Welcome to Litsy!

“Apparently some quirk of human nature allows even the most unspeakable acts of evil to become banal within minutes, provided only that they occur far enough away to pose no personal threat.“

It was true in the Japanese massacre of Nanking, it was true in the Jewish Holocaust, in the genocides in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Rwanda, in #Palestine, and so many others unnamed. Why are we like this?

To honor my #Chinese roots during this years' #SpringFestival, I read this very important and very sobering, devastating book. Although extremely well-written, it is a horrifyingly captivating and very challenging read to get through because of the atrocities that the Japanese performed against the Chinese in the 1930s and #WWIi and the subsequent coverups by the Japanese government through the present day. (Continued in comments) ⬇️

Such a lovely tribute to a mother and grandmother. Strength and perseverance at its best.

On #Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as the week that Lunar New Year begins, I am starting this very important book by Iris Chang which details the massacre of Nanking by Japanese forces during #WWII. Much less well-known than the genocide in Europe, but no less horrifying.

Read this for work & thought I would mention it for two reasons. First, if you are interested in geography, mapmaking, the process of discovery, this offers a fascinating, albeit it scholarly, look at the subject (fair warning, it is definitely aimed at students/academics). More importantly, every time I read something like this, I marvel at people venturing out into the world without GPS, without knowing much about what is beyond the horizon.

I‘m on a roll with the tough memoirs of horrible lived experiences. This is a topic I had little to no knowledge of prior to reading this book: the oppression of the Uyghur people in China. Izgil, an intellectual, recalls his life under strict rule with lyrical writing, a sharp contrast to what he calls and his family endured. Constantly scared of reprimand, never knowing who may sell them out for owning the wrong book. Unbelievable but real.

#Midwintersolace #Litsolace

Welcome to #FridayNightshare 'tis Friday, I checked this time. 😅

Week 5 theme is a favourite fiction book about animals. Let's get those tbr stacks growing with our recommendations.

Mine is a book (tagged) I read last month and was blown away with the storytelling, plot, characters, and the foxes. It was an outstanding read of the year. 🦊

@Chrissyreadit @TheBookHippie

It‘s no Joy Luck Club but I did enjoy it. There were a few parts where I lost interest but then it picked right back up.

I chose this book because my cousin gave me a reading challenge for Christmas. It‘s like an advent calendar with little gifts but each door has a challenge. This book satisfies having been untouched on my shelf for over a year. I picked it up at a thrift store near our house and I‘m at least the third owner. I love used books.