March Books

March was so busy with cross country coaching that many days my brain was too fried to want to do much more than scroll on my phone if I ever had time to sit still. In spite of my overall fatigue, I did manage to finish reading/listening to twelve books during March:

Fiction:

1. Lady of Larkspur Vale by Kasey Stockton: a little cheesy, but a sweet clean Regency romance.
2. The Widow of Falbrooke Court by Kasey Stockton: same sweet clean fluff.
3. Making the Marquess by Nichole Van: Book 4 in the Brotherhood of the Black Tartan series. While I haven't enjoyed this series quite as much as some of Nichole Van's other books, I still appreciate her gift for transporting me to a new place so effectively (Scotland in this case). She can write ambience and scenery so well. I also enjoyed the friendship and subtle feminism in this Regency romance. The cliffhanger at the end made me think that book five may be the best one yet! 
4. *Sammy Keyes and the Psycho Kitty Queen by Wendelin Van Draanen: Rose and I listened to this mystery-solving cat-catching audiobook together. This book is so much fun. We love how tough, smart, and sensitive Sammy is!
5. Rough Stock by Heather B. Moore: book 3 in a cowboy series, and I have to say, the books in this series have been almost too similar to each other plot-wise. Even though Heather B. Moore has kind of a generic, so-so style, I liked how a few characters from her baseball book series made it into this story.
6. Simply Startstruck by Aspen Hadley: this was a fun movie star next door romantic comedy.
7. *Hearts in Hiding by Betsy Brannon Green: I've ready it several times, and it's still my definition of a comfort read. It's set in the south, and brings back all kinds of childhood memories since I grew up in Tennessee. The author really captures so much of what I remember about what it was like to be a "Mormon" living in the southern Bible Belt, and she adds an exciting FBI mystery on top of it.
8. *Until Proven Guilty by Betsy Brandon Green: another re-read; sweet sequel to Hearts in Hiding; another cozy read. This Haggerty series has four or five other books in it, but the first two are my faves.
9. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig (audiobook): A very thought-provoking life-affirming book about a man who ages so slowly that he looks 40 but is actually 400 years old. Well-written, minus a bit more random swear words than I was comfortable with. 
10. A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas: Very clever, well-written female Sherlock Holmes book. As the title suggests, the storyline/mystery revolves around various scandalous affairs, though it is thankfully not explicit. I don't think anyone will ever rewrite Sherlock as well as Laurie R. King did in her Mary Russell series, but this one was good enough. My brain had a hard time following all of the twists and turns in the plot and keeping track of who was who. I'd still read the sequel to see how Charlotte Holmes, aka Sherlock, does now that her consulting detective status is established.

Non-Fiction:

1. If You Ask Me by Betty White (audiobook, read by the author): So cute and fun, basically a book of random essays and answers to questions that Betty White is commonly asked. Her voice is so familiar, listening to her read this book of her thoughts felt like chatting with a snarky 80+ year old friend.
2. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Daniel Tatum: this one took me two months to read, but it was worth the effort. Written by a Black female psychology Ph.D., it is packed with fascinating insights in to race, how we think about race, racial-ethnic identity development, and other building blocks of identity. I checked out the revised 20th anniversary edition from the library (I had to renew and re-check it out at least four or five times because it's 400 pages long and very intellectual), and the new introduction was 80 pages of cause-and-effect recent history to set up and give more of a current context for the book itself. I nearly gave up halfway through the intro because it was pretty dry. I don't think reading the intro is necessary to read the book, but I'm glad I made it through the long introduction because it set the stage for all of her research and insights quite nicely. After reading so many contemporary call-out type books about racism, I really appreciated this highly educated, measured approach. The author referenced a long list of other excellent books, which I added to my library list. 

Favorite fiction for March: either Simply Starstruck or Hearts in Hiding. Both fit just what I wanted to read at the time, which is probably what made them tie for first prize. It seems that often what makes me love a book isn't always the story, the characters, the writing, the setting, or other basic elements. When I find a book that fits right in with my current mood, that's what sparks true literary joy. Of course, my "book mood" nearly always includes good writing, lovable characters, evocative settings, and intriguing storylines, but my need for those elements to be present and the level each element exists in each book varies with my mood.

Fun Quotes from Simply Starstruck:

"Yes, I should have known the name of [the video game]. I was, in fact, pretty sure I'd been told the name. But my mind stored only so much knowledge and released the rest. Video-game trivia was always immediately purged."

"Cass smiled to herself. A secret little smile like she'd just eaten the last chocolate in the house before anyone else realized what had happened."

See? I was clearly living in an overtired-inspired surge of snark during March, haha.

Favorite non-fiction for March: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? By Beverly Daniel Tatum, who taught college classes on racism for decades. It opened my eyes to a psychological side of current, ever-developing racial issues as well as the fascinating world of psychology in general. 

A few favorite quotes--pearls of wisdom--from Beverly Daniel Tatum:

"Understanding one form of oppression does not guarantee recognition of another."

"Understanding racism as a system of advantage based on race is antithetical to traditional notions of an American meritocracy. For those who have internalized this myth, this definition generates considerable discomfort."

**** "Another feature of color-blind racial ideology is the belief that talking about race makes things worse--that it promotes racism and/or is racist in and of itself. This last feature of color-blind racial ideology serves to silence those who seek to challenge institutional racism within organizations and the larger society and is another way that color blindness perpetuates the status quo." **** 

"The task of resisting our own oppression does not relieve us of the responsibility of acknowledging our complicity in the oppression of others."

"When feelings, rational or irrational, are invalidated, most people disengage."

"We need to understand that in racially mixed settings, racial grouping is a developmental process in response to an environmental stressor, racism. Joining with one's peers for support in the face of stress is a positive coping strategy."

"Racism increases the need for a positive self-defined identity in order to survive psychologically. To find one's racial or ethnic identity, one must deal with negative stereotypes, resist internalizing negative self-perceptions, and affirm the meaning of ethnicity for oneself."

"When we see strong, mutually respectful relationships between people of color and Whites, we are usually looking at the tangible results of both people's identity processes."

"The role of the ally is not to 'help' those targeted by racism but to stand in solidarity with them, speaking up against systems of oppression, and to challenge other Whites to do the same."

"I have learned in teaching about racism that a sincere, if imperfect attempt to interrupt the oppression of others is usually better than no attempt at all."

SO MUCH SUBSTANCE in every sentence! No wonder it took me a few months to read this one. It was worth the effort.

Monthly Shaina-reading picture because it's not a real White Things blog post without at least one picture!