The Kindest Lie
by Nancy Johnson
The Kindest Lie (1/16/2022)
I loved this book! It had everything you’d want in a book, great characters, interesting subjects, important topics, suspense and joy.
I highly recommend this wonderful book and I hope we’ll see many more books from this author.
Take My Hand
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Take My Hand review (9/21/2021)
Excellent writing, painful true subject matter. Slavery in America is a fact and the history of this country’s founding. White Americans all need to know this fact and accept it. This is a powerful book and I highly recommend it.
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn
Average (7/14/2021)
I truly wanted to like this book, and parts of it I liked very much. However I felt like it jumped all over the place and I had a difficult time staying interested.
The Woman Before Wallis: A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal
by Bryn Turnbull
The Woman Before Wallis (7/15/2020)
This was a really fun read. I'm fascinated by the Royal family and the Vanderbilts. I love all the dishy intrigue, scandal & secrets and this book is packed full of it all.
I'd never heard of Thelma, but I'd read about Gloria and little Gloria. Of course, I was familiar David & Wallis. What a interesting time to live among the rich, royal and infamous. I'm rather happy to just read about it and not live it.
I highly recommend this historical fiction, it was well researched and quite compelling to read.
The In-Betweens: The Spiritualists, Mediums, and Legends of Camp Etna
by Mira Ptacin
American Spiritualism Camp (9/29/2019)
Fascinating. A whole world that I had no idea even existed - American Spiritualism as a religion - complete with a campground in Maine that has been in existence non-stop since 1878.
I received this book free from BookBrowse, as an early release in exchange for writing a review. I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in alternative religions, new age spirituality and rural Maine life and history. It was a fun read, a bit slow in spots but enjoyable...
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir
by Jaquira Díaz
Powerful memoir (9/29/2019)
I was fascinated to read about this woman's life growing up first in Puerto Rico and then in Miami. I knew very little about the area in Miami where Jaquira Diaz and her family lived. The Miami I knew of was the place of extremely wealthy, the place where rich people spend the winter - I knew absolutely nothing about the poverty and hardships of her community.
I thought that she was amazingly strong to have gone through all that she did, and still remain positive and hopeful. Her home life was truly horrific. Her Grandmother was the only true parent and role model. She never wavered in her love and support for Jaqui and all her children and grandchildren.
It's a powerful illustration of poverty and the extreme lack of services for the poor, especially poor people of color.
Patsy: A Novel
by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn (7/2/2019)
Patsy is an interesting book and extremely timely in this age where many families are fleeing their poverty and violent countries to seek asylum in the United States.
Patsy felt she had a better chance of making money for herself and her daughter if she went to America. Another, perhaps even more influential reason she went to Brooklyn is that her childhood best friend and lover, Cicely had written to her telling her (in so many words) that she'd always love her and be there for her. Sadly, when Patsy arrives and reconnects with Cicely she discovers that her friend has married a man she doesn't love so that she could stay in the country and has had a child with this man. Patsy is terribly hurt when she realizes that Cicely didn't care enough to write to her about these events.
Patsy had an office job back in Jamaica and assumed that she could find similar work – but unfortunately the only jobs available to undocumented women are menial labor and childcare. Patsy ends up working as a nanny and barely makes enough money to house herself; let alone any extra to send back to her daughter.
Patsy's daughter, Tru, meanwhile is living with her father Roy his wife Marva and their children in Jamaica. Tru has very mixed feelings about being abandoned by her mother and living with her father and his family. Even though her living circumstances are financially better, she feels as if she doesn't truly belong. She tries to remain in contact with the boys from her old neighborhood that she played soccer with, even though they now go to different schools. As she grows into adolescence she begins to be uncomfortable with her sexuality and starts to bind her breasts and find herself attracted to another girl.
The story is told from the shared and overlapping viewpoints of Patsy and Tru. I felt that the story should have included more about the sadness that each of the main characters feel regarding their estrangement. I didn't understand how/why Patsy could go so long without making contact with her child. It was unclear if Tru's father knew where Patsy was. It seemed that there where many things that weren't properly explained.
Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir
by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
Sounds Like Titanic by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman (1/2/2019)
Sounds Like Titanic is a fascinating memoir by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman. At the opening it appears to be a straight forward memoir of a young woman moving to New York City to go to college. She did not realize how much she would need to cover the expensive education at Columbia, and it quickly becomes apparent that she needs a job. She takes several, including one horrific one selling her own eggs to fertility clinics.
Eventually she answers an ad looking for a violinist. She played violin in high school back in West Virginia. She knew she wasn't great but her Appalachian friends and family thinks she is. They were wrong, however it turns out it doesn't matter if she's a talented violinist or not. She is hired on the spot.
The Composer, a man who is never specifically named, has written simple orchestral music that some say vaguely sounds like the theme song to the movie Titanic. He's recorded multiple CDs of this music, played by professional musicians. He then hires assorted semi-professionals to play. He sells the CDs on the QVC network and in venues as varied as art fairs and in shopping malls in a "God Bless America" tour. He takes these small ensembles all over the country; the crowds love them all. Together, they sell tons of CDs.
Hindman spins the tale of traveling with this small assembly of musicians and The Composer in a raggedy RV and her eventual decision to leave the orchestra and continue her education in Middle Eastern Studies. With sincerity, humor, and strong insight into insecurity and ambition, Hindman tells a fantastic tale that truly expresses the angst of a young woman experiencing life as an adult.
I'm dying to know who The Composer really is; I'm hoping that when the book is released at the end of February we'll find out.
The Girl Who Smiled Beads: A Story of War and What Comes After
by Elizabeth Weil, Clemantine Wamariya
The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya (2/15/2018)
This is the true story of two sisters who escape the Rwandan genocide and eventually reunited with their family in America on the Oprah show. The author, Clemantine Wamariya, reveals how she and her older sister, Claire traveled across the continent of Africa, facing horrors while living in multiple refugee camps.
Clementine begins the story when she was a young child. Her family fell apart and left her and Claire on their own. They both eventually end up in the U.S. Unfortunately the story jumps around in time and is often difficult to follow.
Clementine lives with American families, attends school, and eventually becomes a speaker while trying to come to terms with her history and life in the present.
I recommend this book of personal strength and struggle.
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