Perfect Tunes

 

I had high hopes.

I read it in a single day on two flights.

I was disappointed.

Sometimes, it's that simple.

Emily Gould is a relatable writer who builds strong characters I can relate to. She started with a great premise: a single mom struggles what to reveal to her daughter about the girl's father, who was a musician with whom her mother had a brief relationship. He died and became something of a music legend.

It could have been a story about moms and daughters. It could have been a story about hereditary depression. It could have been a story about the way the world idolizes the dead. Instead, it tried to be all of those things and fell short.

Not much else to say. I didn't HATE it, but I didn't particularly like it either. At least I didn't spend a week before I figured that out.

How the Word is Passed

 

"How do you tell a story that has been told the wrong way for so long?"

Read this book. Just order it, go check it out, download it on your magical book-reading device, whatever. But, read. this. book.

I had read quite a bit about Clint Smith's book before I checked it out, but I was honestly worried it would read too much like a text book. I could not have been more wrong. Smith's writing is eloquent and beautiful and in stark contrast at times to the horrific stories that he reveals (he describes his grandma's voice as sounding like the front porch of a home where everyone you love is inside. Are you kidding me??) 

This book should replace what all of us learned in school about slavery. It should be required reading.

In Smith's book, he sets out to reveal the real history about slavery in America, most specifically in places where it has somehow faded into the background. The story is told through visits to places like Monticello, the Angola Prison in Louisiana, and the House of Slaves in Senegal. What we find through his writing is that most of what we've all been taught is the surface history of slavery in this country. We've largely ignored, for example, that much of what Wall Street is built on was once slave markets and burial grounds. 

I have talked to so many people about this book and I keep giving away key lessons and key parts. I want YOU to read it, though. To see how even the people trying to tell the full story of slavery have managed to manipulate it for their own purpose. I want you to read about the conversations Smith has with white women at Monticello about their thoughts on Thomas Jefferson. I want you to picture black men working the fields in Louisiana - not in the 1800s, but now - in a state prison where their labor is still a commodity. 

I want you to know what the tour guide means when she tells people on her tour of slavery sites in New York City "Don't believe anything if it makes you too comfortable." 

I want you to read it so we can talk about it - with each other and with everyone else. 

The Mercies

 

Ooh, this book had some PROMISE! And, in some ways, it delivered. I could have done without much of the middle, but the beginning and the end were wild and fascinating and that probably makes the whole thing worth it.

This book is based on a true event that happened in the 1600s in Norway. A storm wiped out most of the men in a small fishing village, leaving the women to fend for themselves. What happens when they do is a testament to the power of women, the struggle to overcome and - wait for it - accusations of witchcraft!

Just as the women in the village begin to recover and take on the tasks previously only done by men, a man comes along to "govern" them who happens to have a history burning witches in Scotland. His agenda and the agenda of those who brought him there quickly upends the lives of these women and the community.

The books is powerful. It gets VERY graphic. And, despite being set in the 1600s, it's really readable. It got a little sloggy in the middle, but the ending will stay with me for a very long time. 

Where the Grass is Green and the Girls are Pretty

 

Did I check out this book because of the title and my 90s girl dedication to Guns n Roses?

Yes.

Was I punished for my superficiality?

Also yes.

I'll keep it brief. 

The book is yet ANOTHER novel that nods back the Aunt Becky/Varsity Blues/college admissions scandal. In this book, a prominent network news anchor gets caught up in the story she's supposed to be covering when her own husband gets arrested in an FBI sting, and accused of paying someone to get her daughter into college. 

The story isn't exactly what it seems on the surface, but the plot reveals itself so quickly, you find yourself wondering "What are we going to do with the other 350+ pages? Hum the guitar solo for November Rain? Learn to really whistle that opening on Patience? Seeing if I can get my hair like Slash?" All of those would have been better options that reading this book all the way through, which I did. 

There was one final plot twist at the end, but by then, I was so ready for it to be over, I literally rolled my eyes and closed the cover.

And do you want to know the worst part? That title was never even relevant in the story at all.

I'm back to judging books by their cover, not their title. 

And because I need you to leave this page with something positive, I give you MY favorite GNR song.

Better Not Bitter

 

Like so many of you, I hear the story of Yusef Salaam and I can't quite understand how he's not angry and bitter and constantly outraged about the injustice that brought his name into the international spotlight. But, when I ask myself that, I come back to a news story I did years ago with a couple that lost all five of their children in a horrible car accident. The kids were all under the age of 10. The parents, who are devoutly religious, told me they hear people say that all the time. Then, the mother said something I will never forget:

"God doesn't give grace to the onlooker."

Of course we can't understand why Salaam - one of the Exonerated Five from the Central Park Jogger case - has come to the peaceful and rational way of seeing the world and his experience. It's not our experience to know. But, reading his book and hearing him share his story gives some insight to all of us about the mindset with which we can see the world in order to not let it break us.

Salaam was one of the five teenagers sent to prison in one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in the zeitgeist. He served his time and was out before the real rapist was identified. Their story became known to so many more people in the Netflix documentary Now They See Us. This book allows us to see them - Salaam, at least - even more fully.

He describes his mother walking in on his interrogation and telling him - you don't have to participate in this. He describes going to the courthouse to hear the verdict thinking he'll be right back, not knowing he wouldn't see his home for many years. And he describes turning to education and religion in prison to put himself in this mindset of facing this hardship - and, life after - by going through it, not shaking his fist at the sky.

This book and Salaam's message also show the powerful ways in which the system is set up to incarcerate Black people, especially Black men. There's so much literature on this subject right now, but to hear it from the man who serves as an example of how much can go so wrong, you can't help but feel that message in a different way.

Girls With Bright Futures

 

You know that whole college scandal with the fake rowing scholarships and Aunt Becky and all of that? If recent fiction is any indication, half the authors in America heard that story and said to themselves "THAT would be a good book!"

In my experience, though, none of them have even come close to the juicy reality.

Now is the time in the review where I make a confession. I barely remember the plot of this book. In my defense, I read it about a month ago and haven't had time to write a review. But, also, I just accidentally read ANOTHER book with this plot and both were equally unmemorable. They're books about overzealous moms, anxiety-ridden teenage girls (because of said moms) and the increasingly insane world of college admissions.

Do I recommend you read this? Literally, I don't know. I should have paid someone to write this review for me instead.

Year Book

No matter what I say here about Seth Rogen's book of essays/memoir, do yourself a favor: don't read it.

Wait, I mean read it. But, don't READ it. Have Seth read you the audiobook version instead.

I'm not saying that because I didn't love actually reading this hilarious book. I just imagine it would be even better to hear him talk about his life in his words, along with that trademark laugh. So, even though I read it, I may listen to it now, too. 

I mean, imagine how much funnier it would be to hear Seth Rogen describe how Kanye randomly showed up at his house one day and asked if Seth could come out and play basketball? I picture, like, the random kid down the street who comes over and asks my 10-year old son to play.. then picture Kanye walking away when Seth couldn't come out and play that day. The whole Kanye story in this book is worth the price of the download, not to mention his story about Snoop writing a rap for a project they were working on when a group of muse/stripper ladies came in out of nowhere to inspire him.

I listened to Rogen on a few podcasts before reading this book and his performance there was the perfect foreshadowing for what this book would be: funny, endearing and really sweet. And, yeah, a lot of stories about drugs. 

I'm a fan of Seth Rogen's anyway, but reading this gives you such insight into how he became a boy-wonder Canadian comic and the friendships he's formed that have helped him throughout his career.

Go read it. With your ears.