Depressing but necessary reading

In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States by Ana Raquel Minian
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An historical look at immigration and various policies that are truly awful, like entry fiction (meaning asylum seekers "had never actually entered the country" and "could be held at detention centers indefinetly without basic constitutional rights").

The history of Guantonomo Bay, first used with Haitian refugees in the first Bush administration, and other issues like for profit prisons being used for asylum seekers are addressed as well.

The crux of the book follows 4 asylum seekers from different eras. This reminded me of Alan Gratz's excellent book, "Refugee" A young adult book that highlights 3 fictional refugees from different eras.

This non-fiction work is intense and depressing. The inability of humans to see other humans as fully human is our worst trait. The use of laws and profits to debase other humans is utterly unfathomable, but is factual.

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Excellent

James by Percival Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The language and word play (in a variety of senses) made this book great. I haven't read any of Everett's works before this, but will do so now.



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Possible series?

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought the premise was interesting, and since I enjoyed "Knives Out" that comparison drew me to picking up the book.

It isn't anything like "Knives Out" in my opinion, but was a decent mystery. I am not sure how it can become a series, and hope the series doesn't include using Frances' journals again as that became a tiring bit in this book.

Some characters I can see getting developed better if this does become a series.

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Will read him again

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Captured that era well, and it was a good courtroom drama. Compelling characters and a strong narrative.

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Powerful

Woman, Life, Freedom by Marjane Satrapi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent and powerful collection of art and writing. Some very brave individuals dealing with extreme situations.

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Great for HS students

HBCU Made: A Celebration of the Black College Experience by Ayesha Rascoe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A nice collection of essays about attending HBCU's. I have many friends and colleagues who did so, and this collection highlights more than Morehouse, Spellman and Howard.

I pickded up the book because I love listening to Ayesha Rascoe on NPR.

This would be great to hand to HS students contemplating their college choices.

I hadn't heard of a few of the HBCU's that were highlighted here, so that was enlightening.

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Not really a rom-com

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This started as a 3, but in the end it became a 2 for me. I had a hard time with Helena, the main character. And, didn't fully buy the romance.

I thought this book would deal more with grief due to the tragic nature of her sister's suicide. While on the one hand you can see how it has affected her, and the ending provides some growth on her part, I honestly think the whole arc would have been better without the romance and instead a friendship between the two of them. I say this because the unnecessary sex scenes didn't make it a romance, and neither did their regular interactions. They did have moments of true friendship though, and I think that would have been a more solid novel as it would tie in grief and forgiveness in a much more realistic manner. In my humble view rom-com's need more humor with missed opportunities etc. This had more anger (perhaps the anger was realistic) and it just never therefor met the rom com criteria.

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One of my favorite series

Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this series, and this one was just great. Though it is a closed case, so a different set up between Hawthorne & Horowitz, it was a strong narrative with a great mystery.

I honestly simply loved it.

If you haven't read this series, you will need to start from the begining ("The Word is Murder") to truly appreciate this 5th one.

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Decent series start

Body and Soul Food by Abby Collette
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the premise, and liked the store Koby and Keaton have created. The mystery itself was compelling, and there were many decent suspects.

A few plot holes in my opinion, mostly with who was on the train and what the detective discovered (or apparently didn't). I felt Keaton in particular had various possible clues, but didn't follow up in any reasonable way. While that would typically cause me to give the book a 2, or possibly even a 1, I did find the writing decent enough to say I liked the book.

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Ending not great

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first part of the book was better than the conclusion.

I will admit the twist surprised me a bit. However, the actual resolution didn't really make sense. I think the police would have believed the scenario as it played out, so honestly that kind of ruined it for me. The police should have been called once Bel heard the truth.

The last bit of the book was entirely unbeliveable and unnecessary.

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Continuing this series

Murder Most Howl by Krista Davis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Enjoyable. I continue to like the characters, the town, and this book's mystery was a good one. I suspected who it was early on, but didn't know the motive.
This resolution was well thought out, and the red herrings were all developed nicely.

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Loved it

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Truly loved this book. I thought the characterizations were great, and the differing timelines interesting. I felt the issues both women dealt with, whether it was racism, classism or misogny were handled realistically.

I liked the aspects of Raquel discovering who to trust in her life; who truly supported her and who didn't beautifully portrayed.

I have seen some reviews giving the book a 1 due to allegations that the author didn't discuss the novel with Ana Mendieta's (the artist whom Anita is based on) family. While I understand the family being upset by this, and I certainly am not a family member so can't speak to their views at all, I believe this book brings to light Ana's legacy to those of us who weren't aware of her.

I felt the writing was excellent, and I for one came to discover Ana as a result, and have been blown away by her art that I have found online.

I also enjoyed the supernatural aspects of this story, and understand others didn't

Books speak to each of us differently. I loved this one

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Really loved this as an audiobook

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I initially started this on my Kindle, but was reading late at night and at one point got confused by the time-frames (this was totally my issue with being sleepy).
Returned that version to the library, and waited for the audio to be available.
The narrator is great, I was listening while driving or doing chores, and didn't get mixed up with which time-frame I was listening to.

The characters are the heart of this novel. Rachel and her roomate James are best friends, and their relationship is realistically and wonderfully portrayed. The other characters are also well developed. At times heartbreaking, and others incredibly funny.

Truly enjoyed everything about this (keep in mind this is more character driven than plot, but there are twists and a good resolution)

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