pickWhile Oscar‘s family appears supernaturally struck by misfortune, a curse is still something happening to someone lucky enough to live in the world—however imperfect or downright evil at times. Here, characters have a choice: to live and fight, or die and end their story. Oscar writes his own finale. The curse doesn‘t happen to him. It strikes, but only because he called it over—like a confident author telling his own story.
pickFinished in the camper. These short stories are a lot to take in and devastating in many ways. My favorite, the longest of the stories, is Negosios. Most of the stories are clearly autobiographical. All are about the Dominican immigrant experience. Negocios is tdd from the POV of a son whose father left for the U.S. planning (or claims) to bring his family after earning money. He starts a second family. Diaz pulls no punches. #doublespin
pickI think this one should receive a „misleading title award“ 😅 I enjoyed the writing a lot but the content is really not about nerdy Oscar Wao. It‘s more about how Oscars unexpected life and death affects his sister and her ex-lover. Its a nice read though.
I found the cover of a play I read recently in the book on Black artists I've just finished 😁
Anacaona is an important historical figure: she was an indigenous Taino ruler at the time of the Spanish invasion in what is now #Haiti and the #DominicanRepublic. Hence the art ant literature about her.
pickA soft pick. The premise is good - a jaded author who, worried she will become haunted by the book ideas she hasn‘t felt able to complete, decides to build a cemetery and bury the stories - but I‘m not sure it was fully explored, it feels more like a tool to deliver multiple story arcs. But it was an enjoyable, thoughtful read nevertheless.
Book 87 #Read2025 @DieAReader
pickFinished this (as well as One Dark Window) in the last 24 hrs. Both are excellent! I listened to this one, and the narrator was great. Out of the two, I liked One Dark Window more. Both are great!
“Alma once had a friend, a writer, who for years before she died, relatively young, was always talking about this one story she had to write down.”
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
Started this book. A writer decides to start a literal cemetery for all of her untold stories when she inherits a plot of land near the city dump. She wants her characters to rest in peace, but they have other ideas. I haven‘t gotten to any buried characters yet, but so far, so good.
pickFinished this one tonight, & I liked this much more than Afterlife. Short stories about the same family—a large Dominican family but mostly focused on parents & their 4 girls. Different structure because it starts when they‘re older, then goes back in time. I enjoyed the stories, except there was a mean incident with a cat in one.
#bookspin list on the left and bingo to the left - let's go, June!
