Book Report

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

 The Women I Think About at Night by Mia Kankimaki – This is quite an interesting concept. The author lays awake at night thinking about women throughout history who threw aside conventional notions of acceptable spheres for women. The ones who decided to be explorers, adventures, and artists. Some of the women are better-known such as Nelly Bly or Artemesia Gentileschi, and others are nearly lost to history such as Isabella Bird or Mary Kingsley. (Kankimaki’s choices are very European-centric though, with just one Asian woman). Kankimaki travels the world, retraces some of their steps, and shares their stories. The book never gets boring. Grade: 7

 

We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian - The case made national news; even I had heard of it. Two white moms drove their SUV off a cliff, killing themselves and their six Black adopted children. One of the moms had been very active online, posting pictures of her son hugging a police officer at a BLM protest, advocating for good causes, though often sounding like she had “white savior complex”. And then the details started to come out. This wasn’t an accident, and evidence that the children had been abused was mounting. Asgarian is not drawn in by the psychological problems of the mothers; instead she seeks out the parts of the story that were made invisible: the children themselves and the system that seemed hellbent on taking them from their families and adopting them out, heedless of their own needs. And clearly what we see is a miasma of racism and a system that doesn’t really care about children or abuse. The children’s stories shook me to the bone. I read the book in two days, and this is an impeccable work of investigative journalism. Grade: 8

 

Boyfriend Materials by Alexis Hall – Contemporary novel where there’s a “fake dating that turns real” thing going on. Oh, and it’s two men. Cute and fun but it moved too slowly – especially given the genre here, I mean come on this is not “War and Peace -  and wasn’t that engaging. Grade: 3

 

Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob – Well the timing for me reading this graphic memoir was painfully right. I read it the day after election day. Jacob begins the memoir with her young son asking questions about race and racism. Jacob is Southeast Asian, her husband is Jewish, and her son is trying to make sense of prejudice. During the memoir we see micro-aggressions, 911, Obama’s election night, and the 2016 election night (including the fact that Jacob’s in-laws voted for Trump). Like I said, the timing was fitting….like I mourn for this country while also hoping Jacob’s son might be ok and maybe even help make this country a better place. Grade: 8

 

The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian – I listened to this on audio. Alexis goes on a biking tour through Vietnam, with her boyfriend Austin. He goes missing, and Alexis soon learns there is far more going on with Austin than she’d dreamed. It held my interest. It won’t change your life. Which probably describes most of Bohjalian’s stories. J Grade: 6