Welcome to Litsy!

A character study of a sleeping car porter named Baxter, who is gay and black. He‘s desperate to learn more about his favorite subject, dentistry, and considered lucky to hold the position he does on “the fastest train in the land” across Canada. Baxter has a rich inner life he must keep separate from his passengers who he must wait on hand and foot. A varied cast of passengers is introduced. Tensions build in this claustrophobic environment.⬇️

A nice, quite morning at home with a new book and a cup of coffee. ✨
Finally getting to this #auldlangspine pick from @TheKidUpstairs
I also noticed it‘s a pick for the new #carolshieldsprize I heard about thanks to @shawnmooney

This book doesn‘t have much of a plot. It‘s more of an exploration of what it was like to be a gay black man working in the service industry in the 1920s. Turns out it was pretty rough, but it had its bright spots.

https://youtu.be/9vkyaFzmSUw

Here‘s the short list for the Carole Shields Awards and glad to see one of my favorites -tagged- is on the list!

https://lithub.com/here-is-the-shortlist-for-the-2023-carol-shields-prize/

Lori Feathers is a bookseller at Interabang in Dallas. Every book she has ever recommended to me has been astoundingly good. She is now a founding member of a new literary prize. Tagged is the final title on the list but I couldn‘t get the photo to cover all 5 titles.

Well written book - went inside a world I was not familiar with. The profound impacts of sleep deprivation, forbidden sexuality, and racism. Glad that Baxter got a happy ending, albeit from an unexpected source

On to the latest Giller winner, with Wesley‘s help. I know people who found it amazing and people who found it weirdly boring. I‘m fifty pages in and I feel like it could go either way.

I am bummed to report this was an underwhelming, kind of boring read. It's very different from Mayr's other books that I've read, which are very weird and eccentric, like about lesbian vegetarian vampires. This is straight historical fiction, very details focused, obviously very well researched. I just... didn't care, despite my initial interest in this slice of 1920s queer Black Canadian life. Partially it might have been the audiobook narration?

#12Booksof2022 On the tenth day of Christmas, my reading gave to me... a Giller Prize winning masterpiece.

October was also a great month for fun reads (I see you, Killers of a Certain Age and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches), but this one topped everything. It was my number one read of 2022, so deserving of all its accolades!

#jolabokaflodswap Thank you for the lovely package and thanks to @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting

@TheKidUpstairs ‘s #AuldLangSpine list is 🔥 I‘m so so excited to dig into these titles!
Here‘s the list in original form, hopefully readable. Next I‘ll post my plans for it, which is less-than-readable.
Again, excellent matchmaking from @monalyisha ✨

4⭐️/5⭐️

Suzette Mayr wins the Giller prize!!!

My choice for the Giller 2022. However I would not be disappointed to see We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies or Lesser Known Monsters win either. We‘ll see how it shakes out with my #ShadowJury members!

So I just downloaded this from the library for my Kobo and my Kobo chose this moment to blow up. 🥴 So I ran to the bookstore and just bought a copy. Which is fine because I do love this cover. I read a complaint by someone saying they don‘t like the paper Coach House uses for their books. Personally, I love it. It‘s like card stock. #ShadowGiller

1929: Baxter is a sleeping car porter, saving his tips for his dream to become a dentist. Sleep deprived, under pressure to keep his job threatened by privileged spoiled passengers, constant racism, and the absolute fear to keep his queerness undercover has him exhausted and hallucinating. The long trip across Canada is made longer with the train stalling…absolutely brilliant. Exhausted just reading his travails. Photo: 20th Century Liner.

Well, I only predicted 2 out of 5 correctly. I‘m so pleased to see the Sleeping Car Porter made the shortlist. And I‘ve just started If an Egyptian: loving it so far.
#ShadowGiller2022

The Giller shortlist will be announced tomorrow morning. I‘ve circled my favourites, the ones I hope to see chosen. Three are by Indigenous authors, at least two are by queer authors and three authors are from my home province, Alberta. Am I biased? There are four that I haven‘t yet read, so I put a ? on those covers.
#ShadowGiller