I am literally in the thick of basketball right now; between my two kids, there’s a game almost every night of the week…and all day Sunday. Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE IT and I’m so THANKFUL my kids get to play, but it totally cuts into my reading time!
When we are home though, I have the perfect reading weather. While it hasn’t snowed, it’s been so cooooold, so I curl up under the blankets and read my books! The Four Winds have been absolutely perfect so far!
I’d love to hear about what you’ve been reading lately! Drop me a comment below!
Last Week’s Reads:
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
This book has been sitting on my shelves for awhile and when I saw Sarah love it, I decided to quickly move it up my TBR.
I would classify this book as a modern classic. (I’m not really sure if that’s a correct categorization or not, but I’m doing it!) It was written in 1979, but it truly read like it was published more recently than that.
Dana is a Black women living in California with her white husband, Kevin, in 1976. They’ve just recently married, and as they’re unpacking boxes, Dana becomes dizzy. When she wakes up, she is among people she doesn’t know and in a situation she doesn’t understand. She comes to realize that she’s actually time-traveled back to a plantation in the 1800s. Somehow she is summoned here whenever the plantation owner’s son’s life is in danger.
As Dana travels back and forth in time, the harsh realities of life as a Black person in the 1800s was not easy. Butler really brought it to the reader’s attention just how little say Black people had over their body. They were beaten, raped, and killed for the smallest infractions. Dana had to strategically navigate this reality as she was used to living life as a free woman.
This book was intense, heartbreaking, and very well-written. The contrast between life as a Black women in 1976 vs the 1800s really highlighted a lot about an enslaved person’s life. I loved Dana’s character and how she stoically accepted her plight – not only to help save Rufus from himself but to also try to help the enslaved people on the plantation. She really made the book for me, and I felt her conflicted feelings between staying in present time and going back to help her friends. I wish it wouldn’t have wrapped up as quickly as it did, and there were times when the story kind of felt slow and repetitive, but it was very much worth those minor complaints for such a starkly contrasted look at the two separate time periods.
*** Do No Harm by Christina McDonald
This was my first book by Christina McDonald so I can’t compare this to her other work. All of my thoughts are my first impressions of her and her writing. I want to start by saying that this book has A LOT going on in it – parent loss, sick child, addiction, an opioid crisis, and several murder investigations. It kind of felt like she threw a whole bunch of things into one story – and it was just kind of a lot. I didn’t love it. It felt like McDonald couldn’t really focus on a cohesive plot because she had so many plot lines to connect and tie together.
Having said that, I was compelled to read it in a day. I wanted to know what was happening and who was responsible! McDonald actually did a pretty good job keeping it all together and I think I only remember one thing that kind of didn’t make sense and got overlooked. But just because she did a good job keeping it all together doesn’t mean it worked well for me. Some of the twists irritated me and frustrated me. I didn’t love how it ended and it felt sort of like a cop out.
This book did remind me why thrillers work for me – they’re generally quick reads, and because it’s not my favorite genre, I feel like I am able to just throw myself into the story regardless of it’s overall impact. I’m in the middle of five different books right now – none of which are quick or easy – so this was a great escape for me right now. (This book releases on February 16th!)
Current Reads:
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
This one showed up on Saturady and all my other reading took a back seat. I wrote a posts on Instagram about my first impressions; you can check it out here!
* The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson
The topic of this book is so fascinating to me! I’m at the 50% mark (it’s taking me longer to get through, and it has dragged in parts, but I feel like it’s all going to come together and prove important). It is heavy on the science sometimes and really delves into various relationships and it can get a little dry at times. But I’m way too interested in the implications all of this has, not only on the current fight against coronavirus, but to humanity as a whole!
* Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
This book is incredible!! It’s a community history that is so incredibly unique. The book is divided into 5-year time periods (eighty of them! 😳) that covers a 400 years! A different author covers each part and it is so incredibly well done!
(#partner #freebooks: All books noted by asterisks (***) indicate I received the book for free from the publisher, the author, or another promotional company to review. All opinions are my own.)
Here’s my most recent posts in case you missed them:
Happiest When Reading 
You’ve had a great reading week!
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Yes!!!
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Kindred is so great, the concept really makes the contrast significant, how little voice a black slave woman had, her demeanour even. Brilliant.
Interesting reads you have now too, and wow, that’s a lot if basketball, but having a team to cheer on sounds like excellent therapy for these times we’re living in.
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It is quite amazing. Our district has worked relentlessly to keep as normalcy as possible and I’m so grateful. We’ve been in school since August and not had a single outbreak, and the kids are not masked in class! It’s incredible!
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