#when we were birds

[freckles-and-books]

Next up! I’m very excited to finally be in the headspace for this one.

#books #read Caribbean #when we were birds #Ayanna Lloyd Babel #reading

[smokefalls]

They so close now that the only thing between them is breath and dusk and promise.

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds

#Ayanna Lloyd Banwo #When We Were Birds #quote #fiction #magic realism #2023 reads

[bloodmaarked]

➫ monthly book round-up: february 2024

books read: 6 [1 DNF] [-14%] average rating: 3.6 [-4%] average speed: 7.8 days [-20%] total pages: 2,083 [-27%] yearly goal progress: 11/50 best of the month: the space between here & now, sarah suk worst of the month: knife skills for beginners, orlando murrin

4* reads:

the space between here & now, sarah suk

a song of wraiths and ruin, roseanne a. brown

3.5* reads:

flux, jinwoo chong

when we were birds, ayanna lloyd banwo

3* reads:

gleanings, neal shusterman

DNFs

knife skills for beginners, orlando murrin

currently reading:

saving time, jenny odell

the murder at the vicarage, agatha christie

#monthly roundup #the space between here & now #sarah suk #gleanings #neal shusterman #knife skills for beginners #orlando murrin #when we were birds #ayanna lloyd banwo #flux #jinwoo chong #a song of wraiths and ruin #roseanne a. brown #currently reading #booklr #bookblr #bookworm

[judgingbooksbycovers]

When We Were Birds: A Novel

By Ayanna Lloyd Banwo.

#When We Were Birds #Ayanna Lloyd Banwo #Turkey #Passion Flower #botanical #animals #books #book covers #birds #parrots #ibises

[stephen-narain]

#Ayanna Lloyd Banwo #When We Were Birds #Youtube

[bookcoversonly]

Title: When We Were Birds | Author: Ayanna Lloyd Banwo | Publisher: Doubleday Books (2022)

#books #When We Were Birds #Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

#selfie bee #hello friends!! how are you doing!! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ #I'm very very tired today #I woke up very early today because I took a driving lesson! #I have had my licence for many many years now but I haven't driven in so long #and when I tried I just turned on the windshield wipers again and again #so I'm taking some refreshment lessons! I was really afraid of driving again but my new driving teacher is very nice (❁´‿`❁) #my last one scared me a little because he talked a lot about bathroom renovation #I just drove for an hour or so but I was so concentrated that I'm very tired now #I have another lesson tomorrow because I deleted every information in my brain about how to park a car #all those synapses are currently used to remember Godzilla facts #another big news!! #I saw a PHEASANT last week #we almost hit it with the car but luckly it remembered in time that it was a bird and flew away #I've NEVER seen a pheasant before!! ( ´ ▽ ` ) #I knew that pheasants were real because my favourite cartoon as a child was animals of farthing wood #and there's pheasants in it and then they get murdered and all the other animals are like 'oh well' #but I had never seen one! #I feel like a stronger person now #one that can drive a car #maybe even park one ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ #have a wonderful evening friends #<3

[thingsreadinthedark]

// self-portrait with ghost — first short story Philip is Dead — intriguing.. unique.. a woman gets a notice that her former lover died. She reflects on the art that they made together the madness they engaged in while they were together. // really trippy story, reminds me of all the nights I spent with my friend engaging in photography all around Toronto visit those pics here.

// when we were birds — a great book, the narration is something! I swear the audio is perfect. Slow burn, strange developments, I like the plot, I don’t know how I feel about Yejide’s story but Darwin’s is perfect — it’s almost what I hoped Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead was. It has what was missing in that book.

— I been slumping hard but I also have a ton of books that I haven’t written reviews for that I’ve finished reading in the last month. Eventually will get caught up, I’m keeping track but I think I’m just going to enjoy the summer reading sporadically af! I took out some library books gonna gave to cry about and let go because I’ll never finish em right now. Read a great Netgalley cookbook a couple days ago:

Inspirational. Reflective. History. Memoir and so many great recipes. It’s beautifully presented as well. The author really gets in her bag on this one. I love her take on the lack of inclusion of tacos as a recipe. She was like fuck pandering to white people. I respect it.

#current reads #self portrait with ghost #chantel’s reading notes #chantel’s reading diary #goodreads #currently reading #reading notes #bookblr #book tumblr #when we were birds #mamacita

[ademella]

currently reading

#books #reading #book cover #ayanna lloyd banwo #when we were birds #fiction #novel

[residentialhomeowner]

a lot of people are using nex as a queer talking point without even mentioning they were choctaw and 2S. without even mentioning that this - harassment, assault, murder, disappearances, lies/indifference/denial about the circumstances of our death - is typical of the violence we face. not once have i seen non-native people address that we, as natives, face this same treatment within queer communities. that queer institutions use our land while declining to offer native-inclusive and -sensitive care. we suffer at the hands of white lgbt+ people just as much as we do at the hands of people outside the community.

nex is not your NB pariah. nex was a 2S, NB, choctaw child. thousands of native people go missing and are killed and no one cares. many are two-spirit. many are LGBTQIA+. many are "queer" in ways only defined and recognised by our closed cultures, that you may never hear of and may never understand.

if you are going to flock to nex, you are not going to take them from us post-mortem. they were choctaw. they were native. their tribal affiliation has already been falsely reported on. if you are talking about nex, you will talk about how unwelcoming and dangerous your communities are for us, too. you will talk about how natives face this violence constantly, everywhere. you will not remove nex from the context of them being choctaw, ever - or you won't say their name at all.

even when we die, you don't care about us. i am telling you to care about us if you want us to stop dying.

#howling #nex benedict #yeah no i'm tired of seeing edit: and they were 2s!!1!! #no. first and foremost they were a native child. can you people stop fucking stealing our children. #some other notes if you see my tags: allegedly nex preferred he/him. i will prioritise using he/him. sources seem credible. #secondarily: if you aren't Black do not say ''rest in power'' for non-Black people. i do not know choctaw mourning traditions and language #(i'm algonquain and aleut) and won't tell you what To say. but please do not use ''rest in power'' when inappropriate. #thirdly: if you don't know how to talk about us Don't Talk About Us. QUOTE us. share OUR words. #may your spirit walk freely nex. may you be at peace. may flowers grow in your footprints and birds fly on the wind of your breath. #may your ancestors open their arms to you and embrace you in love. we will never forget you. i'm sorry we failed you. #we will do better next time.

[ridell-crimea]

back to da oldest hobby in the world (arbitrarily deciding two characters i like are friends)

#fire emblem #cleaning up some old files but it counts baby #i completely forgot i had them supported in feh right #for meta reasons at the time but i recently reread FE10 supports and for some reason when vikas supported #to leanne she adds 'because i really like you' to her line compared to the usual one which. hey?? #what if we were the only bird laguz girls in the game.... then what #my stuff

[weirdbabs]

so was nandor trying to say that matthew the bird fucked a mouse behind his back. what kinda beef does he have going on w that bird

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #if im remembering correctly he said the guillermo frogs were what happens when a little bird goes behind your back and fucks a mouse #and then that offspring goes off and fucks a frog? im too lazy to go onto hulu and check

[smokefalls]

How to explain to him that her mother is a womb and a grave; a cage and a pair of wings; a feeding tube and a noose.

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds

#Ayanna Lloyd Banwo #When We Were Birds #quote #fiction #magic realism #2023 reads

[bloodmaarked]

when we were birds // ayanna lloyd banwo

first published: 2022 read: 13 february 2024 – 16 february 2024 pages: 278 format: ebook

genres: fiction, adult, literary fiction, magical realism, family, romance (non-traditional) favourite character(s): darwin, yejide esp. in terms of her relationship with petronella least favourite character(s): probably seema

rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 thoughts: i took a second to review this because i read it for a book club and wanted to attend before gathering my thoughts together. i think it's a good thing because, while hearing the discussion didn't largely change my opinion on the book, it did give me a little more appreciation for the story and themes as a whole. on the other hand, it's now a little less fresh in my mind so i'll keep this review short and sweet.

when we were birds was a really interesting read. it did take a little getting into, especially as i sometimes struggle to wrap my head around lit fic, but there was a certain point where some unexpected plot kicked in and the middle through to the ending turned out to be way more tumultuous and action-packed than i was expecting.

the book covered a lot of thought-provoking themes, such as death, religion, identity, and mother-child relationships. i came to love the characters and what they came to symbolise, and i enjoyed exploring the deeper symbolism around each one. i thought the final few chapters were brilliant and, while the start was a little slow, it then kept me hooked throughout most of the story.

3.5* overall because, while i did enjoy it for the end, i'll drop a little for the slow start and the points where it got a little too literary and opaque for my liking.

#when we were birds #ayanna lloyd banwo #2024 reads #3.5 stars #fiction #literary fiction #book review #booklr #bookblr #bookworm

[puppyeared]

AKA... the CATS!!

#the owl house #the owl house spoilers #toh #toh spoilers #o titan where art thou #I KNEW THEY WOULD GET ALONG. LETS GOOO #ppl digging up the raine and luz art i made last summer like OP how does it feel to be right LMAOOOO #i hope they regroup with the hexside gang this week. please i want to see the cats grow in numbers #also!! very excited to see luz's palisman!! i was thinking it would be a bat because of that aesops fable with the birds and the beasts #the way the fable goes the birds and the beasts were at war and the bat would say its a bird when it sided with the birds but it would also #say it was like a beast (i think a mouse?) when it sided with the beasts. anyway i just think it would go well with luz reconciling her #life on earth with her life in the demon realm? but id also be happy if she gets a bird so shes like an honorary clawthorne!!! #specifically a blue jay to go with hunters cardinal? but im just excited overall to finally see her palisman #also i think that bat queen was the collectors palisman considering how big he is in kkkohd #esp because the collector must be really fucking old if the bat queen cant remember her owner AND we didnt know who the collector was in s1 #my art #fanart #the owl house fanart #toh fanart #toh 2b #the owl house season 2 #toh raine #toh luz #luz noceda #raine whispers #o titan where art thou spoilers #HISSSSSSSS

[window-weather]

I hate Hunters future design with such a passion because he’s literally just fuckin Caleb now

-Exact same eye colour (I’ve hated that since TTT)

-Extremely similar hairstyle + it’s the exact same one Belos forced on him

-Same job/passion (wouldn’t care at all about that if it weren’t for the fact that 1. Caleb is shown to be carving something in Belos’s memories and 2. Everything else)

-oh Flapjack died? Let’s give him another bird palisman who looks exactly like Flapjack except make it blue.

Like Waffle is honestly the last thing I care about regarding the design but when put next to everything else, no

He is literally just Caleb now.

If they wanted him to look like someone else, they could’ve gone for literally anyone who isn’t the guy he had a panic attack for looking too much like him over

Darius could’ve worked (a hair bun, coloured hair, a little more abomination/ purple themed or something)

Eda could’ve worked (long hair, bird themed, etc)

They could’ve had him working in a tailor shop or something related to sewing and having the palisman thing as a side job or something

It’s just idk. It felt like they threw his character arc about being his own person out the window for whatever was going on there

#hot take: #waffle should’ve either been a wolf or a bird who didn’t look almost identical to Flapjack #I’m still so mad about this #but nothing will come close to the amount of anger I felt when they gave him magic #I don’t care if it’s just the dash thing. it’s still magic #season 3 is literally just a shitshow/ fan service in all honesty #I say fan service because everything that happened aside for a few things were just there for the fans and not for the actual plot #anyway rant over #toh critical #toh salt #the season 3 that we got doesn’t exist to me #only the version I made in my head