I‘m visiting my family right now and I never get any reading done on these visits! Still slowly working my way through this one.

I have been THE WORST about keeping up on Litsy 😔 it‘s been a busy and stressful few months. Anyway, here are the books I read in June. I really liked Creative Quest and Vacationland, but the rest fell short of my expectations a bit.

Technology failed me today 😡 so I quit and I‘m now having pizza, ice cream, and watching dumb movies on netflix. Here‘s what I read in May, favorites were “Everything is Horrible and Wonderful” and “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs.” Another month of all non-fiction... hmm 🤔 #may #mayrecap #maybooks

1. 35
2. 100 would be cool, but realistically 70
3. Too hard!! Maybe Broad Strokes, Otis Redding, Altamont, One Summer America 1927, I‘ll Be Gone in the Dark
4. Michelle Obama‘s Becoming (November)

#2018checkin

Best of my April reads were “I‘ll Be Gone in the Dark” about the #GoldenStateKiller, “In the Kingdom of Ice” about the USS Jeannette‘s doomed 1879 mission to the Arctic, and Jerry Kramer‘s “Instant Replay,” his behind-the-scenes diary of the @packers‘ historic 1967 season 📚 #april #aprilreads #wrapup #recap

Also been reading “The Recovering” by Leslie Jamison and “Before the Fall” by Noah Hawley this month, but haven‘t finished yet 👍

1. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
2. I don‘t pay attention to local news... care more about US news than Singapore‘s
3. Going to try!! Something always comes up though to pull me away
4. Knock knock. Who‘s there? I eat mop. I eat mop who? You eat your poo?!?
5. 😆👍👍ok

#friyayintro @jesshowbooks

1. Otis Redding (tagged)...more in comments!
2. Tom Waits is up there, Stevie Wonder, Phat Phunktion, Beyoncé...so many more
3. I LOVE seeing my friends play and classical concerts too, but some big pop music shows that come to mind: Primus/Bush (96), Weezer (97) Madison Blues Festivals (99,00) Slash (15), Metallica (17)...
4. Today: Ron Pope‘s Texas Wildflower Honey, Anderson .Paak‘s Celebrate, Janelle Monáe‘s Make Me Feel

#manicmonday @JoScho

Not sure which one to read next. Before the Fall is on my TBR Pile Challenge list, Norma was a birthday gift (December...), and I‘ve neglected Little Fires Everywhere since I bought it right when it came out. Thoughts?? #thestruggleisreal

Michelle McNamara was a brilliant writer and I was totally swept up in the emotional rollercoaster of her hunt for the Golden State Killer, active in CA 1976–86. It‘s a thrilling, fascinating, and frustrating read, knowing this monster is still at large (right now, still), and so tragic that Michelle died midway through writing it, way too young. Just a really excellent piece of narrative true crime journalism.

Books read in March! The Bryson, Altamont, and Homegoing were the best. I loved having a #BFIBC discussion with my BBF (best book friend) @monkiesdofly about Homegoing, and glad to be on pace for #tbr2018rbr. More thoughts linked in bio 📚 #marchreads #recap #marchbooks

Solid collection, if a bit repetitive at times. I loved how inclusive the collection is, covering race, queerness, immigration, poverty, and more. “Dear Millennials” by Aya de Léon was my favorite entry. A good read to ground yourself in reality; a reminder that the results of the 2016 election aren‘t apocalyptic (I sure hope not, at least) but that doesn‘t mean we have the luxury of inaction in times like these, or ever, really.

Best Friends International Book Club!! We read Homegoing—beautiful, heartbreaking, MUST-read epic family saga spanning 250yrs between Ghana and USA. One of the most affecting and thought-provoking pieces of historical fiction I‘ve read in a long time. #tbr2018rbr

http://mylittleheartmelodies.com/2018/03/29/book-club-homegoing/

What an incredible book. A look at social and racial injustice wrapped in a love story (marital, parental, and friend). Lots of excellent, relevant topics for discussion here. I‘m glad I listened on audio, the narrators really performed the characters and gave them life—it was almost like a play.

I‘ve been really looking forward to this one. Starting in earnest today! #new #newin #newbook

Fascinating, heartbreaking, upsetting read. I‘m really digging pop music histories lately. This is meticulously researched telling of the Rolling Stones‘s disastrous rock festival at Altamont where four people died, including one murder near the stage during the show. Must-read for rock fans and those interested in the 1960s music scene.

Loved it! Easy, quick read. Hardly even counts as “book”—it‘s a long essay. Puzo has a great sense of humor. I just wish this was longer, there‘s probably so many amazing behind-the-scenes stories regarding this book and movie!

Solid thriller! I‘m a sucker for survival and wilderness stories. This is much more character-driven than I was expecting, and I didn‘t feel the peril of their situation as I have reading non-fiction with this sort of subject matter, I was still thoroughly entertained. Lansens is a good, engaging storyteller.

Personal LGBTQ experiences in Singapore. Frequency of typos bugs, content is mostly about sexual orientation, with not much (if any) on gender identity. However, the interviews here took place ~10yr ago—we have more knowledge and language on this topic now. I admire the courage of those profiled. I imagine Singapore, for all its advancements, is a tough place to come out. SQ21 is an important piece of Singapore‘s history and social progress.

Not a bad haul today from Kinokuniya! #bookhaul #newin #newbooks

Well that‘s neat! 🤗❤️👍📚👋 #litfluence

Both was and wasn‘t exactly what I was expecting. Some was accessible for non-sciencey people like me, and Tyson does a good job explaining complex subject matter for the masses. But there‘s A LOT of info that overwhelmed me at times. I think you have to be able to grasp big, abstract concepts to “get it” all. Just wasn‘t for me. I think I‘ll stick to just staring at the stars for the pure existential beauty of the experience, and that‘s okay! 🙂

I learned so much from this fascinating, engaging book! I was especially captivated by the baseball (had a mild obsession with Babe Ruth as a kid), organized crime & Al Capone, & the achievements of early aviation. Bryson does a wonderful job placing everything in context so you understand exactly how monumentally historic & important this time was, setting up what led to the events of summer 1927 & then laying out their lasting effects.

It wasn‘t what I was expecting, but I liked it. I expected supernatural (like, the actual literal devil) but it was more parable and magical realism. Set in 1984, with issues relevant to today, like racism and homophobia. I listened on audio, and Mark Bramhall is fantastic, but the dialect/accents are rendered as deep Alabamian or Georgian instead of Ohio, where it takes place—that distracted me. Good contemporary gothic 👍 #tbr2018rbr

1. But No Elephants! by Jerry Smath
2. 2 stuffed animals, named Teddy (which was really a mole, not a bear) and Stupid (a pink magical creature of some sort😂)
3. Tacos
4. Cookies

#manicmonday @JoScho

1. Print, but audio for when I‘m drawing or driving
2. Living room
3. Black coffee
4. Multiple
5. Daytime

#readingfavourites @thereadingowlvina

There is a lot to like here, very thought-provoking—great essays on her childhood, Beyoncé‘s Lemonade, Michelle Obama, and connections between historical and present-day experiences of black men and women. But there are some generalizations and double standards that made me somewhat uncomfortable. So, on the fence a little. She is raw in her honesty, though, which I respect, and she has tons of potential.

My February reads. It was a great month! Dark Money, Otis Redding, and Broad Strokes were easily my favorites, with Shark Drunk close behind. I hope you all had a good month of reading, too. Happy #WorldBookDay! #februarywrapup

More from VanderMeer‘s world of Borne! This adds a chapter to Borne from a different creature‘s perspective. I do think you need to read Borne first. I kind of wish I had read it on paper instead of audio—the narrator had a tortured tone that was a bit much for me at times. There isn‘t quite the level of mystery and tension I felt here as I did with Borne, but it‘s a great expansion of this imaginative setting.

A taut, unsettling psychological horror novella. Kehlmann handles classic haunted house, ghost story, and existential madness tropes well—a creeping dread is palpable here. Easily read in one sitting, too. People online have compared it to House of Leaves and The Shining, and I‘d agree, although this is much, much shorter!

Strøksnes basically uses a shark-hunting trip with his friend as an excuse to talk about myriad topics, so it‘s a little all over the place, but it‘s a delightful book that‘s more about the journey than the destination. I loved all the “fun facts,” from oceanography and the mysteries of the sea, to mythology and literature and history, to life in small Scandinavian fishing villages, and more. Great read!!

1. Party, Black Panther, play bass, draw, read
2. 5‘6”
3. ~1.5 years
4. Homegoing (Gyasi), Shark Drunk (Strøksnes)
5. From yesterday!
#friyayinteo @jesshowbooks

What does such a brutal public shaming do to a person? How does one recover from such profound humiliation? Ronson‘s book covers stories of shaming to varying degrees of disgrace to illustrate the point that pitchfork-wielding angry mobs are still alive and well—they (we) tar and feather the “offender” behind the anonymous safety of the internet now instead of in the streets. Why do we do this? Simply put: because we can, but also much more.

LOVED. Definitive bio of Otis Redding, and is a must-read for anyone interested in 1960s soul music and how popular music and race in America are and have historically been indelibly entwined. I stayed up all night finishing the last few chapters and even though I knew the ending, I still cried reading through the plane crash. This book gave bold, technicolor life to Redding, as musician and man, for me.

Great memoir! I admired O‘Farrell‘s resilience, gratitude for her life, and generally opimistic outlook. Some of these events are more harrowing than others—machete to the neck vs. an STD test, for example—but I was spellbound by her beautiful writing, which conveys both rationality and emotional rawness. Lived up to the hype for me.

This is a lovely, brief collection of four essays Sacks wrote at the end of his life. I found it very moving, full of profound insight into a life lived, and lived well and with purpose and meaning. I was really inspired by his positivity and gratefulness, his wise perspective and unwavering curiosity, and his gentle voice here.

LOVED 💖💖 this book! I learned so much about these 15 fascinating, incredible women, as artists and historical figures. As an artist myself, I was really inspired by their stories and accomplishments. Art history + feminism = right up my alley. I‘ll be recommending this to everyone all year, I‘m sure!

Fun and quirky! As a woman who happens to be married and also not working (in an office) atm, some of the beginnings of these stories made me uncomfortable, like, hitting a too close to home, but then they‘d take a sharp, dark turn and I‘d snap right out of cringing into laughter. American women have such a negative association with the label “housewife” but Ellis‘s stories make you reconsider underestimating her housewife characters.

Between and pick & so-so for me. Nothing revelatory here, but oh my, what pure, delicious trash. Mostly backstories behind some of the scandal moments we‘ve all heard about already. Kind of abrupt ending. I like that I‘ve read it, though, sort of as an act of peaceful protest and resistance.

#Bookmail! Looking forward to reading these two Singaporean books from Math Paper Press. “The Infinite Library” is mixed-genre, experimental fiction short stories, and “SQ21” is a collection of ordinary Singaporeans‘ coming out stories 🤓📚

Eye-opening, meticulously researched. Mayer exposes depth to which radical libertarian billionaires, lead by the Koch Brothers, have infiltrated the US government, specifically Republicans, at all levels. The sections about their war against taking action to stabilize climate change & how they‘re trying to indoctrinate Americans to their philosophies by influencing course content in our educational system were especially infuriating. #tbr2018rbr

This pisses me off so much. Teachers in PUBLIC SCHOOLS, REQUIRED to “[downplay] the roles of social movements and government” and our children REQUIRED “study conservative principals as part of American history IN ORDER TO GRADUATE”. This is some profoundly fucked up propaganda bullshit.

My name is Kristin, and so is my handle. Not very creative, I know! But I‘m creative enough elsewhere in my life as a musician and artist. This is a recent self-portrait I made, graphite pencil on paper, 11x17”.

@Chelleo #LitsyHandle #HelloMyNameIs

I love these ☺️ #friyayintro @jesshowbooks

1. Yes, but I hope both teams lose. Go Pack Go! ??
2. 85°F (Singapore)
3. Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life; Dark Money; Fire and Fury
4. WISCONSIN, also Ireland or Italy
5. Yay! Will do!

January 2018 recap! I thought all of these were fantastic. I‘m having trouble focusing and staying in routines (seasonal affective disorder) but I‘m still hoping to read more in February.

Short and thought-provoking. Beard connected a lot of dots for me, even though I already knew some of this going in (women‘s voices are and have been suppressed?? Film at 11!). But I loved learning exactly how deeply rooted this misogny is, specifically its roots in ancient Greek and Roman culture. Great examples in lit and art. I just wish this was a longer, more in-depth book!

1. Living room
2. Bookmark
3. I just stop but prefer to have a good stopping point!
4. Yes
5. Yes, but depends on the music/show
6. Several
7. Everywhere
8. Silently
9. Nope
10. Just normal wear n‘ tear, try to be gentle I guess
11. Nope
12. Anyone who‘d like to answer! 😊

Book mail! I‘ve been dying to read about music lately 👏📚🎶

Just finished this fantastic dystopian sci-fi. So creative in how societal gender roles and expectations are reversed, and how unequal distribution of power (and how it‘s wielded) can effect humanity... hmm echoes of what‘s happening now in many parts of the world. Great read!

This is a potent, compelling book chronicling the struggles of (mostly recent) veterans and their families due to time served at war. Sad and profoundly troubling, but important to know this additional very real psychological cost of war. Excellent book.

Page 1, already hooked ✊