An American Immigrant by Johanna Rojas Vann

 

I loved the story. I actually had to read this in three days because I had already renewed it twice from the library and it was due on a Monday. This was my weekend task. 

 Melanie Carvajal is at a crossroads in her life.  She has a big story to write for the newspaper she works for, but it may hurt people she love in her family and her culture. 

Growing up as a young girl with a mother who migrated from another country has always bothered Melanie.  She felt embarrassed especially when she was made fun of in school for having lunches that smelled different nor did she like the older car they owned. Having to help with school paperwork because her mothers’ English was limited didn’t make her feel proud to be from Columbia.  When she finds her mothers' journals and reads about her struggles, she begins to see her mother from a different perspective.   

She has a ten-year plan for her life but it’s not going the way she planned.  She is not realizing sometimes life is not so cut and dry.  We have to see beyond ourselves and when she has to make a “work” trip to Columbia, her perspective changes.

The back cover states this story was “inspired by real-life events”.

 

 

 

The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella

 

Sasha Worth is thirty-three and burned out already.  Her job is overloaded, she is overwhelmed and she considers joining a convent thinking life would be simpler.

She feels she cannot cope with life.  I will say that she doesn’t know how to tell people what she wants and doesn’t want. Not saying she is a pushover but from what I’ve seen, she kinda goes with the flow sometimes and then has all these ideas about what other people are thinking where she is totally off base.

So the story is going along rather smoothly.  A little too smoothly and there has to be a curveball somewhere here but there really isn’t.  I like Kinsellas’ writing.  I can usually breeze through her novels in a day or two – if I decide to do nothing else 😊.  Her characters have a quirkiness about them that we can sometimes see in ourselves.

I have read every single one of her novels, including the novels she writes in her own name, Margaret Wickham.

 

There There by Tommy Orange

Cast of characters:

Opal Viola Victoria Bear Shield  - Sister of Jacquie Red Feather and grandma to Orvil (14YO), Loother and Lony

Blue – daughter of Jacquie

Dene Oxendene – documentary filmmaker

Tony Loneman – works with Octavio

Octavio – drug dealer

The author is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma.  He was born and raised in Oakland, California.  He writes this novel in different POV’s and styles.  First person and third person.

The story starts with Tony remembering how he found out that his mother drank alcohol when she was pregnant with him and it shows on his face.  We meet the other characters, some who tell their story and the others narrated. In between the characters telling their story, a scheme is unfolding that will bring mostly all the characters in the same setting.

I love how the characters stories are intertwined.  I mention this quite a bit in other book journals.

I didn’t like the ending.  Did the families who were separated from each other get back together?   

This novel was recommended in some email but I also liked the book cover, orange background and two feathers.  The title was also intriguing to me. I took it as a feeling of sympathy as in “there, there, everything will be alright”.  But its referring to going somewhere, there, and realizing later on how things changed and what you had is no longer there. 

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

This 24-hour bookstore in California has members who borrow the same books in the same order. They are part of a society, The Unbroken Spine, that existed for over 500 years.  Members are trying to solve a mystery and when they do, they will be allowed to write their personal story for the society’s library.  Their story is not read until they die. 

Clay Jannon is the narrator and he is one of the workers in the store. When he realized that customers do not regularly visit the store, he begins an on-line ad campaign to attract paying customers. 

One of his tasks as a clerk in the store is to chart down notes on each member when they visit the store.  Mr. Penumbra wants to know what they were wearing, what their mood was, how they smelled, looked, etc.   When Clay discovers the members are borrowing the same books in the same order, he creates a visualization chart to try to find out what the reason is.  There is a mystery underfoot. The alleged mystery is supposed to be the answer to the secret of longevity. 

Clay enlists the help of Kat and another friend to help him solve this mystery.  

Kat works for Google and she acquired one of the coupons for the store. That’s how she met Clay and got involved. Clay goes on a wild adventue to New York to uncover the mystery of the store and the owner, Mr. Penumbra who disappears.

I thought this was a great mystery story involving a bookstore – albeit a kooky bookstore.    Wasn’t fond of the secret society, but I do like the way the author ended the story with a snap shot of what became of the main characters after the mystery was solved.  I would recommend this book.

The Mother of Black Hollywood by Jenifer Lewis

I’ve always liked her as an actress and now I feel like I know her as a person.  And yes, I felt she was always cast as somebodies mama.

She acts, she sings and she’s got that standing split locked down!

It was good to hear that she helps others, even in the writing of her book discussing her mental health issues. If she can talk about it and how she got help, perhaps someone reading this can decide to get help too!

I wish her all the best success in every area of life.

 

 

 

 

 

EARL - The Autobiography of DMX as told to Smokey D. Fontaine

Well written and insightful about Earl Simmons known to the public as rapper DMX.

DMX is telling his story and its raw and real.  It is good to hear that he helps others by visiting children in the hospital and bringing gifts for them.

He has come a long way and I pray the best for him and his family.

West of Rehoboth by Alexs D. Pate

Not what I thought this was about.  From looking at the title, I thought this may have been a Christian genre novel.

It’s about eleven-year old Edward “Eddie”Massey. He’s from a gang-infested neighborhood, but every summer he gets sent to his Aunt Edna in Delaware, Rehoboth Beach to be exact, so that he can live a quiet, smooth country life and be away from the negative elements back home.

This summer, he has his own mission. To discover the secrets of Uncle Rufus who lives in a shack on Edna’s property, is not allowed in Edna’s house/restaurant establishment and goes on drinking binges where the town children are scared of him.

A great story that delves into the heart of one lonely man and the young boy who may be the catalyst for change in his life.