4 Stars. I try hard not to get political in my reviews, though if you look back through the books I read, you’ll get at least a sense of my political leanings. It’s impossible to review this book without discussing politics though, so bear with me. I wish all the politicians who love to speak so loudly and [...]
4 Stars. There’s a lot going on here as John Lewis transitions his life story from March to Run. The Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act were finally passed at the end of March: Book Three but that doesn’t mean that the struggle is over. The book feels a little chaotic to me but it’s about a chaotic [...]
4.5 Stars. I haven’t yet read Mr. Lewis’s more traditional autobiographies for comparison, but actually seeing the hate and the violence confronting people who just want to be treated like full citizens of their country with equal rights in these graphic memoirs is so powerful. What struck me most as I read [...]
5 Stars. Sometimes it feels that everyone has strong opinions about Israel and the Middle East. Given the current war, I found myself forming my own strong opinions even though I knew practically nothing about the modern history of Israel and its relations with the Palestinians and surrounding [...]
4 Stars. I've always liked Ari Shapiro on NPR so I was excited to read his memoir when I saw it. I was listening to a very long audiobook at the time so I decided to read The Best Strangers in the World in print, but I would hazard to guess that the audio is even better. I truly enjoyed reading [...]
5 Stars. I just need to say that this book was fantastic. It's hefty, coming in at 518 pages, but there's even more to to chew over and unpack than meets the eye. It's written in three parts (because of course a book about wishes would be written in three parts) and each takes a slightly different approach [...]
4 Stars. Rex Ogle’s mother and stepfather physically and emotionally abused him when he was a child. In his second memoir, Punching Bag, he describes unimaginable incidents that are a terrible reality for far too many children. An alcoholic stepfather who continues the cycle of abuse that he experienced as a child himself [...]
4 Stars. I find this review hard to write for some reason but I just found my notes so I’m going to basically just list my bullet point thoughts. The description of the beating death of Vincent Chin gave me nightmares. It felt too graphic (And as I write this I’m hip deep in my annual monthlong horror fest, so I’m not exactly a [...]
4 Stars. Glenn Burke played in the 1977 World Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also invented the high five that season. He wasn't out to the public at that point, but he was also the first openly gay player in Major League Baseball. He was a man who lived his life out loud. When he was angry, everyone around him knew it [...]
4 Stars. I honestly expected to find more hard facts in the book than I did. But Dr. Hall addresses that. Even when she found records of revolts led by women, they rarely contained more than a first name. So she decided to make “measured use of historical imagination” and fill in the gaps. That’s fair enough, especially since [...]