Welcome to Litsy!

He‘d seen me as a body, but would attempt to destroy me as a person.

I‘ve spent the last week with this heartbreaking, necessary memoir off @Zuhkeeyah ‘s #auldlangspine list. Miller eloquently & bravely writes about being sexually assaulted, pressing charges, dealing with the legal system & the resulting media coverage where she was known only as Emily Doe.

I could only read 1-2 chapters at a time before my emotions overwhelmed me. But I am so glad I read this. I wish I could hand a copy to everyone I know! 5⭐️

#SchoolSpirit #Backpack @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Heartbreaking & difficult but such an important read. Not much else to say when so much praise has been made for this book. Definitely important read that everyone should read, especially those entering college. The system is frustrating & still ridiculous how women that are the victim get scrutinized & blamed for what happens to them. Miller is a very gifted writer. Definitely one of the best books I‘ve ever read. #bookspin

Brave, heartbreaking, eloquent. Chanel steps boldly into the world to reclaim her name after being Emily Doe for years. You walk with her as she fights first to have her assault acknowledged and then to have the perpetrator accused. Chanel points out the many flaws in our legal system and society that pushed her down instead of lifting her up. A powerful read.

Please check content warnings before reading!

#sharreadathon #litsylove

And the winner is…!

#AAPI heritage month recommendations
Nonfiction edition

Miller is a must read, this book will make you mad, but it also gives wonderful insight & is gorgeously written.
Crying In H-Mart had me crying, but also just so honored she is sharing her story with us
Mock is gorgeous inside and out and I loved all of her memoirs
Ace had me really looking at what is attraction, love, and sexuality stellar dive into asexuality
Maladies history of cancer wow

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An incredible memoir, strikingly written and boldly read. I am not a big memoir reader, but I‘m glad Sharon McMahon chose this for one of her book club reads, because I think this will end up as one of my best books of the year.
Know My Name is important, and I think everyone should read it.

My picks for best 2022 nonfiction reads - most of these were not published in 2022, but I got to them this year. All of these are stellar books, well researched, well written, engrossing. I learned so much this year!

#november #nonfictionNovember #readingRoundup
5 ⭐
Know My Name - Miller
4.5 ⭐
Heavy - Laymon
Thick - Cottom
Four Hundred Souls - Kendi
4 ⭐
Begin Again - Glaude
Braiding Sweetgrass - Kimmerer
Surely Your Joking Mr. Feynman - Feynman
Dark Emu - Pascoe
Legends and Lattes -Baldree
The Souls of Black Folk - DuBois
Wild Swans - Chang
3 ⭐
You're Not A Country, Africa! - Adesanmi
Are Prisons Obsolete? - Davis
2.5 ⭐
The Truth Will Set You Free - Steinem

$20 for everything at the Friends of the Library sale. 🤓📚

5 stars. Absolutely brilliant writing and thinking went into this book.
Chanel takes us through her journey displaying vulnerability, honesty, creativity, humour, kindness and courage. She teaches me that you don‘t need to have any of the requirements that society tells us we need, before we use our voices and be seen. Showing up as we are is enough.
I love this book.

I fucking hate it here. The system doesn‘t work, there is no reforming it.
I thought this book would be personally more triggering. It was beautifully written and while it was intense, it absolutely made one of her points clear: moving thru things can be better than forgetting. Chanel‘s journey is amazing, totally accessible and hopeful. She did mention wanting to make us see the positive. And we do. But still, it left me bitter and angry and sad.

Wow, this memoir is so powerful, probably one of the most powerful books I‘ve ever read. I remember when the Stanford victim statement was published by Buzzfeed, and reading this full memoir was so impactful. She is an incredible writer, I hope she keeps writing.

The strength it took to not only write this book, but also narrate the audiobook. I read very few books about sexual assault, as I am a survivor myself, but I‘m so glad I read this one. Chanel powerfully reclaims her story in this beautifully written memoir. From my #newyearwhodis list by @mklong ! #nywd

Feeling loads better today, but still in quarantine for another 2 days. Decided to attempt cleaning out the home office closet while listening to the rest of the tagged book! Otherwise known as one of the 2 closets where we stuffed things we didn‘t feel like immediately unpacking after we moved in last March. 😂 #nywd

Starting this gigantic acrylic paint by number and wondering if I bit off more than I can chew. 🤣

Listening to a #newyearwhodis book while I‘m #audiocrafting!

#litsycrafters

This is an incredible read, on every level: as a tool for dismantling the patriarchy, as a masterfully-crafted narrative, as an account of crime and justice, and as a radical testament to the costs of survival. Full review: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/know-my-name-chanel-miller/

jesus such a hard book to read but also so important

✨ Read 100 books, complete a gazillion reading challenges, continue to read #OwnVoices

✨Unpredictable. Oh wait, that was 2021. 2022 - Persevere

✨Know My Name, for #newyearwhodis and it is an incredibly powerful book.

Picked a tough but important read to start my year. Powerful and eloquent writing doesn‘t soften an incredibly harrowing experience. A book to make you angry about how we treat victims and how the law responds to sexual assault

Started my first #newyearwhodis pick tonight!

#12Booksof2021

#April Know My Name
#May One Armed Sister

Neither are easy reads, trigger warnings abound, but both so worth it.

186 of 2021. Book 5 for #DashingDecember . This must have been an incredibly hard book for Chanel Miller to write. Justice certainly wasn‘t served in her case.

#readathon

Pages read: 1863

When you start a new book on your nook and from the jump it has quotes to live by 💕

There are no words. You have to read hers. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Hero.

It‘s taken me a while to get through this one as I found it a deeply moving and emotional read. It‘s a very honest account of sexual assault and she doesn‘t hold back. It‘s infuriating to hear first hand how victims of this type of crime are treated, how terrible the justice system still is and how the perpetrator gets away with so much. When she read out her witness statement I was a complete sobbing mess. A definite pick
5 ⭐️

A mini #bookhaul waiting in my mailbox when I got home. A reward for finishing another grad school class (woo!) and nice to have a package waiting after a very busy work day (though let‘s be honest - I‘ll probably just eat cheese, snuggle my cat, and watch All American on Netflix tonight because my brain is fried after my long day).

It is a compelling, moving, and comprehensive memoir. Miller is an excellent writer with a powerful voice. She shares both the intimate emotional damage she‘s experienced while also illuminating the inner workings of the systems and policies that create such a traumatic environment for victims of sexual assault. Recommend it highly.

Thank you so much @jdiehr !!! #llss @Bookgoil @rsteve388

I can‘t begin to imagine how difficult this book was to write. It makes me nervous for my daughter to leave for school in the fall but she has a good head on her shoulder. She read a similar story in The Washington Post for AP Lang (I think?!) that left her fuming. So grateful for the teachers to tackle these difficult topics to prepare these kids for the world and grateful for Chanel Miller for telling her story and not making it ok!

Whoa, what a brave and brilliant person Chanel Miller is. And want to know something else? She‘s funny. That is a detail that I wasn‘t expecting at all.

An elegantly paced memoir that left me incandescent with rage. I hope neither Brock Turner nor Judge Aaron Persky knows a second of peace for the rest of their time on this Earth.

This is my most favorite book of 2020! I sometimes have a hard time reading stories of victims. I never got past the first few chapters of The Room or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, but I love this book. What a caring, vivid writer and to hear her own voice tell the story is unforgettable.

What a powerful, heart wrenching memoir. I don‘t remember the last time I cried this much while reading a book. Chanel writes with such honesty and grace. This is a book that everyone should read. 5⭐️

This is the first book I‘ve completed for #24in48. I just passed the 4 hour mark and will switch to audiobooks for a bit!

January Stats

Top nonfiction top center, honorable mentions left
Top fiction bottom center, honorable mentions right

43 books total - 15 F, 28 NF
11,767 pages
Audible🎧 16
Libby🎧 14
Libro.fm🎧 2
Print📚 10
Libby ebook📚 3
Kindle📚 1
(Some books were more than one format)

#Booked2021 - 16 prompts complete
#ReadingAsia2021 - Yemen, Iran, Japan, Pakistan
#newyearwhodis - 1 in January, 1 in December, 2/5 so far!
#aam - 1
#bookspinbingo blackout

It‘s hosted by Western Alumni, but it looks like it‘s open to the public too (online)... https://www.westernconnect.ca/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=139291

Just in case some of my #SheSaid reading group are interested? Thank you for the info @candority

Here‘s my #BookSpinBingo list for February! Quite a few leftover titles from January, but also a bunch of new ones that I‘m excited to get to. I love that this challenge still allows for mood reading!

Tw:

Rape, assault, trauma, blackout, repressed memories

Chanel Miller did what so many survivors haven‘t had the chance to do. She left anonymity and fought not just for her own justice/safety/peace of mind, but for every one else that has to deal with this absolute SHIT. The ups and downs, mental/emotional/physical effects, she wrote such raw descriptions of all of it.. this is a hard to read book (Bc the topic), but so worth it

Wow, just wow. I highly recommend reading this or listening to this as it is narrated by the author. It is so powerful and emotional. This is the first memoir I‘ve read (listened to) and It was phenomenal

“...resist the instinct to turn away instead look closer because beneath the gore and police report is a whole beautiful person...”

The above quote really hit me because I had been avoiding this book because of my own emotions. But I see Chanel. I see us, all of us, and we are beautiful.

Thank you @kaysworld1 for pulling this off my TBR. #newyearwhodis @monalyisha

These will be the first reads of January. The tagged book I will take slowly a couple of chapters each day! Still finishing up my last read of 2020 The Dark Archive! #tbr

It seems cliched to say that this was a tough listen/read. It needs to be. Miller writes in an eloquent, mature manner regarding a major injustice. She writes of her assault, the later trial and the years long struggle of being a victim. Her story is needed. She brings a voice and power to victims around the world. I applaud her strength and bravery.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/know-my-name-chanel-miller/

I first stumbled upon Chanel Miller by reading a lot of tweets about the injustice of her rapists trial. Later, I read her then anonymous letter that went viral. Now, I finally got to read her whole story and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It not only offers a detailed look into the whole process, but it‘s also amazingly written. I hope Chanel Miller will write more in the future!

#knowmyname

My progress for #CrushtheRush and #ProgressItNovember. I have knocked 4 books off the TBR for #LitsyAtoZ, 7 to go. Currently reading Early Riser and listening to Midnight in the Garden which will get down to 5. Also reading A Treacherous Curse 3rd in the Veronica Speedwell series. I hope to get a least one more series installment read before the end of the month.

This is a real, full, human story about a person with a full life who was also the victim of a horrible crime. It‘s nothing like anything I read in the media coverage and something I wish all victims were able to have. Her excellent writing fully humanizes the survivor‘s perspective and shines a light on all the ways our justice system fails victims of sexual violence. If that bothers you, #vote. Thanks to voters the judge in this case is gone.⤵️

This book is absolutely stunning.

We're reading this for #SheSaid and I'm way ahead of the schedule so no spoilers. 🤐

#BookSpinBingo free square
@TheAromaofBooks

If you‘ve read Chanel‘s victim impact statement about her sexual assault then you‘ll know exactly what to expect here. It‘s well written, detailing everything she went through, not just the assault either but the awful treatment of the justice system. It made me so angry but this never felt depressing. There‘s no self pity, just quiet dignity. This is a really good memoir. #shesaid #scarathlon2020 #teamslaughter #truecrime 167 points

29 September - 2 October 2020 (audiobook)
This was a strong and moving memoir. Chanel told her story powerfully and forcefully. Her experience in the court system rang true, as did her criticism and urges to hold the system and its proponents accountable for its/their treatment of sexual assault victims. Again, I appreciated being able to hear this story from the author.