September Books

It's book report time! September was a 14 book month, somehow.  

Some eloquent trees from Sunnyside's Central Park in September.

Fiction books I read:

1. The Supernatural Reform School by Sullivan Gray: book 1 in the series. I loved this fun paranormal series set in modern day United States. Girl loses her super powers and goes to reform school to help her regain her powers. While there she does yoga, uncovers an anti-supernatural plot and falls in love with a guy who can change into a dragon. It was so random but also incredibly enjoyable; a welcome change of pace and genre for me.
2. The Academy of Stolen Magic by Sullivan Gray: book 2
3. Blood of the Dragon Shifter by Sullivan Gray: book 3 and the series finale.
4. Patient Zero and First Sentence by Sullivan Gray: I don't know why these two were separate books, because the first one ended mid-plot, totally unresolved, and the second book picked up right where it left off.  This was a follow-up book that occurred a few years after the Supernatural Reform series. It was alright. Healer girl gets job at Supernatural prison infirmary and falls in love with a vampire inmate on a secret spy mission to save the real prisoners from medical experimentation and exploitation. Not a very deep plot, but it was fun to see some of the other characters from the original series.
5. Pariah by Sullivan Gray: This trio of prequels to the Supernatural Reform School series was not great. The storyline was not very tight or well-paced, and there were thematic elements that I don't look for in fun supernatural fluff (namely, attempted sexual assault--not overly graphic, but still horribly dark to read about).
6. Suppressed by Sullivan Gray: No, thanks.
7. Unlocked by Sullivan Gray: Why did I labor so hard to finish these three prequels? It took a while because I didn't like them. But I was committed for no reason other than I wanted to see how on earth they landed in the place where the original 3 Supernatural Reform School books began?
8. Blind Dates, Bridesmaids, and other Disasters by Aspen Hadley: A bit slow in the start and it took me a while to like the heroine, but eventually it got funnier and funnier with all of the awful blind dates she goes on. Every time the girl finished a bad date, she looked at pictures of cats on the internet because becoming a spinster cat lady was her plan B. Hah!
9. -Castle Shade by Laurie R. King: the newest Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery. They go to Transylvania to combat rumors of vampires and save the queen from a nefarious plot. Clever, unpredictable, intellectual, and with a classic climactic chase scene. Everything I love about this series.
10. Remembering Jamie by Nichole Van: final book in The Brotherhood of the Black Tartan series by this author. Man tries to remind his wife of their love, but she has memory loss and was presumed dead for 6 years after an altercation aboard a ship. A very sweet reverse love story, if you can swallow the memory loss idea, haha. I love Nichole Van, but this series was my least favorite of all her books. It was still good and I enjoyed the plots, but I did not feel the need to re-read the previous four books in the series before diving into the newly released finale. And I think that Nichole Van writes best in modern day settings because her wit and feminism just don't translate as smoothly to bygone eras.
11. *The Mostly Real McCoy by Julie Christianson (book 1 in the Apple Valley series--I re-read it in honor of the release of book 2): just as sweet and fun the second time around.
12. My Own Best Enemy by Julie Christianson: Book 2 in the lovable fun cute Apple Valley series. Awkward librarian falls in love with her lifelong nemesis when they both have to help mutual friends with a project. Terrible summary for an adorable book. I loved the cute quirky librarian! She was hilarious and awesomely awkwardly relatable.

Non-fiction books I read:

Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth: Since Sojourner Truth couldn't read or write, she narrated her story to a friend, who wrote it down with many moralizing asides sprinkled liberally through the text. I hoped for a first-person firsthand account, but the writer hardly ever actually quoted Sojourner verbatim; most of the writing was "She says this, she says that." An odd choice, and I thought the preach-y tone of the person who wrote for Sojourner was a bit much. But it was also a window into how abolitionists thought at the time, and how an uneducated enslaved woman navigated the horrors of the system. 

One phrase that stuck out to me in the Narrative of Sojourner Truth was "latent humanity", which was used while explaining the meager concession of an enslaver to his slaves. It made me think, how much of what happens in regards to race, racism, etc. today is motivated by this same lackadaisical latent humanity. We need more than mere lazy latent humanity if we are going to step up and create a society where people of all colors have fair treatment and equal opportunities.

The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph: I loved this book! The author tells several pivotal, personal moments where he experienced racism in various forms, and how those experiences shaped him and what they taught him about race in our country. 

This was the kindest antiracism book I've read, not that all books about combating racism need to be kind (people should be free to share their experiences in the way feels best to them, whether it's angry, kind, or other), but I just felt such a connection to the author. He is close to my age so I understood lots of his childhood cultural references, and he has a knack for mixing humorous commentary with his painful personal experiences with racism-- so delightfully unexpected! To be clear, racism is NOT a funny topic, but Frederick Joseph handled the heavy topic in such an accessible witty way, while at the same time not avoiding the unjust horrible realities he personally lived and lives. 

The journey the author went on through his early life in regards to race aligned almost point-for-point with the psychology of forming racial identity that I read about a few months ago in Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? 

The Black Friend has several asides per chapter, in gray boxes, where the author tells the reader to listen to a certain song or look up a certain YouTube video, to illustrate whatever point he's making in his story. I ended up listening and watching as many of those sidebars as I could, and it added an interactive element that really contributed to the friend vibe of the book and made it more meaningful overall. I didn't want to put this book down. It made me think, feel, laugh, cry, grow, and want to be a better human. Such a powerful thought-provoking book.

QUOTE TIME!

Non-fiction quotes from The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph:

"The Black Friend is the person who is willing to speak the truth to the white people in their lives, to call them out when they do or say something hurtful, ignorant, or offensive. p. 14

"I've come to realize that a fear of accountability is why white people say things like 'I don't see color and 'Why does everything have to be about race?' Because to see my color, to see my culture, to see my race, would also mean taking responsibility for how white people have historically treated people my color, with my culture, from my race." p. 27

"From our educational system to our legal system, nonwhite people are disproportionately mistreated and oppressed. Except when it comes to food; I can safely say that green bean casserole is a form of white oppression." p. 28 [this made me laugh out loud, because he's not wrong.]

"When somebody says 'Oh, I'm color-blind,' that also means they're purposely being blind to the things that affect me as a person of color." p. 30

"A large part of white privilege is that it steers white people toward their cultural comfort zones. In countries like America, where most aspects of culture are controlled by white people, their culture has become the norm or mainstream. In America, almost everything you can think of has been created to be comfortable and familiar for white people, and everything else is usually 'other,' 'diverse,' or 'different.' Whether it's food, music, movies, clothes, or other aspects of culture, 'the norm' is usually based on what white people know and enjoy. Like with anything, not stepping outside of what you're accustomed to creates a level of ignorance." p. 38 

[this privilege of familiar ignorance is a big reason why I try my best to broaden my literary consumption and read books written from perspectives different from my own]

"No one would be comfortable being racist around someone who truly stands against racism. If you still have racist friends in your life, you aren't truly standing against racism." p. 120 [MIC DROP.]

"I explained that reverse racism doesn't exist; if something is racist, it is just racist. To argue that something is an example of reverse racism would mean that the person with the issue knows that 'normal racism' --aka, racism--doesn't affect them. And the truth is, racism and racist systems in America don't adversely impact white people. This is because all aspects of racism in America are rooted in white supremacy and are designed to negatively impact everyone except white people." p. 169

"In one way or another, we all have some type of privilege in relation to someone else, but most of us aren't reflecting on that. ...It's hard to see the role we play in someone else's struggle while we are busy fighting for ourselves or our people. But we have to learn to see with new eyes, hear with new ears, and find new ways to trust other people's words when they tell us and show us how we're hurting them. Because doing the right thing sometimes means putting the pain of others before our own, especially if we are part of creating it."  p. 175

Fiction Quotes, to end on a smile:

"She's honest, but her honesty doesn't have a soft landing. It's brutal. I both appreciate it and fear it just a bit." -- The Supernatural Reform School by Sullivan Gray.

"But nothing is creepier than a room with a drain--because why the drain??" --Patient Zero by Sullivan Gray

"Stay safe! Did people think you'd do the opposite if they didn't remind you? I was going to drive dangerously, Mom, but since you reminded me..." --Pariah by Sullivan Gray

"So my awkwardness is still intact. Hooray." --The Mostly Real McCoy by Julie Christianson