🍂NOVEMBER WRAP UP!🍂
Okay now, I want to warn you, before you continue on looking down at the many wonderful and that one shitty book that I read, I want to tell you that I know I had other books on my TBR for the month, but I'm going to be honest with you, when I started them, they bored me! They were either too info dumpy or were just plain old dry and I could not put myself through that. I read to enjoy! And when I pick up a nonfiction book, I do want to be educated but I do also have a certain way that I want my information. At least I know that when information is presented to me it will stick and can recall it later without a nasty taste, you know. Now this is not to say that later down the line I might change my mind and be open on how information is presented to me, but for right now I have narrowed my nonfiction to graphic novels and I have read some great ones this month. So without anymore blah, blah, blah from me, lets get to the books I read this month.
How to be Black- ⭐⭐⭐.5
I had this both in physical format and in audiobook form, and I think it is best listen to than read. Mainly because you get a better sense of who Baratunde Thurson is and the people on his Black Panel who narrate their parts in the book about what is to be black, grow up black, see blackness in America and what can come from it. There were moments when I gave a good laugh, the learning to swim part in particular, but all in all it was just okay. Being from DC myself and going to college on the Eastern Shore of MD, I understood and could recognize a lot of the things that Baratunde referencers when talking about his growing up in DC (I went to public schools though) And having a very hands on mother. Other than that while it was intelligent and written in a very non threatening format I think that both black people and non people of color could pick this up and get something from it. Not bad for my first nonfiction book in like years!
Origin- ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
The newest installment in the Robert Langdon series takes us to Spain. Where Robert has been invited to a presentation done by one of his former students. His former student, Edmond Kirsch, is about to give this highly anticipated presentation that may change the world as we know it in terms of religion and science and where they both will be in the future! Robert is thrown once again in this search for truth and takes us on this crazy ride in this 400+ page book that was so hard to out down when I should have been starting on my next nonfiction read, but I can't help myself. I know people have this serious love/hate relationship when it comes to Dan Brown books and I am strongly in the former. Like pervious books in the Robert Langdon series this book is takes us on a grand adventure through Spain with tons of history references, religious references, scientific revolutions and how all three can be seen in the history of Spain. Brown paints a very beautiful picture. Reminding us to keep two questions in mind: where did we come from? And where are we going? The clash of science and religion in this book is so great, I highly recommend it.
Born A Crime-⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
For my second book I decided to pick up the audio book of Born a Crime, and I was not disappointed! Hearing what is it like growing up as a colored child in South Africa right from Trevor Noah's mouth was hi-lar-ious! I really enjoyed hearing about his life and I definitely see him in a new light. Yes, I knew he was South African and a comedian, but listening to him tell his tale gave me a new light to see him in. Being so light skinned that he was mistaken as a rap star and his relationship with his mother was everything. I really love his mother and how she thought of the world around them and how she passed those traits to her son. I think his mother was the second BEST part of this entire book, first being him and his crazy adolescent ways.
Hostage-⭐⭐⭐⭐
I think I have found a way of reading nonfiction that I really enjoy. In comic form a lot of the little things can be placed in the fames and just the words of our protagonist can shine. In this huge (400+ page) comic we follow a man by the name of Christophe André who is kidnapped one day and this is his story of the three months that he was taken from his job in the middle of the night and kept chained to a radiator. I didn't think a large book like this could keep my interest, but I was wrong, read this one in one day and I was instantly captured in his story and seeing how this was going to end. Very good. Wasn't on my TBR for nonfiction, but it was a great nonfiction pickup.
Black Like Me- ⭐
I once found this book, years ago amongst my mothers things and it has always been in the back of my mind. Like why would a white man wear blackface (he took pills and sat under uv rays to change the pigmentation of his skin) and live a second class citizen in a land where he his treated normally like a "king" all in form of "research" during a high point of racial distrust in the Deep South of 1959. Another thing that kind of grinds my gears is the fact the black people he has been coming into contact with don't IMMEDIATELY don't see John Griffin as a white man in disguise! I don't know about you or where you grew up or what people you might have been exposed to Dear Reader, but when I tell you I have always felt as a black person that I can always tell when someone was of color or not. So obviously I think that his "research" and his "interactions" with black folks (which a lot took place at night) weren't all the way true, I just don't think they were the full recollections. This book was trash to me, a fast read that only took me a couple of hours but I definitely didn't care for it though. It's being deleted from my kindle.
Lightning Men- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The second book in the Darktown series by Thomas Mullen was something that I just couldn't wait anymore to read and thank goodness my library came in the clutch again with the audio right
after I ordered the book in the mail. I read the first one was fast I knew this one wasn't going to disappoint me. This one deals with the smuggling in of both moonshine and marijuana, the KKK and its connection to the local APD and the fact that neighborhoods are starting to get their first black residents and some folks (the white residents) aren't having it. Of course we still have our two favorite protagonist Boggs and Smith has they go through the mean streets of Atlanta, trying to the best of their abilities to serve and protect. In this book some of the issues that I mentioned in at the start here hit home for both Boggs and Smith and even affect the relationship between the two. I really enjoyed this book and I hope more are to come in this series.
Who Fears Death- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is the 1st book in the Who Fears Death series and this one was a hard read. And hard to read in the fact of all the violence against women that takes place in this book. I mean really. Onyesonwu, our heroine, and her friends are set on this crazy life threatening journey to save their people. This book reminds me so much of the Akata Witch series by Dr. Okorafor but way more ADULT. Sex, female circumcision, rape, the children of rape, it's all in here. So readers beware. I personally liked The Book of Phoenix and thought that it was the better of the two books.
Ready Player One-⭐⭐⭐⭐
Okay so I am a child of the 80's and I am a fan of the 80's. The movies, the music and even some of the fashion. So I'm not even going to get into the fact that some of the things talked about in this book just give me such joy. With that said, I will say is that reading/listening to this book was great experience. I really enjoyed Will Wheaton's narration and I highly recommend it if you decide to pick this up. So let me tell a little about the book, this famous computer programer/game creator named Halliday has died and has left his WHOLE inheritance up for grabs, but it's hidden in the OASIS, in which he has invented (it's this virtual reality that everyone on the planet lives in pretty much). Now enters Wade Watts, a "normal" teenager who happens to be obsessed with Halliday and all his creations and for the past five years after his death has taken up he mantle of finding Halliday's lost inheritance (him and like hundreds of other gunters). With the help of his friends he goes on this mission to find the egg, he of course comes up against this evil corporation, the IOI, who want the money and the power to control people and make this virtual world payable to them, more than it already is. This book was such a fun ride and I can't wait to see this in theaters next year. I just hope it does it justice. Please pick it up, it's a fun read.
Andre The Giant, Life And Legend- ⭐⭐.5
This graphic novel was set up pretty strange in the fact that it wasn't in chronological order it jumped forward a lot, almost would seem like a highlight reel of Andre the Giants life in the ring and outside the ring. Starting from where he was treated like crap in his village by his neighbors due to his size to fixing a car that broken down, carrying a box up several flights of stairs as a moving man and then poof his a wrestler (all of this in the first 36 pages of the book). Then it goes on to regale us with the other moments of Andre's life from his travels in Japan and his wrestling there to his bouts in America. One cool thing that I learned while reading this was in 1976 he fought a boxer by the name of Chuck "The Bayonne Brawler" Wepner, and while Andre was under the impression that it was all fun and games, no one told Chuck! Just to keep his reactions "real". This whole match was then recreated in Rocky III, where Chuck is played by Rocky and Andre is played by Hulk Hogan. I had no idea that this came from real life and I thought it was pretty cool I love the Rocky movies. All in all, I didn't think it gave me enough information on the man to really tell me who he was. There's a part in the very beginning by Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea where he tell us that Andre was a sweet man but people thought he was mean by the way he treated them but giving the excuse that his a GIANT in a world where things aren't meant/built from him and that we should give him some slack was kind of a copout to me. eh.
Relish: My Life In The Kitchen-⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is definitely my second favorite #nonfictionNovember read of the month! I wasn't expecting to enjoy this graphic memoir as much as I did. I didn't know what to expect when I picked this up beside the bit of information that I got from its Goodreads page, a memoir about Lucy's life growing up with two parents who are really, really, really into good food. Her mom being a chef, Lucy really took to everything her mother taught her and pretty much walked right in her footsteps and found that a lot of her most wonderful memories all center around food and she decided to share that experience with us in this graphic novel. And I really liked it. I mean really. The coloring, the art style and especially loved the fact that there were step-by-step instructions on how to make some of her most delicious dishes such as chia tea, chocolate chip cookies, sangria, pesto, and more. Unlike the past two nonfiction graphic novels I have picked up this on was more "wordy" but I think to get the feel of Lucy's story it would have done it a grave injustice to use less words. Yes, a big yes. I'm actually planning on getting this to add to my shelves. And I also plan on reading some of her other graphic novel memoirs too. If you haven't picked up Relish, I would suggest that you do.
The Devotion of Suspect X-⭐⭐⭐.5
I'm not entirely sure where I found out about this book, but the keywords that set off my interest bells were: mystery and Japan. Sold! I haven't read many books that take place in Japan with a Japanese protagonist so I was very happy to once again catch this at my library. What I will say about this story is that it's very slow but it builds in a way that makes you want to keep reading to see what is going to happen. So a single woman living with her daughter working at the local sandwich shop has this no-good ex-husband who just won't let them be and one day he comes to their home and instead of just taking the money and leaving he ends up dead. An overhearing neighbor hears the commotion and after the deed has been done insists on helping the woman and her daughter. And now this is where the game begins, this slow churning cat and mouse game with the police who are pretty sure they know who did it, but finding the connection seems to be a never ending search. I liked the take on this book and I think that why I rated it so highly.
John Leguizamo: Ghetto Klown- ⭐⭐⭐
I have always thought that John Leguizamo was a funny guy, he has stared in some of my all time favorite movies so when I was walking through the stacks of my library and found his autobiography I knew I had to pick it up. Who knew? What I will say that I liked about it was the fact that it was John from Johns POV without it being too jokey, which I liked most about it. This is John, you can tell, at his most honest state about is life. When he was down, when he was out of work when his relationships with his family, friends and significant others weren't doing so well and how all these things turned into stand-up gold. And realizing what he had to do in this world to complete himself as a man. The style of drawing (done by Christa Cassano and Shamus Beyale) and the coloring that was used in this graphic novel were very well done. The whole thing is done in these beautiful shades and hues of blue. If you're a fan of John Leguziamo and even want a bit of advice from a guy who felt lost at one point and watch the steps he took to "find himself" again I would suggest reading his autobiography.
The Boxer: The True Story of Holocaust Survivor Harry Haft-⭐⭐⭐⭐
I had never heard to Harry Haft, but I'm glad I read his story. Harry, then known as Hertzko Haft, was 16 years old on the eve of his wedding when he inadvertently took the place of his older brother in line when the Nazi had occupied his town of Belchatow, Poland in 1939. The Nazi where setting up "registrations" tables but when it got to Hertzko that he would never see his brother again, he ran to him made a distraction and was taken instead. From then on it's a story of survival for Haft, where he is taken place to place in cattle cars and then by foot with other prisoners to various camps and it's not until he is assigned to Canada Commando and he meets a German SS soldier by the name of Schneider who tells Haft that to save him, he must do as he says and becomes a boxer and entertain the officers and soldier that run the camps. We follow his story told by his son Allen from the concentration camps to America where he still boxed in hopes of finding his estranged love, Leah. This was a such a good story and I'm very happy that I read it.
Come back tomorrow to check out what I'll be reading for December, spoiler alert: it's going to be 10 books. I need to read 10 books in December to make my Goodreads goal. I have some good ones picked out. And I have some last goals to get check off. Till then laters, and thanks for reading.
I'm not entirely sure where I found out about this book, but the keywords that set off my interest bells were: mystery and Japan. Sold! I haven't read many books that take place in Japan with a Japanese protagonist so I was very happy to once again catch this at my library. What I will say about this story is that it's very slow but it builds in a way that makes you want to keep reading to see what is going to happen. So a single woman living with her daughter working at the local sandwich shop has this no-good ex-husband who just won't let them be and one day he comes to their home and instead of just taking the money and leaving he ends up dead. An overhearing neighbor hears the commotion and after the deed has been done insists on helping the woman and her daughter. And now this is where the game begins, this slow churning cat and mouse game with the police who are pretty sure they know who did it, but finding the connection seems to be a never ending search. I liked the take on this book and I think that why I rated it so highly.
John Leguizamo: Ghetto Klown- ⭐⭐⭐
I have always thought that John Leguizamo was a funny guy, he has stared in some of my all time favorite movies so when I was walking through the stacks of my library and found his autobiography I knew I had to pick it up. Who knew? What I will say that I liked about it was the fact that it was John from Johns POV without it being too jokey, which I liked most about it. This is John, you can tell, at his most honest state about is life. When he was down, when he was out of work when his relationships with his family, friends and significant others weren't doing so well and how all these things turned into stand-up gold. And realizing what he had to do in this world to complete himself as a man. The style of drawing (done by Christa Cassano and Shamus Beyale) and the coloring that was used in this graphic novel were very well done. The whole thing is done in these beautiful shades and hues of blue. If you're a fan of John Leguziamo and even want a bit of advice from a guy who felt lost at one point and watch the steps he took to "find himself" again I would suggest reading his autobiography.
I had never heard to Harry Haft, but I'm glad I read his story. Harry, then known as Hertzko Haft, was 16 years old on the eve of his wedding when he inadvertently took the place of his older brother in line when the Nazi had occupied his town of Belchatow, Poland in 1939. The Nazi where setting up "registrations" tables but when it got to Hertzko that he would never see his brother again, he ran to him made a distraction and was taken instead. From then on it's a story of survival for Haft, where he is taken place to place in cattle cars and then by foot with other prisoners to various camps and it's not until he is assigned to Canada Commando and he meets a German SS soldier by the name of Schneider who tells Haft that to save him, he must do as he says and becomes a boxer and entertain the officers and soldier that run the camps. We follow his story told by his son Allen from the concentration camps to America where he still boxed in hopes of finding his estranged love, Leah. This was a such a good story and I'm very happy that I read it.
Loving Donovan-⭐⭐⭐⭐
I read this book over Thanksgiving break and just like many of Ms. McFaddens books, it took no time for me to get into this story and start to care for the characters and the struggles that they go through. So Loving Donovan follows two characters one named Campbell and the other named Donovan. You follow these two people from childhood, through all the twists and turns of their own personal broken family lives all the way till they have a chance meeting and fall in love. That's all I can say, it's a pretty short book, coming in at about 230 pages. But once its over you'll wish there was more. I know I did. It's a heartbreaking tale.
Strange Weather -⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
This collection of four short novels by one of my favorite writers. Since there are four things to talk about I'll just give you what I thought of each story, but I don't want to give too much away, I feel its better to get very little about the book before starting them so you'll be more surprised by how crazy they all are.
The first story, Snapshot deals with this crazy camera, The Polaroid Man, and a young boy by the name of Michael Figlione. Taking place in the summer of 1988 this story takes place all in one day and is a crazy ride I loved the details of the story and it made me think of persons suffering from Alzheimer or dementia in a different way. (I gave it 4 stars)
Loaded, the second story, was probably my favorite of the two, this one deals with a man named Kellaway who's a racist gun totting mall security guard, who's pretty much down on his luck. His wife is about to divorce him, there's a restraining order placed against him and one morning at the opening of the mall shots are fired and five people are dead and Kellaway is the only one left standing. Okay no more, I can't say anymore, but it was just so good, I had to make sure I did all my adulting before I could sit and finally enjoy this story all the way through. (I gave it 5 stars)
Aloft, the third story was just okay, it's about a man named Aubrey his experience in the clouds. The story begins with him and his three friends about to jump out of this airplane to go tandem skydiving after the death of a friend. But while up in the plane, about to jump out something happens to the plane and Aubrey and his friends are forced out sooner than expected and on the way down something crazy happens within the clouds. I think they ending of the story is what saved it in my eyes. ( I gave it 3.5 stars)
And Rain, the last and final of the short stories, narrated by my favorite, Kate Mulgrew, and to be honest I think her narration kicked it up a notch for me. So we follow Honeysuckle Speck on the day in which everything changed for her. What started out sounding like any normal summer rain storm turns out to be more like a rain storm of small needles falling down from the sky killing friends and neighbors alike. That's all I really want to give about the happening of the story, too much and it would give it all away. Just know it's a great read. (I gave it 5 stars)
All in all I really liked this collection of short novels/novellas/stories and I'm glad I didn't wait till his next book was announced to pick it up and enjoy.
This collection of four short novels by one of my favorite writers. Since there are four things to talk about I'll just give you what I thought of each story, but I don't want to give too much away, I feel its better to get very little about the book before starting them so you'll be more surprised by how crazy they all are.
The first story, Snapshot deals with this crazy camera, The Polaroid Man, and a young boy by the name of Michael Figlione. Taking place in the summer of 1988 this story takes place all in one day and is a crazy ride I loved the details of the story and it made me think of persons suffering from Alzheimer or dementia in a different way. (I gave it 4 stars)
Loaded, the second story, was probably my favorite of the two, this one deals with a man named Kellaway who's a racist gun totting mall security guard, who's pretty much down on his luck. His wife is about to divorce him, there's a restraining order placed against him and one morning at the opening of the mall shots are fired and five people are dead and Kellaway is the only one left standing. Okay no more, I can't say anymore, but it was just so good, I had to make sure I did all my adulting before I could sit and finally enjoy this story all the way through. (I gave it 5 stars)
Aloft, the third story was just okay, it's about a man named Aubrey his experience in the clouds. The story begins with him and his three friends about to jump out of this airplane to go tandem skydiving after the death of a friend. But while up in the plane, about to jump out something happens to the plane and Aubrey and his friends are forced out sooner than expected and on the way down something crazy happens within the clouds. I think they ending of the story is what saved it in my eyes. ( I gave it 3.5 stars)
And Rain, the last and final of the short stories, narrated by my favorite, Kate Mulgrew, and to be honest I think her narration kicked it up a notch for me. So we follow Honeysuckle Speck on the day in which everything changed for her. What started out sounding like any normal summer rain storm turns out to be more like a rain storm of small needles falling down from the sky killing friends and neighbors alike. That's all I really want to give about the happening of the story, too much and it would give it all away. Just know it's a great read. (I gave it 5 stars)
All in all I really liked this collection of short novels/novellas/stories and I'm glad I didn't wait till his next book was announced to pick it up and enjoy.
So while I might not have read all the nonfiction books that I had originally on my TBR for the month, but I am happy to have finally figured out how I like to digest my nonfiction. In graphic form I can really get a better sense of what the storyteller is really tying to show me. I can literally see the picture they are trying to paint and I can definitely get behind that. I already have in my mind some other nonfiction graphic novels in my mind for next November. So I would say that this was a success. If you participated in #nonfictionnovember what was your favorite read of the month and why?
Come back tomorrow to check out what I'll be reading for December, spoiler alert: it's going to be 10 books. I need to read 10 books in December to make my Goodreads goal. I have some good ones picked out. And I have some last goals to get check off. Till then laters, and thanks for reading.
PEACE ✌
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