I’m about 40% done with To Obama and it’s likely that one will be the book that gets me to my goal for the year (52). I feel like that’s an uplifting fit given how shitty things are in politics and the world right now.
I just started Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (yes, I’m behind) and like it a lot so far.
I also loved Educated. I've paged through that Obama book at the store and it does seem uplifting, but it's also heartbreaking when you think about where we are now.
I'm currently reading Ta-nehesi Coates' Water Dancer and it's excellent. Next up for me will be Elton John's memoir, and then Metropolitan Stories, a novel written by a former Met museum employee.
I also loved Educated. I've paged through that Obama book at the store and it does seem uplifting, but it's also heartbreaking when you think about where we are now.
I'm currently reading Ta-nehesi Coates' Water Dancer and it's excellent. Next up for me will be Elton John's memoir, and then Metropolitan Stories, a novel written by a former Met museum employee.
I’m listening to it and it is definitely heartbreaking. Mostly, in the moments where someone is praising Obama for anything at all, it just makes me think about how far we’ve fallen because literally no one can say this president has done anything good or inspired them for good. So depressing.
I read the fucking WILDEST book yesterday, called Perfect Strangers by JT Geissinger. It started out as a fairly typical romance novel but turned into the craziest inception-level mindfuck I’ve ever read.
I feel like I’m the only person who didn’t love Educated. I liked it, it was fine, but nothing I’d recommend.
I just finished Everything Leads to You. It was a bit amateurish, but a fine story.
I have no idea what to read next, story of my life.
I didn’t love it. I treated it as a cautionary tale about the stories we tell ourselves vs what we know to be reality, and how that plays with other people’s realities. I found it very sad as opposed to uplifting and would actually like to read another book by her in 15 years. I actually read the book because I wanted to know about her education process, and that was mostly glossed over, in favour of what is revealed to be her actual ‘education’ by the end.
Ronan Farrows book is so good, I plan to finish the by the end of the weekend, then on to The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel time The Handmaids Tale.
Post by litebright on Oct 19, 2019 17:32:47 GMT -5
I'm a big fantasy fan and I've been tearing through a lot of new books lately. I've been reading Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books. They're well-written and fun, and she writes great dialogue. I got intrigued because I guess there's a TV show in the works (Shadow and Bone, Netflix ordered it). The books are the Grisha trilogy (Shadow and Bone is the first one) and the Six of Crows duology.
I recently finished The Changeling by Victor LaValle and that was really good. A bit sci-fi/fantasy, a bit horror. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow was a lovely read -- that's one that will stick with me.
I feel like I’m the only person who didn’t love Educated. I liked it, it was fine, but nothing I’d recommend.
I just finished Everything Leads to You. It was a bit amateurish, but a fine story.
I have no idea what to read next, story of my life.
I didn’t love it. I treated it as a cautionary tale about the stories we tell ourselves vs what we know to be reality, and how that plays with other people’s realities. I found it very sad as opposed to uplifting and would actually like to read another book by her in 15 years. I actually read the book because I wanted to know about her education process, and that was mostly glossed over, in favour of what is revealed to be her actual ‘education’ by the end. .
I didn’t love it. I treated it as a cautionary tale about the stories we tell ourselves vs what we know to be reality, and how that plays with other people’s realities. I found it very sad as opposed to uplifting and would actually like to read another book by her in 15 years. I actually read the book because I wanted to know about her education process, and that was mostly glossed over, in favour of what is revealed to be her actual ‘education’ by the end. .
Yes to all of this. Yes.
Agree with both of you. I found it infuriating that she kept going home and defending her father and family and seemingly actually learned nothing over the course of the book.
Post by wanderingback on Oct 19, 2019 18:05:31 GMT -5
I'm reading Reproductive Justice: An Introduction It's really good, but clearly I'm biased due to my field of work.
I'm almost finished reading Roots, so I'll likely finish that next. Then, I need something a little more light so I'll probably read Dapper Dan's memoir.
My goal was to read 12 books this year, all by Black people. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, but I should be close. This will be the most non-school related books I've read probably since high school!
My goal was to read 12 books this year, all by Black people. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, but I should be close. This will be the most non-school related books I've read probably since high school!
Any you've read so far that you really loved? My goal is to read 1/3 of my books by non-white authors, and I think I'm on track but might need another 1-2 to meet the goal (my goal is 45 books).
I just finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, which was for my book club. I really enjoyed it. Next up is Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, and then my library hold for The Water Dancer also came available so that will be next. It feels like a lot of pressure when several library holds become available at once, but it makes it easy to decide what to read next!
I'm reading The Witch Elm for the book club board's pick of the month. It is very long, and the length of the chapters alone have already knocked one star off my rating (I need bite sized chapters that can be read in 20 minutes before bed damn it!).
I liked Educated OK, but the cycle of abuse was really hard to keep reading over and over again, and I feel like parts of it just didn't ring true.
I feel like I’m the only person who didn’t love Educated. I liked it, it was fine, but nothing I’d recommend.
I just finished Everything Leads to You. It was a bit amateurish, but a fine story.
I have no idea what to read next, story of my life.
not the only one. Reading about her abusive family wore on me after awhile. Did not enjoy. I would have been happier to read a short article about her life, I didn’t need all of the details. Also, some of the information was...far fetched.
My goal was to read 12 books this year, all by Black people. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, but I should be close. This will be the most non-school related books I've read probably since high school!
Any you've read so far that you really loved? My goal is to read 1/3 of my books by non-white authors, and I think I'm on track but might need another 1-2 to meet the goal (my goal is 45 books).
I just finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, which was for my book club. I really enjoyed it. Next up is Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, and then my library hold for The Water Dancer also came available so that will be next. It feels like a lot of pressure when several library holds become available at once, but it makes it easy to decide what to read next!
I loved a Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum. I also read Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun and To All the Boys I Loved Before series, all of which I enjoyed
Any you've read so far that you really loved? My goal is to read 1/3 of my books by non-white authors, and I think I'm on track but might need another 1-2 to meet the goal (my goal is 45 books).
I just finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, which was for my book club. I really enjoyed it. Next up is Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, and then my library hold for The Water Dancer also came available so that will be next. It feels like a lot of pressure when several library holds become available at once, but it makes it easy to decide what to read next!
I loved a Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum. I also read Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun and To All the Boys I Loved Before series, all of which I enjoyed
Americanah was one of my favorites this year! I will check out the others, thanks!
Agree with both of you. I found it infuriating that she kept going home and defending her father and family and seemingly actually learned nothing over the course of the book.
I don't think it's fair to say she didn't learn anything. This is how she was raised. She was brainwashed. This is what women do. They stay with their families, they get married, they raise babies, they do not go against the word of the father, brother, husband. There's a lot she had to unlearn and she did over a very short period of time. She got her PhD at 28. Over the course of 10 years, she went from almost zero education to having one of the most advanced degrees you can get, all the while traveling and studying in a new country she probably never thought she would set foot in, and coming to terms with how fucked up her family truly is.
By the end, she had stopped all contact with all the toxic people in her family. She managed to make new connections with extended family and with her brothers who also broke free. I would say that's pretty good progress for someone who wasn't even 30 at the time she made this change for good.
My goal was to read 12 books this year, all by Black people. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it, but I should be close. This will be the most non-school related books I've read probably since high school!
Any you've read so far that you really loved? My goal is to read 1/3 of my books by non-white authors, and I think I'm on track but might need another 1-2 to meet the goal (my goal is 45 books).
I just finished City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, which was for my book club. I really enjoyed it. Next up is Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, and then my library hold for The Water Dancer also came available so that will be next. It feels like a lot of pressure when several library holds become available at once, but it makes it easy to decide what to read next!
Well I see you've already read Americanah. I love non-fiction and to ease myself in to more reading I read some "easy" books. So my favs were Becoming by Michelle Obama and We're Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union. I now love both of them even more and fantasize about hanging out with them. So I'd recommend those.
And then I think Roots is an American classic that everyone should read, so that's definitely on my list of favorites from the year. Definitely hard to read, but necessary.
I loved a Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum. I also read Americanah and Half of a Yellow Sun and To All the Boys I Loved Before series, all of which I enjoyed
Americanah was one of my favorites this year! I will check out the others, thanks!
Ditto Half of a Yellow Sun.
I also recommend the following:
Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine The Girl with Seven Names by Hyesonseo Lee The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
All 4-5 star books (IMO) by female authors of color. These were all read this year.
Last year, these were some of my favorites (again, authors who are women of color):
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika The Secret Lives of the Four Wives by Lola Shoneyin Real American by Julie Lythcott-Haims A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Post by gerberdaisy on Oct 19, 2019 21:15:51 GMT -5
This past week I finished The Golden Hour and Red, white and royal blue. Liked golden hour, interesting take on WWII books. Royal blue was good too, very light easy read.
I started Born a Crime a couple days ago, it’s our book club book. Next I want to read a mystery.
Post by notsopicky on Oct 19, 2019 22:23:48 GMT -5
I started the new Malcolm Gladwell book, but I only have the sample, and I'll be waiting for 3 months to get it from the library (ugh!). An American Marriage is reportedly going to be available in 2 weeks, so I'm psyched to get that on my library shelf.
I just finished The Wife Between Us, and it was a wild ride. I didn't even realize until I was about 1/3 of the way into it one of the big twists (I'm a sucker for mysteries-disguised-as-romance-fiction).
Americanah was one of my favorites this year! I will check out the others, thanks!
Ditto Half of a Yellow Sun.
I also recommend the following:
Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine The Girl with Seven Names by Hyesonseo Lee The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
All 4-5 star books (IMO) by female authors of color. These were all read this year.
Last year, these were some of my favorites (again, authors who are women of color):
Like a Mule Bringing Ice Cream to the Sun by Sarah Ladipo Manyika The Secret Lives of the Four Wives by Lola Shoneyin Real American by Julie Lythcott-Haims A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza