Welcome to Litsy!

@Clwojick here‘s my girl Sietje in her favorite sleeping pose. 😂

I loved The Poet X on audio. If you haven‘t heard it yet I‘d recommend it. I love hearing the poetry in the author‘s voice. It‘s not a book of poetry- but the main character writes. 💕👍

I liked this a lot. It really had a good feel for expressive teens and I loved the diversity. I can feel all the passion behind the main characters feelings.

I‘m not usually one for books in verse, but man this one is hitting me right in the feelings!

Wow! I devoured these verses. The poetry was beautiful and Elizabeth Acevedo's voice shines through as very powerful and genuine. The book reminded me of how I wrote angry poetry when I was a teenager as a coping mechanism. It made all the difference. The questions Xiomara has about theology are the same kind I grappled with. It made me feel understood. I did think things wrapped up a little too neatly at the end.

And I think about all the things we could be if we were never told our bodies weren‘t built for them. 🎧 *audio walking

This poem shook me. This is the point that I got super sucked into the book and ended up staying up late to finish it. Acevedo's poetry gives Xiomara an incredible voice in a powerful coming of age story. I don't remember the last time I was so moved by a book - I cried at the end (literal tears) and I NEVER cry at books. The closest I ever got was the beginning of Harry Potter 7. This one had me weeping by the end due to its beauty. 5+🌟

These lines from these opening pages (two different poems) are packing a huge punch.

There were massive storms including a small tornado in our area last night 😣 and the same weather is supposed to repeat tonight so I quickly ran and grabbed some supplies for camping out in my bathroom yet again (our only tornado shelter) before the storms start #bookhaul #litsyloveslibraries #stormyweather

This book—💜💜💜

I am blown away by how much Acevedo packs into this novel in verse. Doubt, faith, religion, gender, race, finding your voice, poetry, first love, family, fraught mother-daughter relationships...and the intersection of all the above. This is a powerful, powerful book and I‘d highly recommend it. I listened to it on audio, and would highly recommend that format as well!

Book # 3 completed (last week) for the #bookfitnesschallenge.

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130
I love this quote, because even though it‘s not about poetry, it IS about poetry. It‘s about any of the words that bring us together & how we can form a home in them....learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light. Isn‘t that what a poem is? A lantern glowing in the dark.

I think about all the things we could be
If we were never told our bodies were not built for them.

💜

I think when we get together and talk about ourselves, about being human, about what hurts us, we are also talking about God. So that‘s also church, right?

...Jesus feels like a friend
I‘ve had my whole childhood,

who has suddenly become brand new;
who invites himself over too often, who texts me too much.

A friend I just don‘t think I need anymore.
(I know, I know...even writing that is blasphemous.)

But I don‘t know how to tell Mami that this year,
it‘s not about feeling unready,
it‘s about knowing that this doubt has already been confirmed.

Every day I searched for new songs,
and it was like applying for asylum.

I just needed someone to help me escape
from all the silence.

I just needed people saying words
about the things that hurt them.

...and even that young I learned music can become a bridge
between you and a total stranger.

My current listen while I pack for #BookExpo. We're reading her novel With the Fire on High for June's book club, so I thought I'd check this out first. It's amazing!
#audiobooks #bookexpo19

I can‘t even begin to explain how much I love this. I‘ve only just started and I had chills for the 14 minutes I listened. Will definitely be posting quotes on Litsy soon. ✨

Powerful. Thankful this is out there as I think it speaks to so many.

I am LOVING the tagged book, which is why I‘m so glad I remembered my headphones today! Mid-morning #audiowalk (pictured above), then a hill interval workout at the gym after work, means my step total is way up—a great #bookfitnesschallenge day! In other reading news, I have WAY too many book club/buddy reads going in May. One down, three to go! I‘ve gotta get going on this week‘s reading: Hangman‘s Daughter and then Hunchback for #hugonuts!

I had meetings most of the morning and worked from home this afternoon, so my “at work” walk became a walk around my church‘s campus while my husband warms up for his piano service tonight. We have a community garden, using boats as the raised beds—and what would a church garden be without cheesy religious puns? 😂

I started the tagged book on audio this morning and am loving it! Forgot my headphones tonight, though. 😢#bookfitnesschallenge

I needed a new audio and grabbed this on a whim, didn‘t even read the synopsis which is not something I do.
It turned out to be a coming of age type story and I loved this so much!! Now, first let me say that I wouldn‘t have enjoyed this as a print version. Why? Because it has a lot of Spanish in it and since I don‘t read/speak Spanish it wouldn‘t have worked.
The narrator for this one was wonderful, authentic accent and beautiful Spanish.

April was audio-heavy due to home renovation and yard with. Pretty fab reading month!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Best Cook in the World
Gross Anatomy
Life Will Be the Death of Me
The Poet X

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Between the World and Me
Blitzed
Get Your Shit Together
I Miss You When I Blink
My Southern Journey
Theft by Finding
White Elephant
You‘ll Grow Out of It

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Normal People
Petty
Unicorn Crossing

⭐️⭐️
Daisy Jones & The Six
I Owe You One

I think this book is too hyped for me to love it, but it‘s still an interesting, coming-of-age story. #marchmadnesschallenge

I grabbed this one on a whim, had no clue what it was about or if I even would be interested. Best. Decision. Ever. I LOVE this audio! Since I don‘t speak Spanish, and there is so much of it in this book, being able to listen to it has been amazing. Fantastic story and narrator. I can‘t wait to finish it.

I LOVED this book! I finished it all today; it was quite a quick read. I have always enjoyed novels written in verse and this was no exception. My heart broke for Xiomara in many parts. I don‘t want to give anything away, but I highly recommend this book!

This is the first book I have read that's written in verse, and I actually really enjoyed it. It's a quick read that most women will be able to relate to. Xiomara is a NY teen that's finding herself, and having to deal with a lot of life's crap along the way. Having a strict mother isn't making it any easier on her. While this book deals with some emotional teenage and family issues, none of the topics addressed are too heavy.

#24b4Monday

4 1/2 ⭐️

Lived up to the hype. Definitely delivered. I‘m going to recommend this one to my daughter.

Book 150/165 4/28/19

I was both intrigued by this book and hesitant to read it, because I'm not the kind of person who sits down with a book of poetry and just reads through it. But this worked as a compelling narrative as well as poetry, and I loved it. It actually deserves the hype. It deals with the raw and confusing emotions of high school in a lyrical way.

Loved this!!! YA fictional novel told in verse!

A spectacular girl. With too much ass.
Too much lip. Too much sass.

💙💚💙💚

Fiction + poetry + verse + YA = all my loves! Ahh prolly about to finish this tonight but I want more! Any recs for me from those that have read this & loved it too??

Loving this.

#lunchtimereading

#quotsyapr19 @TK-421
#Poem

Written in verse.

Young Dominican girl in Harlem finds herself and her voice through slam poetry. Her mother is very religious and as a recovering Catholic I found thos parts not fun to read, but powerful.

Definitely recommend as audio as the author, a alam poet award winner, narrates.

#readingwomenchallenge2019 24) A young adult book by a woman of color

Such a fantastic read! #ebookdeal #dailydeal

Every time I think about Aman,
poems build inside me
like I've been gifted a box of metaphor Legos
that I stack and stack and stack.

Today, in Lunchtime Reading ...

Poet Elizabeth Acevedo's favorite books? Yes Please!! 💜Full list here: https://www.strandbooks.com/elizabeth-acevedo-bookshelf

#marchmadness @JenP

I loved this 💗
It‘s a YA novel told in verse. So it‘s like 150 - 200 + poems - easy to read, and addicting.
Told in verse, You get all the emotional impact, with none of the melodrama.
A coming-of-age tale of a young Dominica, trying to sort out her feelings about her twin, her parents, her body, boys, God, and her passion for writing. Really glad I read this!

The Poet X is one of my favorite books ever. It is a RF novel written in verse. This book is the first of Elizabeth Acevedo and it has already been on the NYT best sellers list as well as the 2018 National Book Award Finalist. In this story, X is a young girl in Harlem who discovers slam poetry as a way to use her voice. This book does touch on controversial topics, so it would be best for older students. #LAE3414sp19

This book is SO GOOD. 💔

1) Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 20, The Poet X

2) Children of Men, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Love, Simon, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

3) Bookstagram

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Harlem teen Xiomara Batista, daughter of Dominican immigrants, finds solace in her tumultuous world by jotting poetry in her journal. It‘s through this she finds confidence and discovers the vast power in the written and spoken word. Elizabeth Acevedo has created something really special here; a narrative thoughtfully composed of verse poetry, broaching sensitive issues. It‘s just gorgeous.

Excellent story about a girl struggling with faith, independence, and sexual desire in an extremely conservative and totalitarian household.

#MarchWrapUp 🙌 I‘m starting to feel less tired, and interested in reading again, which I‘m really happy about. I don‘t think I‘ll ever get close to reading as much as I normally could in a month now I‘m working, but I‘m happy with my 11 books read this month, with my fave being the tagged book 👌

In a word: STUNNING!

In more words: powerful, beautiful, insightful, hopeful, real, tough, needed.

Just an absolutely wonderful YA book, with so much for its readers to unpack. 👌

#MarchMadnessChallenge