Best is a big word, especially these days when words that have been a part of the lexicon for lifetimes feel as if they’re losing their meaning. The first that comes to mind is “normal”. There is nothing normal about our weather, our politics, America. There’s a COVID vaccine and a booster, but the virus has remained a partisan issue. Which is to say I went to the ... Read More...
Nowhere Girl: A Memoir
I’m seldom at a loss for words, but I recently finished a memoir that left me…???...!!! Nowhere Girl by Cheryl Diamond follows Diamond from when she is a small child to when she is 30. In that time, she lives in an astonishing number of places, whether it’s countries or cities within states. Her name and identity changes each time. Chapters marking her age and location evoking ... Read More...
The Fortunate Ones: A Novel
Things are starting to turn around in Charlie Boykin’s life. The child of a single mother who works as a cocktail waitress, he’s been one of the only white boys at his school and in their Nashville neighborhood. Now, he’s gotten a needs-based scholarship to Yeatman, a prestigious, private high-school. Even better, he’s assigned an upper classman mentor who turns out to be the ... Read More...
October Reading Wrap-Up
Goodbye, October. A part of me feels as if posting this recap is silly, given what lies ahead tomorrow, but maybe it will provide you with a bit of distraction. October turned out to be a big reading month—I finished 16 books and DNFed two at the 50% mark. I rated nine books four stars or higher, which is pretty great. Thank you, book universe! Hidden ... Read More...
His Only Wife: A Novel
In a small town in Ghana, Afi Tekple lives in a house with her widowed mother. It’s in a compound owned by her avaricious uncle and his many wives and their children. Afi did not go to university, but she loves to sew and has been studying and working as a seamstress. But is this barely-getting-by life all there is for her? It seems so, until her mother presents her with an ... Read More...
The Mountains Sing
If our stories survive, we will not die, even when our bodies are no longer here on this earth. Hương and her grandmother live alone in Hanoi until they are told to evacuate and move to a remote mountain village for their safety. It’s the 1970s and the midst of the Vietnam War. Hương’s parents and her six aunts and uncles are fighting for North Vietnam. Her grandmother ... Read More...
