This book took me from wheels up to wheels down Denver to Pittsburgh. Aside from a mystery it also got into what life was like for a Black man in Los Angeles in the 40s including issues of police brutality and systemic racism that felt very current. Glad I made time to read this classic of political corruption, murder, and lust in 1948 la.

My daughter living her best life at the Meow Wolf exhibit I‘m Denver. 📚 📚 📚

@BarbaraJean so excited for this list! There are several on it that I‘ve read and loved, and it has a wonderful mix of NF, poetry, fantasy, ya, and literary fiction. I love the idea of starting the year with poetry so the Mary Oliver will be first and then likely one of the middle grade that I can read together with my son and then the Golem and the Jinni. @monalyisha #newyearwhodis

I found the central tension in this novel to build throughout and I was continually surprised by where it went. There was an intensity to the friendship of Konrad and the General and the discussion of how their relationship formed and matured bore fruit later in the book. A lot packed into a short book. In a lot of ways it also reminded me of classic mysteries. Liked this much more than I expected. I think this is one you either love or hate.

Smith visits Monticello, a confederate burial site, Angola prison, and the Whitney plantation among other places to look at how enslavement impacts our history and present day. I found the Angola section to be particularly powerful and visceral. The epilogue about his own family made the whole book feel very personal. Highly recommend. And my 100th book of the year. ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I switched to this audiobook bc the one I was listening to was way too stressful. This was the right antidote., Made me think more deeply about how to craft my at home yoga practice, that yoga music can and the importance of breath and meditation. I liked how she wove her personal experience as a black woman in a mostly white space and how that impacted her yoga journey and current practice. Listened while enjoying fall colors.

Wow. This short epistolary novel packs a punch. Correspondence between a Jewish art dealer in San Francisco and his former gentile partner in Germany, it tracks the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s and how easily self-protection and power overtake common humanity.

This was the perfect book for me at the perfect time. I‘ve been feeling worn out and overwhelmed and reading this peaceful story of a tea monk and a robot was a balm. Recommend for a heart-warming read for the stressed out among us.

I found this really fascinating, and the afterward is worth reading about how the project evolved from mostly instruments music to song to novella. It takes one of the horrors of enslavement - pregnant women thrown overboard from slave ships - and imagines a world where the children survive as a sea people. The study of collective trauma and memory and how to handle as an individual and community was really powerful.

Wishing all of you a sweet, healthy, and happy new year filled with good books. 🍎 🍯 📚

I thought this memoir was beautiful. My stepdad is currently in hospice care so that made it particularly poignant. I loved how she interwove her food memories of her mother and the ways her mother helped shape her identity as she worked through her grief. Now listening to her album.

Life has been busy…have slipped in posting…but I am looking forward to starting this read for my family book club.

Told as a confession of a VC spy embedded with the South Vietnamese army, the story is complex and nearly all of the characters engaged in awful acts as part of war. First book I‘ve read about the Vietnam war from a Vietnamese perspective. Nuanced look at the war, American culture, and loyalty.

Moscow mule and a good book while we wait out the rain for dinner.

Thoughtful novel about artificial intelligence, the emotional capacity of an AF (artificial friend), what makes a person who they are, and the quandaries of genetic engineering. Klara is an AF and as the novel unfolds we see how she perceives the world and how she learns emotions through observation and how her beliefs are formed. Beautifully written. (Perfect paired with an Amtrak ride and banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery.)

Great choice for an airplane read. Fast-paced and quickly immersive. Law clerk Avery Keene must solve the puzzle left for her by Justice Wynn in order to prevent political machinations with a dark underbelly from upending a merger.

Disclaimer: this book is written by a friend of mine who is the host of a wonderful podcast - death, sex, and money. A fast read in which I could clearly hear Anna‘s voice. It was interesting to learn from her experience about what works in how to listen and to how to discuss difficult topics. Knowing so many of the people in the book definitely added to the reading experience.

Told by a west point historian who grew up in Virginia and Georgia revering Lee, he takes a military historian‘s eye to Lee‘s legacy and confronts his own past as someone who held Lee up as a hero. Good perspective on how the civil war used to be taught, and shines a light on origins of confederate monuments, the myth of Lee, and southern military officials who chose to stay loyal to the union.

My favorite way to start the day. Early morning light, huge cup of tea, and the book review. Wishing you all a peaceful Sunday.

When I finished I wanted to learn the author‘s background as the characters and setting felt so authentic and clearly drawn. Living in WV, I have seen similar devastation and desperation in former coal towns. It felt so visceral and the characters‘ struggles were complex - I particularly thought it was strong in intertwining circumstances with outcome and showing how an addictive cycle can continue. Brutal in many parts. Palate cleanser up next.

Starting off my day with freshly picked strawberries and Transcendant Kingdom. This book has really drawn me in.

How I wanted to love this book, but I needed more well-developed characters. The start with the heat wave in India pulled me in but then it lost steam and felt like reading general theories on addressing climate change with interludes of Mary‘s story. Parts of it made me think but the style was not for me.

Tfw you finally finish a book you were struggling through and prepare to start one that his come highly recommended. Hoping it lives up to the recs.

Wow! I will be thinking about this book for a long time. I don‘t think of myself as a science-fiction reader but these stories really blew me away. Every story made me think differently about how we view ourselves and other people and about the way we make decisions and live our lives. Overarching themes of what free will means, morality, and truth. I think anyone who liked The Good Place would find themselves pulled in to these stories.

A little morning reading time.

This was so well done. My 9 year old wanted a basketball book and this fit the bill, but is about far more than basketball. A coming of age story about identical twins, it sensitively looks at young teen emotions, sibling dynamics, and the importance of family. Beautiful and lyrical descriptions of basketball, love, and struggle. My child was in tears by the end but wanted to check out another Alexander immediately.

I couldn‘t put this one down. A mystery, family and sibling relationship saga, and impact of the opioid epidemic all in one. A cop story featuring a female police officer with multiple twists and turns. Some of my favorite scenes were small moments like the protagonist‘s son‘s bday party at McDonald‘s- the one with the indoor playground. It felt so real.

Unpopular opinion. I wanted to love this but in the end it did not work for me. The first part where each character was introduced was the strongest and those short stories were beautiful, but as it moved into the long section it was too rambling and not compelling to me. The end didn‘t make sense given various statutes of limitations, I had a hard time suspending disbelief.

These were the books that made me into a reader. I have loved sharing my original copies with my son. Ramona and her family and their problems are just so real. Beverly Cleary truly gave the world a gift.

Reading a book about a worse pandemic in the middle of a pandemic was disconcerting at times. The epidemic of blindness and how humanity reacts and survives was moving and disturbing. The long unbroken narrative with shifting perspectives worked and heightened the sense of not knowing what was happening and why and how long it would last. The descriptions of the smells and deteriorating conditions and brutality were visceral.

That was way more intense that I expected. Clare and Irene, childhood friends, meet again many years later and Irene learns that Clare is passing as white. Their lives become intertwined and the tension builds until the last seconds of the book.

I‘ve been reading a lot but need to make time to post. Nice audiobook. One chair in a cafe allows customers to travel in time but only until their cup of coffee gets cold, and they may only meet others who are in the cafe at that time. I liked the moments each character chose to visit and the impact it has on how they view their present lives. Listened while making Hamantashen #audiobaking

Fitting book to read during the winter of a pandemic. Beautifully written and a lot of takeaways about allowing ourselves to have our winters and not to get over it but to learn how to experience and prepare for periods of sadness/anxiety and emerge from them. I found it very comforting.

A group of girls sets off on a picnic for Valentine‘s Day. The events of that afternoon change the course of all the characters lives. Without spoiling there is a sense of the otherworldly that hangs over the book and adds to the tension. A few more loose ends than I‘d like and would have liked a deeper dive into Mrs. Applebaum. I felt most for young Sarah one of the boarders at the school. ⭐️⭐️⭐️#setinaustralia #booked2021

Trigger warning: sexual abuse. I listened to this book which is done by a full cast and I think it really added to the story. It is told in alternating chapters by Sadie and a podcast host of a true-crime podcast investigating her disappearance. Sadie takes off after her sister is murdered in search of the man she thinks killed her. If you listen to true crime podcasts those chapters hit all the tropes of that genre. #audiobook

Fun rom-com set in Los Angeles and centered around a woman who works at an independent bookstore. Nothing particularly surprising, but a nice comfort read, with a sense of place and appreciation for people who love to read and how it‘s fine to center reading in one‘s life. It was predictable but that didn‘t bother me since it goes with the genre. 3.5 ⭐️

My 8 year old recommended this book to me. He found it really moving. It depicts the difficult journey Black Americans took to earn the right to vote - from the auction blocks of enslavement, through to Selma and the voting rights act. It covers poll taxes and other barriers to voting.

This packed a more emotional punch than I expected. A right wing leader is about to be elected in Austria and a Jewish man who investigates war crimes has his office bombed. As Allon heads to Vienna, he realizes a deeply personal connection to the plot. His mother‘s story as a Holocaust survivor drives the book and reveals a lot about Allon and Shamron on their work. I needed a propulsive read like this one that I couldn‘t put down.

Some weeks call for a return to a favorite series and this is one of them. Happy to dive back into the world of Gabriel Allon.

I wanted to love this but it felt a little slight to me. Insufficient world building to understand the dystopia and the role of the librarians and rebels. I liked the characters but was left with a lot of questions. Short and quick read but left me wishing there‘s been more development to the world and the women in it.

I loved Dept of Speculation and loved this one as well. she captures so well the daily life - the inner monologues that run through the mc‘s head felt so relatable as she ponders climate change, trumpism, and what the world will hold for her child‘s future. Through brief snippets she tells the story of her marriage, and her brother‘s struggle with sobriety and child reading. I found the intermixing of one liners delightful. Loved it on audio.

With Wednesday‘s mob on congress it felt like an appropriate time to read this book about the caste system in the US. It looks at parallels between US, India, and Nazi Germany and the deep impact the caste system continues to have in both micro and macro ways. Lays bare horrors of Jim Crow and their continued manifestation. And highlights systemic discrimination and the inequities visible especially if looking from outside in.

An unnamed narrator confronts the death of a good friend and how it impacts her life; especially after she ends up adopting his dog. She muses about grief, dogs, writing, teaching, and her relationship with her friend. There is also a lot of fun playing with writing and writing conventions. The plot is driven by her growing attachment to the dog she has adopted and its impact on her as well. Good one to listen to on audio.

This is me. So loud when I‘m trying to read sometimes. 😂😂😂.

Couldn‘t sleep so made an early cup of coffee and curled up on the couch to enjoy some quiet time. Seeing the U.S. systemic racism framed in the context of nazi Germany and the Indian caste system can be quite jarring to read, but important recognition of the brutality of all these systems and their similarities.

This quote captured parenting in a pandemic for me. Trying to find some quiet. Another quote that hit me “the single human thinks I have never known such loneliness. The married human, in the country place with partner and children, dreams of isolation within isolation.”

The perfect book to end 2020 with - beautiful essays about the pandemic, racism, humanity, and community.

Finishing up my #booked2020 just under the wire. 1. Pan-Asian - Aru Shah #1
2. Think Pink - The Switch
3. Bookclub - Normal People
4. New in 20- Vanishing Half
5. Bottom of Tbr- When a Croc Eats the Sun
6. Gothic Horror - Mexican Gothic

My last book of the year and the #bottomofmytbr. This was a beautifully told memoir of life in Zimbabwe under Mugabe in the early 2000s as well as a story of his father‘s life. It painted the horrors of the farm occupations starkly while detailing the changes in Zimbabwe‘s politics and its impact on race relations. #booked2020

I probably have too many goals for the year - I tend to overcommit, but for this month I‘m going to focus on reading two books I already own, listening or reading a poem everyday and completing two challenges - a plank challenge and 30 days of yoga with Adriene. #bfc21