QUICK REVIEWS pt. XIIII

 Hello my lovely readers!

After a slowwwww August, I've been reading, reading, reading! Here's some quick reviews (already!) Let's get into it.

Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers and their Children since WWII by Daniel Rivers
Beginning in the postwar era, a period marked by both intense repression and dynamic change for lesbians and gay men, Rivers argues that by forging new kinds of family and childrearing relations, gay and lesbian parents have successfully challenged legal and cultural definitions of family as heterosexual.

*This was super informative and opened by eyes to a part of U.S. history that I knew nothing about. I do wish that it followed a few families all the way through from the initial coming out to where they and their children are now. 3 out of 5 stars.

Just to Be With You by Sheryl Lister
Terrence "Monte" Campbell has been hurt by women seeking his wealth and celebrity instead of the man he truly is. So music is his only passion, until he meets Janae. He struggles to maintain emotional distance, but her tender sensuality and caring ways tempt Terrence as no other before. And one sizzling night, they both give in to their desires and explore all of the erotic promises between them. Is Janae really the one for Terrence, or just another disappointment waiting to happen?

*This book was a complete waste of my time. Thank goodness I finished it quickly! It was repetitive, had no buildup, the pace was incredibly rushed and the characters all sounded the same. 2 out of 5 stars.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

 

Hello my lovely readers! After a rough August, I'm finally coming out of the fog and reading more! Funny that even in a "low" reading month, I was still able to get through eight books LOL Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory.

Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late.

QUICK REVIEWS pt XIII

Hello my lovely readers! It's time for some quick reviews! Let's get into it.

The Revelation of Dionne Daphne by Mara Brock Akil
On the outside, Dionne Daphne had it all: being the beauty editor at a prestigious New York magazine, a boyfriend who could have been plucked out of its model pages, the social life of the upper echelon, and a girlhood steeped in debutant balls. But when her ex-boyfriend returns and delivers life-threatening news, her life falls apart and unearths deep seated secrets.

*This was a HEAVY read. But the author does a great job at making it digestible. (I mean...come on, it's Mara!) 3 out of 5 stars.

They Stole a City by Lauren Collins
In this ambitious and groundbreaking history, Lauren Collins weaves together stories of four Wilmington, North Carolina, families over 125 years to create a full accounting of the long-term effects of the 1898 white supremacist massacre and coup and its critical role in subverting American democracy.

*This was an excellent read that follows up on the aftermath of 1898. It was incredibly well done and a great "sequel" to Wilmington's Lie. Deducted a star for censoring the word "nigger" in historical context. 4 out of 5 stars.

Up All Night: A World History of Nightlife by Imogen Willetts

Hello my lovely readers! This was a fun read! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
There is a specific energy to a Saturday night. Cafés and shops close their shutters. Market traders dismantle their wares. “The air begins to tingle”, as John Dos Passos wrote about ’20s New York. “If you drink enough, talk enough, walk far enough, the train of magical events will begin.”

Nightlife began in the 17th century, when Edo and London built commercial environments designed for after-dark hedonism. Since then, nightlife has been at the frontier of popular culture and self-expression. It has defined cities and generations, bred moral panics and iconic countercultures, and gone from demimonde to global phenomenon, yet its sweeping history has been left untold.

Up All Night provides a guided tour of history’s most captivating nights out—from the luxurious pleasure quarters of samurai-era Japan to the saloons of turn-of-the-century New Orleans and the speakeasies of twenties Harlem. Whisking readers through underground dives, mega-clubs, raves and experimental cabarets, cultural historian Imogen Willetts takes us behind the velvet rope of history's hottest nightspots to show how they changed the world around us.

City of Widows by Nadia Hashimi

 

Hello my lovely readers! This was an anticipated read for me, so I'm glad I finally got my hands on this! Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS

In February 2020 the US began to withdraw troops from Afghanistan after nearly twenty years of occupation. A whole generation of Afghan women had been born during that time—women who had grown up in relative peace, gone to school, entered the professions, even served in the army and Parliament. The women of Afghanistan watched as the Taliban filled the streets again. They knew everything was about to change.

In the bustling, cosmopolitan city of Kabul, women are TV newscasters, shop owners, doctors, teachers, lawyers, even soldiers. They include Marjan, who fought with the Afghan army, and will risk everything to keep her daughter Hawa safe. In her earlier days Marjan was called Rahima and had lived the life of a bacha posh—a girl raised as a boy until she came of age. Forced into an early marriage, Rahima took the name Marjan when she fled her warlord husband. She’s created a whole new life for herself, one she will not give up easily.

So has Soraya, who defiantly wore red lipstick as she led the army’s all-female combat force over the objections of her upper-class family. Soraya’s now a wanted woman whose brother may choose not to shelter her from the Taliban. What will become of her? Or Mina, a journalist and broadcaster whose beautiful face is known to everyone in Kabul—including the new regime?

Fight or flight? Or find a third way? One thing is for certain: none of these women will meekly accept her fate.

Waist Deep by Linea Maja Ernst

Hello my lovely readers! Ever read a book that sounded PERFECT but then was complete let down? Yup, that's this book for me. Let's get into it. 

SYNOPSIS
Five friends from university; seven summer days in a cabin in rural Denmark. A chance to swim, sunbathe, flirt, read and mess around like in the old days.

At least that’s what Sylvia had hoped. But when her friends arrive with real jobs, kids and partners, Sylvia is left wondering what happened to the radical ways of living they embraced at university. Worse, Esben and Karen announce their plan to get married at the end of the week, striking a blow to Sylvia’s simmering, decades-long crush on Esben – a crush that her monogamous girlfriend Charlie would definitely not approve of.

Whilst the group swim, sunbathe, cook and flirt their way to midsummer night, desire and anxiety swirl in equal measure. As the wedding day approaches, will they achieve their arcadian dreams or will everything come tumbling down?

The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray

 

Hello my lovely readers! It's been a SLOWWWW month, reading wise. This is actually my first book completed this month (I finished the Frederick Douglass bio at the end of July). Let's get into it.

SYNOPSIS
From her breakout role as a teen actor on the cult TV show Skins, to critically acclaimed movies, to the smash hit Game of Thrones, Hannah Murray built a career in Hollywood cracking open her own psychological foundations and pushing her body to its limits. But one day, the line between make-believe and reality disappeared, and she found herself confined to a psych ward, dangerously in love with the leader of a shadowy wellness organization, and believing in magic. How she got there—and how she managed to rebuild her life—is the heart of this gripping, powerful memoir that asks: How far would you go to find enlightenment?

For Hannah, it was deceptively easy to fall down the rabbit hole. As she struggled with her mental health, she sought help in the form of wellness and self-care. After an eye-opening session with an energy healer, Hannah was introduced to an organization that she was told would bring her further spiritual rewards. Enthralled by its charismatic leader and his teachings of a world filled with magic and meaning, Hannah found herself sucked into a rigorous practice involving high control and financial outlay. And as her sense of reality began to slip, eventually resulting in her hospitalization and diagnosis with bipolar disorder, she realized she had fully ceded control of her life to this mysterious organization. And, she thought, as she reckoned with the Hollywood career that conditioned her to give her body and soul over to others, maybe she’d been doing that her whole life.