Book Report

 Yours For the Taking by Gabrielle Korn – I’d describe this novel as post-apocalyptic with a bit of sci fi, a look into life in the US just a few decades from now when things have collapsed. I loved that it had a queer-focused lens and realistic characters, along with a good storyline. (An ultra- wealthy woman has created a refuge called The Inside, but there is of course more than meets the eye to it). The ending felt awfully rushed. Excellent beginning and middle though, and the book was never boring. Grade: 7

 

Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir – What is it about the Tudors that has kept people fascinated for half a millennium? I’m not sure but I’ve enjoyed many a novel about a Tudor. Growing up I read non-fiction about them and I remember Queen Jane, who was queen for 9 days. This is a novelization of her life. Definitely worth a read, though it is kind of slow-going at first. Still, I was interested even though I knew going in what her fate would be. Grade: 6 (Side note: By coincidence, days after I finished reading this book, I started watching Prime’s My Lady Jane which is like a historical fantasy/comedy/romance based on this very Jane. Uh, very very loosely based.)

 

Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones -  Memoir from the comedian Leslie Jones. She is amazing. And she has been through hell and back. She has worked her ass off. She’s been misunderstood and has lived through shit: both parents and only sibling all dying young, getting doxed and slammed on Twitter for Ghostbusters, getting her identity stolen on a regular basis, catfished, nudes leaked, bad health problems including hemorrhoids so severe that she had to have surgery. I love that she has made it her fight to always be true to herself. Also I went on YouTube to watch some of her Daily Show performances, and she is both hilarious and spot-on. Grade: 7

 

Body Work by Melissa Febos – Full disclosure: I read this book on a 5:40am flight out of Ontario, California. (Actually, why does the city and state matter? It was a 5:40 AM FLIGHT!) I don’t know how much of it my brain actually absorbed. A reviewer said it’s both a “memoir and master class”. Febos has published several memoirs, and this book isn’t a how-to but it does contain lessons she’s learned in writing and publishing memoir. I think it was good? (Maybe I won’t give it a grade since I’m basically admitting I couldn’t fully take it in).

 

Brave Hearted: The Dramatic Story of the Women of the American West by Katie Hickman – I’ve had an interest in the American West for a while. Never an obsessive interest, but an interest. It was good to read a whole book about the women of the west. And even better that this is NOT just the white women’s story, but the story of Black and Indigenous women too. (And a little about the women brought over from China, but not a lot). The author gives us so many windows into these women’s lives, and the book is never dull. Grade: 7