July. What a month! On the bright side there was this: Me getting to see my mother after 18 months apart. She's the person who encouraged my love of reading. And that’s about as much as I need to write about July because everything else was just life. My reading was odd, but I’m hearing from a lot of friends that they’re going through the same thing. Namely, the ... Read More...
June Books I’m Ready to Read
Hello, June 2021! While some things feel as unsettling as they have for the past 4 years, others are getting easier. Those of us who are vaccinated are looking forward to a more open summer. But the country seems no less divided. Without meaning to, the books I want to read this June feel the same way—light versus dark, heavy versus fun nonfiction, sequels I’ve been ... Read More...
The Last Exiles: A Novel
Jin and Suja come from opposite worlds. Jin is the son of a factory supervisor in one of the poorest provinces of North Korea while Suja is the daughter of a high-ranking member of the government’s media. When Jin earns a scholarship to the university in Pyongyang they meet and begin a relationship. Both are committed to the ethos of their Dear Leader, but in The Last Exiles a ... Read More...
Of Women and Salt: A Novel
Jeannette is first-generation American in her Cuban family, but feels she knows nothing about her mother’s life or family left behind in Cuba. When asked, Carmen goes quiet. The only life she cares about is the comfortable one she has now in Miami. Ana is an 8-year-old girl who arrives home from an overnight stay at a babysitter’s house to find their home locked and no one ... Read More...
March Reading Recap
March was a great month for reading in that I ran from one book to another, but not so good for reviewing as my interest in writing fled in the opposite direction. Which now means I have a head full of tangled plots, character confusion, and dense clusters of missing information about what I’ve read. There will have to be some rereading in my future, combined with cursing ... Read More...
The Arsonists’ City by Hala Alyan
From the nucleus of one family, The Arsonists’ City is a novel that spins out between decades and countries. Idris and Mazna met in the 1970s. He lived in Beirut and was studying to be a doctor and she was a young actress living with her family in Damascus. Decades later they are settled in America with three grown children. The death of Idris’s father means he’s inherited the ... Read More...
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