Welcome to Litsy!

3/5⭐ The description implies it's a love story, but it's really not. This book takes place during the decline/assimilation of Jewish culture in Kaifeng, China in the 1800s & the tensions that result. The afterword about the historical context is helpful. There's a common theme throughout of sadness vs happiness that I found thoughtful. The midpoint takes a wild turn that I didn't think fit with the tone of what came before or after. #buzzwordathon

#ReadYourKindle

Still only reading a few chapters a day of The Postcard so am not sure how I will do. The tagged book is short, The Batter of Life and Death is the 2nd in a series I‘ve been meaning to go back to, What the Dead Leave Behind is the beginning of a great sounding series and Marion Lane is a holdover from last month.

Hoping my reading mojo comes back soon.

@CBee

I like Mara Rutherford‘s writing style. This did not grab my attention quite as much as Poison Season, but I still enjoyed it. I also like that it‘s a standalone fantasy book. I don‘t always want to read a series!

Bari Weiss is a journalist, writer and editor. This thought-provoking polemic was written in the aftermath of the 2018 terrorist shooting at the Pittsburgh synagogue where she had her bat mitzvah and her anger at that atrocity permeates it. Unfortunately the valid points she makes about anti-semitism on both the left and the right get lost as she bangs her anti-liberal drum and she ignores completely the role of her own free speech movement.

Last book of 2023, read in one sitting. Sand raises the pressing question: is there any non-racial basis for secular Jewish identity today? (His answer is no.) Fresh, provocative and necessary. Some parts I‘m still wrestling with, and I think ultimately Bertell Ollman‘s “Letter of Resignation from the Jewish People” resonated more w/ me bc of how Ollman squares the circle of Jewish identity w/ communist universalism.

A reimagining of Edger Allen Poe‘s The Masque of the Red Death, and being a fan of E.A. Poe, I was excited to read this. There were some times that the narration dragged. The ending was fast-paced, it just took a lot to get there. I did enjoy Seraphina; she is a tough girl that has to face a lot of hate and obstacles. I feel like there is a phenomenal story idea here, but it all fell on its face when the concept of vampires was introduced.

Want to read this one for #scarathlon - my pick for black #scarathlonphotochallenge @Bookwormjillk

Read this month so far

Favorite was A Multitude of Dreams