This book got off to a ridiculously slow start.  I think I was half way in before I wasn't bored.  But, out of nowhere the complicated plot and backstory started to come together and make sense and before I knew it I was loving it.  A sort of fantasy, travel story with smart plotting.  I don't know how the author could have built the story quicker or could have made the first half more interesting and I was really on the fence about a recommendation because of that, but I ended up thinking about the story for days after I finished it, which is typically a sign that I liked it. So, a soft recommend for folks with the patience to stick with it.

Fiction written in the first person as if it is a memoir and read by the author, I initially thought this was going to be one of those cheaply made memoirs that I wasn't going to hate, but wasn't going to resonate with me other than being a distraction in the moment.  It was quite the surprise when it turned out this was something quite different.  Nothing about this was over simplified or trite at all.  In fact, I found the writing particularly compelling, with a sing-song tone that was melodic without being hollow.  A fun coming of age story about a Black gay boy in England, it doesn't have any of the hallmarks you would expect of such a story.  A supportive mom, the ability to defend himself, and a complicated best friend.  Not your typical young adult story and I am looking forward to a future that has more books like this available in schools,

Recommend.

This is the best book I have read in a very long time.  Often, I am not enamored by the ulta-popular best sellers that everyone is talking about, but this book delivered.  Let's start with the writing, which is exquisite.  The cadence, the word choice, the succinctness.  Even the dialogue flowed.  The character development and historical detail was as good as it gets.  I loved that she doesn't pound the history into your head, it is just a natural backdrop to the layers of the story.  And the story. I think my favorite storyline has always been the multi-generation family history and this one is particularly fabulous as it traces four generation of women, two women in each of younger generations, so seamlessly that I don't know which of the six women is really the protagonist.  Often in stories with multiple stories, I spend a lot of time in my head waiting for them to show how they are intertwined or wanting to get back to the storyline I connect with the most, but no this time. There wasn't an expectation that these would come back together in a meaningful way, nor did I have a favorite storyline.  When the book jumped to a different character, I was sorry to leave the one I was just reading about, but equally happy to find out what happened to the one we left to hear about that one.  The jumps felt natural, falling not with cliffhangers, but at gentle lulls.  Oh, and the themes this story covers--so, so many poignant and powerful themes woven into the stories and, again, just as part of the backdrop.  She doesn't force-feed messages about racism, transphobia, or misogyny, but rather just lets the story speak for itself.  And it isn't the same old themes, either.  No, this book brings home internalized oppression and generational trauma and how that can play out for individuals, families and communities.  It speaks to academic and formal education and access to wealth and resources.  It makes you think about what marriage is or means and whether it matters and not just in terms of "same-sex marriage."  What does it mean for middle aged people and what is "family" anyway?  Does the unmarried partner of your child who cares for you gently while you struggle with Alzheimer's count as family? Does a child who disowns you and tells the world you are dead for decades still count as family? Does it matter?  Oh, you are in for a treat!

Highly recommend.  I find it hard to believe there will be another book this year I like this much.

I was well over half way through this book before I realized it was a memoir and not a novel. For a book with a co-author, the writing was surprisingly well written.  This is the story of a brilliant kid growing up during a famine in Malawi, who persists against all odds to learn and build things.  The chapters that talk about being hungry and watching people die from starvation were heart wrenching and the descriptions of cholera outbreaks and recurring bouts of malaria put the COVID pandemic we are experiencing in some perspective.  His drive to tinker and invent in order to improve the lives of his family is really powerful, yet the book wasn't written (except for maybe the last few chapters) as a trite inspirational piece. I really felt like this was substantially more than that.  It would make a great summer reading book, as I enjoyed it more, and felt it was better written, then a lot of the STEM based stories I often seen assigned for school.  Recommend.

So many layers of things to love about this book about a girl growing up with a mother struggling with mental illness that leads to her suicide. The main storyline is peppered with flashbacks to earlier times when things were simpler as the protagonist tries to find the truth behind the family lies and silence.  Her trip to visit the Chinese grandparents she has never met is moving and the mystical ghost story that weaves through the book is just gorgeous. It is also a story about friendship and the complexity of friendship and crushes. I loved that the main character is at once sympathetic, but not altogether likeable.  This is just a lovely read.  Recommend.

1. The Astonishing Color of After (Catherine)
2. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind (Sandra)
3. The Vanishing Half (Sarah Maxwell)
4. The Black Flamingo (Rachel)
5. The 10,000 Doors of January (Katrina)
6. The Way of Kings (Sarah Matson)
7. Varina (Christian)
8. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender (Amanda)
9. Why Fish Don't Exist (Lori S)
10. Tightrope (Wendy)
11. Notes on Silencing (Robin)
12. The Weight of Ink (Karen R)
​13. On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous (Nancy H)
14. Father-ish (Suz D)
15. Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man (Susie)
16. One Long River of Song (Anne)
​17. Transcendent Kingdom (Sarah F-G)
18. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel (Alicia)
19. We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Sloane)
20. Unaccustomed Earth (Erin D)
21. Cemetery Boys (Theresa)
22. Shantaram (Michele P)
23. The Moment of Lift (Lela)
24. The Wintering (Sarah L)
25. Ghost Rider (David L)
26. Caste (Carla)
27. Tokyo Ueno Station (Beth R)
28. We Were Eight Years in Power (Bree)
29. A Series of Fortunate Events (Trystan)
30. Make It Stick (Kelly)
31. The Glass Hotel (Gretchen G)
32. Lincoln in the Bardo (Ceci)
33. The Deepest South of All (Charlyn)
34. His Majesty's Dragon​ (Mike)
35. Lily and The Octopus (Julie)
​36. The Splendid and the Vile (Gretchen D)
37. Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Ryan)
​38. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (Leah)
39. The Book of Lost Friends (Tanya)
40. The Black Widow (Stephanie D)
​41. The Men Who Would Be King (Dan)
​42. Heavy (Chris)
43. The Eyes of a Dragon (Andea)
44. The Fifth Season (Jessamyn)​
45. Mindset (Melissa)
46. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (Jones)
47. In the Woods (Susan)
48. Til the Well Runs Dry (Heather)
49. ​The Mountains Sing (Suzanne)
​50. Ten-Second Staircase (Mina)
​
Things I read that were not on the list:
Bonus #1: After the Fairy Tale
Bonus #2: Detransition, Baby
Bonus #3: Snitch
Bonus #4: Something To Talk About
Bonus #5: The Happily Ever After Playlist
Bonus #6: What Child is This?
Bonus #7: You Do You
Bonus #8: Pancakes in Paris
Bonus #9: When Harry Met Harry
Bonus #10: Love & Estrogen 
Bonus #11: Back To The Burbs
Bonus #12: Olive Oil & White Bread
Bonus #13: Sunset Springs
Bonus #14: Bridesmates
Bonus #15: The Dream Guy Next Door
Bonus #16: Your French Kisses
​Bonus #17: Sun of a Beach
Bonus #18: Sleepless Over You
​Bonus #19: Townie​
Bonus #20: Part-Time Lover
Bonus #21: The Private Rehearsal
Bonus #22: Owning It
​​Bonus #23: The Second Chance Plan
​Bonus #24: Next Year in Havana
Bonus #25: Chonburi International Hotel and Butterfly Club
Bonus #26: All In
Bonus #27: Happiness Becomes You
Bonus #28: Something That Will Not Die
Bonus #29: Seeing Serena
Bonus #30: Emma
Bonus #31: The Madness of Crowds
Bonus #32: Call Me Maybe
Bonus #33: How Democracies Die
Bonus #34: Believing
Bonus #35: Normal People
​Bonus #36: Not That Bad​
Bonus #37: Q & A
Bonus #38: Authentically Mexican
​Bonus #39: The Book of Salt
Bonus #40: Confessions of a Sociopath
Bonus #41: Fresh Water for Flowers
​Bonus #42: One Last Stop
Bonus #43: State of Terror
Bonus #44: Blindness
Bonus #45: Instant Karma
Bonus #46: Life's Too Short
Bonus #47: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone
Bonus #48: Touch Me
Bonus #49: Home Shopped Holiday
​Bonus #50: Nick & Noel's Christmas Playlist 
Bonus #51: The Best Worst Christmas​  
Bonus #52: There is Something About Merry  
Bonus #53: Serendipity
Bonus #54: All I Want For Christmas
​Bonus #55: My Love Story
Bonus #56: Hold Me Closer, Toni Danzig
Bonus #57: The Stand-In
​Bonus #58: Losing Control