to Z this year, either, but I figured I'd keep a list just for fun. Here's where I'm at as of January 31st.

ETA: aw, poop. I missed a "ma" in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's name, and I didn't bring my whiteout pen. Everyone, just assume I'll correct it as soon as I can.

Here's Ruth Ozeki on "issue novels."

TW for rape, domestic abuse, eating disorders, and cattle industry practices.

This one snuck up on me. I was absorbed from early on, but it wasn't until right near the end that I realized how much Jane, Akiko, and Jane's crew meant to me. I had to shunt everything else aside until I'd finished their story, which asks questions about race, authenticity, sexuality, and how we construct our personal narratives. It's fabulous, but brutal, stuff.

The tagged book draws heavily on the Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, which I've often heard of but always glossed over because I thought it was an ancient sex manual.

Turns out it's decidedly not (though there may be the odd sexy bit). Huh.

My physical TBR for the next six weeks. THE SUN SWORD is definitely coming home with me, but all the others need to earn their return journey in my heavy-ass suitcase. I'm not at all picky about what I love but I'm SUPER picky about what I keep, so most of 'em are destined for Little Free Libraries or the used bookstore.

#womenofcolor #readingwomenmonth I consider it a blessing there are so many great women writers past and present.Still you always wonder who's not getting published who should be.

I probably won't eat this entire thing myself... #litsypartyofone

Life is too short...I couldn't get into this, the narration was flat and I lacked the patience to continue.

A Tale for the Time Being is probably my favorite book from the last few years, but I haven't tried any of Ozeki's other books yet. These two could both fall in the category of #foodiefiction and they should probably get bumped up on my reading list. #readjanuary

Wow what a book! It's terrifying and addictive in an unhealthy way, like picking at a scab. It's very powerful but so realistically hopeless and sad at time that it won't let you sleep at night until you've finished it. Now, I mostly read fantasy and YA, so this is definitely out of my comfort zone, but I highly recommend.

Creative, imaginative, surprising and engaging; there were so many reasons to love this #audiobook. After seeing a theatrical production of A Tale For The Time Being, I wanted to read more of Ozeki's work. This was her first published work, and every bit as stirring as I had hoped. My brain was tickled and my mind provoked.

This is Ozeki's debut novel! It won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim book prize in 1998. The prize ran from 1996-2008. I highly recommend all her work to date. #awardwinner #booktober

SASKATCHEWAN BOOK HAUL - BOOK #1
Been wanting to read Ozeki forever.

almost 20 years later, and Ruth Ozeki is still ON POINT

Very compelling and interesting look into both the US meat industry & the definition of an "American family" through a Japanese lens. Well researched, uncomfortable, darkly humorous. I think I'll be staying away from red meat for a while now though ?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the writing or the style of the book. I just...didn't enjoy it the way I did "a tale for the time being." I'm going to be reading her only other book I haven't read "All Over Creation" in the next couple of weeks, so maybe that one will be more my thing?

"The truth lies in layers, each of them thin and barely opaque, like skin, resisting the tug to be told."

"Traveling across America, they were astonished at how deeply violence is embedded in our culture, how it has become the culture..."

If you don't cry and maybe throw up, did you read it?

Tackles some very tough topics. I couldn't put it down.