Mesilla - Robert James Russell

I took a Westerns and Film Noir class in college (it was an elective for comparative something or other). I knew nothing about either genres having been a mostly contemporary fiction, 1800s British Literature, and fantasy novel reader up to that point. I was actually surprised by 1) how much the genres have in common, and 2) how much I liked both. Maybe I'm just a book nerd who likes reading whatever, whenever. But my old habits have stuck and I haven't picked up a western since even though I went to an awesome second hand bookstore in Riverside, CA in Florida where they were plentiful. (Was Lions a Western? - I digress). So I'm glad that this book came in a book mail box. It's really a novella, but pretty fascinating and at 113 pages, it was a book I feel like I could read again to tease out more of the narrative. In any case, it's 1863 and even though Everett Root should be fighting in the Civil War, he's not. Instead he's in New Mexico trying to get away from George, a one-time friend, turned enemy who is hell bent on catching and killing Everett. It's pretty clear early on that Everett has run out of options. I didn't have a good feeling about his chances. This random innocent side character won't be unnecessarily killed will she? I thought. I must have forgotten I was reading a western where the plot is as unforgiving as the terrain. Anyway, Everett has this idea he gets fixated on about a destination, Mesilla, and how it's the answer to his problems. Folks, the answer to your problem is never a destination. Especially if you have a festering wound and penicillin hasn't been invented yet. This books reminds me to step out of my genre comfort zones and so maybe next time I'm in a book store I'll wander over to the Westerns and try again. 4/5 Stars.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

I thought at first that this book was going to just be funny so I was not expecting feeling deeply about Eleanor and her welfare. But here we are.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine begins by letting the reader know just how fine Eleanor is. There's a total disconnect between how "fine" Eleanor is, and how not fine the reader can tell life is going for Eleanor. First, there is a odd and childish fascination with the lead singer of a rock band. Next there is some terribly hurtful things she overhears her coworkers saying about her without reaction. And then there is her mother. Wow. What a terrible person. 

And all of this would have eventually crushed Eleanor but for the simple act of kindness shown to her by Raymond, her office IT helper who happens to be walking sames ways with Eleanor after work when they witness an elderly man take a spill. Their act of helping the man connects Eleanor and Raymond and continues their acquaintance into the future. 

The friendship between Eleanor and Raymond is really quite beautiful in its simplicity and studied lack of sexual friction. It's actually quite refreshing to read a book where friendship and not attraction is deeply rooted in mutual regard and care without all the bodice ripping. What I mean to say, is that friendship can be really beautiful and I'm glad this book leaves it at that because it really allows the reader to focus on the things that Eleanor is missing out on by being so shut off. Just basic human affection and care. 

"No man is a failure who has friends." - It's a Wonderful Life

4/5 Stars. 

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander

I knew when I was on my third hour of the introduction that Michelle Alexander was not messing around in The New Jim Crow. Exhaustively researched, this book drops like a megaton bomb into the quiet assumptions we make about ourselves and our "so-called" criminal justice system.

And the shocking thing for me at least, is that I already knew a lot of the pieces presented here. I went to law school. I clerked for two years for the Cook County States Attorney's office and I saw plea after plea go down in the felony trial division. But seeing all the pieces I had seen and experienced put together like this, it was like I had been seeing pieces of a puzzle for over a decade and now finally saw the picture that the pieces made.

And it's not pretty. The puzzle is a horribly crippling and unjust system that perpetuates poverty and violence in communities of color. It's a system that tags people with the word "felon" and then never lets them go. It is a lifelong stigma and legal leash on people who are arrested and convicted many times for doing the same thing other people are doing in the less-policed suburbs of America, or the dorm rooms of our higher learning institutions.

How do we move on from here? How do we dismantle the War on Drugs when so many private interests are now invested in its perpetuation? Because that is the next step. It has to be. Lives have been destroyed. Communities have been destroyed. And for what? So the haves can keep having and the have-nots can foot the bill. Because in the communities of the affluent, these will continue to be "mistakes" and in poor communities, they are crimes.

4/5 Stars. 

Other Words for Home - Jasmine Warga

The kids are alright. Mostly because they have great books to read to open up new worlds to them, like Other Words for Home. I live in a town lacking in diversity. My children go to school with classmates that are overwhelmingly white.

A couple of years ago we volunteered through Catholic Charities to be a host family to a refugee family in Nashville. This warm generous family welcomed us to their home and although there was a language barrier for the adults that made conversation difficult, the children took off to play and came back smiling and exhausted two hours later. Then federal funding for the program was cut and the kind interpreter who had facilitated and made everything possible was laid off and the program ended. And although we've emailed a couple of times, we haven't seen them again. They have family in the area and I know they are well taken care of by their family.

All this to say is that children have a wonderful capacity to understand and empathize with other children. They understand that fundamentally other children are the same as they are and they can find common play when given time and space, and maybe just a little direction. And this book highlights that capacity.

Jude, a seventh grader, leaves Syria with her pregnant mother and goes to live with an uncle in Cincinnati. At first things are overwhelming and even her cousin Sarah, who should be a ready friend for Jude, is distant and judgmental of Jude's differences. It's hard to remember that being in middle school is all about not wanting to stand out in any way that isn't socially acceptable. You can be a star athlete or the lead in a school play, but you better not wear different clothes from anyone or speak another language. It's a harsh time.

But Jude, though initially shy and overwhelmed by her new surroundings and new "home" finds her own path and her own voice. She sticks up for the people who matter to her, even when carrying a heavy emotional burden of her father and brother remaining behind in Syria.

Although written for middle aged readers, the book was moving and well written. Definitely a five star read I would encourage for middle readers.

5/5 Stars. 

Me - Elton John

I can't stress enough that I'm already a big Elton John fan. I love singer songwriters in general. Have always been a lyrics geek. I saw Elton John in concert with Billy Joel either in the late 90s or early 2000s. I can't recall but I loved every second of it. They put on a hell of a show.

But as much as I've loved Elton John's music, I didn't know much about him personally. I knew he was British and I knew he was gay, but his childhood and upbringing were a total mystery to me.

So I just loved Me. It's so open and honest and direct and funny. Elton doesn't take himself too seriously and is very open with his trials and failures. His childhood is sad and informed a lot of his personality and choices later in life, but he's open about how he's made the best of things and moved on. I loved hearing about his musical connections. His various meetings with Bob Dylan, his friendship with Ringo Starr and John Lennon. His visits with the Queen Mum.

And I love how he embraces being able to change. There's something refreshing about people who are recovered addicts being able to embrace change and betterment. When he got sober, he realized he wasn't using his fame, money and influence enough and started an AIDS foundation that has raised $450M.

He's entirely delightful. I would thoroughly enjoy spending a day with him and his Canadian husband. I just loved reading about his journey. I finished the book and then stayed up until midnight watching Rocketman, which he mentions in the book and is just a delightful movie. I loved Taron Egerton's rendition of I'm Still Standing in the Sing movie. It was great to see him sing it again as himself and not a gorilla.

5/5 Stars.

Ploughshares Winter 2019-2020

One of the best parts about the Winter Ploughshares edition is that it includes the emerging writers contest winners. The stories always feel fresh and vibrant. (Even though I'm an edition behind in reading). So in no particular order, here are some of my favorite stories and poems from this edition:

Poetry:
Contender - Traci Brimhall
"It's alright to overdress for the riot. Your rage is stunning." And that's just the opening line. This poem. Guys its urgent and truth and just great.
Losing - Kerrin McCadden
A poem for a lost brother. There's a longing here that is felt acutely even though this poem is short.

Fiction:
Once a River - Daryl Farmer
In this story a journalist struggles with his privilege in reporting conditions in a refugee camp while having access to the dictator whose cruelty is well known. "Evil relies on a belief of its own inevitability, that it is a force that cannot ever be eradicated." Thinks the journalist as he rides in a helicopter with the dictator back to the refugee camp for nothing that can be good. Amid such evil what can one person do?

The Age of Migration - Kai Maristed
Charley and Karim move to France and Karim undergoes a radicalization. Charley gets entangled with another man who wants to take her away to America. She has choices, but does she? Charley is caught between obligations and understandings. She may or may not be free. It's a very nuanced, well written story.

Noise - Katherine Sharpe
I really liked this story about an aging rock star and a young journalist who has come to interview her. They've shared a lover and Luce thinks of the absurdity of this while also dealing with some teenage rebellion from her daughter.

An Older Woman - Diana Spechler
I also liked this story of a man hiding from his pain in a casual relationship with an older woman. The story starts out and you think it's about the woman but it's really about the man.

Emerging Writers
And not to be missed are the emerging writers winners:
Nonfiction - Pojangmacha People - Jung Hae Chae
A fluid retelling of generations of family trauma caused by alcoholism and enabling.

Poetry - a psalm in which i demand a new name for my kindred - Aurielle Marie
A love poem to friends and friendships. Full of inside jokes that read more like clues than snubs to a reader outside the circle.

Fiction - Creation - Ruby Todd
A sculpture artists finds inspiration in a dress bought on a whim for a party she didn't want to go to. I loved the artist's surprise at her own talent.

4/5 Stars. 

In An Absent Dream - Seanan McGuire

As I was looking for Own Voices writers to read for Pride month, Seanan McGuire's name came up and I thought I'd never heard of her. But turns out a couple of years ago, I devoured her Feed series (you can read my review for Feed here and Deadline here). A post-apocalyptic zombie series written under a pen name, Mira Grant. I had no idea. But since the writing in that series was so solid, I was willing to bet the same would be true for something written under her true name. And I was right. In an Absent Dream is well written. It's captivating.

While this is technically book #4 in the series, it is supposedly a prequel so I felt reading it first would be fine. I hope that's true. I suppose I'll find out when I read book #1 in the series, because I am definitely going to read more of these.

In IAD, 8 year old Katherine Lundy is friendless and lonely as the eldest daughter of the school principal. While not bullied outright, Katherine is shunned and escapes into a world of books. That is until she is walking home from school and winds up in front of a tree with a door. "Be sure" a sign above the door says. And while Katherine certainly can't be sure when she doesn't know what is behind the door, she steps through anyway into a hallway where the artwork on the walls provides the rules of the world she has just entered.

During this initial trip she is befriended by a girl with odd colored eyes named Moon, and an older woman known only as The Archivist. Since names have power, Katherine is known only as Lundy. She isn't the first Lundy to visit The Goblin Market, she's told. And in this way we learn that her father has had his own encounter there. While the Goblin Market is richly described and utterly fascinating, McGuire hides several action sequences from the reader. Depositing Lundy out of the Goblin Market and back home with just a mention of a battle against the wasp queen during which Mockery, another girl we never meet in real time, has been killed.

Lundy returns to the market at age 10 and the tension builds as she further learns the rules of the market under which she is to live. Lundy has a choice to make at age 18, to choose the market or forever be banished. She incurs debts within The Market, which insists its citizens pay "fair value" for everything they obtain. Those who fail to pay fair value slowly turn into birds unless their debts are paid off. It's a complicated system, but one that is so deftly explained by McGuire that its richness is enhanced by its mystery.

Will Lundy return and stay at the Goblin Market? That's a spoiler I do not want to give up because I did not see the ending coming at all in this one and it was not what I was expecting. I'm hoping some of the details of what happens after IAD is covered in the other books since it was a prequel. Will Lundy appear in any of the future books? I certainly hope so.

4/5 Stars.