Summer B Reading

 

I realized as we head into winter that I never did my follow up summer reading post. So, here you go 😉.

 

1.) Patsy (4/5) I found the protagonist Patsy maddening as she made choice after choice that made me want to reach through the book and shake her. The story is weaved between the locales of Jamaica and NYC. Jamaican born Patsy is hell bent on improving her life and pursuing love while grappling with the traditional role of  motherhoood.

2.) The Great Successor (4/5) Non-fiction account of North Korea and Kim Jong Un. This was a fascinating read. The author writes that every home, school, public building must have a picture of Kim Jong Il, which must be cleaned with a special cloth that is kept in a special box every day. I kid you not.

3.) Frankly in Love(4/5) I thought this was such a cute young adult story. The protagonist Frank Li(see what they did there) is a high school student trying to navigate his first love within the confines of his strict Korean household. This one was a fast read with some entertaining twists and turns and plenty of LOL passages. The author David Yoon is married to Nicola Yoon who wrote The Sun Is Also a Star, which was another YA book that I loved. See my review of that one here.

4.) Never Let Me Go(4/5) This one was a tear jerker that stayed with me for weeks. See my full review here.

5.)Dig(3/5) I heard about this one on the podcast Fully Booked. This story was a little different but I liked it. It had magical realism and characters with names like The Freak and The Shoveler. Five teenagers through a series of flashbacks tackle their complicated family history.

6.) Augustown(4/5)  The story is set in Jamaica. Through part parable and part magical realism Miller tells a story that addresses the universal clash between those who have, those who have not, and those who benefit from exploiting that struggle. This is my second book by the author Kei Miller and I liked this one just as much as the first one The Last Warner Woman.

 

On one of the blogs I read the blogger always gives links to interesting articles they have read. I’ve decided to start doing that too. Here’s an interesting article on an investigation into the death of an inmate from The New York Times.  Prison reform is one of the many things I’m interested in. This one about a family in India was mind blowing. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the articles.

Have a great week!

 

Stardate:190025.11