Review: There There by Tommy Orange

There There by Tommy Orange
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

These narrators made Tommy Orange’s story come to life: Darrell Dennis, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Alma Ceurvo, and Kyla Garcia. I can’t imagine actually reading this story. At first, and for a long time, I couldn’t figure out if it were an anthology or all one story. I did feel it gave me a glimpse of Native American life nowadays. To say the least, it isn’t pleasant what these characters, and I would assume most American Indians might grapple with. We all are a product of our forebears, and our experiences bring us physically and emotionally. The more negative past makes the present more difficult to live with. Hence this story of several characters as they get ready to meet at the Pow Wow in Oakland.

I lowered my rating because I found it confusing to know who I was listening to. I think stopping the story to say Chapter so-in-so, then a character name helps the listener know more about what is happening to whom.

Still, if going into the story if you know what I mentioned above, it might be a better more cohesive story than how I perceived it. So I still highly recommend this book, especially the audiobook.

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Review: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Look, I didn’t hate it. It obviously kept my interest until that mild end. Yet, I just didn’t get into it like others I see in the reviews.

As I have said on reviews of other biographies/autobiographies, I don’t feel I can stand in judgment of another’s life and the viewpoints of their life. And this book was another example of a person’s life and perspective.

One of the things I like was the language the author used as she grew up. It was a bit confusing at first, especially on text-to-speech to hear the immature language of the author as a toddler mixed with the language of her area. And as she grew the language grew along with the history and cultural colloquialisms.

I was struck by how normal the author perceived it was to live in war zones or areas of gang wars. I know that must be how it is for anyone in these kinds of situations. That is their ‘normal’. So this was an educational piece for me.

Still, I find I am glad to move on to other books now. Thank you for recommending this to me. I hope everyone likes it better than I did.

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Review: Version Control by Dexter Palmer

Version Control by Dexter Palmer

I did not finish this book. Here are my comments at to why:
I must not be in the mind-set for this book. I found the main characters self-involved and boring and just couldn’t get into the story. I kept re-reading whole chapters trying to see what it was I was missing as I wanted to at least like or care for this story. But nope. Meh. Sorry. I know a lot of people loved it so it must just be me. I love time travel and ideas. But this seemed to want to comment about how how horrid the current generation of screen watchers had it all wrong and how previous generations settled. But what is left out is learning to love, even those we settle for. Think of other cultures where a mate is chosen for you. Love can be worked at and developed. That is true regardless of your method of meeting and connecting with people. I met my husband of 20 years online. But we were seeking more than friendships. The rest we worked at and developed. Technology is neither bad or good, nor should we judge those who use or don’t use said tech. It just is. A person is either worth my read or not according to where we are on our paths. And I cannot judge who is ahead on said path.

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Review: Wake Up, I’m Fat! by Camryn Manheim

Wake Up, I’m Fat! by Camryn Manheim

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

‘Camryn Manheim. Isn’t she the beautiful woman with all those earrings on that legal show?’ That’s what I thought a long time ago when I didn’t quite know who she was. She still remains the one I remember. The others were men or skinny minnies. They all look and acted the same. Not much has changed since in Hollywood’s movies and television. For someone that has a hard time differentiating faces of actors and actresses (remember how I told you I had a hard time with Rob and Jon on Game of Thrones?) Give me individuals! Ms. Manheim is a grand individual. I have tried to catch her on every show on the big screen or small. I was sorry to see her leave Ghost Whisperer. But then again I did love Aisha in the friend role. She, too, is unique. Both these two friends were more interesting that the overly sexed main actress.

So when my friend, Michele, offered to let me read this gem I was excited. A couple years later I have taken it off the shelf and actually read it. Sorry it took so long, Michele.

Now to the meat of this book. Fat. I’ve been skinny, I’ve been–well the size I am now. But I always felt fat. In my family were folks of all sizes so I felt accepted no matter what size I was. But go to the store and I often couldn’t find my size or the styles were ugly. The worst was when my daughter wanted to go shopping together. She didn’t inherit my size or anything else. We were at opposite ends of the rack. We rarely could find a store with both our sizes. But she liked the younger looks so I would get relegated looking at jewelry or standing around doing nothing. We stopped shopping together.

Camryn had it worse. Her chosen profession was into the world of men who only love skinny actresses. Her parents didn’t accept her. Well, don’t let me tell her story. See what one of us has gone through. Watch how she handles her life and grows. If you didn’t love her from the beginning like I did, hopefully, you will love her at the end of the book. Even more, this should be required reading for everyone who doesn’t shop Lane Bryants, or the flowered muumuus at the XX end of the rack. You think skinnies are the norm? They’re not. If you think telling the larger person to diet is going to change things, you are wrong. How about love. What happened to kindness and love?

By the way, the reason this book took me so long to read was the font size. I had to take it in bits. But those bits with a bookmark and bright light got me through. Still I would have liked the Kindle version better.

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Review: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Libraries, bookstores and friends (family) the true gold of this world. At least for me. Family fits in there, too, but to me, they are friends with common DNA. Just like books in the bookstore or library, a friend/family member is there to lend their uniqueness to your life. Gold.

I borrowed this book from the library. I was lucky that they had it in Kindle form and that text-to-speech was enabled. I think I will have to buy this book in Kindle form and see if there is an Audible version. That would make the book even more golden.

Thank you, my good friends, for recommending this book so highly. Though it fits none of my criteria for my reading goals of ‘books by women with strong female protagonist’, it still has a couple women that are smart and goal oriented. Still, it wouldn’t pass the Bechdel Test http://bechdeltest.com/.

Look, for many of you the title will dissuade you from reading the book. It, frankly, sounds dreary! But as I was telling my husband, it feels as intriguing as Da Vinci Code (sorry, I never read that one–not my kind of book). There are codes to solve and mysteries to unravel all against the background of San Francisco and New York. For me, the best part is that there is no blood and guts to worry about. Yet the story keeps you engaged, wondering what is going to happen next.

I would like to read it again. I look forward to the second book.

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