one book leads to another
It's been a long time since I was in grade school but that didn't stop me from reading Wildfire, which is intended for grades 6-8. Whew! This book begins with a bang and doesn't stop until the last page. Action-packed doesn't cover it. Wildfire, by Rodman Philbrick, is fraught from the start. Sam and Delphy … Continue reading Wildfire
New! Listen to me read this review here - https://open.spotify.com/episode/21Ri7o9hKABqfP7ublI0Kr News flash - Colson Whitehead can write! I know we know this, he's won not one but two Pulitzer Prizes (for The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys). Harlem Shuffle is completely different from those books but just as extraordinary. Ray Carney is a good … Continue reading Harlem Shuffle
Hindsight is everything and Lawrence Wright knows it. Wright is the author of The Looming Tower, a methodical and sweeping history that's so engaging and interesting you feel guilty for enjoying it. He published it in 2006, won the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction for it in 2007, and it was made into a mini-series … Continue reading The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the road to 9/11
Brit Bennett's book The Vanishing Half is an achievement. She created a story that draws you in and lingers long after you finish. To say it is multilayered and thought-provoking would be an understatement. If you were growing up Black in the American South in the '50s but could easily pass for White, would you … Continue reading The Vanishing Half
I made myself a Black History Month reading list* but only read two books so far (and one was a children's book). Read on for my reviews of a 1974 James Baldwin classic and a new, award winning book on the Tulsa Race Massacre. If Beale Street Could Talk has a straight up '70s vibe … Continue reading From Beale Street to Tulsa
James McBride is a national treasure. I savored his 2020 book Deacon King Kong over the last month or so, stretching out the pleasure by only reading it on my lunch breaks at work. So worth it. McBride isn't just a talented writer, he has a gift for bridging the humorous, the heartfelt, and the … Continue reading Deacon King Kong
I think I just read my favorite book of the year. A Gentleman in Moscow deserves all the praise, acclaim and awards it has received and more. It's wonderful, playful, charming, delightful...an absolute savory treat of a novel. Written in 2016 by Amor Towles, virtually all of it takes place in the Metropol Hotel in … Continue reading Simply Spectacular
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