Audiobook: Poverty, by America

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by Matthew Desmond
Read by Dion Graham
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are a few mild swear words. It’s in the Sociology section of the bookstore.

I was moved by the stories of the people in Desmond’s Evicted, but I think there was a part of me that could put it at a distance. At least that’s not my life. But in Poverty, by America Desmond pulls no punches: poverty is not just a “them” problem. It’s something that affects ALL of us. 

In this short, to the point, book Desmond uses data to show how the system exploits poor people, from the TANF government funds that so many states misuse or use for programs other than to actually help poor people (for every $1 of the fund, only 22 cents make it into the hands of poor people) to the landlords who nickel and dime the poor into higher rents for lower quality apartments that they can get evicted from. But it’s more than that: it’s the middle class with our health care and mortgage subsidies (the middle class and wealthy are subsidized by the government at much if not more than poor people are) and the wealthy and businesses who are not made to pay their (measly, comparatively) tax share. 

It’s Desmond challenging the reader to think about whether a corporation pays their employees a living wage before shopping there. It’s a call for a universal basic income. It’s a lament that for the past 50 years, in one of the wealthiest countries on earth, no progress has been made to help the people living in poverty. 

It’s quite probably one of the most important books I’ve read and challenged me as well as changed my perspective on things. 

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Audiobook: Daisy Jones & the Six

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by Taylor Jenkins Reed
Read by a full cast
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is a lot of drug use, some on-screen sex, and a lot of swearing including many f-bombs. It’s in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

This book has been on my radar since it came out, one of those I’ve been meaning to get to it for ages books. But then my daughter started watching the series on Prime, and talking about it and I remembered that I had the audiobook, and so… why not listen to it?

The basic plot: it’s a book told entirely through interviews, the six members of the band The Six and Daisy Jones telling their story of how they formed and the one album that they made together. It was an absolutely perfect way to tell this type of story, of music and creation, of egos and drugs, of Rock and the 1970s. Oh, and it’s loosely based on Fleetwood Mac. That’s really all you need to know.

Listening to on audio was a blast. I loved that it was a full cast, and everyone did amazing. You could just hear their personalities (Daisy was a DIVA) come through, and it made what I think might have been a good, if somewhat tedious, reading experience FUN. It was an audiobook I wanted to keep listening to. And even when the story turned saccharine at the end, I had fun with it. You can’t get much better than that. I might check out the show, but am quite tickled that they put out a few songs (which are actually pretty good).

Not sure it’s a great work of literature, but I definitely had fun with this one.

Audiobook: B. F. F.

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A Memoir of Friendship Lost and Found
by Christie Tate
Read by the Author
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is talk of eating disorders, alcoholism, and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the biography section of the bookstore.

In this memoir, Tate deconstructs her friendships with women, from the way she abandoned her high school friends for a (alcoholic, abusive) boyfriend, to the way she compared and sabotaged friendships as an adult. The throughline for all of this was, yes, her group therapy and recovery sessions, but also a woman she calls Merideth. A woman 20 years Tate’s senior with problems of her own that she is recovering from, Meredith became not just Tate’s rock to lean on, but her conscious and guiding hand. 

So what does one do when Meredith is diagnosed with an incurable and advanced form of cancer? How can she deal with being present for Meredith and with her own grief? How can she learn to be better?

I do have to say up front that, assuming all this is true, Tate is remarkably brave for putting it all out there. She is not likable for a good half of the book when she’s talking about how she abandoned friends due to jealousy and anger. She comes across as petulant and insecure, and yes I was judging her until I started really listening and figuring out where I’m like her. She has much to say about friendship, not just her friendships, and I think that part is worthwhile. The second part is Meredith’s decline and death, and I think Tate has a lot of good things to say about supporting people through that – not just the person who is ill, but the people around them as well – and about grief. But, the final section, after Meredith has passed on, where Tate writes letters about her healing and rekindling friendships she had thought she had permanently destroyed – that was the best section. I think it all had to be there, though. You had to get through petulant Tate to truly understand the healing process. 

While I think it’s kind of uneven in spots, it’s worth it for what Tate has to say about friendship, overall.

Amari and the Night Brothers

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by B. B. Alston
First sentence: “I’m sitting in the principal’s office.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are some scary moments, mostly with monsters, and instances of bullying. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Amari’s older brother (and hero), Quinton, has been missing for six months. He had graduated from high school, he had a job – or so he said – and then he just… disappeared. And it’s been affecting Amari’s school life, mostly because she just knows he’s not dead like everyone else assumes. And so when Quinton appears to her in a Wakeful Dream with a nomination to go to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs summer camp, she figures it’s the best way she has to find out what Really Happened. 

Once there, though, Amari discovers that she is a magician; one with a percentage of magic so high that it’s almost impossible. This brings attention to her, and not always the good kind. Additionally, she is trying out to be a Junior Agent in the Department of Supernatural investigations, which is where her brother worked before his disappearance, and she’s met with all sorts of pushback for wanting to be one of the Elite. And, to top it all off, the evil magician Moreau (yes, like in the Island of Dr…) has a nefarious plan to destroy the Bureau and have magicians take over, and wants Amari to join him. 

I think the marketing material is “Artemis Fowl” meets “Men in Black” but I think it’s more along the Percy Jackson lines. A girl, who doesn’t know her worth, finds a secret camp of people with similar powers, and comes into her own fighting a battle by the end of the book? Comparisons aside, this is a LOT of fun. I liked Amari, felt her struggles were real, glad she found some good friends along the way, and there was a satisfying ending as well as leaving things open for the next book in the series (which I immediately put on hold at the library). I think Alston is one of those writers who, like Riordan, has the potential to capture a whole generation (or two) of children’s imaginations. 

I can’t wait to read the next one!

Audiobook: The Sum of Us

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by Heather McGhee
Read by the author
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Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It deals with some tough issues, and there is some swearing. It’s in the Sociology section of the bookstore.

Heather McGhee, a lawyer, former president of Demos, and someone who specializes in how the American economy works tackles how the idea of a “zero-sum game” between Black and white people is a losing proposition, and not just for people of color. For everyone. She looks at the economy, the housing market, environmental regulations, education, among other areas, and breaks down how racism is at the root of, well, pretty much everything, and how that is costing everyone. It’s especailly relevant for a white person to read: to be shown how white people, especially poor white people, will vote against their interests because the Powers That Be have convinced them that, well, at least they’re not Black (or Latinx, or an immigrant, or…)

I do have to admit up front that I’m not sure I got all her arguments and data, because I listened to the book and sometimes my attention wanders. And I was somewhat unsatisfied that there really wasn’t any clear solutions laid out, except for just “get out of your comfort zone, work with people not like you, and do better”. Which, in reality, is probably not a bad solution. There is a sense of urgency, though: things aren’t just going to get better on their own. If we want things to improve (and maybe we don’t because we’re white, and well-off, and maybe They should just Work Harder?), then we need to get involved. Start local. 

McGhee was a good narrator, and I think this is one of those books that i will think about for a long time. 

Monthly Round-Up: February 2023

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It’s been a good reading month. It feels so good to be able to say that. My favorite:

Happy Place

It’s hard to be a good Emily Henry book. As for the rest:

Adult Fiction:

The Inheritance of Orquidia Divina (audiobook)

Non-Fiction:

Lost & Found (audiobook)

Middle Reader:

Figure it Out, Henri Weldon
Freewater

Young Adult:

Blood Debts (audiobook)
The Stolen Heir
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

Graphic Novel:

Lost in Taiwan
The Faint of Heart
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

What was your favorite this month?

The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School

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by Sonora Reyes
First sentence: “Seven years of bad luck can slurp my ass.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is homophobia, swearing – including multiple f-bombs, teen drinking, and suicidal ideation. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Yamilet is about to start her junior at a Catholic school, rather than the public school she’s been attending. It’s not for her own good; her brother, Cesar, has been getting into fights and their mother has decided that they need to transfer to help him avoid trouble. The problem is that Yamilet is a closeted lesbian, and the one person she came out to – her best friend – not only outed her to all their friends, after which they shunned her for being “nasty”. 

Side note: I know homophobic kids and parents exist, and I applaud Reyes for exploring those beliefs in the Mexican/Latinx community, but still part of me was like, “Really?” Someone would really shun, make fun of, ostracize, etc. someone for coming out as gay? In 2022? If so, we’ve not progressed as much as I hoped. 

Anyway, at the Catholic school, it looks like Cesar is adjusting okay, but Yamilet is struggling. There are mean white girls who are super racist, but there’s a nice one – Bo – who is an out lesbian, who Yami not only likes but likes. It’s up and down as, over the course of the year, Yami figures out how to come out, how to be proudly out, as well as how to be first Bo’s friend, and then expresses to Bo just how much she likes her. It’s not a smooth road, but Yami finds that it’s worth it 

I really liked this one, first and foremost, for the representation. Not only do we have LGBTQ representation, but it is in a darker-skinned, half-Indigenous (her father was super proud of their Indigenous roots), Mexican girl who is proud of her heritage. As I mentioned before, I liked that Reyes explored homophobia within the Latinx community, but not every Latinx person in the book was homophobic. The book also explored the latent homophobia in the church, and confronted it really well, I think. But, it was also a good story, with Yami figuring out her relationship with her mother, her brother, and with Bo. I really enjoyed this one (finished it pretty much in one sitting!), and can’t wait to see what Reyes does next. 

Audiobook: Lost & Found

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by Kathryn Schulz
Read by the author
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro. fm
Content: There’s some mild swearing and frank talk of dying. It’s in the Biography section of the bookstore.

The subtitle of this one is “Reflections on Grief, Gratitude, and Happiness” and I think that sums the book up really well. Schulz divides the book up into three parts: Lost, in which she reflects on the death of her father, and the process of grieving him; Found, in which she recounts the story about how she met and came to marry her wife; and And, in which she talks about coming together, and the importance of community. It’s a simple premise, but Schulz pulls it off beautifully.

I first heard about this when one of our Random House reps, Bridget, spoke highly about how this book about grief and loss wasn’t sad but filled her with gratitude for living. And she’s right: yes, it’s a book about loss and grief, but it’s also a book about learning to live with loss and grief, and gratitude for the simple act of living. It’s reflective and poignant and sometimes quite funny. And Schulz is a good narrator; she reads well and is captivating to listen to.

In short: the RH rep was right: it’s one of the best books about loss that I’ve read in a long time.

Happy Place

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by Emily Henry
First sentence: “A cottage on the rocky shoreline, with knotty pine floorboards and windows that are nearly always open.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: April 25, 2023
Content: There are a couple sexytimes and swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It will be in the romance section of the bookstore.

Harriet and Cleo and Sabrina have been friends since their freshman year of college. They’re an unlikely trio from vastly different backgrounds with different ambitions, but they make it work. As they get older they add more: Parth, whose house they moved into their junior year, and then Wyn, Parth’s friend, got folded in. Except Harriet and Wyn felt an almost-instant attraction. They eventually got together, thinking it would last forever.

Fast forward 8 years and Wyn and Harriet have broken up. Harriet’s in a medical residency in San Francisco, and Wyn just… wasn’t happy. So he left. Then he broke it off. But, they’re both at Sabrina’s family’s cottage in Maine for a week in the summer, with everyone, for one last fling. Can they pretend everything is fine, for the sake of old times?

This one is less focused on the romance, though Henry intersperses chapters of Wyn and Harriet’s getting together and falling in love, with the present week in Maine. It was an effective tactic: we got to see the fallout before we read about how they got together. But it worked. Mostly because this book is less about the Romance Tropes than it is about friendship – as important as Wyn and Harriet’s breakup is, the feeling that the friendships are falling apart because everyone is getting older, and things are Changing – and about making your own happiness.

It was the last thing that struck me the most. Harriet had spent her life trying to make her unhappy parents happy, making the choices that landed her in San Francisco. But, over the course of the novel, she realizes that she can’t do that, that the one thing she can control is her own happiness and her own choices. It was something that resonated with me.

So, while this was not my favorite Henry (that remains Book Lovers), it was a very, very good one, one that resonated with me quite a bit.

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

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by Deya Muniz
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: May 9, 2023
Content: It is, at its heart, a romance. It will be in the Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

Lady Camembert just wants to live her life. She doesn’t want to marry a man, which is required in order for her to inherit her father’s lands and wealth. So she does the unthinkable: she disguises herself as a man and moves away to a distant kingdom to start over as Lord Camembert.

But then she (he? the pronoun preference isn’t clear) meets Princess Brie and is immediately taken. Brie thinks Cam is a man and is taken with him, but Cam knows it’s impossible for them to be attached because of the laws of the country. It’s a push and pull as they slowly fall in love. Until Brie discovers Cam’s secret.

It’s a cute enough graphic novel. I do love the art, and the representation is excellent. Cam is into fashion, and no one blinks an eye at a masc-presenting person being into dresses and furs and clothes. But, in the end, it just didn’t work for me. I thought the ending was rushed, and even though I believed in Brie and Cam’s romance, I thought the fight and the eventual makeup were a bit stereotypical. So, while really pretty, it wasn’t quite there for me.