The Way of Kings - Brandon Sanderson

All year I've had friends tell me that I need to read the Stormlight Archive series from Brandon Sanderson. We're in the middle of a pandemic, they said. What else do you have going on, they asked.

I'm a big fan of epic fantasies, but I seldom have the time to commit to reading these gigantic tomes. So I decided that since I wasn't making that 2020 book goal anyway, I may as well commit to finishing off my year with The Way of Kings. What's the worst that could happen, I don't like it?

Well it only took about 25 pages for me to really get into this book. And yes, at the end, I completely loved it and the world that Sanderson has set up here. I love Kaladin (duh), I loved Shallan (even though she's sneaky) and I loved Dalinar. I mean these are some great characters. Not overly virtuous. Full of mistakes and misunderstandings. But trying. Trying so hard to make a better world. Even when others don't want it.

In the back of all this is a system of magic and politics and a history only hinted at but barely understood. And all of this has giant ramifications for the events of the day as our heroes race to understand what is going on, before it's too late.

This book is a big lift. I write. Generally for myself. And I can't imagine the time and dedication it takes to write something like this - let alone four of the five (ten?!) planned books in this series so far. That Sanderson finished off the Wheel of Time series for Robert Jordan is no surprise. He seems to have an unending energy for world building and writing. And yes, in the last 100 pages I could not put the book down. Stuck in what I understand is the "Sanderlanche" when all the plot lines start to come together and a lot of the action happens.

I'm assuming more happens in the second book because there was a lot of world building and set up in this one. There was a lot of momentum at the back of this book, but since the next one is just as long, I doubt that kind of pace could be maintained through another 1,000 pages without some breathing room at the beginning. But I'll let you know, because I am totally going forward with the rest of this series

5/5 Stars. 

Housegirl - Michael Donkor

I really wanted to like Housegirl more than I did. Perhaps it would have been easier to read rather than an audiobook. The narrator did a great job, but the accented and broken English dialogue made for a listen that required more concentration than I normally give to an audio book.

First, for a little plot. In Housegirl, Belinda is living with Auntie and Uncle in Ghana where she serves as a housemaid and mentor to another young maid in the house, Mary. Belinda is summoned, however, by friends of Aunti and Uncle to live instead in London to befriend a troubled teen, Amma. When she arrives in London, Belinda finds it difficult to adjust to life where her only role is to be a companion to Amma when she's not focused on her own studies.

Over time, Amma and Belinda begin to develop a friendship only to have it slightly implode when Belinda's conservative upbringing clashes with Amma's sexual orientation and results in a pretty terrible scene were Amma begs for kindness and Belinda gives her the opposite. This after Belinda shared with Amma the truth of her upbringing, and Amma had been soft and kind about it.

Then something else terrible happens in Ghana and Belinda has to return to deal with it, leaving the Amma/Belinda development completely unfinished. And Amma is very sweet to her again. Really, there are a lot of unraveled ends in this book that ultimately feel really unsatisfying. It stalls out when it should dig deeper.

In the end, this book could have been more.

3/5 Stars.

The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation - Natalie Y. Moore

For eight years we lived in Chicago, I was an avid WBEZ listener. I am well acquainted with Natalie Moore's reporting. I appreciate that she unapologetically covered issues important to Chicago's South Side during her time as a reporter there.

I have to admit, at the time, I sometimes wondered why she so fervently spent time covering the South Side. Living on the North Side as we did for eight years, you can lose track of the vastness that is Chicago. The vibrancy of the neighborhoods. It really is a City of neighborhoods where each enclave exists unto itself. So places that have problems, like portions of the South and West sides, get ignored or put to the side. You can focus on Chicago as a whole and claim that its problems are confined to a few neighborhoods and leave it at that. I've done that.

What this book, The Southside, does, brilliantly, is tie all those things together. It talks about the genesis of the South Side, its decline, and the reasons for that. It also details the efforts of community organizers and citizens who rather than leave their troubled neighborhoods, commit to making it better. For everyone. No one is going in to save the South Side. Should it get more help and resources? Absolutely. Will it? History says no. So the people have determined they must work for themselves.

Moore discusses health, housing, violence, and education issues all affecting the South Side. It really was an illuminating look at something I hadn't devoted enough time to as a citizen of the city (full disclosure - we lived in Evanston, just over the city line, but I worked and went to school in the city). This is a great read for anyone who wants to learn more about what really goes on in Chicago. It challenges a lot of assumptions and laziness on the part of pundits who like to say things about Chicago without any context from the people living and working in the City. 

4/5 Stars.