Welcome to Litsy!

I was really into this book and its cast of complex characters. It is snarky and well written. I also loved that it brought attention to Puerto Rico and hurricane Maria. I don't think there's enough awareness stateside. I know some of the political aspects I had to do more research on myself. I highly recommend. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

#JoysofJune #Readathon 4th book read

@Andrew65

Book 3 for #BigJuneReadathon
(Please enjoy this photo of me 1/2 dead from exhaustion in a Denny‘s in San Juan in 2015)

I really enjoyed this. A very human, heartfelt &realistic story of how different political sides benefit and manipulate events, personal struggles impacting decisions for better or worse, &just trying to do your best in this crazy capitalist world. It‘s about identity, healing from trauma, making your own way. I loved Olga.

Pineapple Chili Marg w/Olga 🌶

26th book for this year!

I really loved this book. I loved the intersectional feminism, and I‘m always a sucker for a book ghat pulls in progressive politics. Not my first book that incorporates the gentrification of Brooklyn (Pride by Ibi Zoboi!) but this felt like a true testimony. It pulls from current events and activism, and the sacrifices/choices that are sometimes made. Definitely recommend!

#booked2022 #newin2022
#pop22 #Latinxauthor
#20in4

My family teases that they can always tell how I am feeling based on my mug choice. Which one do you think is today‘s pick? ☕️

These are the 6 books I suggested for #CampTOB22. Two are on the list because I just checked out from the library. 😃

#CampTOB

“Mabel, what if I don‘t deserve to be happy?”
“Olga,” Mabel whispered in her ear, “unless you kicked a puppy or have a body buried someplace that I don‘t know about, you deserve to be fucking happy. Okay?”

April 2022 Wrapup:
-19 Books
-5 ARCs
-5⭐️ Reads:
💌The Sentence
💌The Shore
💌Disorientation
💌I Kissed Shara Wheeler

A borderline pick. I appreciated the book as a whole, but I didn‘t LIKE it and I couldn‘t pinpoint why. It‘s clever, cynical, decolonial, and centred on an interesting family. I should‘ve been in book-love but I was on edge the whole time. In a very bad way.

Over halfway through, I finally clued in: amongst other things, this is American political fiction. I actively avoid American political nonfiction, and now I know I need to expand that scope.

This started out as an entertaining romcom, but I was somehow expecting more. Then, the more came! I have little experience with the history and culture of Puerto Rico whether in Brooklyn or Puerto Rico itself so I appreciated both the contemporary story and the history told through the life of the MCs parents.

Gatsby and I are enjoying sitting outside on this lovely spring day.

My own heart was bursting with pride. I remember I was on vacation in Europe and couldn‘t wait to connect to Wi-Fi to see if the protests were successful.

The day the governor, who we all knew to be a murderer (I‘m not joking: When he was a teenager he was driving drunk, killed a mother and her son, and didn‘t stay on the scene to face the consequences of his actions), was ousted tears of joy streamed down my face.

When I read books with Puerto Rican characters there will inevitably come a moment when the author writes some thing that shows me they are not as well-versed in Puerto Rican culture as they think they are. Not just that, but also that no Puerto Rican editor or sensitivity reader got their hands on the book prior to publication. It just happened with this one.

There‘s some stuff to enjoy in this novel which is both a political/social commentary, and a soap-operatic domestic drama. I found both elements of the novel separately interesting I wished this had been one kind of book or the other; the fusion didn‘t really work for me. There‘s also A LOT going on, some of which comes off more authentically than other parts. I found this interesting at times, but it‘s didactic tone tempered this significantly.

This took too long to get started and near the middle, it made me question what kind of book it wanted to be: scathing political commentary, romance HEA, family drama, PR revolution incitation, all of the above? (Yes, is the answer.) I struggled with motivation to continue in the first third, but I am glad I stuck with it. I learned a lot about Puerto Rico. #EstherAssisting #eBook

An amazing debut! This is an intersectional love letter to family and Puerto Rico and activism and romantic love and grappling with authenticity. I loved Olga as a character, and could easily see this being adapted to the screen!

1. I‘m looking forward to the tagged book after a friend recommended it.
2. “We have to agree to disagree” - it‘s been a rough political climate and pandemic differences, I‘m tired of saying this one:)
#Two4Tuesday
Thanks for the tag @JenReadsAlot
@Kshakal @BethM
@TheSpineView

Book 9/150 of 2022.

I didn‘t love this book. I thought it was kind of boring and I really didn‘t like any of the characters all that much. There was also way too much political nonsense for my taste. Oh well. Some people have really loved it so maybe it was just me🤷🏻‍♀️

I didn‘t think I was going to like this one at first, but I fell into it after the first few chapters and ended up loving it. I also fell in love with this cat who I met during a tasting at a local winery last night - this photo does not do his magnificence any justice, he was enormous!!

Sorry to say I‘m not loving It. I‘m about halfway done and it‘s just eh.

Olga Dies Dreaming is ultimately a novel about love, love in all its varieties. Romantic love, yes, but also the love you have for your siblings, for your parents, for your children. Love for your homeland, love for the causes you hold dear, and not least the love you have for your own soul. Almost inevitably, this novel about love is also a novel about betrayal.

https://sophronisba.com/2022/02/09/olga-dies-dreaming

A sunny day, a napping dog, a good book = perfection!

Like @KarenUK I loved Olga as a character. Refreshing and real, she made decisions I could definitely relate to. She‘s driven and doesn‘t let anyone close because her mother abandoned her. When her mother pops up fighting for an independent Puerto Rico after Maria, her and her Congressman brother‘s lives are thrown into turmoil. I loved her big extended family and the man she meets, Matteo.

This book was excellent. I loved the characters, it was well written and timely. I would definitely recommend this one.

This book is packed with all sorts of social issues and I'm feeling like I'm getting an education in Latinx history in my era. There is so much I didn't know! I love this book! Its fun, flirty, and fantastic!

I'm loving this book so far. I relate to the characters especially olga's grandmother lol. I'm just so glad this popped off hold for me today!

My love of this book comes down to one thing….Olga. I loved this character. She‘s driven and messy and real. She‘s a fighter, she‘s complex and she has a huge heart. She makes mistakes and does shitty things, then she tries to fix them. It‘s a story of a brother and sister, their bond, politics and the looming presence of their activist mother. There is also a romance which I kinda loved. And I learnt a ton about Puerto Rican culture. A fun read.

Olga is just 12 when her mother abandons her family in Brooklyn to become a full time revolutionary. The story unfolds slowly, weaving back and forth between the lives of Olga and her brother, past and present, the influence of their mother always looming. They must decide whether continue living their lives in a bid to win her approval or discover their own happiness at great personal risk. 4⭐️

See, my parents raised us, me and my brother, on an ‘all power to the people‘ doctrine. ‘Liberation‘ was the highest calling. So, what my mother did was . . . noble. Or at least I knew I was supposed to see it that way. And at the end of the day, she didn‘t leave us on a street corner. We were with her mother. . . I just started to feel like she was a soldier we‘d lost to a war. Which, we kind of did. #morningreads

A wedding planner and her closeted politician brother are still reckoning with the impact of their mothers abandonment and radical views as they go through adult life. Its a really good contemporary fiction novel exploring diaspora, colonialism, Puerto Rican independence, identity, and trauma. More character driven than plot focused.

This is a good one. Olga is a fantastic character. Also, I love the cover. #morningreads

An extremely relatable & down to earth story. The plot is much deeper & more meaningful than I had been expecting from a book about a wedding planner. The characters all feel very real, making the reader feel truly invested in their lives. This book has already been optioned for Hulu. I can't wait to see it play out on screen.

1. Olga Dies Dreaming, Tender, The Doctors Blackwell, and Project Hail Mary

2. We got snow! Just a few inches, but still fun.

3. Hot drinks and snuggles with my pup.

#WeekendReads

May every activist cause & social justice movement get themselves a Xochitl Gonzalez. It is a rare gift indeed to be able to write a novel that is so incredibly rich, satisfying, and fun to read while also educating the reader about something as complicated as Puerto Rico‘s history of colonial oppression. I rooted for Olga as she fought for her family and to get the life she desires, while taking breaks to google more about Puerto Rican history.

First 5 star ⭐️ read of the year!! Highly recommend, go read this one, you won‘t be sorry.

Wasn‘t sure what to read next so I went with a color theme. 😄

“The tell-tale sign you are are at the wedding of a rich person is the napkins.”

#firstlinefridays @ShyBookOwl

Popsugar 6- a book by a latinx author

Day off = Reading + snacks

I love this book. I like how the author educates readers about how the US colonized Puerto Rico. I don‘t remember learning about this is in school so it was quite an eye opener for me. Aside from the politics that heavily characterize this novel, Gonzalez tells a family saga that is ripe with drama and explosive secrets. Olga and Prieto are very likable and it really pained me to see how they are manipulated by their mother. Anyway, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This debut novel about a Puerto Rican-American wedding planner grabbed me early on and kept me hooked. Read my full review https://debbybrauer.org/#olga-dies-dreaming

#NetGalley #MacmillanAudio #OlgaDiesDreaming

Full review to come soon.

This is from my December TBR list for #WinterGames2021 #TeamGameSleighers @StayCurious

#WrapItUpReadathon @keys_on_fire

I didn‘t like this one as much as I expected. Even though Olga is 40, the style felt a lot more like a YA romance novel. The social issues were over-explained and so heavy handed it was cringeworthy. The AIDS storyline felt decades out of date. The story was all over the place in general. I didn‘t like Olga or her brother Prieto, whose messiah complex I found insufferable. Just not for me. #BotM

Got some #botm #bookmail yesterday!! Always a good day when that comes!

My Book of the Month box came in today. 😍😍

I'm really excited about this box! I've heard way too much about Will to pass it up for another month. 😅

If you wanna get it for $5, here's a code for you! https://www.mybotm.com/qivod2fo7pq?show_box=true

OMG!!! BOTM dropped the December books and Olga is one of them!

I am so excited for this release!! The reg. pub date in the US is Jan 4, 2022. I read an ARC and totally adored it. If you are a BOTM subscriber and have not picked your books yet I super encourage you to pick this one up!

I loved this!!!
Thank you Edelweiss for the advanced copy.
I was reading 2 other books when I on a whim read the fist chapter and could not put it back down. I loved living with Olga, Preito and their family with all the drama.

Take a nap and you realize you‘ve missed #botm going live! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Just two this month, but I‘m excited about both.