Welcome to Litsy!

For #readafrica2022 I selected this title representing #Belgiancongo #thecongo. I have to say I spent a few chapters yelling at the book. A few chapters crying and the whole book cringing as several times it was extremely uncomfortable. Which I guess is why it‘s a controversial read. In any event this country came alive for me through her descriptions and the characters. #travelthroughbooks @BarbaraBB @Librarybelle @Texreader

@Texreader this is my current read for #readafrica2022! This one is set in Belgian Congo.

The initial concept grabs you, the plot truly thickens and the years reveal unlikely twists and turns in the lives of these family members. It's one of those stories that haunts you long afterwards.

This book was sensational! I could not put it down. When I was busy I was thinking about reading it! I learnt so much and I felt so much. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I wanted to re-read this for #ReadingAfrica2022

I still love this book although I forgot how long it takes the ending to come. I think Kingsolver does a masterful job of developing the voices of these girls, and that really comes out in the audiobook.

#AestheticallyMatched @Clwojick

This was just as wonderful as everyone has always told me. I‘m so glad I finally took the time to read it. It‘s a masterful family saga. At first I was profoundly uncomfortable by the missionary aspect of the book, but the further I got into the narrative the more nuanced and interesting that aspect got. #AuthorAMonth #PopSugar2022 #ABookWithTwoPOV @Soubhiville

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks sent this book to me and I'm so glad I finally read it.

I've never read this author before, but I am now a fan. #AuthorAMonth2022 @Soubhiville

There's not anything new I can add about this book that hasn't already been written in other reviews. It truly is a classic, full of drama, history, and heart. I was swept away in the story and didn't want it to end.

I'm so glad I decided to try #authoramonth and read this book. The author says she stayed true to the historical events of the Congo and I found I learned so much and was never bored. The four sisters give great contrasting views of life in the Congo and I don't know if I've ever despised a character as much as Nathan Price. Beautiful prose and thought provoking. I will be thinking about this story for a long time to come. #pop22 #popsugar

Impressive and expansive book about an American family that travel to the Congo to work as missionaries.

Reflective, philosophical, sometimes a little too poetic, but delivers an unflinching, eye-opening perspective on colonialism through the sisters' different voices.

A solid pick. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recommended to me by a girl I met in a bar bathroom in Galway Ireland in the summer of 2018. Finally read it! Told from the points of view of a mother and her 4 daughters. Tells about how their family goes to the Congo as missionaries and what happens to them there during a period of political uncertainty. At first it was hard to put down, but I think it was about 100 pages too long toward the end.

"Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilisation."

PopSugar Crew... I think I'm going to use this for a book featuring two languages (although it features at least three!) Even the title references an incorrect use of the Kikongo word bängala (poisonwood tree) and there are lots of words and phrases both in Kikongo and French throughout.

#pop22 @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB @KarenUK @Megabooks @Kalalalatja @Cortg @4thhouseontheleft @Laughterhp

4.5 ⭐ & a LOT of challenges! I could have done without Rachel's chapters.

#authoramonth @Soubhiville
#democraticrepublicofthecongo #ReadingAfrica2022 @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB (also #setinaruralarea #52Booksin52Weeks)
#aboutsisters #booked2022 @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Wow, that was epic. Early on, I was trying to decide whether to drudge through to the end but then something clicked, I started to care, and I was hooked. The book just kept getting better and better. There's a lot to process, but this is the kind of book experience that, for better or worse, makes it nearly impossible for me to not see a book through to the end. #AuthorAMonth @Soubhiville

Attempting this one for #authoramonth . I have never read a Barabara Kingsolver book and this one has lived on my bookshelves for years. I probably won't finish it this month but will have a decent start.
@Soubhiville

"Oh haiii there... whatcha doing?"

"Drinking tea from the mug you painted? About to start The Poisonwood Bible?"

"Is that supposed to be me? Immortalised in glaze?"

"Personally, I think you did a lousy job..."

?

Just picked my #authorofthemonth book up from the library… it‘s a chunkster! It filled my little dyslexic heart with fear!! I‘m a very slow reader. I better get The Night Circus finished ASAP if I‘m going to get this done before Feb!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful books @Soubhiville I can‘t wait to read each of these during this year‘s #AurhorAMonth challenge.

Finished my first Chunkster of 2022 and the first book for #ReadingAfrica2022.

This is an excellent book and a big book on so many levels, telling the story of the life of a missionary family who go to the Belgian Congo. This covers three decades of their life, and encompasses all the tumultuous events that happen to them over this period.

#AuthorAMonth #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo #BarbaraKingsolver

Book 6 of 2022

Woo! New books 📚 💕🥳

At least a couple of these are #litsymademedoit

I had to order in time for Author a Month (I did so badly last year)... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Has anyone done cross-stitch before? I got this kit for Xmas... we'll see how it goes! I also picked up two library holds - these are 2 of 3 of my January TBR!

It's so rainy right now, perfect reading weather! 🌧📚

Starting my first #AuthorAMonth book, by listening to The Poisonwood Bible. #BarbaraKingsolver

This also will take me to my second country in Africa for #ReadingAfrica2022 #DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo

#JumpStart2022

Had to rely on my good ol‘ gr list again for today‘s #Scarathlon #PhotoChallenge theme of #poison. I have only read the Kingsolver; Poisoned Apples is feminist poetry (oh yea!) and I don‘t recall why I added A Fierce and Subtle Poison. Anyone read it? Happy Pumpkin 🎃 Day!

such a good read, especially being a former missionary kid myself. a good look into a whole other world. narrated primarily by 4 sisters who provide insight into the different challenges and experiences that third-culture kids have.

Wow! I can‘t believe it took me so long to get to this book! So beautifully written, and such a gripping story. Such a wonderful depiction of how people can think they understand a situation, only to discover the limitations of their own perspective.

I first heard about this book over a decade ago and finally decided to read it for my book club‘s May theme, “a book you‘ve been meaning to read for a long time but keep putting off,” after a friend highly recommended it. In a word: Wow. I can see why this is considered a modern classic—it‘s provocative, unsparing yet also compassionate, and unputdownable.🔸#aprilreads2021 #LitsyATXReadersSociety #LARS

Built up great characters and witty storytelling. Great use of language to build imagery.

Story of the Price Family in the Congo

“Imagine a ruin so strange it must never have happened.”
#FirstLineFridays

1. Always my current read, so the tagged book.
2. By genre, then author.
3. My happy place!! ❤️❤️
#WondrousWednesday

I‘m just starting this but already the language is lush: “Seen from above this way they are pale, doomed blossoms,” “I had washed up there on the riptide of my husband‘s confidence and the undertow of my children‘s needs,” “the memories rise out of me like the buzz of flies from a carcass.” The writing is beautiful!!

Thanks for the tag @Jennifer3 Tagged book is wonderful and one I still think about. 1.Definitely having to celebrate many Jewish Holidays without my family was the most difficult adjustment this year.
2. I‘m grateful for Litsy friendships 💜 #ThankfulThursday @Cosmos_Moon

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I listened to the audiobook version. This is a good story about a missionary family who finds themselves unsupported by those back in the US. The father is totally committed and expects his daughters and wife to be as well. The story follows the family through life, death, marriage, children, etc.

My Top 15 Books for 2020:

The Poisonwood Bible
Housekeeping
Leave the World Behind
Goodbye, Vitamin
Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
Transcendent Kingdom
Salvage the Bones
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Idaho
Clap When You Land
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
On Earth We‘re Briefly Gorgeous
Good Talk
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
We Have Always Lived in the Castle

#bestof2020

I haven‘t read this but the blurb says “calamitous” so like most of the world‘s 2020? Thanks @jenniferw88 for posting this quiz 👍🏽 https://www.faber.co.uk/blog/wp_quiz/your-2020-as-a-classic-book-quiz/

This book took a long time to completely pull me in. I appreciated the story from the beginning, but it wasn‘t quite living up to expectations. It got much better for me once they left the village. I was fascinated by the different perspectives as the women went their own ways. I also think I may have enjoyed all of it more in print. I agree with some other reviews I‘ve seen that this #audiobook really needed multiple narrators. #1001books

Update on my tidying up progress. Decided to keep my TBR pile only. It “sparks joy.” It fits in only one laundry basket. This is progress.

#3books #ihated

The Poisonwood Bible
The Sun Also Rises
Where the Crawdads Sing

#3Books... I LOVED 🧡🧡🧡
All are in my top 5

Interesting that they are all considered historical fiction 🤓

This novel holds up twenty years later. The story carries you along like a boat ride down the Congo River: quiet but underneath lurks hungry crocodiles. I wasn‘t sure how the book would fare politically in depicting the DRC and African post colonialism, but Kingsolver knows her history and she does a stellar job explaining the political through the voice of young girls. The downside is the book is 100 pages too long and I lost steam.

An oldie but goody. Rereading 20 years later and just as good as before!

Tagged book
Pat Conroy
Parks and Rec
Phish
Playing in the Band - Grateful Dead

#ManicMonday #LetterP @JoScho

Here‘s my #TopSixReads for 2020 so far. How about you?

An intense read with an infuriating Rachel who turned a blind eye to what happens, and a way of looking at life by the Africans that is certainly food for thought. I will have to chew on this one for a bit.
#bookspin for June @TheAromaofBooks
TBR since August 2nd. 2011, 543 pages.

5/5 recommend

". . . sometimes life doesn't give you all that many chances at being good" (515).⠀
⠀
I love doing buddy reads with @readwithtoni--I know that they're always thoughtful and thought-provoking, with an array of people joyfully digging into a text together. So I was excited when Toni chose this book to read in May: I love a good re-read, particularly when it's been a while. But I remembered virtually nothing. ⬇️

Amazing read!

#sunonthecover #bibliomaynia

QOTD❓ What's one novel that has set your bar for literature?
.
I listened to The Poisonwood Bible while teaching at a university one year. I had a pair of bluetooth headphones around my neck at all times, so I could duck back into the novel even walking between classes. It was that engrossing.

I could not be more thrilled about today's episode of Unabridged, which focuses on bookish communities. We had the chance to chat with @readwithtoni, who has been a central figure in my own development of a strong bookstagram community. Toni is so welcoming to new bookstagrammers, and her amazing buddy reads provide a strong model for the ways that bookstagram can support both a love for books and a genuine connection among people.⠀⬇️

I think I have too many thoughts and feelings and things to say. The book just really bowled me over and consumed me. Not sure why it took me like 20 years to read this extraordinary book, but I know I will read it again at some point. Definitely joins the list of my favorite books ever. This covered two prompts on the @bookriot #readharder challenge - a doorstopper by a woman, and book with disabled main character.