​​1. Washington Black
​2. Say Nothing
3. The Great Alone
4. Educated
5. The Lace Reader
6. Red, White, & Royal Blue
7. Sexual Citizens
8. Johnny's Got His Gun
9. Recursion
10. When They Call You a Terrorist
11. Long Walk to Freedom
12. The Air You Breathe
​13. Deep River
​14. The Dharma of the Princess Bride
15. 1491
​16. Tipping the Velvet
*​17. Braiding Sweetgrass
18. The Serpent King
19. Sold on Monday
20. The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek
***
21. Too Much and Never Enough
22. Meet Cute
23. Being Heumann
​24. Malcolm and Me
​25. Sea Wall/A Life
26 & 27. Kingdom of the Blind & A Better Man
28. THe Body Keeps The Score
29. Missoula
30. My Grandmother's Hands
31. Such a Fun Age
32. Interview With a Robot
33. Stories of a Lifetime
34. The Housekeeper and The Professor
35. The Truths We Hold
36. Thicker Than Water
37. The Friend
38. Harvest of Empire
​39. Yard Work
40. All the Devils Are Here
​41. Murder By Other Means
42. Cold Turkey
43. An Indigenous History of the US
44. M to (WT)F
​45. Phreaks
46. Half Light
47. For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood
48. The Mountain and the Sea
​49. Cuckoo's Cry
50. Second Skin
​51. The Golden Orchard

I was really skeptical about this story, even up until about half way in.  A guru on a mountain that pilgrim wait days or weeks to see gives one to two minute meetings with seekers and their lives are transformed.  Some of the stories of these transformations were trite anecdotes that I typically find fairly irritating.  Oh, turns out the monk the rich guy stole the robe from in order to jump the line was The Holy Man he so desperately wanted to see.  Oh, it turns out that the lesson she needed to learn about patience was taught to her by waiting in line to see him so that by the time she got there, he didn't need to say anything.  Blah, blah, blah.  Well enough written, not uninteresting, but just like many other similar books.

Somewhere along the way, though, the book changed from being about the pilgrims to being about the man himself and by the end of the book, I was sucked into the story of the man behind the guru. In particular, the interactions with one character who did not want enlightenment, who wasn't one of his followers, and wasn't interested in becoming one.  I was captivated by the idea of living in such a bubble, where everyone adore and admired you and where everyone coming to you was coming because they wanted to be a better person and what happens when that is your norm and then someone comes in to disrupt that. This wasn't the main storyline at all, but for me, it saved what otherwise would have been an unremarkable read. I wish the entire story had been about this one relationship.  If it had, I am certain this could have been a strong recommend.

​Not recommended.

Several people have asked me what my favorite social justice reads have been lately.  Most of these are new, but some are old favorites that I return to.

At the Dark End of the Street (McGuire)
My Grandmother’s Hands (Hite)
The Immortal Life of Heniretta Lacks (Skloot)
Between the World and Me (Coates)
For White Folks Who Reach in the Hood…and the Rest of Y’all Too (Jackson)
The New Jim Crow (Chilton)
The Half Has Never Been Told (Baptist)
Just Mercy (Stevenson)
Redefining Realness (Mock)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Gardner)
Sister Outsider (Lorde)
Men We Reaped (Ward)
The Firebrand and the First Lady (Chilton)
When They all You a Terrorist (Khan-Cullors)
Harvest of Empire (Gonzalez)
Being Heumann (Heumann)
​The Spirit Catches You (Fadiman)

Written as the narrative behind the scenes of any one of many video game quests, the premise of the book is creative.  The main character, a "hero" who is leveling up in search of a demon king to slay comments on the world and challenges around her in a way that can be quite funny given that the game world itself makes no sense.  The book was too long for the material, though, and I would have enjoyed it twice as much if it had been half as long.  

Not recommended.

A non-fiction "book" lecture series about Prince Albert, there were certainly facts here that I didn't know, having had very little reason to study the man, but I felt like the facts didn't really tie into a narrative very well and I was left without a real take-away.  I guess just because you were a famous person, doesn't mean that your life had a distinct take-away, though, does it?

No recommended.

A time travel story that holds together with beautiful prose, family history, and story with surprising depth, this was just a delightful read that surprised me with hoe much I liked it.  Recommended for even early chapter book readers, it is heartwarming and sophisticated.  Loved it. It would make a great Battle of the Books book, too.

​Recommend.

It is very difficult to say anything about this book without spoiling it for folks.  Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed the story, with themes of the supernatural woven in with family heartbreak and a murder-mystery to boot.  It is cleverly written, but not in such as way that the cleverness distracts from the story.  Things just aren't what they seem, but not in the ways that you think you are being set up for. I also just really enjoyed the plot and the writing.

Recommend.

A book about mermaids and grandmothers, this is a lovely children's book that I could see being perfect for kids just starting chapter books and who like adventure and fantasy. I didn't think it had the depth to hold an independent adult audience, though, so it isn't recommended.

I have read several books now writing during the pandemic, but this is the first one that I have felt was solidly written.  This is a short novel about the heartache of aging alone, giving a baby up for adoption, and the mistakes that teens make that follow them their whole lives. It crams a lot in, while not rushing. The pandemic and stay-at-home order is a back-drop for strong, well-designed story. The isolation that leaves people vulnerable, the connections people are able to make, and the ways we can care about each other are woven into an intergenerational narrative that I found touching. There were several moments when I thought the story was headed in a predictable direction I was going to find, well, predictable, only to have it shift in ways that instead layered the storyline and developed the characters in ways I ended up appreciating.  

​Recommend.

This was a very basic history of mostly boxing, football, and track, none of which I have much interest in.  There was a section on women's tennis, but I felt like the treatment was superficial and there are much more detailed and interesting histories that deal with the issue of race in a much more sophisticated way.  Can I remember where I read Athena Gibson's story that was way better than this? No, but I can't, but I know there was a lot more to say about her story that was more in depth than what was here, so I have to assume that is true of the other topics.  It was just too much of a gloss over for my taste.

​No recommended.