Welcome to Litsy!

The characters are complex & real. The scenario is not only plausible but has happened. The writing was exemplary. Yet it still bought into stereotypes and had some unrealistic moments. Fetuses don't get found in dumpsters. There are rules about medical waste. Also, carpenters are not generally poor. It's very skilled labor, and the pay is, while not doctor pay, certainly well above poverty wages. It is, in fact, ~20K over the median income.

May TBR and Read planner bookshelves

She‘d created a personality inside which she could live as she might have stitched together a quilt of colorful mismatched cloth-squares, dazzling to the eye...she was somewhere inside, in hiding.

Neurons in his brain were extinguished like lights going out one by one—a string of Christmas tree lights.

Faith that is blind—-the strongest faith. 😔

With all the renewed attempts to restrict women‘s reproductive rights, I decided it was time to read this. Oates frequently novelizes real events or characters, and this is a fictionalized account of the murder of an abortion doctor by a religious fanatic. I almost bailed-for the 1st 100 pages we are in the mind of the assassin and must read a lot of his religious ramblings as he attempts to justify the murder. But most of the book..cont‘d below:

After a while there will be fewer tears. A kind of wet ash instead of tears...

How can it be, this woman is our mother – we do not want this distraught woman to be our mother. We do not want to be the children of such a mother, and we do not want to be the children of disaster.

First book mail at the new house! #betterworldbooks

Alone, alone! Long she would recall the strangeness of the word, an echo aerated by melancholy vowels—alone.

In my library bag I have a list of books I don‘t want to buy but if they turn up in the library I‘ll read them. This is one of them. I think it was on my list because I heard her on the radio. I‘ve never read one of her many books. Almost didn‘t read this as it‘s thick and I‘m put off by thick books! 🙃. Glad I read it. Very interesting look inside the heads of Americans with opposing views and effects of violent deaths on family.
@MrsMalaprop

This was an incredible feat for both Joyce Carol Oates to write and for me to finish. The book is both ambitious in length and subject matter and it left me confused. I‘m confused as to why it needed to be so long and confused at some of the characters. It would‘ve been more effective if it was trimmed because she loses readers in the minor events that don‘t propel the story forward. That being said she is a great writer but this wasn‘t for me.

I bought this at the library sale two weeks ago and have been excited to read it. I have heard some great things about it and about this author. It is a chunkster of a book! For those of you who have read it I would love to hear your thoughts!📚

Even at 700+ pages long, I was still so enamored I read it in a week (and I'm no speed-reader). HOWEVER, only the first 500 pages were worthwhile, had JCO stopped there this book would be an absolute KNOCK-OUT, it was compelling, forced me to think outside of my comfort zone, gave fascinating insights in to the religious delusions of man. But then after p. 500 it did a 180° turn and it was 100% superfluous and completely ruined the book. 3/5 stars

I'm so obsessed with Litsy now, I swear I'm checking it more than Facebook or Instagram 😂 it's making my TBR pile grow at exponential rate #BookNerdProblems

But progress update, had a busy weekend, but still got a good reading session in, p 467 of 736

I am absolutely *tearing* through this book. Bought it 36 hours ago, and I'm already 291 pages in (out of 736)

Picking up my first book by Joyce Carol Oates!

It finally came in to the library!!! I expressed my excitement through interpretive dance. My husband was not as excited. 😎

Beauties (I️t was a good night at @bookculture )

🔥 NOT FOR THE FAINT-AT-HEART. 🔥 Oates takes an unflinching look at the world of Pro-Choice/Life and tells an eloquent story that shows neither side is without fault and shortcomings.

Without a doubt one of my favorite reads of 2017. 📚

#BooksWithBohemianYogini

I just hit that bomb dropping moment where I‘m now questioning the logic of the entire novel.

What a smart, seasoned author. Man was it great to see Joyce Carol Oates in person! I was always too intimidated to read her so this will be my first by her once I build up the stamina for this chunkster. 😍🙌🏻

A powerful, sprawling character study about the legacy of "martyrdom" and the effect on those left behind. With a relentless pace that moves quickly in spite of the carefully detailed prose and 700+ pages, Oates delivers a profound, raw and achingly intimidate novel—a visceral and stunning portrait of grief and consequences amid the backdrop of a contentious social issue.

"If you are a child like Naomi who is a harsh critic of herself you are likely to be astonished when-- at last-- the world punishes you as you'd thought you deserved.
Because I am ugly and stupid and clumsy it is not fair to punish my father. Please don't let that happen...
The shock of a family emergency is that the child learns it has nothing to do with her."

"Because you understood that love and pride are a baited hook you swallow unwittingly and discover one day that it is tangled in your guts"

Book Club today was in Golden Gate Park!! It was such a beautiful afternoon spent in the sun and shade of the rose garden with delicious dim sum to discuss this powerful book 🌹.

For those of you who don't know this yet: THIS Is MY FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR (so far)!!! Happy Sunday 😍.

The first pages of this brilliant, illuminating, and timely novel are so tense + disturbing entering the mind of Luther Dunphy, "a zealous evangelical," as he executes the abortion-doctor, Gus Vorhees, in front of a women's clinic, that I was immediately hooked and shaken up and ecstatic that this book existed. It only got better as it broke apart to examine the families left behind in this war of righteousness.

My favorite of 2017 so far.

Banana chocolate scone + mint hibiscus iced tea + reading this morning.

I am going to finish A Book of American Martyrs (still my favorite of the year; I love a sprawling, dense, big-themed book to really sink into) and then it's back to Stay With Me. Happy Saturday, Litsy 😍.

Dinner + THE BEST BOOK EVER!!! I just can't get enough. I only have 200 pages left.

I'm only 200 pages into this behemoth of a book but I am declaring it my favorite book of the year so far.

A very timely tale about an evangelical Christian who believes he is acting out God's will and assassinates an abortion provider in a small Ohio town. Joyce Carol Oates is a masterful writer and we get to go deep into the mind of this man and learn what drives him forward. Seriously I am just blown away and so into this story.

SUPER SALE ALERT!

A Sunday with absolutely no plans means I can make some good headway on a fat, new book. Happy reading today, friends!

Well that's incredibly aggravating 😤

" Once you argue that one class of human beings has the right to pass judgment upon all other human beings, to declare which are not 'persons', you have opened the door to the Nazi Holocaust- to genocide."

A story about two very different American families, but very linked. It centres around America's war on abortion. It expressed pain, grief, loss and even the desire for redemption. This book made me think about the abortion controversy and even more about how tragedies effect families and individuals. Martyrs don't really die, it's their families and friends who are left to be crucified. An amazing read!!

A doctor who performs abortions is killed on page one by a pro-life terrorist. Is the doctor a martyr for the movement? Or is the killer, who is immediately arrested, a martyr for his cause? Or the wives and families they both leave behind? Or all of them?

This was an excellent investigation of the fallout, allowing each party's martyrdom to get a full airing. I think it would like it if I were pro-life, too, but that's hard to say.

Sunday night. Joyce Carol Oates. Marty Robbins. 😍😍😍

This book is heavy, but beautifully written, about the lives that intersect when a religious extremist assassinates an abortion doctor. And very chilling to read in the midst of the shooting at the congressional baseball practice.

My reading companion Monty has called it quits for the night. #dogsoflitsy

Tuesday night.

Annnd signed copies of American Martyrs coming right up! @SewItGoes & @Much_Ado_About_Reading look so sad, don't they? 😂👏🏻 #BEA17 #LitsyPhotoOp

About to see Joyce Carol Oates speak with @MrBook and @Much_Ado_About_Reading

A surprise visit and signing from the one and only Joyce Carol Oates!
#abookofamericanmartyrs #joycecaroloates #stocksigning

Wow! Such a powerful book.

Morning detox breakfast (I'm on a real strawberry kick right now 🍓!) with my new book mail from #BOTM and some others!! I didn't get a chance to open it yesterday so today is a good day 😍. See any you like!?

Happy Saturday ☀️.

My recent additions to my TBR. I'm good for another hour or two for tonight's installment of #LitsyPartyofOne; what to read next? I think I'm just going to close my eyes and pick something. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised when I do that.

Okay! E-book haul that I'm thrilled to have!! The Patriots and A Book of American Martyrs! Two chunksters that I'm thrilled to be able to carry around on the tablet! 😊