Transcendent Kingdom | 
pickThis book about an immigrant family from Ghana & the subsequent losses they suffer in America is not a light read. Heavier topics range from addiction, depression, racism, & loss — to neuroscience. However, it‘s smoothly and sensitively written. Complex without being too heady. I never felt bogged down by the telling. If I were in college, I‘d write a paper contrasting it with Judy Blume‘s “Are You There, God? It‘s Me, Margaret” in a *heartbeat.*
This book is destroying me. I love Gyasi. This is about a lot of thing but partially about how being a kid when your sibling dies means you aren‘t granted the same grace as adults. I don‘t know how much work my mom missed but it was a lot. I went to school a week later. I had exams.
so-soI read this for #FoodandLit January pick for Ghana 🇬🇭 I also used this for #ReadtheUSA Alabama. This story is about a daughter who is working on a neuroscience project with mice. Through the course of the story she loses people that are close to her. This is the fuel and inspiration she has to finish her studies on these mice. It is a very emotional story with a lot of downs. However, I really enjoyed the approach on some difficult topics.
pick27 Nov-13 Dec 23
Well-written but perhaps my expectations were too high. I did not love Gifty - she was remote and closed off. But perhaps that was the point? Surviving a loved one‘s addiction and inevitable death is devastating. I was also frustrated by the lack of action taken to help Nana, which probably says something about me and my inexperience of dealing with OxyContin addiction. The immigrant experience must make it even more difficult.
pickA remarkably told story about how both parental depression and sibling drug addiction impact on a family and particularly one child/adult. Gifts is a research scientist living a curiously insular life experimenting on mice + exploring relationships. When her mother's depression means she has to let her move into her flat this allows the narrative to explore the troubled past. I found it an incredibly sad tale but told with insight and empathy
pickI had mixed emotions about this book. Beautifully written and researched. But I found parts of it challenging. The narrator grows, but I wanted more of this transformation, this softening of her towards others, including her mother. The relationship between the siblings is real and sad and lovely
pickThis was a wonderful, thoughtful story about family, religion, science, addiction, and mental health. Gyasi is a brilliant writer and her prose and tender touch took my breath away. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks #Pantone2023 #crystalrose @Clwojick
so-soI waffled between a pick and a so-so for this book. It‘s well-written with a powerful, meaningful story, but it‘s way more character than plot and didn‘t really grab me. I felt like the epilogue was a little pasted on—I wasn‘t sure whether to believe it, like it was the product of Gifty‘s imagination rather than her actual life, but I wasn‘t in deep enough to feel much about it. I did appreciate that Gifty‘s sexuality wasn‘t a source of angst.
pickThis book felt really original. I think it might be the almost stream-of-consciousness writing style but also the interwoven timeline felt right, like things from the past were revealed at just the right time. This book deals with a lot; racism, addiction, depression. I especially liked the exploration of Gifty reconciling her religious and scientific lives.
All you have to do is watch a child ride her bike directly into a brick wall or jump from the tallest branch of a sycamore tree to know that we humans are reckless with our bodies, reckless with our lives, for no other reason than that we want to know what would happen, what it might feel like to brush up against death, to run right up to the edge of our lives, which is, in some ways, to live fully.
#BookReport #WeeklyForecast
A bunch of diverse great books this last week with Transcendent Kingdom being the favorite. I hope to finish both buddy reads early this week and then concentrate on my 3 barely started current reads.
Hour of the Witch was my 2nd for #AuthorAMonth and HHWGITD is my June #DoubleSpin.
pickI often struggle when a book doesn‘t have a strong plot to keep me engrossed but this was so well written that wasn‘t the case. Reads like a memoir and covers lots of topics including science and religion, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this one
pickBeautiful novel.
It‘s the story of Gifty; her brothers addiction, her scientific research to understand him, and her relationship with God. The combination of religion and science is one that fascinates me. I grew up without religion but many of my questions are also asked by Gifty.
The science is accurate, something I appreciate when an author takes the time to do. Took me a long time to read, it reminded me of those I‘ve lost to addiction. ❤️
Thanks for the tag @EadieB and @Eggs
#wondorouswednesday
1. Wordle and quordle!
2. Planting and cleaning. Starting something anew.
3. Currently reading Transcendent Kingdom and loving it. As a scientist I relate a lot to the main character. The science is pretty accurate from what I can tell too, although it‘s a different field from me.
pickThis was a really powerful novel, able to tackle topics that can be difficult to handle in a meaningful, nuanced way. Now one of my favorite authors.
pickI think Gyasi is an incredible writer. This novel is as amazing as Homegoing, but totally different. This reads like memoir and there isn‘t really anything in the way of plot. More of reflections, questions and reminiscing. I don‘t think it would be everyone‘s cup of tea (given the lack of driving plot line) but I loved it.
My first few days of vacation from work have involved visiting 2 indie bookstores! Here is my haul. 💗 I think Greenwich Park is one I‘d typically borrow from the library but I was in a book-buying mood. The other 4 I‘ve heard really good things about. I‘m starting with the tagged one!
Nala looked like she was pondering my current read so I had to take a picture 😸 I loved homegoing and as a scientist I‘m very excited for this one.
pickI was blown away by Yaa Gyasi‘s ability to so beautifully write about reconciling religion and science, mental health issues and addiction, racism and immigration within 266 pages. She is such an incredible talent and I can‘t wait to read whatever she writes next.
Nothing teaches you the true nature of your friendships like a sudden death, worse still, a death that‘s shrouded in shame.
pickI have so much love for this! When people ask “what‘s your book about?” I found it impossible to explain in a few words. There are so many themes and layers to this novel it could be about religion, race, addiction, culture, science..I could go on and on. Fundamentally it is a beautifully written book about what it‘s like to be human 💜 #pick #transcendentkingdom
pickThought this was was superb. I loved it. I loved that main character was a scientist, and the book's exploration of science, religion, family, guilt, love, addiction.
pickI finished this one today, too. I'm not going to lie, it hit a little close to home as I grew up with an older sister who struggled with addiction. I always felt so alone in my feelings toward it, but this book changed that for me.
so-soThis book was on my shelf for a little over a year and it could have stayed there a little longer. A bit too philosophical for my taste. I really disliked my philosophy course when I was in college. I'm glad I'm done with this book so I can move on to something else. Praise the Lord.
2 hours read. #EndofYearReadathon #WapitUpReadathon 2×15×2 =60pts + 39 words found ×10=390
Total points= 450
#2021Wintergames #TeamMistletoeManiacs @Clwojick
pickRarely do I finish a book and feel like I don‘t need to say a word about it, in a good way, to just interiorize the narrator's confession. The emotions it triggers are simply overwhelming. It is indeed a story about the harsh reality of immigrant life, opioid addiction and depression, love and loss, about turning to science for answers, but most of all it seems to be an exploration of the extent to which faith is able to ensure transcendence.
"I had to try to understand, to extrapolate from that limited understanding in order to apply it to those of us who made up the species Homo Sapiens, the most complex animal, the only animal who believed he had transcended his Kingdom... That belief, that transcendence, was held within this organ [the brain] itself. Infinite, unknowable, soulful, perhaps even magical. I had traded the Pentecostalism of my childhood for this new religion [science]"
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • Tackles a lot and is so well-written. Religion, race, addiction, depression, science — could be messy but isn‘t. As others have noted, very different from Homegoing.
pickBeautifully written, but very melancholy. Looking forward to discussing this one at my book club next week!
pickI realize, now, that when I began reading this, I may have been in need of a “warmer” book, or one that makes more beautiful use of language. Gifty‘s sorrow and loneliness and grief are so palpable, even while she tells her sensitive story from a kind of clinical distance. The questions that she poses - about God and science and personal agency and religion and faith - are lingering and mighty. 4/5 ⭐️s.
>> 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚘𝚘𝚗, 𝙻𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 🙂🍁
𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚂𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚍𝚊𝚢! 𝙶𝚘 𝙶𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜 (𝙵𝙻) & 𝚃𝚒𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 (𝙰𝚄) 🏈
I hope to spend some more time with the tagged book this afternoon/evening during my downtime. I am halfway thru & while it prob won‘t be a fave of the year, it‘s good on audio & holding my interest.
Wʜᴀᴛ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀᴅɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴇᴇᴋᴇɴᴅ?
#currentlyreading
Finally got my penguin bookmarks free book @squirrelbrain
The book I originally picked never arrived, so I got to pick from a new selection, and they had this one. ❤️
pickI have now read all of the Women's Prize shortlisted books for this year, and this one was as excellent as the rest. TW for substance abuse.
pick@Hestapleton Thanks for choosing this amazing book for your #LMPBC selection! This is a powerful book with gorgeous writing. I was blown away by how smart and vulnerable the writing is. I loved it, and I loved reading your thoughts on it!
Sending it your way soon @Mynameisacolour ! @LiteraryinLawrence #groupv
“Whenever I think of my mother, I picture a queen-sized bed with her lying in it, a practiced stillness filling the room.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
