sarahmichigan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarahmichigan) wrote2018-12-13 08:52 am
sarahmichigan) wrote2018-12-13 08:52 am
Entry tags:
What I've been reading: Books No. 65-66
Book No. 65 was "The Sword of Summer" (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan, as an audiobook. I will start by acknowledging some criticisms of this series that the voice of Magnus Chase isn't much different than Percy Jackson. Riordan's teenage boys do tend to sound a fair bit alike -- good natured but smart alecky. I think that's one reason I enjoyed "Heroes of Olympus" so much -- Riordan really stretched himself to write from a variety of viewpoints. All that being said, I have always adored the weird and wacky tales of Norse mythology, so this series is right up my alley. The joy in one of Riordan's mythology series is finding out how he will work various gods and their powers and allusions to mythological events into the story. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.
Book No. 66 was "Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison" by Shaka Senghor. This book tells the story of a young man from Detroit who left home to live on the streets at age 14, selling crack to survive. After being shot on the job, he becomes paranoid and shoots and kills another man when he feels threatened, sending him on a nearly two-decade trip through Michigan's prison system. Senghor strikes just the right balance, in my opinion, of pointing out the societal problems that send an inordinate number of black and brown men to prison while never using that to excuse his crime.
On his trips through various low-, medium- and high-security prisons around Michigan, he has to balance the rules of survival in prison versus becoming the better man that he wants to be. He screws up a lot, and at one point ends up in solitary confinement for more than four years. But slowly, through keeping a journal and the support of family and friends and even the godmother of the man he killed, he slowly begins to turn his life around, reading deeply, and going through an anger management course before finally leaving on parole. Once out, he becomes a mentor to at-risk young men, as well as launching a public speaking and writing career. This book was interesting to me on multiple levels. I really appreciated that his story was specifically about Michigan prison life since that's where I live (and have had family members incarcerated). I learned more about black Islamic sects in America and how they operate in prison as well. Fascinating and touching. Highly recommended.
1. The Two Towers [fiction]- JRR Tolkien (unabridged audiobook)
2. The Argonautika [epic poetry/fiction]- Apollonios Rhodios, transl. Peter Green
3. To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care [nonfiction]- Cris Beam
4. The Jazz [fiction]- Melissa Scott
5. Live from Golgotha [fiction]- Gore Vidal
6. Stones for Ibarra [fiction]- Harriet Doerr
7. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot [nonfiction/memoir]- John Callahan
8. The Tresspasser [fiction]- Tana French (unabridged audiobook)
9. The Decameron [fiction]- Giovanni Boccaccio
10. March: Book 2 [graphic nonfiction]- John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, ill. Nate Powell
11. Ordinary Light [nonfiction/memoir]- Tracy K. Smith
12. The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal [nonfiction]- Jonathan Mooney
13. March: Book 3 [graphic nonfiction]- John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, ill. Nate Powell
14. The Vegetarian [fiction]- Han Kang
15. First three volumes of the "Bitch Planet" comic series [graphic fiction]- Kelly Sue DeConnick, ill. Valentine DeLandro
16. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal [nonfiction]- Mary Roach (unabridged audiobook)
17. Bad Monkeys [fiction]- Matt Ruff
18. The Book of Negroes [fiction]- Lawrence Hill
19. The Rules of Attraction [fiction]- Bret Easton Ellis
20. How to Grow Up [nonfiction/memoir]- Michelle Tea
21. The Book of Genesis [fiction/mythology]- ill. R. Crumb
22. The Terranauts [fiction]- T.C. Boyle (unabridged audiobook)
23. The Galaxy Game [fiction]- Karen Lord
24. The Chapel of Ease - a Tufa novel [fiction]- Alex Bledsoe
25. Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight [nonfiction]- by Martin Gardner
26. Born on the Fourth of July [nonfiction/memoir]- Ron Kovic
27. My Friend Dahmer [graphic nonfiction]- Derf Backderf
28. The Return of the King [fiction]- JRR Tolkien (unabridged audiobook)
29. The Bishop's Daughter [nonfiction/memoir]- Honor Moore
30. The Red Parts [nonfiction/memoir]- Maggie Nelson
31. Bury Your Dead [fiction]- Louise Penny
32. Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements [fiction & essays]- ed. Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown
33. On the Move: A Life [nonfiction/memoir]- Oliver Sacks (unabridged audiobook)
34. What Happened to You? Writing by Disabled Women [nonfiction/fiction/poetry]- ed. Lois Keith
35. The Astrologer's Daughter [fiction]- Rebecca Lim
36. Trans/Portraits: Voices from Transgender Communities [nonfiction]- Jackson Wright Shultz
37. The Dew Breaker [fiction]- Edwidge Danticat
38. Blameless in Abaddon [fiction]- James Morrow
39. Wonder [fictoin]- RJ Palacio (unabridged audiobook)
40. The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, Unexpurgated [nonfiction/memoir]-ed. Joan Acocella, transl. Kyril Fitzlyon
41. WARP: The Reluctant Assassin [fiction]- Eoin Colfer (unabridged audiobook)
42. Don Quixote [fiction]- Miguel Cervantes, transl. Edith Grossman
43. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir [nonfiction/memoir]- Haruki Murakami
44. Lysistrata [fiction/drama]- Aristophanes (transl. Sarah Ruden)
45. Black Lotus: A Woman's Search for Racial Identity [nonfiction/memoir]- Sil Lai Abrams
46. The Child Garden - or a Low Comedy [fiction]- Geoff Ryman
47. What the Dead Know [fiction]- Laura Lippman (unabridged audiobook)
48. The Andromeda Strain [fiction] - Michael Crichton
49. Saving Fish from Drowning [fiction]- Amy Tan
50. Little Fires Everywhere [fiction]- Celeste Ng (unabridged audiobook)
51. Full Fathom Five [fiction]-y Max Gladstone
52. Jam on the Vine [fiction]- LaShonda K. Barnett
53. Lottery [fiction]- Patricia Wood
54. The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life [nonfiction]- Andy Miller
55. Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady [nonfiction]- Susan Quinn (unabridged audiobook)
56. Prodigal Summer [fiction]- Barbara Kingsolver
57. The Princess Diarist [nonfiction/memoir]- Carrie Fisher (unabridged audiobook)
58. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir [nonfiction/memoir]- Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
59. A Little Life [fiction]- Hanya Yanagihara
60. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories [fiction/short stories]- Flannery O'Connor
61. Last First Snow [fiction]- Max Gladstone
62. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter [fiction]- Carson McCullers
63. Blankets [nonfiction/graphic memoir]- Craig Thompson
64. Second Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague [graphic nonfiction]- Joyce Brabner, ill. Mark Zingarell
Book No. 66 was "Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison" by Shaka Senghor. This book tells the story of a young man from Detroit who left home to live on the streets at age 14, selling crack to survive. After being shot on the job, he becomes paranoid and shoots and kills another man when he feels threatened, sending him on a nearly two-decade trip through Michigan's prison system. Senghor strikes just the right balance, in my opinion, of pointing out the societal problems that send an inordinate number of black and brown men to prison while never using that to excuse his crime.
On his trips through various low-, medium- and high-security prisons around Michigan, he has to balance the rules of survival in prison versus becoming the better man that he wants to be. He screws up a lot, and at one point ends up in solitary confinement for more than four years. But slowly, through keeping a journal and the support of family and friends and even the godmother of the man he killed, he slowly begins to turn his life around, reading deeply, and going through an anger management course before finally leaving on parole. Once out, he becomes a mentor to at-risk young men, as well as launching a public speaking and writing career. This book was interesting to me on multiple levels. I really appreciated that his story was specifically about Michigan prison life since that's where I live (and have had family members incarcerated). I learned more about black Islamic sects in America and how they operate in prison as well. Fascinating and touching. Highly recommended.
1. The Two Towers [fiction]- JRR Tolkien (unabridged audiobook)
2. The Argonautika [epic poetry/fiction]- Apollonios Rhodios, transl. Peter Green
3. To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care [nonfiction]- Cris Beam
4. The Jazz [fiction]- Melissa Scott
5. Live from Golgotha [fiction]- Gore Vidal
6. Stones for Ibarra [fiction]- Harriet Doerr
7. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot [nonfiction/memoir]- John Callahan
8. The Tresspasser [fiction]- Tana French (unabridged audiobook)
9. The Decameron [fiction]- Giovanni Boccaccio
10. March: Book 2 [graphic nonfiction]- John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, ill. Nate Powell
11. Ordinary Light [nonfiction/memoir]- Tracy K. Smith
12. The Short Bus: A Journey Beyond Normal [nonfiction]- Jonathan Mooney
13. March: Book 3 [graphic nonfiction]- John Lewis & Andrew Aydin, ill. Nate Powell
14. The Vegetarian [fiction]- Han Kang
15. First three volumes of the "Bitch Planet" comic series [graphic fiction]- Kelly Sue DeConnick, ill. Valentine DeLandro
16. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal [nonfiction]- Mary Roach (unabridged audiobook)
17. Bad Monkeys [fiction]- Matt Ruff
18. The Book of Negroes [fiction]- Lawrence Hill
19. The Rules of Attraction [fiction]- Bret Easton Ellis
20. How to Grow Up [nonfiction/memoir]- Michelle Tea
21. The Book of Genesis [fiction/mythology]- ill. R. Crumb
22. The Terranauts [fiction]- T.C. Boyle (unabridged audiobook)
23. The Galaxy Game [fiction]- Karen Lord
24. The Chapel of Ease - a Tufa novel [fiction]- Alex Bledsoe
25. Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight [nonfiction]- by Martin Gardner
26. Born on the Fourth of July [nonfiction/memoir]- Ron Kovic
27. My Friend Dahmer [graphic nonfiction]- Derf Backderf
28. The Return of the King [fiction]- JRR Tolkien (unabridged audiobook)
29. The Bishop's Daughter [nonfiction/memoir]- Honor Moore
30. The Red Parts [nonfiction/memoir]- Maggie Nelson
31. Bury Your Dead [fiction]- Louise Penny
32. Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements [fiction & essays]- ed. Walidah Imarisha & adrienne maree brown
33. On the Move: A Life [nonfiction/memoir]- Oliver Sacks (unabridged audiobook)
34. What Happened to You? Writing by Disabled Women [nonfiction/fiction/poetry]- ed. Lois Keith
35. The Astrologer's Daughter [fiction]- Rebecca Lim
36. Trans/Portraits: Voices from Transgender Communities [nonfiction]- Jackson Wright Shultz
37. The Dew Breaker [fiction]- Edwidge Danticat
38. Blameless in Abaddon [fiction]- James Morrow
39. Wonder [fictoin]- RJ Palacio (unabridged audiobook)
40. The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, Unexpurgated [nonfiction/memoir]-ed. Joan Acocella, transl. Kyril Fitzlyon
41. WARP: The Reluctant Assassin [fiction]- Eoin Colfer (unabridged audiobook)
42. Don Quixote [fiction]- Miguel Cervantes, transl. Edith Grossman
43. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir [nonfiction/memoir]- Haruki Murakami
44. Lysistrata [fiction/drama]- Aristophanes (transl. Sarah Ruden)
45. Black Lotus: A Woman's Search for Racial Identity [nonfiction/memoir]- Sil Lai Abrams
46. The Child Garden - or a Low Comedy [fiction]- Geoff Ryman
47. What the Dead Know [fiction]- Laura Lippman (unabridged audiobook)
48. The Andromeda Strain [fiction] - Michael Crichton
49. Saving Fish from Drowning [fiction]- Amy Tan
50. Little Fires Everywhere [fiction]- Celeste Ng (unabridged audiobook)
51. Full Fathom Five [fiction]-y Max Gladstone
52. Jam on the Vine [fiction]- LaShonda K. Barnett
53. Lottery [fiction]- Patricia Wood
54. The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life [nonfiction]- Andy Miller
55. Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady [nonfiction]- Susan Quinn (unabridged audiobook)
56. Prodigal Summer [fiction]- Barbara Kingsolver
57. The Princess Diarist [nonfiction/memoir]- Carrie Fisher (unabridged audiobook)
58. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir [nonfiction/memoir]- Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele
59. A Little Life [fiction]- Hanya Yanagihara
60. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories [fiction/short stories]- Flannery O'Connor
61. Last First Snow [fiction]- Max Gladstone
62. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter [fiction]- Carson McCullers
63. Blankets [nonfiction/graphic memoir]- Craig Thompson
64. Second Avenue Caper: When Goodfellas, Divas, and Dealers Plotted Against the Plague [graphic nonfiction]- Joyce Brabner, ill. Mark Zingarell