Frank Li is a Korean-American high schooler who is neither American enough or Korean enough. He wants to date a girl who just happens to be white but comes up with a ridiculous fake date scheme with a close Korean friend to fool his parents. This book was so deep and representative of what it means to be caught between cultures. And it was hilarious because of Franks strong and questioning voice. Reading the back interview between David and 👇🏼

Cantoras means singer but also a slang term for women who love other women. 5 women in Uruguay find a secluded beach area in Cabo Pollonio where they make a safe space to be themselves in the 1970‘s away from the city and its dictatorship. There was a heady desire in here that lead the way to personal evolutions onto personal revolutions all the while Uruguay is also in a revolution. This is easily a top 3 book of the year for me. Loved it.

This book was pretty special. Two sisters have a falling out after an inheritance and we follow them and one of the sister‘s granddaughters over decades of life. It had it all, beer, pie, tender hearted yet tenacious grandmas, the unknown things in life families do for each other without acknowledgement, the heartache and joy of life. Just so good. Pick!

Omg, this book is so tender and beautiful, and sad in some parts.

#covercrush #7coversin7days @jenniferw88 Thanks for the tag, @Tex2Flo and here are mine. The U.S. cover on the left and the U.K. cover on the right and both are lovely.

Derek Roland Black was groomed from a very early age to take over as the next White Nationalist leader. Which as I read his tactics he himself came up with, were very scary because they were more subtle yet packed more of a punch. He ends up going to a liberal, hippie, college where nobody knows him where he meets the very people his ideology tells him is the enemy. He befriends them and when he is outed at the school for who he is as a white👇🏼

How funny that the news out on the left comes out as I‘m reading this book. It doesn‘t seem that they‘re about the same thing...... but they are.

This was an entertaining imagining if Holmes and Watson‘s many great grandchildren met at an American boarding school to fulfill their familial destiny by becoming friends and solving a murder. Told from the voice of a very melodramatic Jamie Watson, I laughed a lot and was kept interested by his interaction with a very pithy Charlotte Holmes. Pick. A survey at work says Cumberbatch and Freeman are the only Holmes and Watson that matters. I‘ve👇🏼

19 essays from Arab women journalists from all over the Arab World. This was eye opening to this American in his self spun cocoon. I had no idea what the Arab Spring was or how it started or who Mohamed Bouazizi was. How this was a catalyst for everything that happens in this decade for the Middle East. I must admit I had my own preconceived notions about the area and women from the Middle East and this was revelatory. I‘m glad I read it. 👇🏼

1. Anything by Khaled Hosseini and Marlon James because both have books I‘ve read but put me in this frame of mind that I have to be in a certain space to read something else by them.
2. Boy Wonder by James Robert Baker
3. ♾
4. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb ♾✨
5. Anyone who would like to play.

Thanks for the tag @Redwritinghood

This is from the introduction but I‘m 2/3rds of the way finished with it. I could have finished it tonight but this isn‘t a book one barrels through. If you‘re like me and have had your head in the sand, it‘s pretty eye opening. Much respect to all these women.

I think that the writing in here was lovely. The Hag is a misunderstood woman named Cailleach who is centuries old slumbering as her lineage lives on, waking only when they need help, waiting for the day when the circle will close. We read about her present day many greats granddaughter Alice and read about other generations weaved in throughout the story forgetting and finding their power. Is it perfect? No, but I enjoyed it. A feminist Pick!

I love this book so far. I love paragraphs like these. This book feels very Circe adjacent. Like they live in the same city but different neighborhoods.

It‘s the late 60‘s and Judith Lamb is in a car with her 5yo son and her husband driving down a highway late at night when a car of vampires appears besides them and snatches her son. A 2nd car bumps her car and makes it crash horribly leaving them for dead. This is her revenge story against these vicious, sumbitch, vampires. I really liked the writing and how all the characters had these true to their character thoughts and memories. Pick!!!

@vivastory Thanks, Scott, for recommending this. I started this today and am really liking it so far.

I don‘t really ever drink but tonight I‘m making lasagna and I need red wine for the meat sauce and was completely blown away by the faux book covers I saw. There‘s the anthropomorphic sci-fi Paraduxx. Gritty historical thriller, 19 Crimes:The Uprising. Sad fiction tale, Hopes End. Humorous fiction, Sheep Thrills. Paranormal romance, The Prophecy. Post apocalyptic zombie thriller, Besieged. Meet-cute romance, Available, followed by its steamy👇🏼

Miyoung is a gumiho, a nine tailed fox, who saves a boy, Jiyoon, while he is being attacked by a dokkaebi, a goblin. In saving his life she has put hers at risk. I really liked this for the most part. I felt the second half dragged jusssst a little. However, the Korean culture, the food, all the mythology, the glossary in the back for all the Korean words used, the family dynamics, and all the DRAMA made this an enjoyable read. Pick!

The game I‘ve been playing for years, League of Legends, has this character shown up above named Ahri. And her bio is that she is a 9 tail fox creature who feeds on the lives of men. I just thought the game makers were being creative. Turns out it‘s Korean folklore. That ball she is holding which I thought was just some magic ball is her yeowu guseul- fox bead, which is her soul. Hmm, the more you know. Thanks reading! Lol.

This book is so powerful. Gottlieb, a therapist, has a sudden breakup with a long term boyfriend and realizes she needs to go talk to someone about it. Her story of therapy intermixed with patients of her own combine to make this non-preachy book about how we are all human and how sometimes we just need help. There are people‘s stories in here and their revelations I won‘t be forgetting for a long time. A lovely, heart wrenching, pick!!!

This was very Mean Girls meets The Craft meets maybe a Twilight Zone episode? We meet Samantha who is in a MFA program at posh school in the middle of skid row. She‘s lonely, a fact that isn‘t helped at all by the clique of girls in her program know as the Bunnies. To tell more is kind of hard. It came off as this hilarious fever dream until the end which took me by surprise as it morphed into a heartbreaking love story? I really enjoyed it. Pick!

Yeah, this book definitely keeps your attention. This is page 7. Lol They‘re at a college faculty mixer. Or as they call it in here a “demitasse” because they‘re too ivy and pretentious.

I ended up really enjoying this book. It doesn‘t read as nonfiction to me but I got sucked in. We read about Maggie, Lina, and Sloane. Maggie is a young woman who had an inappropriate relationship with a teacher. Lina is in a marriage where her husband refuses to kiss or touch her. Sloane is married to a man who watches her have sex with other men. I took a lot away from this book. How sometimes all we desire is a hug and a willing ear. Some-👇🏼

I‘m gonna admit to having difficulty seeing this as nonfiction with how flowery she writes some parts. I wanna judge Taddeo for something that is actually lovely but doesn‘t go with my idea of how something should be....? Which is my baggage right? Whatever, because I‘ve been sucked in and am now in the reading groove. The loneliness is palpable in this one.

I loved Paul Tremblay‘s collection of short horror stories with the exception of 2 of them that were way, way, above me. He has such a way of writing from a child‘s innocence. He also has a way of writing the details from the periphery that allow you to make up a much more horrifying picture. I‘m also in awe of the huge multi layered universe each one contained. These may be labeled horror but I‘d also add literary to the description. Pick!

So with this story, Notes from the Dog Walkers, Tremblay demonstrates the different shades of horror. This story is made up of notes from the couple of dog walkers who walk this rescue puppy, Holly, that all started out like,”Holly is a great pup and loves belly rubs,” but have progressed to this hot-mess, craziness, lol. This book, it‘s great so far.

I loved this book. Totally NA, easy breezy, funny and yet there was some great stuff in here for people who have no direction in life. Reese is invisible at college and Fitz (named after Mr.Darcy by his librarian mother. P.S.this quote moved me sooo much that I almost decided to read P&P....almost. Lol) has just had his heart broken. After an incident involving a hairy butt in the first couple of pages gets them thrown out of their respective👇🏼

I thought, well, I only have one more book in the series, and also, I‘m just trash for the easy romance. This is easily my favorite in the series. Olivia and Adam hate each other at their job, but when they get sent to Texas from California to put a power plant online, everything goes wrong except for their attraction to each other. So good and funny. I laughed A LOT. Lots of nerdy, verbal sparring. A very nice rom-com!

Melody is a freshman at MIT when she has a memorable 1 night stand. It is such a surprise when she meets him again only to find out that he is the heir apparent to the bazillion dollar company in California she just got hired at. Lol, this book is the definition of escapism. It took me back to The crazy drama of Melrose Place. Billion dollar playboys. Sisters cheating on sisters with their bf‘s. A woman leaving her man for a woman. It was a👇🏼

Rukhsana is a 17yo girl living in Seattle with her Muslim Bengali family. She happens to be lesbian. I kinda thought I was reading an on top of the water Disney story until Rukhsana gets caught kissing another girl and the story ramps up in frightening and horrific ways as she is sent to Bangladesh with her parents scheming to get her married. I was not in love with the writing as much as I was in love with the story. Kudos to Khan for putting👇🏼

So I bit because summer is the last time before October when I hit horror. For a $3.99 kindle book that was 115 pages I wasn‘t mad at it. These 13 stories felt like flash fiction. And I felt the writing could have been a touch better. There were a lot of crevices Basu could have colored in that would have enhanced the story. However those were my only cons. What he does have here are 13 great seeds from which to grow a novel maybe. Cause I did👇🏼

Kristen is a spunky 20 something who is the bridesmaid for her friend Sloan, who is waiting for her boyfriend to get out of the service so they can start their lives together. She is also fertility challenged. Josh is the hunky firefighter who is the best man for his friend, Brandon. He helps Kristen with her online business. He also wants lots of children. This was so good!!!! I‘ve never had a book gut me, make me cry, but then make me laugh👇🏼

Bridesmaid, Olive Torres, and nemesis best man, Ethan Thomas, get to take a honeymoon together after everyone at the wedding falls prey to food borne illness. Of course they fall in love. It‘s cute. I really enjoyed the Hispanic family in here. They were well represented. My only complaint is that if you‘re gonna keep telling us how hot people are, write the sex scenes please!!! There was a lot of fade to the next morning going on. Lol. A pick.

I feel like this was as if Miranda from SATC never met Steve and chose to remain single and childless. And that was great with her. We follow Andrea, 40, in NYC as she navigates all the judgement being thrown at her for choosing to be single and childless. This was a hard look at life in general and how we all get to a place we never thought we‘d be at. The good and the bad. I really enjoyed this book.

This was a super cute comic about a vlogger, figure skater turned hockey player named Eric and his first couple of years at college. He happens to be gay and loves to bake. Super adorable. You get the camaraderie, the house life, the parties, the bro-life, the fights, the hockey. Good for cleansing the palette. Thanks again @quietjenn for the book!!!

This is the sequel to the Off Season. It‘s been over 10 years since the lone cannibal who survived the last book has been able to kidnap enough kids to grow a new brood. Throw in a lovely tech couple, their friend and her young son who they‘re trying to help into a new life, her sociopathic soon to be ex husband, an ex sheriff trying to retire peacefully, all converging with one last cannibal attack. Good stuff!! Jack always makes you care 👇🏼

@batsy @Cinfhen These are my #Top6SoFar. Ever since I started reading again and joined Litsy, certain books still speak to me like Kindred and The Handmaiden‘s Tale from my first, Circe, An American Marriage, and The Overstory from last year, and these are the ones who talk to me this year even though it‘s been months since I‘ve read some of them. Honorable mention to Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

This was a complete and over the top annihilation of innocence. 3 adults and 12 6 year olds go into the woods and never come out. This is their horrific story. I can‘t really recommend this one to anyone, but it is a pick.

Honestly, I was put into a reading slump for a couple of days by this book because I am a book monogamist and I‘m not gonna start another book until I finish this one. But this one is rough. You find out by the 2nd page of the prologue none of these 6 year olds survive. So why am I reading this? I love horror but kids.....the self betrayal is deep.

@quietjenn Thanks so much for my box!!! That bookmark is incredibly creepy! All those snacks! To go with all my books!! Thanks for making the longest day of the year awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

This is the sequel to Retrograde. Liz Anderson has come back from Mars after defeating the A.I. that devastated Earth and tried to kill the colony on Mars. However nothing is as it should be here on Earth. Or is it. She comes back to so much hate and then there was this scene where she has to answer to Congress that seemed all too real. However, this was not the all out A.I.- terminators coming to kill you in your sleep I thought it was gonna 👇🏼

The beginning of this book is the stuff of nightmares. We follow Liz Anderson as a scientist up on a Mars colony with the other 120 scientists split up by 4 regions from Earth. The U.S., Russia, China, and Eurasia. One night everything changes as they receive feed that many large cities have been nuked across the Earth. Can they come together to live or will they fall prey to the blame game. This was great and had all the elements of a great 👇🏼

There is A LOT of science in this one so far and I‘m diggin it.

Danny Kim is the frontman for his band The Trouble. One night after a show he rudely puts the moves on a concert goer who happens to be his new accounting class TA, Jiyoon. They forge a friendship after a breakup and as the semester goes on with the success of the band and all his classes, Jiyoon becomes the one person he didn‘t know he needed. This was one of the nicest gay romances I‘ve read in a while but I have dumb beef with one minor 👇🏼

I totally needed something easy, breezy after Notes on a Crocodile and this was totally it. Esther, an aerospace engineer, promises to help the neighbor she hates, Jonathan, with the science aspect of his screenplay as long as he takes her best friend out to keep her bf‘s ex off her mind. Esther who has trouble letting people in is shocked of course when she realizes how much Jonathan starts to mean to her. A great palette cleanser.

65yo Female Coworker: Reg, you reading about crocodiles now?
Me: No, Franny, it‘s about a young female in the late 80‘s Taiwan, who is at war with herself because she can‘t reconcile the fact that she‘s a lesbian with what society has told her is normal. There‘s a lot of self hate and drama with the women she gets involved with because she never allows herself to love them.
65YOFC: (stunned silence).....that‘s sad.
Me: I know.

This girl......

Got it. Thanks a bunch, @quietjenn !!

1. No, sadly. Everyone just shortens my name and calls me Redge.
2. The tagged book which is one of my all time favorites.
3. No, and it makes me want to scratch my eyes out when I see someone say “hype ruined this for me.” Do yourself a favor, go in blind and don‘t read reviews. Lol
4. It helps but isn‘t a deal breaker.
5. Anyone else who wants to participate.

Finished!

Translated- Love by Hanne Ørstavik. Translated from Norwegian by Martin Aitken.

Swampy- Tentacle by Rita Indiana. Translated from Spanish by Achy Obejas.

Blue- Space Unicorn Blues by T.J. Berry

True- Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush.