This is an evocative essay on the importance of changing culture to treat men and women equally. Based on a TedTalk by the author, it's a short, sharpThis is an evocative essay on the importance of changing culture to treat men and women equally. Based on a TedTalk by the author, it's a short, sharp witted, amazing read....more
I listened to the audiobook which was read by the author. Michelle Obama writes beautifully about her upbringing in south Chicago and how she became tI listened to the audiobook which was read by the author. Michelle Obama writes beautifully about her upbringing in south Chicago and how she became the woman she is today, as well as about her experience as the wife of the president. It's fascinating to see this from her view rather than his or the view of some other third person writer....more
Every one should read this book. Especially, white people. So many white people don't have a clue what people of color are going through. This book giEvery one should read this book. Especially, white people. So many white people don't have a clue what people of color are going through. This book gives a realistic glimpse into the lives of a teenaged girl growing up in the 'hood. Complicated family relationships, gang warfare, the cognitive dissonance of going to school in the white neighborhood and living in the black neighborhood, police shootings, police brutality, love and hate, and multigenerational families. It's all there. Well written, beautifully imagined, and entertaining while schooling the reader about race relations and life.
I listened to the audiobook on Audible. The narrator, Bahni Turpin, delivers an excellent performance....more
Fascinating and intricate story of how the lives of diverse and different people of all ages can become intertwined in life and death, happiness and sFascinating and intricate story of how the lives of diverse and different people of all ages can become intertwined in life and death, happiness and sorrow. How ordinary people experience extraordinary things and vice versa. Intimate characters and a variety of selfish and selfless motivations, including love and other obvious emotions, and the push and pull of race and class and privilege drive the story. I couldn't put it down.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Jennifer Lim, does a great job....more
Everything I've read by Kowal has been fantastic and this book is no exception. I'm looking forward to the sequel!Everything I've read by Kowal has been fantastic and this book is no exception. I'm looking forward to the sequel!...more
A very enjoyable ittle novemlla highlighting two of the less major characters in the Vorkosiverse and set in the Vorkosigan district.
Of course, it's mA very enjoyable ittle novemlla highlighting two of the less major characters in the Vorkosiverse and set in the Vorkosigan district.
Of course, it's much too short, but it is a fun read. It's nice to see Ekaterin standing a bit more on her own and to learn a bit more about Dr. Borgos' character.
I read this on the Kindle and I believe it isonly available as an ebook so far....more
A beautiful story about how life events and choices weave our lives into multi-layered experiences and loves. Lonely people can find love. People who A beautiful story about how life events and choices weave our lives into multi-layered experiences and loves. Lonely people can find love. People who make mistakes can find redemption. Life goes on.
This book is full of references to other books, which makes it a book lover's book, for sure.
Read it.
The audiobook is narrated by Scott Brick, who is well known to anyone who listens to audiobooks as a supremely talented narrator.
Also by this author and a very good read: Young Jane Young...more
I admit, for the first few chapters I thought I was going to find this too depressing. However, it was insanely interesting, and occasionally heartbreI admit, for the first few chapters I thought I was going to find this too depressing. However, it was insanely interesting, and occasionally heartbreaking, and also eye-opening. As a southerner raised in the southern baptist tradition, the character of the missionary preacher father seemed very real, especially for the setting.
I know nothing about the Congo but it seemed to come alive in the narrative, which was amazing. The way the narrator rotates among the women is fascinating and occasionally hilarious as the differing personalities and perspectives can be a hoot.
This is really a 4.5 at least. Not quite a 5 because of the slow depressing start (to me, at least).
I listened to this book via audible. The narrator, Dean Robinson, does an exemplary job. Her differentiating voices for all the women are spot on and her male voices sound male.
I can't remember who recommended this to me but THANKS! ...more
Fascinating science fiction on a planet other than earth but colonized by humans from earth. This place has power in nature that some humans can wieldFascinating science fiction on a planet other than earth but colonized by humans from earth. This place has power in nature that some humans can wield and that also seems to make creatures evolve much faster than usual. It's sort of a science fiction meets fantasy and swords with magic and aliens sort of thing. It's much better than that sounds, though.
I'm giving it four stars only because the world building in the beginning takes so long that it seems the story is dragging, but it's just getting going. The different subplots do eventually come together and make sense. The story is complex and gripping. The characters get more interesting and more complicated and interrelated. It's all good. Well worth reading. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy.
I listened to this audiobook via Audible and the narrator is very good....more
I started this book but it just gave me anxiety so I didn't complete it. I can't imagine a child who has a control freak parent reading this book withI started this book but it just gave me anxiety so I didn't complete it. I can't imagine a child who has a control freak parent reading this book without increased anxiety, either....more
This is an epic tale of another world, where humans and non-humans are living in a more or less post apocalyptic land of earthquakes and frequent seasThis is an epic tale of another world, where humans and non-humans are living in a more or less post apocalyptic land of earthquakes and frequent seasons of horribleness. Those who harness the power of the earth are both reviled and needed by the others. The multiple plots come together in a cool way in the end. It's mind blowing and also familiar, in an odd way. Wonderfully written and fantastically visualized.
I listened to this audiobook via audible and the narrator was very good....more
This is an original and interesting take on themes of alien invasion and human like aliens on another planet. The protagonists are the star high schooThis is an original and interesting take on themes of alien invasion and human like aliens on another planet. The protagonists are the star high school athlete and his tutor, the class brain, more or less. They come together to try to deal with incredible events overtaking them at rapid speed. Enter curious beings, some sort of androids, a private (domestic) army, and a smattering of scientists and medical doctors. It's pretty action packed, for sure.
I listened to the audiobook via my local (Orange Beach) awesome library and the narration is very good....more
This is a chronicle of the lives of the "radium girls," the young women who worked with radium paint to make the glowing dials of watches and militaryThis is a chronicle of the lives of the "radium girls," the young women who worked with radium paint to make the glowing dials of watches and military instruments starting in World War II. This book focuses on the women, and less so on the legal details (although they are included as part of the story) that have been discussed at length in other books. The women, their lives, dreams, family, and friends are presented as real as possible. It makes the manner of their deaths all the more gruesome to know them better as people, not just victims.
I listened to the audiobook via my local library. The narrator is good but the book feels really long because it's so sad to know they are doomed, but their lives are open and interesting, and the story of how they were victimized is important to share....more
This novel mixes time travel with social justice, feminism, and the treatment of the mentally ill. It mixes the story of a 37 year old Chicana woman lThis novel mixes time travel with social justice, feminism, and the treatment of the mentally ill. It mixes the story of a 37 year old Chicana woman living in New York and dealing with poverty, mental illness, mistreatment by relatives and others, ultimately ending up twice in a mental hospital... with a futuristic semi-utopian society 150 years or so into the future. Does Consuela visit the future? Is she just insane? You decide.
More importantly, the novel helps us think on issues of the subordination of women, the plight of the poor, the treatment and mistreatment of those in mental hospitals, side by side with what should a utopian future look like? Should it be beautifully natural and agrarian? Or should it be fantastically techno? And what should motherhood really be like and who should get to partake of it? So many interesting themes woven together uniquely in this book.
I listened to the audiobook version via my local library's Libby app, from Orange Beach, Alabama. The narrator was pretty good....more
So this is yet another in the young adult sci fi dystopia romance genre. Yes, that's a genre.
However, this is not run of the mill stuff! It's creativeSo this is yet another in the young adult sci fi dystopia romance genre. Yes, that's a genre.
However, this is not run of the mill stuff! It's creative and original, to begin, with a creepy setting that, for once, doesn't focus on a future in which only females are mistreated. It's more about how humans view themselves and how they are controlled by the government (in a new way from other books I've ready).
The protagonist is a young woman just about ready to go off to college, or what sort of is the equivalent in this scenario. She meets a nice young man, who is a bit different, and she's going through some family stuff that is not too unusual in general at this age, but is pretty funky in the context of this plot.
I don't want to give away the details because they are pretty cool, and you learn things bit by bit as you read. Just trust me that this is very readable, and is not silly YA stuff. In fact, it's so far some silly that I don't think it should be read by younger teens, only old teens, mainly because of the violence aspect.
I listened to this audiobook via my local public library's Libby app (Thank you, Orange Beach Public Library), and the narrator, Sarah Drew, is very good....more
So this is a creative mix of following this theatre professor through the upheaval of a year or so of her life, including her failing marriage to anotSo this is a creative mix of following this theatre professor through the upheaval of a year or so of her life, including her failing marriage to another theatre professor, her often very ill adult daughter, the drama of the daughter's upcoming marriage, meeting a new lover who is also in academia, interacting with the Amish community and other locals, and her mysterious and cranky mother in law. It's a cornucopia of all sorts of characters!
Because I am an academician, the academic angle is especially interesting to me and some of it is puzzling but it's also interesting. All of this is set against the mystery of the mother in law's possible past in world war two France, as well as the 2004 US presidential election. The election provides lots of funny and not so funny commentary that is quite timely given the 2016 election craziness.
It's an enjoyable read. I found the flashback bits to the mother in law's possible past a bit lengthy but otherwise it's interesting and well written and full of interesting characters and human emotions and interactions, and lots of family and midlife issues.
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