Book title: White like me: reflections on race from a privileged son  Author: Tim Wise Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir Original publication date : December 21, 2004 Book description:   In White Like Me , Tim Wise offers a highly personal examination of the ways in which racial privilege shapes the lives of most white Americans, overtly racist or not, to the detriment of people of color, themselves, and society. The book shows the breadth and depth of the phenomenon within institutions such as education, employment, housing, criminal justice, and healthcare. By critically assessing the magnitude of racial privilege and its enormous costs, Wise provides a rich memoir that will inspire activists, educators, or anyone interested in understanding the way that race continues to shape the experiences of people in the U.S. Using stories instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable and scholarly, analytical and accessible. Thoughts: It has been a while since I DNF a

Author: Ken Wytsma Genre:  Nonfiction Original publication date: 2017 Book description: Is privilege real or imagined? It's clear that issues of race and equality have come to the forefront in our nation's consciousness. Every week yet another incident involving racial tension splashes across headlines and dominates our news feeds. But it's not easy to unpack the origins of these tensions, and perhaps we wonder whether any of these issues really has anything to do with us. Ken Wytsma, founder of the Justice Conference, understands these questions. He has gone through his own journey of understanding the underpinnings of inequality and privilege. In this timely, insightful book Wytsma unpacks what we need to know to be grounded in conversations about today's race-related issues. And he helps us come to a deeper understanding of both the origins of these issues and the reconciling role we are called to play as witnesses of the gospel. Inequality and privilege are real.

I don't really remember how many times I have changed my reading goals for this year. There were several goals I completely gave up on, some were added, oh well let's begin. My overall goals can be found here  https://readaholic-anonymous.blogspot.com/2020/01/2020-reading-goals.html Change of plans: -The TBR game to pick my reads was a total failure, I can't really do it as I usually have too many other plans going on and then if I can't fit into the prompts then it simply does not work as a doable TBR. So I decided to stop using it and just pick books based on what I want to get done. -I had to finish a few books of short story collections those were Brother's Grim complete fairytales, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft stories. I have not even attempted to do that, not sure if I will really try it now. I have yet to even start and already 6 months have gone by so I am probably not going to stick to this goal.  Specific Goals Series The series to get to 2020, you can

Author: Tracy K Smith Genre: Poetry Original publication date : May 29, 2007 Book Description (from Good Reads): Duende, that dark and elusive force described by Federico García Lorca, is the creative and ecstatic power an artist seeks to channel from within. It can lead the artist toward revelation, but it must also, Lorca says, accept and even serenade the possibility of death. Tracy K. Smith's bold second poetry collection explores the history and the intersections of folk traditions, political resistance, and personal survival. Duende gives passionate testament to suppressed cultures, and allows them to sing. Thoughts: There are a lot of pieces included here but I felt disconnected from them. Usually what you expect to get from poetry especially this type are feelings, be it good or bad. For me I did not get anything, I was most of the time trying to figure out what I was reading. this went over my head clearly. I have a very hard time trying to figure out what rating to give

Author: Richard Bachman (pseudonym for Stephen King)  Genre: Contemporary  Original publication date: March 1981 Book Description (from GoodReads):  Barton Dawes’ unremarkable but comfortable existence suddenly takes a turn for the worst. Highway construction puts him out of work and simultaneously forces him out of his home. Dawes isn’t the sort of man who will take an insult of this magnitude lying down. His single-minded determination to fight the inevitable course of progress drives his wife and friends away while he tries to face down the uncaring bureaucracy that has destroyed his once comfortable life. Thoughts: This is a very interesting story. It starts with a man who is tasked with something for his work that he does not agree to. You do not know exactly what is going on. Barton is buying guns, big ones and he is doing it in a suspicious way.  Barton is having issues due to the newest construction, the road that will make him lose what has been his life for so many years.

Author: Brian Everson Genre: Short stories, horror, sci-fi Original publication date: June 11, 2019 Book Description (from Good Reads):  A newborn's absent face appears on the back of someone else's head, a filmmaker goes to gruesome lengths to achieve the silence he's after for his final scene, and a therapist begins, impossibly, to appear in a troubled patient's room late at night. In these stories of doubt, delusion, and paranoia, no belief, no claim to objectivity, is immune to the distortions of human perception. Here, self-deception is a means of justifying our most inhuman impulses--whether we know it or not. Thoughts: This is another of the short story collections I picked up, I remember that in the last few months I changed my mind about short stories, I really didn't feel inclined to pick them up and lately I began to. They allow me to get an idea of the author's voice and writing style especially if they are all from slightly different genres.  It

Author: Nalo Hopkinson Genre: Short Stories, Horror, Sci-Fi Original publication date : December 1, 2001 Book description (from Scribd) :  In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like “Precious,” in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In “A Habit of Waste,” a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she’s shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus. In “The Glass Bottle Trick,” the young protagonist ignores her intuition regarding her new husband’s superstitions—to horrifying consequences. Thoughts: This is a collection of short stories that leave you thinking about them even after finishing the book. It includes: * Riding the red . This is red riding hood giving advice to her own granddaughter but she mentions how it is likely that

Author: George M. Johnson  Genre: Nonfiction, -Memoir Original publication date: April 28th 2020 Book description: In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys. Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren't Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson's emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults. Thoughts: This book has been getting a lot of people talking especially after June and a few dedicated readatho

Author: Sarah Gailey Genre: Western, Dystopian, Fiction Original publication date: February 4th, 2020 Book Description (from GoodReads): Esther is a stowaway. She's hidden herself away in the Librarian's book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her--a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda. The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing. Thoughts: It is set in a dystopian near-future America, and yet we see society do a huge set aback regarding rights for women and be it so closely related to religion and very old fashioned ideas of what a person can and can't do. In this society, women have no purpose other than marrying a man her family decides upon and be a housewife.  Obviously, same-sex couples are frown upon

This year has been a good one reading-wise at least. I have managed to find very good books and am going in a very strong streak. There are several goals and plans I made at the beginning of the year but we'll take a look at them at a later date.  Half a year is already here. It is going at super speed, lately, right after May, I feel the years just go at twice the speed than the previous months. 2020 is not the first year I try to focus on reading and not my first time trying to blog the journey. I have not been the most content in posting but I am doing ok. So let's take a look in the statistics, I do love to see my progress and even other people's.  Total book read (until end of June): 130 books   It has been a very constant reads, the month I read the least was March yet it is still right on the edge of the minimal book I set up for myself.  I have read 43,560 pages in average 7,260 Not a bad page count for the halfway point, as I don't generally keep track of my re

Author: Wayétu Moore  Genre: Historical fiction, magical realism Original publication date: September 2018 book description:  She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him. When the three meet in the settlement of Monrovia, their gifts help them salvage the tense relationship between the African American settlers and the indigenous tribes, as a new nation forms around them. Thoughts: We start getting introduced to each of the main characters. They all have a very different life and experiences on their homel

So as I had mentioned before I planned on not participating in any Readathons but then I saw this one and how can I not? This is created by Ariel and Raeleen Everything you need to know: https://thereadingrush.com/ Duration: July 20-26 The challenges: 1/ Read a book with a cover that matches the color of your birthstone.  I am Amethyst so something with purplish cover. None of the books in my current TBR has purple, so I must add an extra one.  We have in my Scribd to rad later shelf this story that has a nice purple part in it This is the first book in a children's series Anya and the dragon by Sofia Pasternack . Eleven-year-old Anya is the daughter of the only Jewish family in her village. When her family’s livelihood is threatened by a bigoted magistrate, Anya is lured in by a friendly family of fools, who promise her money in exchange for helping them capture the last dragon in Kievan Rus. This seems easy enough until she finds out that the scary old dragon isn’t as old—or as s

Author: Brandon Sanderson Series: Mistborn #3 Genre: Fantasy Original publication date: October 2008 Book description: Tricked into releasing the evil spirit Ruin while attempting to close the Well of Ascension, new emperor Elend Venture and his wife, the assassin Vin, are now hard-pressed to save the world. Thoughts: This was a great finale for the trilogy. The story took me the longest to get through than the previous two. It might have been that I was afraid of getting to the end, I feared that it would be a disappointment. The world is ending, and the end is coming at a very fast pace. Vin and Elend are trying to join the last few remains of the final empire, but they have issued one after the other. They finally come face to face with their real enemy! Ruin and preservation finally show themselves! The discoveries come from Kandra, from the past, from the unknown hero of ages (you find out who it is in the very last bit of the book).   The world needs everything, the mists, th

Original title: Hasta que deje de llover    Genre: Contemporary Original publication date: February 2020 Book description: This story follows Milo and Axel through their adolescence and afterward.  Milo is a young shy kid when he meets Axel the next-door neighbor who seems more outgoing and sure of himself. We have unrequited love, and we follow a few key moments in their lives as they grow up. Thoughts: Warning this book contains drug abuse, homophobic behavior from people, mentions of physical and emotional abuse, cheating, mentions of harassment. This story took me a while to pick up. I found this book by accident while searching for book deals in Kindle and just bought it on a whim. I read the synopsis and was mildly interested.  I expected to enjoy reading it and I was surprised. Milo is shy and due to his past he is a very unsure person, always fearing how others see him. Afraid of the world and yet he has very normal aspirations for his age, he is 14 years old when the story

Author: Stephen King Genre: Sci-Fi Original publication date: September 1980 Book description: The Department of Scientific Intelligence (aka "The Shop") never anticipated that two participants in their research program would marry and have a child. Charlie McGee inherited pyrokinetic powers from her parents, who had been given a low-grade hallucinogen called "Lot Six" while at college. Now the government is trying to capture young Charlie and harness her powerful firestarting skills as a weapon. Thoughts: I allowed a few days between finishing the book and writing the review to try to get my ideas together but that is not working so let's just go right into it. It starts off with action, Charlie and her father are on the run literally, they are walking away from a group of people who are after them. They try to lose them in the normal human traffic of the city. The men following them do not wish to make a scene. Their mission has to be subtle.  The Shop is an