nothingforpomegranted's reviews
568 reviews

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

was removed from the Everand library, and it was hard to follow along. I think Aaron and I need to choose more snappy, memorable books to listen to together 

American Wings: Chicago's Pioneering Black Aviators and the Race for Equality in the Sky by Elizabeth Wein, Sherri L. Smith

adventurous informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

Apparently this was written for young adults, but I think it’s just a publisher’s gimmick. This was engaging, well-written, clear nonfiction about a group of devoted, patriotic Black aviators, determined to fly the skies and to serve their country. Wein and Smith review the history of Black military pilots with a particular focus on the four founders of the Challenger air program. Though I found it a bit challenging to follow along with each person’s arc, the overall story was clear and moving. I learned a lot about true pioneers, and I suspect that I will remember the names of Bessie Colman (the first black woman pilot) and Cornelius Coffey (one of the founders and a skilled auto mechanic). Though Johnny Robinson (who served in Ethiopia), Willa Brown (a dedicated teacher), and Janet Harmon (a nurse) may escape my memory, I enjoyed reading about them and especially appreciated the strong sense of patriotism demonstrated by these figures. Despite the challenges, difficulties, and discrimination that these pioneers faced, they still loved their country and wanted to serve their country. I hope that kind of patriotism can return to the spirit of American youth. 

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I absolutely loved this and can’t wait to read the next installment. Pippa was hilarious, and Cross had so much depth and love and passion and smolder! I laughed out loud more than once listening to Pippa’s antics, and Cross’s attempts to resist her were endearing. I loved that there was recognition in both of the characters, who resisted each other out of a sense of duty, not out of a denial of their true feelings for each other, and it helps that the steamy scenes were super steamy. 

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Another book where I was far more impressed by the premise than the actual book. I loved the grimy street life of London and the nightclub dynamics, but I don’t think the characters were well-developed enough to grip me. The connections between scenes and the attention to detail was thoughtful, but I found the digressions and repetitions to be overdone, and I just didn’t love the book overall. 

A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I love Sarah MacLean’s writing and the worlds that she builds, but while the set up here was excellent (with a lost childhood friendship turned into a marriage of convenience), I didn’t think the characters actually had the chemistry that they needed to have to make this story truly excellent. Nonetheless, the characters were fun, and I was happy for Penelope to get her own story after she was so jilted in the previous series. And this ended on a great note: the epilogue had me laughing out loud and immediately downloading the next book in the series. 

South by Frank Hurley, Fergus Fleming, Ernest Shackleton
Did not finish book. Stopped at 7%.

I have some regret that I don’t intend to continue reading this because so many of the reviews are five stars, citing the unbelievable story, as well as Shackleton’s surprisingly effective writing. However, as I listened to the narration that I got as an educator ALC from libro.fm, I’m just not actually that engaged or interested in Arctic exploration. I am sure that the story is fascinating, but I think I’d rather listen to an hour long podcast and read the wWikipedia article than listen to the 15 hours of Shackleton’s first-person account. 

Graham Greene by Percival Everett

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I’m just on a roll with reading Percival Everett’s short stories, and I’m looking forward to exploring the rest of his backlist.

This story was surprising and heartbreaking and so beautiful. As Levar Burton explained, he is a master of pulling the wool over our eyes and then letting the plot unravel. A 102-year-old woman shows an engineer a photograph of her son who she hasn’t seen in at least fifty years. The search feels like a wild goose chase, especially because no one even knew that Roberta had a son. Rather, they think the photograph looks like Native American actor Graham Greene or perhaps another actor. The engineer goes through the town and eventually returns to the home of Roberta, defeated and dismayed to have to tell her that he did not succeed just before she dies. Upon his return, Roberta is grateful and promptly identifies him with her son. She strokes his hand, and he declined to correct her misimpression. However, the true twist of the story occurs when the engineer exits the room to Roberta’s caretakers. He updates them on her response, and met with their surprise upon discovering his mission, they inform him that Roberta’s son died when he was a boy. The story ends there, leaving the reader to wonder what happened to this young boy, how Roberta coped, and who precisely was in the photograph of a 40-something year old man. 

This was beautiful written and sparse in just the right ways. Levar Burton’s narration was perfect, as always, and I look forward to reading more and listening to more!

Belle Greene by Alexandra Lapierre

adventurous challenging informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This was such a fascinating exploration of a fascinating character in history. I appreciated that the author classified this as a fiction book, though it seems highly researched and a mostly historical account. It always irks me when nonfiction pretends to know the inner thoughts of the characters, and this didn’t do that at all, despite the author’s clear research and assertion that most of the dialogue was based on letters from the characters. 

I decided to just accept this as a biography with invented dialogue rather than a novel, and that definitely had a positive impact on my rating. I was able to accept the paragraphs of straight information, just telling us about the characters rather than letting us get to know them. There was a lot of explanation in this for a novel, but as narrative nonfiction, it was excellent. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this, though it was certainly slow at points. 

Education Across Borders by Jalene Tamerat, Marie Lily Cerat, Patrick Sylvain

informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

This was very interesting, but definitely not what I was anticipating. I was hoping for an exploration of multicultural classrooms with insights from the teachers who have been successful in that context. While certainly there were references to the classroom (and I admire Sylvain and Tamerat for their role in the classroom and their commitment to their students), this was more of a history of Haitians in America. I learned about the waves of immigration, tensions with Dominicans, and the overlap and distinctions with African Americans. I appreciated the way that the authors placed Haitian immigrants in the context of American blackness and culture. The relevance of education is mostly in the fact that all of these adolescents go to school and experience the classroom, often racialized as Black, assumed to be English language learners, and assigned special education status.

The authors referenced several education authors I was familiar with, including Marc Lamont Hill, Thomas Delong, Jonathan Kozol, and several others. It was meaningful to have this put in conversation with other books I’ve read, even if those are not authors I’m intensely familiar with.

There were definitely interesting takeaways here about making connections with students and their families, and I loved how the authors clearly articulated the funds of knowledge that these students often come to school with, particularly with regard to family events, group dynamics, and planning. In addition, there were some important lines about the significance of support students’ bilingualism and creating opportunities for their success within an English speaking school environment, particularly emphasizing using student strengths for greater learning. I think this would have been significantly more relevant and beneficial to me if I were still teaching in New York. Because I am now teaching in Israel, this was mostly just an interesting summary of a subset of the American (urban) school system. 

Elements of this reminded me of…
Americanah - Black immigrant experience in Black America
Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire - commitment to the classroom and the  cultures of the students, willingness to do something different for student success, high expectations

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I expected to love this, but I just didn’t find myself enthralled with the characters or the story at any point. Florence Green decides to open a bookshop in Hardborough, England, despite the facts that no one seems particularly desirous of such a shop (in fact, some citizens are actively antagonistic) and that she herself seems to possess no real affinity for literature. Ultimately, the narrative just felt like I was reading about a grumpy town that had hit upon hard times and refused to embrace change or surprise.