The Chill (2020) by Scott Carson was almost too creepy for me, but I couldn’t stop reading about a town, Galesburg, flooded by a dam that created the Chilewaukee Reservoir in upstate New York. The reservoir is part of the water supply system for New York City, and, as happened all over the country whenContinue reading “The Chill”
Category Archives: Weight-Neutral
Fevered Star
Fevered Star (2022) by Rebecca Roanhorse, is the sequel to Black Sun (which was one of the first reviews on this blog and a 2021 Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda Finalist!) and second book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy. I was anxiously awaiting its release so I could find out what happened after Serapio,Continue reading “Fevered Star”
The School For Good Mothers
The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (2022) is frightening because it is our world taken just one not-so-unlikely step further. Frida Liu is the 39-year old Chinese-American mother to Harriet, a toddler, and shares custody with her ex-husband, Gust, who had an affair with Susanna while Frida was still pregnant with Harriet. FridaContinue reading “The School For Good Mothers”
The Reading List
The Reading List (2021) by Sara Nisha Adams was lovely and heartbreaking at the same time. Set in London in Wembley, it follows widower Mukesh as he begins to try new things after the death of his beloved Naina; and young adult Aliesha who has just started working at the library, but isn’t sure it’sContinue reading “The Reading List”
News of the World
I had no previous knowledge about and didn’t know what to expect of News of the World (2016) by Paulette Jiles. My first clue was the inside cover map of 1870’s Texas and jacket description of an elderly former military man, Captain Jefferson Kidd, being asked to escort a young girl from the Indian TerritoryContinue reading “News of the World”
On the Come Up
The Hate U Give‘s author, Angie Thomas, has created an even more compelling protagonist, Bri, in On the Come Up (2019). Bri is a high schooler living with her mom and older brother, because her father, the locally-famous rapper Lawless, was killed by gang violence when she was little. She wants to rap, too, andContinue reading “On the Come Up”
Echo
Echo, a Newbery-winning middle grade novel by Pam Munoz Ryan (2015) tells the stories of three preteens–Friedrich in 1933 Germany; Mike in 1935 Pennsylvania; and Ivy, in 1942 Southern California–who are all connected by music and a harmonica that finds its way to each of them at just the right time. The stories are bracketedContinue reading “Echo”
Homegoing
I’ve had Homegoing (2016) by Yaa Gyasi on my t0-read list for a long while. It won many well-deserved literary awards, and when my book group chose Gyasi’s second novel, Transcendent Kingdom (2020), which I’ve already read, I decided that it was time. It’s set both in the former Gold Coast of Africa, now Ghana,Continue reading “Homegoing”
The City We Became
The City We Became by 3-time Hugo Award-winning N.K. Jemisin (2020) is like nothing I’ve read before. A black, gay, young adult, homeless street artist, creates “breathing holes” with spray paint for the City to exhale. He meets Paolo, who keeps talking to him in what he thinks are metaphors, how he needs to “listen”Continue reading “The City We Became”
Joan Is Okay
Joan Is Okay (pub. January 18, 2022) by Weike Wang, follows NYC resident, attending intensive care doctor Joan through the aftermath of the death of her father in China, and the weekend she took away from work to attend his funeral. It follows her through a forced bereavement leave, through the start of the coronavirusContinue reading “Joan Is Okay”
Reading While Fat 