Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m posting one book a day from my massive collection. No description, no reason for why I want to read it (some I‘ve had so long I don‘t even remember why!) Feel free to join in!

#ABookADay2023

Sigh. It‘s time to be honest with myself and admit that I am not enjoying this book. It‘s a classic that‘s been on my TBR for ages, but the writing style is not doing it for me. There are some excellent descriptions of African landscapes, but there‘s no real sense of a story here. It‘s just random observations about people and events. All of the colonialist and racist elements are also getting to me. Hibernating this one for now 🐻 #1001books

Blixen writes about her time in Ngong where she in the time around WWI had a coffee farm. She writes about the Africans and the foreigners. I found her thoughts on the differences between Europeans and Africans quite nuanced. I preferred the parts where she spent more time with an episode since some parts were written in really short vignettes.

I bought this book back in 2002 so glad to finally have read it.

#foodandlit #Kenya
#1937 #192025

Sleepytime tea and books. I love summer and having the option to read as late as I want. #teachersoflitsy #teatime

These adorable floral bookmarks are the light of my springtime reading. I love them! 🌸🌷💕 #springtime #bookmarks #flowers

Colorful Flower Bookmarks, 30 PCS (Unknown Flower) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TCB9P9J/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_51XYESQT1ZBP3KQFEQ8V?_...

Enjoying the morning sun at home with my mom and @Kimberlone for Mother‘s Day. I bought these sweet floral bookmarks recently and give them each some as well. 🌸🌷🌼 #bookmarks #springtime #flowers

This book covers several of my reading challenges. This is a #bookspin read as well as my non-fiction challenge and my #travelthroughbooks. I thought this was a really solid read. I‘ve never been to Africa and she brought the landscape to life as well as all the people who came through her life. #springread #mayreadinglist @TheAromaofBooks

"Drown me if you like, but kill me not with caprices. No coitus interruptus, heaven, heaven!"

I am finding this book an odd combination of innocence and innuendo. It is so much a tale of another time and place that it almost reads like fantasy.

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills."

#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl

1-25 is my March #bookspin & #doublespin list

The entire list is for #roll100.
🎲 My March roll 1 is the tagged. I‘ve seen the move but never read the book.
🎲 My March roll 2 is The Midnight Front.

Out of a total of 219 books on my TBR Bookcase, I‘ve read 12 so far. I aim to read at least one more this weekend. Slow but steady progress. 🎉

This is Dinesen‘s memoir about about life on her coffee plantation in #Kenya, the atmosphere of Africa, about the people she meets and about the indigenous Kikuyos, who work and live with her on the grounds. It's barely possible to make a living off the coffee, but despite hard times, her deep love and respect for the land and the people becomes very clear.

#pop21 #publishedanonymously #ReadingAfrica2022 🇰🇪 (early start 😄) #1001books #bookspin

This version had both out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass. I should have just read the first half. The second portion while expanding on people and situations had too much repetition from the first book, and slowed the pace.
I had to war within myself, and my utter hatred of colonization, and racism, and continually remind myself what years this takes place. I was horrified and annoyed at many things she wrote here. While also ....

December reading. December is my time to really tackle classics. Normally I take on one maybe 2 large doorstoppers but this year my attention span is so short I picked 10 short reads instead.
Should finish the first, Out of Africa today.

So.. somehow i didn't notice on my list that I completely skipped over #6! Guess it is good that isn't either the #bookspin or #doublebookspin
Now I guess I have a free space, which is good because I have so many books to read.
I started Out of Africa yesterday, so hoping that will be my first to check off!

After finishing Circling The Sun, I need to hear Karen Blixen‘s side of things. This copy is gorgeous and I‘m using it for the Memoir, Biography, or Autobiography prompt in the Catch Up On The Classics Reading Challenge.

My July #bookspin picks! I‘m so excited about #bookspinbingo !
@TheAromaofBooks Thank you so much for hosting...this is my favorite thing on Litsy! 📚

#JamminJune @Eggs
#FarFromHome

You might remember the movie but this is the book the movie is based on. Isak is from Denmark and moves to Africa and owns a coffee plantation.

Friday afternoon. Made it through the first week back to work after holiday. Made it through working from home and closed schools. Missing last week‘s South African views. Hope all is well with my fellow Littens. Look after yourselves.

I definitely read more this past month than last month, though I didn't quite finish this second book till today.

⭐⭐⭐ (3)
If you can suspend your disgust over the accepted racism, classism, sexism, and biases prevalent in the time of Colonialism, this is an interesting read. A fine example of the "I Married Adventure" genre so popular in the 1930-50s. Reading historical literature like this takes patience and contextual understanding. #RtC

Dear @BarbaraBB ❤️ thank you for the lovely birthday package! Both books have been on my tbr for so long, and the tagged book will be my “Danish” pick for #ReadingEurope2020 🙌 ❤️

Just finished this book for my book group. I can‘t say that I loved it, Karen Blixen writes a little too much in the colonial mindset for me to be comfortable with it, but she has some beautiful descriptions and she certainly lives a brave and wondrous life.

My #Overdrive loan expired before I finished Power of the Myth, so while I wait the two weeks to get it back to it, I went in search of a copy of the tagged book, which is my friend's book group's (#RtC) next read. Struck out on Overdrive and #PrimeReading, so I'm trying out a download from Fadedpage.com. Not sure of quality, but the cover image sure is pretty.

#WanderingJune @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB
#AfricianLady

This is the first book that came to mind. This is another book that was made into a movie. As usual the book was better. True story by the way.

È un libro, in base ai miei gusti, che procede un po' lento ed in maniera disorganizzata. La trama non segue un vero e proprio ordine cronologico ma più che altro segue il flusso dei ricordi della scrittrice, così come vengono fuori, mischiando avvenimenti del passato a quelli più recenti. In compenso è un libro molto descrittivo e dettagliato, tanto che sembra di essere in Africa il più delle volte.Non mancano passaggi molto toccanti.Consigliato!

For a memoir that‘s scant on personal details, I found this very emotionally evocative. This was beautifully written, and you really get a feel for how much she loved her farm and the people on it. I think Africa may have been the love of her life.

I started listening to this audiobook today. So far it‘s beautifully written, but with many classics, I‘m having a hard time accepting the entrenched racism for the time.

I finally finished this book, and although there were parts I enjoyed and some lovely descriptions, overall I was underwhelmed. I expected some excitement and adventure, but there was really very little.

#1001books #ReadandEat

I‘m still working my way through Out of Africa. I‘m into Part IV: From an Immigrant‘s Notebook now, and although I really enjoy some of these little vignettes, there are others I just don‘t appreciate at all. The best part is still the descriptions of the land and wildlife.

#1001books #ReadAndEat

Out of Africa is my September TBR Challenge book for #Reading1001, but I am not going to finish it by the end of the day. I‘m not giving up on it, but I only ever want to read a chapter or two at a time. It‘s a much slower read than I was expecting, and I‘m really not quite sure what I think of it. The description of the setting is lovely, but the sequencing seems odd to me and I can‘t seem to find a rhythm as I read.

#1001books #ReadandEat

Last night I went back inside at dark, but tonight the breeze was perfect to read a little longer in the hammock. This book isn't quite what I was expecting, but I really appreciate the description.

I know weather and farming in Africa is much different from what I'm used to, but I think everyone with farming experience has woken up to the sound of rain in the middle of the night with the same sense of relief described here.

#1001books

Still feeling a bit overwhelmed by real world responsibilities. I just wanted to read my book and drink a beer in the hammock for the half hour before dark, but I only made it through a page or two before having to take a phone call as a responsible homeowner. Now it‘s dark, and I told myself that‘s when I had to go back to doing school work. 😞

Sometimes when being an adult sucks (nothing major just several little irritations and annoyances), I take a moment to appreciate the fact that being a single adult also means I can take a short break from my responsibilities to eat chips and dip for supper while escaping with a book. Tonight that means the beautiful scenery at the beginning of Out of Africa.

#1001books #Reading1001 September TBR Challenge

I‘ve been meaning to read this for such a long time and just finished listening to it. It was so beautifully written and evocative of her time in Africa and I enjoyed the narrator as well. This was an abridged recording however, so I would like to pick up the book sometime to see what I‘ve missed. I‘ve never seen the movie so I‘d like to finally watch it too. She really lived a remarkable life and seemed like she was quite a character.

Exquisite.
#OutOfAfrica #KarenBlixen #IsakDinesen

"Rammenteranno mai le giraffe.... il paese perduto?... Dove sono le altre giraffe che correvano al loro fianco nelle lunghe galoppate?..."

On the short side, and not very fulfilling! (Audiobook sewing)

I‘ve never read this one, so I had to grab it while it‘s on sale. 👍💸

Sounds like soooo much fun! Safe travels.
My favorite travel song is Rains In Africa by Toto. Isn‘t it just the best singalong song? I‘m pairing it with my current read Out Of Africa. The similarities of wide open spaces, heat, and the wild continent are obvious.

Thanks for the tempting giveaway! @LibrarianRyan
#Roadtripgiveaway

I plan to read this classic #memoir later on this year for one of my challenges. #maylovesclassics

#OldCoolBooks #nakedbooks
@Linsy

#AprilBookishMadness #photochallenge @maich

#bookishbirthday #april17

Happy Birthday to Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa, born April 17, 1885. 🦍🦁🐘🌍🎂🎉📚

Such a beautiful sentence to end on.

Quite a beautiful passage.

My current #audiobook is not a love letter to Robert Redford (errr... I mean Denys), but is a love letter to Africa. #1001books

My favorite movie from a book is Out of Africa. #OutlanderfortheHolidays
Outlander books are new to me and I've only seen a few episodes but I'm interested in reading these! Thank you for this generous giveaway @callielafleur

I loved this book. While I can easily imagine that if someone is not all that interested in life in Africa that it can seem dry and dull, I felt so much life in it. I admit that I‘m worried about the movie ruining the book in this case since the movie made it a romance even though there was no romance at all in the book. Thus, I will not watch it (even though I adore Meryl Streep)

It's obviously well written, and an amazing story but I was bored. I just didn't want to read it and don't see myself wanting to read it in the future. #book #bibliophile #classic #outofafrica #read

Just saw this film for the first time, so sad and beautiful. Karen is an extremely strong woman who never stopped despite the hardships she faced. Also Meryl Streep is amazing and now I simply must read the book - has anyone read it? 🐆🐂🐆🐘🐫🐃🐊🐿🐇🦃🕊