Welcome to Litsy!

Finally getting to this book of short stories after buying it for #ReadingOceania last year. Only the first story took place in Tonga, but I enjoyed all of them. They were about different things but I liked how they embraced nature and took place in unique locations.

#readingoceania2024 #tonga Although not a great book it nevertheless lends insights into this independent constitutional monarchy. Focused largely on Queen Salote, who died in 1965, the book is outdated and still informative. PLUS for the first time ever, I completed all the prompts for 2024. Of course, I still have tons of prompts left from #readingtheamericas2023. Happy New Year all.

April wasn‘t a great month for 5-star books but I do remember really liking the tagged book and I did give it 5 stars. #12booksof2024 @Andrew65

#Readingoceania2024 I was going to use this for Tonga as Cook did stop there in addition to New Zealand, Tahiti, Kiribati and, of course, Hawaii. However, there was exactly two pages on Tonga. I‘ll have to find another book. This was a good view into Cook‘s third voyage of discovery though. It illustrated well the geographical and cultural differences between the islands and it really highlighted how the European and Oceania cultures clashed.

This is a collection of over 50 short stories and poems, by women from various #readingoceania24 countries, including #newzealand, #fiji, #tonga, #papuanewguinea and, the one I‘m going for, #samoa.

Thank you so much for sending this to me Holly @Hooked_on_books - I really enjoyed it and also felt like I‘d learned a lot about the different cultures. I did prefer the more ‘modern‘ storytelling rather than the fables but there was a great mix.

#wondrouswednesday

1) sadly, allergies, but also here in Texas, bluebonnets ❤️❤️❤️
2) tagged
3) my son‘s high school graduation

I‘ve really slowed down reading for the month of April with only 8 books finished. Six were for #foodandlit #Venezuela, 1 for #authoramonth (I wasn‘t inclined to read more by this author), and 1 for #readingOceania #Tonga (and completing that challenge for the year). I‘ve tagged my favorite book this month, oddly a book of short stories that I normally don‘t care for, but these were exceptional.

Superb short stories, the first being the title of this book. The giant tortoise named Tu'i Malila was captured by Captain Cook stuck in the ship‘s hold without food and water for a year, to be fresh meat if the crew needed. When he got to #Tonga he gifted her to the queen. The tortoise lives like royalty but never forgets the pain of that year. 😭 Each story is unique and I felt the author did an amazing amount of research. One is hilarious: ⬇️

I adored this book of short stories (review to come). But this book marks my completion of the #readingOceania challenge!! I do plan to keep reading for the challenge because I found so many good books I want to read. @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB

I‘m just going to say this may be one of the best short stories I‘ve ever read—Darwin in Heaven

#Tonga #readingOceania @Librarybelle @BarbaraBB