Brilliant, propulsive narrative that forces you to examine your own biases and feelings towards the carceral system. By layering truth and reality with the horrifying spectre of blood sport, Adjei-Brenyah begs the question "where do we draw the line?"

How is it almost June? I feel little to no actual guilt about these #GuiltyPleasures, but I look forward to these brain breaks next month!

It's been a long time since I've read any of Shanna Swendson's Enchanted Inc series, but I think this is the one I'm on. Cheesy magic and cheesier romance, it's such delicious brain candy.

NKOTB was my first musical love. And I will always sing along at full volume when I hear this tune! (Link in comments)

100% would watch/read this!

This was a fantastic essay collection. Thoughtful and thought-provoking, Elliott connects her personal experiences within wider historical, sociological, and even entertainment context. Mental illness, colonialism, intergenerational trauma, gentrification, sexual assault, and the relationships between abusers and victims are all explored in sharp, engaging prose. It forces you to confront the issues and your biases, and get uncomfortable 👇

This was a wonderful read. Williams' colloquial style combined with the impressive depth of research made for an engaging blend of fun and fascination, beauty and science.

#NaturalLitsy @AllDebooks

I'm heading to PEI this summer for a family vacation, so I thought it was high time for a reread of an old favourite. Did not disappoint.

Pitch perfect rendering of the rapid, constant whir of noise inside the brain of a parent who is solely responsible for the emotional labour of a household. The never-ending recitation of tasks, doubts, plans, questions, the "fuck-its", etc when you are trying to keep all the balls in the air for everyone, and the overstimulation of everyday noise joining the cacophony.

My final Book Depository order! Neither of these are available in Canada as of yet, and I've been putting off ordering them from overseas. But with BD closing, I felt like I had to grab the chance!

Thank you Misty for my lovely LitsyLove package. It warmed my heart. I've been very lax in my correspondence, but this is the push I need to get back in the swing of things. 💗💗💗💗

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I was at Winners today to find a dress for this Saturday's back-to-back events (funeral straight to a wedding, it creates a bit of a fashion dilemma!). This was staring at me in the checkout line, and I just HAD to have it.

Lovely and heartwarming. I've been reading a lot of heavy stuff lately, so this was just the right palate cleanser. Light, but not total fluff; emotional, but not devastating.

When I read Marcellus' POV, I heard Peter Dinklage's voice in my head. My coworker heard a very proper, snotty, British man (with a monocle). If you've read it, what did you imagine?

I made it half way, but I didn't care enough to continue. I thought there were moments of such beautiful, brilliant writing, but just not enough meat to the book. It was ostensibly about Pascal, but he was such a blank space of a person, there was nothing to grab onto. Things happened around or to him, but with no central core to it, it all just felt like a random series of circumstances.

#InternationalBookerShortlist23 #InternationalBooker

"The black sky was streaked with red as if the blood of the victims had climbed all the way up to better shout their revenge."

"He just gave her his half-baked opinion like a torch and watched as she caught flame."

I have done an awful job of following my #BookSpin lists thus far in 2023. We'll see if May is any different!

@TheAromaofBooks

My hold for the tagged, from the International Booker Shortlist, came in just in time for #TitlesandTunes.

And you just can't have an #IslandVibe without the Marleys. Damian Jr Gong Marley's Welcome to Jamrock is a perfect summer party album, and one of my favourite tracks is All Night: https://youtu.be/VJMTVD9rHDQ

@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

What a debut. I'm excited to see what Crooks writes next.

While I found the story sometimes stalled, especially in the first 2/3, the power and rhythm of Crooks' prose pull you through those moments.

Set in 70s/80s England and Jamaica, the issues confronted here are still incredibly relevant, particularly police racism and brutality, and the grooming and abuse of vulnerable women.

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! Did I get a little carried away? You bet! Do I regret it? Heck, no!

The tagged was one I ordered in, and it arrived just in time for today's shopping extravaganza. Woo Hoo! Maame was a free ARC with purchase. The others were what jumped off the shelves into my eager arms 😁

I raced through this one from the #WomensPrizeLonglist23 in two days. I loved the blend of humour and deep subject matter, as Shroff confronted gender issues, caste discrimination, domestic violence, and women's agency in a patriarchal society.

I don't know what I could possible add to the near-unanimous praise for this novel. Kingsolver has crafted a beautiful, heart wrenching, honest, epic tale of a singular young boy growing up in poverty in the Appalachians. Demon is such a fabulous character, with a beautifully crafted narrative voice that pulls you along through the highs and lows of his first quarter-century. (cont'd)

I so wanted to love this one. And it started out so strong, with a wonderfully punk rock nun of an MC and a strong noir tone and atmosphere. But it just fizzled and flailed from there.

Not for me 😒

Engaging, interesting, effective short stories and one novella, set in a Thailand beyond the tourist track. I read these slowly, a story here and there, for #FoodandLit #Thailand and loved them. The title story was my favourite, and I will be thinking about it for quite a while.

Here's my nominations for #CampLitsy23 🎉🏕 One is tagged, I'll tag the rest in the comments.

Excited to see everyone's ideas! Thanks for hosting @Megabooks @squirrelbrain @BarbaraBB

Incredibly fascinating read. I'm grateful to #SheSaid and to @Chelsea.Poole 's #AuldLangSpine list for conspiring to get this one on my radar.

Kolbert writes in a completely engaging style, and with a well-balanced viewpoint, about how man is dealing with changes wrought by man. Nothing is presented as totally positive or negative; it is just what is. So much to think about and ponder over for the future of the climate.

@Riveted_Reader_Melissa

I loved this tale of a misunderstood young girl growing up in her family's dark and dreary manor house turned boys school in Scotland. Janet is a fabulous Gothic heroine who refuses to play by the rules set for Gothic heroines or any other sort of young girl of her time. The writing is tragic and delicious, my only regret is that I did not read it on a dark and stormy day to match the atmosphere.

Excellent historical fiction about a family on the outskirts of Strasbourg during the dancing plague of 1518. Rather than focusing on the plague, this is a story of women's lives, love, rage, family, and friendship during a time when men wielded religion like a cudgel to control and overpower women and anyone who was different. It is a beautiful story of family born and found among the women attempting to navigate life in difficult times.

I love Haynes' takes on the old myths. Heroes are exposed, gods are delightfully petty, and women's stories take centre stage.

While I'm not sure it was Prize-worthy, it was surely an enjoyable read!

#WomensPrize #WomensPrizeLonglist23

Utterly delightful, heartwarming fun. How has this not been made into a movie?

As always, I threw together a #BookSpin list in about 20 seconds 🤷‍♀️ We'll see how she goes!

@TheAromaofBooks

Hallett's stories are best enjoyed if you can throw away logic and disbelief and just fully enjoy the wild, chaotic, messy ride!

There is some very difficult subject matter in this one (see TW below), but what carries you through is the overlying feel of hope and the strength that can be found in black families, women, and communities. Stringfellow has created a beautiful family of women, fully realized in all their strengths and vulnerabilities, love and rage, gifts, talents, and quirks.

Cont'd below...

#WomensPrize #WomensPrizeLonglist23

Otis and I are celebrating #RespectYourCatDay by catching up on the first two days of Canada Reads debates. (Yes, he is a ridiculously long cat!) His sister prefers to cuddle on top of a blanket pile on the other couch.

When it comes to cake, I give thumbs down to Black Forest Cake, but thumbs up to most others. I like the classics and stick to my grandmother's rule: vanilla cake gets chocolate icing, chocolate cake gets vanilla icing 😋 🎂

The newest Dog Man was released today. I picked up our pre-order and brought it to school pick up. We weren't even off school property before he cracked it open.

#RaisingReaders

Fantastic. O'Farrell gives her histories such beautiful texture. You can truly feel the atmosphere she creates. Lucrezia is a fascinating, genuine, and singular character, and her story is utterly absorbing from beginning to end.

#WomensPrize #WomensPrizeLonglist23

@Chelsea.Poole I can see why this was on your #AuldLangSpine list! @monalyisha

Sweet, fun, light read.

#DailyChallenge #MarchMadness

Happy World Theatre Day, everyone!

Recently, I was lucky enough to attend part one of the adaptation of Ann-Marie McDonald's Fall on Your Knees. It was one of the most beautiful, effective pieces of theatre I've seen. Ever.

@Andrew65 @DieAReader

This was so much more than I was expecting. A lot of what I had read about it focused on the affair between Cushla, a Catholic, and the married Protestant Michael, but that is only one facet of her story. I think it does the book a disservice to call it the story of an affair. It is Cushla's story, her life lived during the Troubles, attempting to navigate family, friendship, live, and community. 👇

@Cinfhen described this to me perfectly, it really is "whacked in a good way." It is a chaotic ride through the messed up life of Penny Rush. She sets out for Santa Barbara, determined to clean out her hoarder grandmother's house (and confiscate her gun), but not a single moment goes as planned. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the wild, weird, and wonderful ride.

#WomensPrizeLonglist23

Welcome to the new town, same as the old town!

Nothing new or different here, really, but still a solid entry in (or I guess spin off to) Armstrong's Rockton series. Gobbled it up in 24 hours.

Heck yes!!!!

Any other Rockton fans out there?

Holy s#!+

Totally engaging read right off the bat. Then, about halfway through, just as I was thinking, "Hmm... something really needs to happen soon, or this is going to stall out," the whole thing goes BONKERS BANANAS.

Very much lives up to its Shakespearean name. Embrace the chaos, enjoy the ride.

TW: suicide, suicide attempt, self-harm, rape, childhood illness

How do you translate your life into a fictional body? Croft plays with genre, blurring the lines between fiction and truth; and form, combining short chapters with photos from her childhood and captions that question the limits of language to translate feelings and memory. The result is beautifully readable, thoughtful, and effective.

#WomensPrizeLonglist23

A beautifully written story of a young woman coming of age in the 1930's in Vancouver's East End. Exploring the relationships between mothers and daughters, the bonds of friendship, community, an artist's view of the world around her, and a young woman discovering the colours and textures of love. You can tell Knight is a poet, the way she crafts a sentence is an utter delight. She has created a vibrant world to be celebrated.

"She spent so much time inside of her mother's absence it started to linger on her tongue like powdered cinnamon or whole cloves of garlic."

Not sure if anyone else read In the Time of the Butterflies last month for #FoodandLit #DominicanRepublic, but I just saw that there is a TV series on Disney+ about the Mirabel sisters. Looks like a good one!

https://youtu.be/q5-UiaKUNy4

@Catsandbooks @Texreader

"In Ancient Greece a clue was just a skein of yarn until enough mythical figures unraveled their ways out of mazes."

#WomensPrize2023 #WomensPrizeLonglist

Love a good #IndependentWomen playlist! I got a good start, with some Joan Armatrading, Dolly Parton, Kate Nash, Florence + the Machine, Nina Simone, Veruca Salt, and more. I'll be adding to it through the day! Can't wait to see everyone's lists.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0NqdZsr87lAVert6leDK3S?si=Zp_s_xArQwuhN38IYt_g...

@BarbaraBB @Cinfhen

I just finished the tagged this morning, what a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the #independentwomen who live in its pages. Who refused to live their lives and loves based on the rules of male power and society.

Top: cover, Lina Poletti, Virginia Woolf
Middle: Romaine Brooks, Eva Palmer, Natalie Barney, Vita Sackville-West
Bottom: Gertrude Stein and Alice B Toklas, Isadora Duncan, Colette

@Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

Yay for #BookSpinBingo! I actually started the tagged yesterday, and it turns out it is my #BookSpin 🎉 Everything's coming up Millhouse!

@TheAromaofBooks

Jenny Lawson is always a pick. Hilarious, heartfelt, thoughtful, and relatable.