Tag: racial issues

Review: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

I picked up this book on the recommendation of Modern Mrs. Darcy, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s a moving story of a young black nurse in the 1970s, about a real-life class action suit to address the coerced or forced sterilizations of young women of color in hospitals and institutions across the United States. Civil…

Review: The Scent of Burnt Flowers by Blitz Bazawule

I appreciate books that are hard to categorize because they cross genres. Not surprisingly, this debut novel by Blitz Bazawule, a musician, artist, and filmmaker, does exactly that. The Scent of Burnt Flowers tells the story of a young Black couple, Melvin and Bernadette, who flee the United States in 1966, after a violent altercation with…

Review: O Beautiful by Jung Yun

O Beautiful is a story about America – a specific part of America, but it reflects attitudes and issues found nationwide. So it’s fitting that there’s a lot going on in this novel. Maybe a bit too much at times, but it definitely held my interest.  Elinor is a Korean-American in her early forties, previously a…

Nonfiction November: My Year in Reading Nonfiction

It’s Nonfiction November, a five-week event of discussions on everything related to nonfiction. This week’s prompt, hosted by What’s Nonfiction, is about looking back at our year of reading nonfiction.  What was our favorite read, what did we recommend most often, and which topics were we drawn to?  I’ve read 15 nonfiction books so far this…

Review: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

I had mixed feelings about this book, which generated a lot of buzz when it came out, but I continue to think about it.  It’s an unusual blend of character-driven horror, something like Station Eleven. It’s a book where not much happens, but it’s still terrifying.  I would have liked it more except that sometimes…

Review: Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko

I love reading about Australia, ever since I traveled there in 2013. I was struck by the similarities in the history of Australia and the United States, though I felt Australia was much more open about its troubling treatment of Aboriginal populations. Too Much Lip tells the story of Kerry Salter, a young woman who…

A Double Review: The Dry and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

I read these two books nearly back to back, and their plots and characters were amazingly similar, though I had no idea when I chose them.  I love a totally random reading coincidence.  Here’s a comparison of the two novels. The story: both The Dry and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter are mystery/thrillers about an unsolved…