Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
#12Booksof2020
blurb
Andrew65
Saying Thank You | Monisha Vasa
post image

A big thank you to everyone who posted for #12Booksof2020. Great to see it so successful. Was posting to each one but last Sunday got overwhelmed by work, only had 8 hours sleep over 3 days and wall to wall work so apologise wasn‘t able to post to all, but thank you 😍😍😍 Loved seeing the posts.

Also apologies if not responded to any posts very very limited Litsy time and was totally overwhelmed.

Please can some people share these thanks 😊

mrp27 Thanks for putting it together, I had fun! 3y
Andrew65 @mrp27 Thanks, it certainly added to the books to read this year. 3y
MittenGirlPeach Thank YOU for all you do, Andrew, on Litsy of course, but more so in “real” life. Here‘s to getting some much-needed rest. What a week on our planet. 3y
See All 8 Comments
CarolynM Thanks for getting it started. It was interesting to see everyone's choices. 3y
julesG Thank you for keeping Litsy positive and active! 😘 3y
Andrew65 @julesG Thanks, been trickier lately with work demands. 3y
Andrew65 @CarolynM It was. 3y
Andrew65 @MittenGirlPeach It has been a tough fortnight, hopefully things settle down. 3y
76 likes8 comments
blurb
maich
post image

I think I missed 2books for #12booksof2020 #ShareTheLove @Andrew65

Here are 2 great thrillers I read last year. Both were new author to me. And both were suspense page turner with family and child twist.

The Whisper Man was a scary crime thriller. The Life She Left Behind was a sad psihological thriller.
I love both cover😍

#thewhisperman #thelifesheleftbehind #thriller #litsyfun

Andrew65 Both look good but not read either. 3y
maich @Andrew65 If you like great suspense thrillers you should read them. But be aware that The Whisper Man is scary. I think is not for everyone. 3y
34 likes2 comments
blurb
Vansa
There's Gunpowder in the Air | Manorajana By?p?r?
post image

#12Booksof2020
This powerful book was one I read in Jan'20,and it's stayed with me since.Partly drawn from lived experience,the book is about a petty thief who makes a deal with the cops-to spy on Naxalite political prisoners in a jail in exchange for lenient sentencing.In a Becket-like turn of events,the protagonist finds himself drawn to the young men and their cause.The book evocatively describes what it was like in Calcutta in the 70s

Vansa When the State started a brutal crackdown on the would-be revolutionaries and the extra judicial methods they employed.These arent perspectives that are traditional among Indian authors-the writer is a Dalit working class man who was a Naxalite briefly himself,and it's a very unique viewpoint.Heartbreaking book that's beautifully written 3y
15 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
robinb
Every Now and Then | Lesley Kagen
post image

My twelfth 5⭐️ read of 2020 was this surprise. Coming-of-age friendships, nostalgic, but also deals with powerful issues.

#12BooksOf2020

Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 ! It was nice to take a look back. 😊

50 likes2 stack adds
blurb
Bookzombie
Dark Harvest | Norman Partridge
post image

#12Booksof2020 Day 12

Somehow I think I got a day behind, but wanted to finish up.

I‘m so happy that I finally picked this one up in October. I really enjoyed it.

54 likes1 stack add
blurb
vivastory
Neuromancer | William Gibson
post image

Have been on Litsy sporadically the past few days, so am posting my final 5 days of #12Booksof2020 as one post with brief notes for each.
*Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying had been on my TBR for awhile. I read it in late June, in the wake of George Floyd's murder & the BLM protests. I was profoundly moved by this novel of compassion & humanity.
*The North Water. Existential literature smuggled in an adventure story/serial killer narrative.👇

vivastory Atmospheric & foreboding, both literally & metaphorically.
*The First Bad Man. Crass, irreverent, strange, hilarious, oddly touching. I expected to hate this novel & yet I was strangely moved by it.
*Neuromancer. One of two cyberpunk classics read in 2020 & this was the better of the two. The source for countless internet jargon & still surprisingly fresh years later.
*Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. As anarchic as the poet
3y
vivastory it quotes, I loved this novel featuring one of the more memorable characters of the year. I can't wait to read Tokarczuk again.@andrew65 3y
Megabooks I seriously need to get to Drive Your Plow, but oh the siren song of nonfiction! 3y
See All 14 Comments
vivastory @Megabooks It's funny you mention nf, because I almost added to my note on the Gaines that when I read it there were a lot of racist self-education lists floating around & they invariably contained exclusively nonfiction. After I read As I Lay I couldn't help but feel that fiction was getting the short end of the stick on not being included on those lists. I do think those lists are great & I think self-education is a lofty goal, but... 3y
Megabooks I agree that education happens with both fiction and nonfiction. The education/escapism line between nonfiction/fiction is not as clear as some people think. I find memoirs more escapist than fiction, and I‘m loving the satire of race and a NXVIM-like company/cult in Black Buck. That book could definitely be taken as educational in corporate racism. (edited) 3y
EmilyM Loved Drive Your Plow! 3y
BarbaraBB I loved Lesson and Plow so much too. I haven‘t read this Miranda July but will look out for it. Neuromancer I couldn‘t get through unfortunately 🤷🏻‍♀️ 3y
vivastory @Megabooks I'll have to check out Black Buck. Definitely intrigued 👍 3y
vivastory @EmilyM Can't wait to read more by Tokarczuk! 3y
vivastory @BarbaraBB Miranda July has also directed a couple of movies. I haven't seen her new one, but I recall watching her earlier film & it being very similar to her fiction. 3y
vivastory @BarbaraBB M July reminds me a bit of Alissa Nutting. Not sure if you've read her... 3y
Megabooks I‘ll tag it. It really is an interesting book so far. 3y
Megabooks And Alissa Nutting is awesome! 3y
BarbaraBB @vivastory I‘ve read another book by her, which was an okay read. But you make me curious now! 3y
87 likes14 comments
blurb
cwarnier
The Chelsea Girls | Fiona Davis
post image

#12booksof2020 @andrew65
I forgot to post my last of the 12 days of Christmas yesterday.
I really enjoyed this one set in a different time period. I know it was was a fiction book, but I learned a lot of this timer period.

megnews I love historical fiction but this isn‘t a time period I read much. And I learned a lot too. 3y
19 likes1 comment
blurb
kspenmoll
Untitled | Unknown
post image

#12booksof2020 #12daysofChristmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

blurb
kspenmoll
post image

#12booksof2020 #integrateyourshelf #12drummersdrumming

Groundbreaking book on the history of racist ideas - perfect for students.

57 likes2 stack adds
blurb
Vansa
Lenin on the Train | Catherine Merridale
post image

#12Booksof2020 deciding to continue with this so I'll have a track of my favourite books this year!This was a recommendation from my husband, it's an account ostensibly of the train journey Lenin took to get to Russia,from Switzerland where he had been exiled.It uses this train journey to explore the Russian Revolution and how a lot of eventualities turned on a dime-the train,for instance,was given safe passage by the Germans who wanted Russia out

Vansa Of WWI and saw this as a perfect destabilising opportunity.Theres a vivid account of the women workers who started the Revolution with protests in St.Petersburg,and of all the realpolitik and jostling for power that happened after the Tsar had been deposed.Lenin's train journey was no less exciting,with thrilling accounts of train stations with cheering supporters,and near escapes,all aided by the Germans.Brilliantly written 3y
10 likes1 stack add1 comment