Monthly Archives: November 2019

November 30, 2019 · 3:54 pm

Melody: Never Stop Singing by Denise Lewis Patrick

Melody: Never Stop Singing is the second American Girl book about Melody, an African American girl from 1964. Melody is just turning 10 and learning about some of the more serious concerns in the world. Things addressed include JFK’s assassination, Civil Rights, racism, and difficulties in the inner city black community. Everything is told on a level tweens can understand. My 11-year-old son especially liked it. It makes a great family read-aloud!

5 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2019: 121
Pages Read in 2019: 31,106
Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks (more book reviews!)

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November 26, 2019 · 5:44 pm

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The author of The Color Purple is a genius at writing in dialect. There is a very obvious difference between the main character’s writing and the letters from her sister, who is described as more intelligent and better educated. The story is told completely through letters, some written by the sister to the main character and the majority written by the main character basically as diary entries. There are no quotation marks, but it works for this book due to the way it is written. Conversations are clear even with the lack of quotation marks. Sometimes the story is tough, but reflects the life of poor blacks in the early 1900s. I can see why it won the Pulitzer Prize.

5 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2019: 120
Pages Read in 2019: 30,979
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November 13, 2019 · 4:28 pm

The Appointment by Herta Muller

The Appointment is pretty much just stream of consciousness random drivel. It jumps from one memory to the next with no real unifying theme. I suppose it is realistic in that that’s often how we think about our memories, but reading it in a book it’s just awful. There are no quotation marks. There are a lot of colons setting off what people said, but no quotation marks. It’s really a pointless and rather dumb book. I had to force myself to keep reading, thinking for sure it would get better. Nope. The end was just as bad as the rest. I do not recommend reading this book to anyone.

1 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2019: 119
Pages Read in 2019: 30,677
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November 13, 2019 · 12:23 pm

Gangsterland by Tod Goldberg

With a gangster assassin main character who you can’t help but like, Gangsterland follows Sal Cupertine as he is shipped out of Chicago after making a huge mistake and becomes Rabbi David Cohen of Las Vegas. It’s a little bit slow to get started, but once I got into the story, I really started caring about many of the characters and what happened to them (side note: don’t get too attached because a whole lot of the characters die before the end). There is a fair bit of bad language, but no more than I expected from the author having listened to a bunch of episodes of his podcast, Literary Disco. If you like crime/mafia novels, you’ll love this one!

4 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2019: 118
Pages Read in 2019: 30,449
Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks (more book reviews!)

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November 13, 2019 · 12:07 pm

Kaya: Smoke on the Wind by Janet Shaw

Kaya, a Native girl in 1764, experiences the death of a loved one and coming to terms with her own failings. American Girl books are everything right about historical fiction for kids. They tell the story in a way that gives the history as well as keeping it interesting for children. Kaya: Smoke on the Wind is no exception. I highly recommend this book to kids (boys and girls) of all ages. It makes a great read aloud!

5 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2019: 117
Pages Read in 2019: 30,047
Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks (more book reviews!)

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November 13, 2019 · 11:49 am

Drown by Junot Diaz

Drown is a collection of short stories about growing up in the Dominican Republic. They are told in a stream of consciousness sort of way with absolutely no quotation marks. Usually lack of quotation marks bugs me, but because of the conversational way the book is written, I think it worked okay not to have them. Sometimes the stories are quite crass and there’s a fair bit of bad language. I didn’t dislike this book, but I didn’t really like it either.

3 (out of 5) Stars

Books Read in 2019: 116
Pages Read in 2019: 29,936
Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks (more book reviews!)

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Filed under Memoir, Reason: LitHub Bingo

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