What it is: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo is a story about Darling, a young Zimbabwean girl who has the opportunity to leave behind her poor, corrupt country to try to make a new life in the USA. It’s a tale of growing up, but Darling also has to acclimate to a new culture while…
What it is: Blues People by Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) details the history of blues, jazz, and other African-derived musical genres. He describes how culture and music affect each other, and the history of race relations in the United States via the interaction between African-influenced and European-influenced music. What I liked about it: Baraka does an excellent job of…
What it is: I Am No One You Know by Joyce Carol Oates is a collection of nineteen short stories surrounding the lives of women and girls encountering a whole range of human experiences from love to grief to danger. She reveals new understanding of humanity through mystery and intrigue. What I liked about it: If you’ve never…
What it is: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel is a graphic memoir that examines Bechdel’s childhood, especially her relationship with her father and her discovery and exploration of her sexuality. Almost everything in the graphic memoir, from people in Bechdel’s life to to the literature she reads, seems to parallel elements of her personality, making…
I cringe every time I see CNN on TV. It’s not entirely their fault. Too much of anything becomes intolerable after awhile, and I spent an entire semester scoffing at CNN’s headlines at breakfast. At 8am I’m already Not Having It, but add that to CNN’s unique brand of terribly repetitive journalism and it’s a recipe for contempt.…
What happens when you decide to do a roundup every 2-3 months and then forget until right before starting the April A to Z Challenge? You catch up of course! Here’s some of my best posts since December, in which I answer life’s burning questions: December 1. What happens when…gender influences your book choices? 2. What happens when…you put…
My long-term blog goals list looks something like this: Get Freshly Pressed. Attend a blogging conference. Turn blogging into a career. I’ve accomplished the first one (score) and the last one is highly improbable. The second is doable, but difficult. Mostly because I live in two places. For instance, WordPress is hosting a Press Publish conference in…
What it is: The Cleft by Doris Lessing is a novel about a Roman man who tells the story about the beginning of humanity, which consists of only women. They live communally and conceive babies through moonlight. Suddenly a baby boy is born, and eventually their society changes to establish, embrace, and struggle with gender roles. The…
I like to think that some day I’ll write a book. I have no idea what that book would be, but seeing my name in a bookstore would be absolutely amazing. In the meantime, I get to admire my blog friend Beth Teliho whose same dream of releasing a novel is coming true next month. If…
What it is: Cry No More by Linda Howard is a mystery/romance novel centered on Milla Edge, a woman whose six-week-old baby was violently torn from her in a Mexican open-air market. She dedicatedly spends the next ten years trying to find her son, Justin, which is both dangerous and difficult due to the smugglers’ conniving tricks…
Victim to Charm 