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okiecozyreader's reviews
1056 reviews
James by Percival Everett
adventurous
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
I think it would be 4.5 stars for me. I didn’t love it like a 5 star book but I think it is such an important look at a classic. I love how he took the pov of Jim from Huck Finn and made him into James, a runaway slave on this adventure, who we see as a full human being. I think if you like Huck Finn, you would love this even more. It has all of the great storytelling and adventure on the river, but with more modern storytelling. It’s interesting reading “classics” and seeing how they stand up to books we read today. Some do better than others.
“The boy was highly excited by the adventure of it all. I admired that, was envious of it, to tell the truth, to be able to feel that in a world without fear of being hanged to death, or worse.” Ch 10
“White people often spent time admiring their survival of one thing or another. I imagined it was because so often they had no need to survive, but only to live.” Ch 4
“IF ONE KNOWS hell as home, as home, then is returning to hell a homecoming? Even in hell, were there such a place, one would know where the fires were just a little cooler, where the rocks just a little less jagged.
And so it was in my hell.” Ch 5
“I wanted to feel the anger. I was befriending my anger, learning not only how to feel it, but perhaps how to use it.” Ch 6
“The boy was highly excited by the adventure of it all. I admired that, was envious of it, to tell the truth, to be able to feel that in a world without fear of being hanged to death, or worse.” Ch 10
“White people often spent time admiring their survival of one thing or another. I imagined it was because so often they had no need to survive, but only to live.” Ch 4
“IF ONE KNOWS hell as home, as home, then is returning to hell a homecoming? Even in hell, were there such a place, one would know where the fires were just a little cooler, where the rocks just a little less jagged.
And so it was in my hell.” Ch 5
“I wanted to feel the anger. I was befriending my anger, learning not only how to feel it, but perhaps how to use it.” Ch 6
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Slavery, and Violence
Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
KFM KFY was as twisty and good as everyone said. I am so glad that #chapterchat2 is discussing it tonight because now I need to talk with someone about it.
This book alternates mostly from the viewpoints of two women, Amanda and Ruth. We do hear from investigators and Amanda’s husband Scott a few times. Amanda has lost a child and is obsessed with the man who she thinks killed the child. She follows the man and almost murders him. Ruth is almost murdered one night herself by a man with blue eyes. She fears everywhere she goes and wants justice for him.
“…trying to look upon her pain. She kept that to herself. It was her grief. Her loss. Her pain. And she wanted it hot and private. So she could use it. Make it her secret weapon.” Ch 6
“Mourning is sometimes a dull ache that won’t leave, and other times it’s like pricking your finger on a needle hidden in a shopping bag.” Ch 13
“Amanda was coming around to the view that what was legal and what was right were often two different things.” Ch 24
Interestingly, all these quotes are from the POV of Amanda.
This book alternates mostly from the viewpoints of two women, Amanda and Ruth. We do hear from investigators and Amanda’s husband Scott a few times. Amanda has lost a child and is obsessed with the man who she thinks killed the child. She follows the man and almost murders him. Ruth is almost murdered one night herself by a man with blue eyes. She fears everywhere she goes and wants justice for him.
“…trying to look upon her pain. She kept that to herself. It was her grief. Her loss. Her pain. And she wanted it hot and private. So she could use it. Make it her secret weapon.” Ch 6
“Mourning is sometimes a dull ache that won’t leave, and other times it’s like pricking your finger on a needle hidden in a shopping bag.” Ch 13
“Amanda was coming around to the view that what was legal and what was right were often two different things.” Ch 24
Interestingly, all these quotes are from the POV of Amanda.
Love, Me by Jessica Saunders
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
Rachel has been married to Dan for several years and they have young children. One day, her ex, now a famous movie star Jack, makes a statement:
“does he ever think about what life might have been like if he’d become, say, a teacher?
“And married my high school sweetheart?” he responds with a laugh.
“Honestly, all the time.” In true Jack Bellow fashion, that’s all I can get him to say.” (Prologue)
When their correspondence gets leaked to a tabloid, Rachel and Jack become front page news.
All of this leads Rachel to wonder if her marriage is worth saving.
I thought there were good parent conversations with boundaries.
“This conversation is not particularly helpful for me,” Rachel finally interjected. “I appreciate your opinion of my marriage and my kids’ mental health.” Ch 26
“How she ignored how unhappy he was, because yes, she saw that now. So they pretended things were good between them until one of them did something destructive, shattering the false veneer, and leaving them crumbled.” Ch 27
“… sometimes we don’t see people for who they really are until they hurt us.” Ch 27
“does he ever think about what life might have been like if he’d become, say, a teacher?
“And married my high school sweetheart?” he responds with a laugh.
“Honestly, all the time.” In true Jack Bellow fashion, that’s all I can get him to say.” (Prologue)
When their correspondence gets leaked to a tabloid, Rachel and Jack become front page news.
All of this leads Rachel to wonder if her marriage is worth saving.
I thought there were good parent conversations with boundaries.
“This conversation is not particularly helpful for me,” Rachel finally interjected. “I appreciate your opinion of my marriage and my kids’ mental health.” Ch 26
“How she ignored how unhappy he was, because yes, she saw that now. So they pretended things were good between them until one of them did something destructive, shattering the false veneer, and leaving them crumbled.” Ch 27
“… sometimes we don’t see people for who they really are until they hurt us.” Ch 27
Content Warnings
Divorce
Cheating / affair
Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
I really loved Olga Dies Dreaming and I was so excited that Anita de Monte Laughs Last was so much fun to listen to. I highly recommend the audio with multiple narrators. Jessica Pimentel does an incredible job as Anita de Monte in the 1980s. She adds so much to the reading, it truly is like listening to a movie.
Anita de Monte is based on the life of Ana Mendieta who was an artist who died in 1985 when she fell or was pushed out of an apartment window (and was married to sculptor Carl Andre). As someone who loves art, this book (and others like Still Life by Sarah Winman) make you think about how few women artists we really know. Author Xochitl Gonzalez found Ana Mendieta in an art history class.
Anita de Monte tells her story as a ghost, recalling the event that caused her death and moments with her husband Jack after her death.
In another timeline, Raquel is in art history classes at Brown studying Jack and and discovers Anita de Monte. We find similarities between their relationships and the way women artists are treated and valued.
There is also some magical realism woven into this story as she tells it from a ghost’s perspective and her interactions with her husband (iykyk).
“And, from what I was eavesdropping in the gallery that night, most of these men not only hated feminist art, but I suspected, hated women as well.”
“And then. And then I was sent to America, and rendered invisible. Rendered lifeless. Alone.”
“Well, it felt like even when I bury myself in your f*ing soil, I’m still not American enough. … To prostrate myself, in some way, for having gone to such pains to become one with a place that rejected me over and over and over again.”
“ presume her to be grateful for it, even - was only possible because he had told her, in ways great and small, that he knew best and she had signaled that he was correct.”
“She realized that so much of what she thought as good art had simply been that which had been elevated by John Temple, because it was understood by and spoke to and created by men just like John. And that in the omission of things that were made by or understood by or in conversation with people like her, Raquel had, unconsciously, begun to see those things as lesser. And that revelation sparked one that was even more painful: the reason that Raquel subconsciously believed that Nick knew “better” than her was that it was Nick’s point of view had been affirmed and internalized by the white walls of every museum or gallery that had ever been told was worth looking at.”
“…she had firmly placed them behind a wall called her past; a section of her mind she didn’t like to visit much.”
Anita de Monte is based on the life of Ana Mendieta who was an artist who died in 1985 when she fell or was pushed out of an apartment window (and was married to sculptor Carl Andre). As someone who loves art, this book (and others like Still Life by Sarah Winman) make you think about how few women artists we really know. Author Xochitl Gonzalez found Ana Mendieta in an art history class.
Anita de Monte tells her story as a ghost, recalling the event that caused her death and moments with her husband Jack after her death.
In another timeline, Raquel is in art history classes at Brown studying Jack and and discovers Anita de Monte. We find similarities between their relationships and the way women artists are treated and valued.
There is also some magical realism woven into this story as she tells it from a ghost’s perspective and her interactions with her husband (iykyk).
“And, from what I was eavesdropping in the gallery that night, most of these men not only hated feminist art, but I suspected, hated women as well.”
“And then. And then I was sent to America, and rendered invisible. Rendered lifeless. Alone.”
“Well, it felt like even when I bury myself in your f*ing soil, I’m still not American enough. … To prostrate myself, in some way, for having gone to such pains to become one with a place that rejected me over and over and over again.”
“ presume her to be grateful for it, even - was only possible because he had told her, in ways great and small, that he knew best and she had signaled that he was correct.”
“She realized that so much of what she thought as good art had simply been that which had been elevated by John Temple, because it was understood by and spoke to and created by men just like John. And that in the omission of things that were made by or understood by or in conversation with people like her, Raquel had, unconsciously, begun to see those things as lesser. And that revelation sparked one that was even more painful: the reason that Raquel subconsciously believed that Nick knew “better” than her was that it was Nick’s point of view had been affirmed and internalized by the white walls of every museum or gallery that had ever been told was worth looking at.”
“…she had firmly placed them behind a wall called her past; a section of her mind she didn’t like to visit much.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
I really enjoyed this memoir from a daughter of a Vietnamese immigrant who owned a nail salon. Her mother died young during plastic surgery and she spent a lot of her young years working on figuring herself out. She attended an Ivy League school, participated in a cult (disguised as a yoga, self-help program), and returned to Vietnam to know her family and her mother better.
“How could I become a mother if I never knew my own?” Vengeance
“I wanted to belong, I had to obey Má, which meant I had to abandon my own inner knowing.” Squid and Chives
“Don’t work so hard. We get to experience life on earth because of the heavens. When you live a life always resisting, life becomes a struggle,…” Packing
“I became so obsessed with the past that I kept everyone else frozen in time too. I became attached to old stories of how we’d hurt one another and didn’t allow my family to change even when they did.” Part 6, persimmons
“My name is Susan Liễu. I come from a line of courageous nail salon workers who are my heroes. Má was a manicurist, and Ba was a manicurist too. I am the manicurists’ daughter and, this is just the beginning.”
“How could I become a mother if I never knew my own?” Vengeance
“I wanted to belong, I had to obey Má, which meant I had to abandon my own inner knowing.” Squid and Chives
“Don’t work so hard. We get to experience life on earth because of the heavens. When you live a life always resisting, life becomes a struggle,…” Packing
“I became so obsessed with the past that I kept everyone else frozen in time too. I became attached to old stories of how we’d hurt one another and didn’t allow my family to change even when they did.” Part 6, persimmons
“My name is Susan Liễu. I come from a line of courageous nail salon workers who are my heroes. Má was a manicurist, and Ba was a manicurist too. I am the manicurists’ daughter and, this is just the beginning.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Grief
One Wrong Word by Hank Phillippi Ryan
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
Love the cover for this book. I like the idea of this book - Cordelia comes to Arden, a crisis management expert to help revitalize her family’s image after her husband is declared innocent in a car accident in which a man died. Cordelia then disappears to a trip leaving Arden to meet with her husband to fix the mess.
I felt like it was predictable. The chapters often leave on cliff-hangers, so it keeps people turning pages.
“…he repeats that New Year’s Eve moment in his mind as if it were something he could edit or alter or hit some cosmic undo button…” prologue
“Truth is only what someone believes or can be convinced to believe.” Ch 9
“[she]…thought about truth and fairness and families and how one wrong word can ruin so many people and how the right words can sometimes, sometimes remedy that, or even better, prevent the damage in the first place.” Ch 15
“True enough. As if there were levels of truth.” Ch 23
“Politics was sometimes the science, the craft, the art of making things happen, the way you thought is best.” Ch 56
“What gives me joy… Joy, the thing that had changed her life me for the worse, and then for the better… What gives me joy, is guiding people through their tough times .. sometimes we have disasters not of our making… sometimes we have a hand in it, but … I want to be there, for those who need help…” ch 82
I felt like it was predictable. The chapters often leave on cliff-hangers, so it keeps people turning pages.
“…he repeats that New Year’s Eve moment in his mind as if it were something he could edit or alter or hit some cosmic undo button…” prologue
“Truth is only what someone believes or can be convinced to believe.” Ch 9
“[she]…thought about truth and fairness and families and how one wrong word can ruin so many people and how the right words can sometimes, sometimes remedy that, or even better, prevent the damage in the first place.” Ch 15
“True enough. As if there were levels of truth.” Ch 23
“Politics was sometimes the science, the craft, the art of making things happen, the way you thought is best.” Ch 56
“What gives me joy… Joy, the thing that had changed her life me for the worse, and then for the better… What gives me joy, is guiding people through their tough times .. sometimes we have disasters not of our making… sometimes we have a hand in it, but … I want to be there, for those who need help…” ch 82
Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
Looking for Jane tells the story of multiple women who have difficulties with adoption, abortion and pregnancy. It tells the story of women who didn’t have a say about what happened to their children, because other people forced them to do things and took their children away (in religious homes for unwed mothers that have been featured in several books).
This book focuses on 3 women:
Nancy in 1980 who unexpectedly becomes pregnant.
Dr. Evelyn Taylor, 1971, was forced to live in one of the homes (mentioned above) to give up her child
Angela, 2017, finds a letter with a confession about adoption that compels her to look for those for whom the letter was intended
This book has all the parenting hot topics and I think it could push buttons in any bookclub. I am curious how people in my bookclub will feel about this one.
“When people ask me, "So what's your book about?," my first inclination is always to say "Abortion." But it isn't. Looking for Jane is about motherhood. About wanting to be a mother and not wanting to be a mother, and all the gray areas in between.” Author’s Note, p373
“Yes, but all of motherhood is just chronic low-level fear at the best of times, dear.” Ch 3, p24
"If you, or a friend, or any other girl close to you ends up pregnant when they don't want to be, you need to call around to doctors' offices and ask for Jane." Nancy's brow knits. "Jane?" "Jane. Call around, keep asking for Jane, and eventually you'll get what...” p36
“I never had a say in what happened to me," she'd told the doctor. "I had no control.” Ch 12 Evelyn
“Do not mistake your humanity for weakness. It is, unfortunately, a common misconception.* p130
“Evelyn understands now, for the first time, that she can choose what memories she takes with her from this place, and what to leave behind.”
This book focuses on 3 women:
Nancy in 1980 who unexpectedly becomes pregnant.
Dr. Evelyn Taylor, 1971, was forced to live in one of the homes (mentioned above) to give up her child
Angela, 2017, finds a letter with a confession about adoption that compels her to look for those for whom the letter was intended
This book has all the parenting hot topics and I think it could push buttons in any bookclub. I am curious how people in my bookclub will feel about this one.
“When people ask me, "So what's your book about?," my first inclination is always to say "Abortion." But it isn't. Looking for Jane is about motherhood. About wanting to be a mother and not wanting to be a mother, and all the gray areas in between.” Author’s Note, p373
“Yes, but all of motherhood is just chronic low-level fear at the best of times, dear.” Ch 3, p24
"If you, or a friend, or any other girl close to you ends up pregnant when they don't want to be, you need to call around to doctors' offices and ask for Jane." Nancy's brow knits. "Jane?" "Jane. Call around, keep asking for Jane, and eventually you'll get what...” p36
“I never had a say in what happened to me," she'd told the doctor. "I had no control.” Ch 12 Evelyn
“Do not mistake your humanity for weakness. It is, unfortunately, a common misconception.* p130
“Evelyn understands now, for the first time, that she can choose what memories she takes with her from this place, and what to leave behind.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion and Pregnancy
Blank by Zibby Owens
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
If you are looking for a fun, bookish read in between heavy books, this is like talking books with Zibby herself, (but also with extra crazy things happening that hopefully don’t all happen in real life at the same time).
I think it also speaks to Zibby’s experiences in publishing- the difficulties of writing and coming up with your next book or idea - and all the perils of the industry. I definitely saw some of her current ideas (retreats and new ideas for supporting authors and building bookish communities like her ambassadors).
In this book, Pippa has been unhappily married for almost 20 years to a child actor. Her first book was successful and she’s had difficulty coming up with book two (but not with spending the advance that came before it on a new office). As the deadline looms for a book, and her great idea is stolen, her son suggests submitting a Blank book and she considers trying to change the industry.
“Life falls apart slowly. And just as slowly, we piece it together again. One itty bit at a time.” Ch 38
“The book. The blank page. A totally blank book. Just say that was the whole point. That you meant for it to be blank.” Ch 10
Loved the references to her podcast and previous books:
“…favorite mug with the Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books podcast logo. So true! Moms don’t even have time to read school emails let alone entire books. Although I tried to always read our book club pick.”
I think it also speaks to Zibby’s experiences in publishing- the difficulties of writing and coming up with your next book or idea - and all the perils of the industry. I definitely saw some of her current ideas (retreats and new ideas for supporting authors and building bookish communities like her ambassadors).
In this book, Pippa has been unhappily married for almost 20 years to a child actor. Her first book was successful and she’s had difficulty coming up with book two (but not with spending the advance that came before it on a new office). As the deadline looms for a book, and her great idea is stolen, her son suggests submitting a Blank book and she considers trying to change the industry.
“Life falls apart slowly. And just as slowly, we piece it together again. One itty bit at a time.” Ch 38
“The book. The blank page. A totally blank book. Just say that was the whole point. That you meant for it to be blank.” Ch 10
Loved the references to her podcast and previous books:
“…favorite mug with the Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books podcast logo. So true! Moms don’t even have time to read school emails let alone entire books. Although I tried to always read our book club pick.”
The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.25
Enjoyed the Berlin Letters. I thought it was interesting to back when the wall went up overnight and split a family apart.
In 1989 CIA cryptographer Luisa Voekler discovers some of her father’s letters to her grandfather and their secret history. She learns her father is still alive and is not safe.
Alternating with her father’s story, beginning in 1961 before the wall existed. I was born after the wall was built and I found the story before the wall fascinating. I didn’t realize that after the war, people were able to go back and forth between West and East Berlin.
The audiobook was very well done with two narrators.
“… only because I didn’t mind the future they handed us after I met you. The past didn’t hurt so much then. You were brighter than their darkness, but I was a fool.”
Looking forward to discussing with #bookfriendsbookclub. Thank you to libro.fm for providing audiobooks to librarians.
In 1989 CIA cryptographer Luisa Voekler discovers some of her father’s letters to her grandfather and their secret history. She learns her father is still alive and is not safe.
Alternating with her father’s story, beginning in 1961 before the wall existed. I was born after the wall was built and I found the story before the wall fascinating. I didn’t realize that after the war, people were able to go back and forth between West and East Berlin.
The audiobook was very well done with two narrators.
“… only because I didn’t mind the future they handed us after I met you. The past didn’t hurt so much then. You were brighter than their darkness, but I was a fool.”
Looking forward to discussing with #bookfriendsbookclub. Thank you to libro.fm for providing audiobooks to librarians.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Mama Love (Lara Love Hardin’s jail name) has lived many lives. She takes us through all the parts of her early life that led her to the moment she was arrested in front of her young child and taken to jail and charged with 32 felony counts of fraud and drug use. Surprisingly, her experience in jail wasn’t as miserable as you might think and she comes out of it desperate to get her child back. The second half of the book is her story of trying to remake her life.
She had a master’s in writing before her jail experience and was on the school board. It is quite an up and down story and the audiobook she narrates is well done. It’s not super long, about 8 hours at full speed, so it is one you can listen to in a few days.
Chapter 9
“…I was already in jail before I was in jail…”
“There are a million different ways for people to steal but not all stealing is considered a crime.”
Chapter 17
I am the neighbor from hell in the newspaper, but I am also the person in the acknowledgements of the books I help create.”
“Sometimes, the path of forgiveness doesn’t look anything like we think it will. Sometimes it looks like a lot like runny scrambled eggs and overly buttered sourdough toast.”
Chapter 20
“… I’ll go to lunch where I’m not the center of conversation. And my definition of freedom gets bigger.”
She had a master’s in writing before her jail experience and was on the school board. It is quite an up and down story and the audiobook she narrates is well done. It’s not super long, about 8 hours at full speed, so it is one you can listen to in a few days.
Chapter 9
“…I was already in jail before I was in jail…”
“There are a million different ways for people to steal but not all stealing is considered a crime.”
Chapter 17
I am the neighbor from hell in the newspaper, but I am also the person in the acknowledgements of the books I help create.”
“Sometimes, the path of forgiveness doesn’t look anything like we think it will. Sometimes it looks like a lot like runny scrambled eggs and overly buttered sourdough toast.”
Chapter 20
“… I’ll go to lunch where I’m not the center of conversation. And my definition of freedom gets bigger.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, and Drug use