I don't do 'cute' and I don't let my books get water damaged. Needless to say my copy of this affecting story about kinship and acceptance is thoroughly dampened with tears. Read it. Now.
I stayed up until 6 am reading this book. This story—about a seventeen year old girl who will age out of the foster care system next year—is hopeful and heartfelt without disregarding the harsh realities of what growing up in foster care can look like. Longo's daughter was born into foster care and lived in three different placements before Longo adopted her. It was Longo's daughter who asked her to write this book, and we should all be oh so grateful that she did.
Hot with violet urgency, and shrouded in the moss and fog of the rural Northwest, Vera Violet opens with the eponymous Vera on the run someplace deep in Montana, and does not let up until the final page. In between is something like the root system of a tall cedar, or the wiring Harness on an old pickup: tangled at first glance, but intricate as soon as you start to trace it. This is an unforgettable novel.
Be prepared to glide across time, distance, and families in Regina Porter’s debut novel. Her writing has rightly been described as “effortless” and is a joy to read. You come to know well two families, one black and one white, and how related they (and we all) are. As I marveled at her ability to portray each family member so deftly, I wondered– what would happen if she spent a week with my extended family?!
Exchange student Ilya has just arrived in the balmy heat of Louisiana from the frozen tundra of Russia. Smart, hardworking, and thoughtful his journey was to be the opportunity of a lifetime. But he can’t seem leave his home behind, or the brother he would do anything to save. In Lights all Night Long, Lydia Fitzpatrick juggles a coming of age tale; a murder mystery; and social commentary on addiction, drug use, and corruption. And it works. Beautifully. She somehow manages to avoid all the predictable tropes of each to create this sparkling world full of hope, friendship, and the power of family in all its forms.
You don't have to be a metalhead to fall in love with this adorably dark family of loons. Sweetly subversive a la The Adams Family, this book make me cackle aloud approximately 666 times.
On stage, reading in public for the first time in 25 years, 102 year old Fiona Skinner, still a famed poet in 2077, encounters a question from an insistent young girl who demands an answer. Compelled for some reason to respond, Fiona opens her life story to reveal who the real Luna in a famous poem is, and Luna who is the young girl's namesake. The audience is transported back to Bexley, New York, 1979, where a family loses its young father to a heart attack and its mother to depression. Switching from this stage in 2077 to her back story, Fiona offers readers incredible escapades and insights into the journeys of her siblings!
An incredibly touching memoir that explores family and race through the eyes of a Korean American adoptee on the brink of motherhood. Nicole Chung has written a geniune account of adoption and what it means to be a mother, a daughter, and a sister in a complicated family full of secrets. This is a beautiful, emotional book that would be great to share with a family member.
I'm cracking up right now just thinking of this book. It's hilarious. And big-hearted, with wonderful characters and yes, some tragedy. And did I mention it's funny? One of my favorite books of the last ten years.
- Yes, the author is related to the famed Udall political family of the west!
- His New Yorker article, "Big Love," was the basis for the HBO series of the same name!
