I was recommended this book by a teenager and am glad I dove in. It’s a gentle read with lots to learn about Oakland, crime, punishment, LGBTQIA+ and everything in between those two domains. A coupla teenagers aboard the 57 bus in Oakland– going to a fro their lives — one lights the other’s skirt on fire — their first interaction, their last. A tragic and telling tale of life in Oakland. I loved…
This article struck me: https://sojo.net/articles/adhd-showed-me-i-wasnt-spiritual-failure I hope you all are doing ok out there ❤
I really enjoyed this article and thought I should share here: https://www.noemamag.com/a-country-shaped-by-poetry/
I thoroughly enjoyed The Woman in Me by Britney Spears. I acquired this from the Woodland Public Library– the queue was very long! I think I was something like the 349th person in line to read this book. It was worth the wait. Reading this book felt like Britney was my gal pal for about 300 pages. She’s so honest, and straight forward, and gentle in her storytelling. I had no idea that Justin…
Well friends, working on a Sunday sucks and yet, we find our joys. Today I’m working on course development for a class I’m actively teaching, which makes me extra anxious. I’ve been trying to pull out a lesson about nootropics — brain enhancing plants — the last several weeks. Today there was a breakthrough. I found this podcast by John Green about a Ginkgo biloba tree and it made all the…
Osborne is new to me– I was recommended to read The Forgiven but started with his most recent novel On Java Road instead. It is his newest book — I borrowed it from the library and am better for reading it. Based on Hong Kong, during the heavy protests about independence, this book kept me engaged. I enjoyed the writing and the story, which is about a lonely(ish) expat journalist who has been in…
An amazing recommendation from my neighbor Diane. On the back of an envelope I wrote, So what do you like to read? We have been connected at least 5 years through the library and somehow this question slipped my mind. We’ve been too busy working for the library and literacy council. She got back with a few recommendations — Italian Shoes coming first. I read it voraciously — please do the same. A…
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley It took a little longer than a month, but I’ve finished reading The Seven Sisters. I enjoyed it but do not think I’ll continue in the series, as the writing style is not for me– it’s just a bit too much. The story kept me interested, the characters are lovely, but I felt like sometimes the writing was — cumbersome, bulky, overdone. However, if you like a good…
I recently read an article in LitHub about the 2023 Best of American Poetry and was inspired to investigate the lineage. The series is new to me so I have put several anthologies on hold at the library and invested in a few – such as this first Best of the Best – from Better World Books. Reading the foreword by Lehman — I’m like, this could be written yesterday- the corporate literature complex…
Recommended by @foshee07, I have been working through this novel over the last several weeks. It was delicious – literary fiction – the protagonist a turn of the century female author with a mouth and opinions – hilarious commentary and a highly engaging story. Her housekeeper has a daughter and the daughter’s daughter goes on a logging adventure in Oregon with the father — young Harriet goes…
Another Van Booy book down the hatch! This novel was sentimental- maybe a bit too sentimental for my liking- but I do enjoy the way the author writes, so it was easy to finish anyways. The story is about a young girl – Harvey – who ends up in foster care because her parents die in a car accident. She has never met her paternal uncle, Jason, but has heard stories about him — not much from what we…
I have had this book sitting on my shelf for a few years and have longed to carve out time to read it, which finally happened these last few weeks. I am a fan of David Chang — Kamil and I ate at Momofuku in NYC a few years ago, we both enjoyed Ugly Delicious on Netflix and find Chang to be one of the more down-to-earth celebrity chefs out there. Reading this memoir deepened my understanding of…
Another Van Booy book down the hatch! The Sadness of Beautiful Things is a collection of stories — some shorter than others. I enjoyed the length variability. All of them, as the title infers, are a little sad but also hopeful. This was a quick and delicious read — full of characters and ideas, lives and deaths, with poetic prose in between. I got this easily from the library and enjoyed it very…
I’ve been working my way through these two articles over the last week or so… Pattiann Rogers on the Scientific Underpinnings of Poetry Why the Culture of the So-Called Great Books is Hostile to Trans People Sharing is caring 😛
Circling back to Winter Reading, I learned of this book from Joan Frank’s Late Work. Wondering if y’all enjoyed that read– I recall some of you picking it up, too. This book was satisfying and a delight to read. The story moves through the life of William Stoner, a dude who grew up on a farm and then ended up professor. His parents sent him to university in Columbia, Missouri to study…
