Today’s post covers the second half of the books I read in November 2021. I shared the first half of the books I read here. My top books of the month can be found here. I will be linking up this post with the Show Us Your Books Link Up, and the Amazon links to the books I’ve read are affiliate links and if you use them and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. If you’ve read any of these books or are interested in them, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Title: Bringing Up Race
Author: Uju Asika
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 4/1/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review / Non Fiction November
My Rating: 4 Stars
This book addresses the topics of antiracism with information on how to teach children about these issues. I felt that it was geared towards Black or mixed families, and focuses on the UK, as the author lives there, but it was still an interesting read for me.
“Bringing Up Race is an important book, for all families whatever their race or ethnicity. It’s for everyone who wants to instill a sense of open-minded inclusivity in their kids, and those who want to discuss difference instead of shying away from tough questions. Uju Asika draws on often shocking personal stories of prejudice along with opinions of experts, influencers, and fellow parents to give prescriptive advice in this invaluable guide.
Bringing Up Race explores:
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- When children start noticing ethnic differences (hint: much earlier than you think)
- What to do if your child says something racist (try not to freak out)
- How to have open, honest, age-appropriate conversations about race
- How children and parents can handle racial bullying
- How to recognize and challenge everyday racism, aka microaggressions
Bringing Up Race is a call to arms for all parents as our society works to combat white supremacy and dismantle the systemic racism that has existed for hundreds of years.”
I enjoyed the different points of view and stories from various people, as well as the question and answer sections in each chapter.
Title: Nobody Will Tell You This But Me
Author: Bess Kalb
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group, 3/17/20
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review / Non Fiction November
My Rating: 4 Stars
This book was written in a unique way – in the voice of the writer’s grandmother as if she is speaking to the writer. With a typo in the prologue I was a bit confused at first, but soon understood the viewpoint. Grandma Bobby was depicted as a (stereo)typical Jewish grandma, and in a lot of ways she reminded me of my own. I could have done without some of the anti religious sentiments and fat phobia, but I imagine this was all part of her personality.
“Even after she left home for Hollywood, Emmy-nominated TV writer Bess Kalb saved every voicemail her grandmother Bobby Bell ever left her. Bobby was a force—irrepressible, glamorous, unapologetically opinionated. Bobby doted on Bess; Bess adored Bobby. Then, at ninety, Bobby died. But in this debut memoir, Bobby is speaking to Bess once more, in a voice as passionate as it ever was in life. Recounting both family lore and family secrets, Bobby brings us four generations of indomitable women and the men who loved them. There’s Bobby’s mother, who traveled solo from Belarus to America in the 1880s to escape the pogroms, and Bess’s mother, a 1970s rebel who always fought against convention. But it was Bobby and Bess who always had the most powerful bond: Bobby her granddaughter’s fiercest supporter, giving Bess unequivocal love, even if sometimes of the toughest kind. Nobody Will Tell You This But Me marks the creation of a totally new, virtuosic form of memoir: a reconstruction of a beloved grandmother’s words and wisdom to tell her family’s story with equal parts poignancy and hilarity.”
This was a moving generational story from Bobby’s mother immigrating to America through Bobby becoming a mother to a daughter herself. It was interesting to see the strained mother daughter relationships throughout the family history. Bobby made up for her difficulties in mothering by becoming a wonderful grandma, though I do think the author had to be patient and loving to get along with Bobby! My grandma talked to me in many of the same ways, though Bobby seemed to have a much better sense of humor! I read this book in one day.
Title: Rage Yoga
Author: Lindsay Istace
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Sourcebooks, 11/1/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review / Non Fiction November
My Rating: 3 Stars
This was an interesting take on yoga for the atypical yogi. The idea is that anyone can practice yoga, whether or not you fit into the idea everyone has of the yoga mom.
“From the creator of the international viral sensation Rage Yoga comes a book that will empower readers to crush their bullsh*t, unleash their inner Badass Self, and be Zen as f*ck. Rage Yoga is taught by certified instructors and done while blasting hard rock music, hydrating with a cold beer, loudly cursing like a sailor, and extending your fist unicorns in a state of bleeped-out bliss. This book will explore how and why Rage Yoga came to be and how to create a regular practice through breath work, positional exercises, and mindfulness, along with two 7-day programs.”
There is a lot of cursing involved and I find it kind of hard to read the yoga poses and sequences as described – learning yoga from a book may be something that isn’t quite for me! I did like the personal story parts from the author.
Title: The Party Crasher
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Dial Press, 10/12/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review.
My Rating: 4 Stars
This was a cute family story with a bit of a second chance romance mixed in. Effie has a difficult relationship with her dad’s new girlfriend and she isn’t invited to the goodbye party for the house she grew up in. Instead she sneaks her way in and ends up listening in on all sorts of conversations from hidden spots in the house. Many of the situations she found herself in had me laughing!
“It’s been over two years since Effie’s beloved parents got divorced, destroying the image of the happy, loving childhood she thought she had. Since then, she’s become estranged from her father and embarked on a feud with his hot (and much younger) girlfriend, Krista. And now, more earth-shattering news: Greenoaks, the rambling Victorian country house Effie called home her whole life, has been sold. When Krista decides to throw a grand ‘house cooling’ party, Effie is originally left off the guest list—and then receives a last-minute ‘anti-invitation’ (maybe it’s because she called Krista a gold-digger, but Krista totally deserved it, and it was mostly a joke anyway). Effie declines, but then remembers a beloved childhood treasure is still hidden in the house. Her only chance to retrieve it is to break into Greenoaks while everyone is busy celebrating. As Effie sneaks around the house, hiding under tables and peeping through trapdoors, she realizes the secrets Greenoaks holds aren’t just in the dusty passageways and hidden attics she grew up exploring. Watching how her sister, brother, and dad behave when they think no one is looking, Effie overhears conversations, makes discoveries, and begins to see her family in a new light. Then she runs into Joe—the love of her life, who long ago broke her heart, and who’s still as handsome and funny as ever—and even more truths emerge. But will Effie act on these revelations? Will she stay hidden or step out into the party and take her place with her family? And truthfully, what did she really come back to Greenoaks for? Over the course of one blowout party, Effie realizes that she must be honest with herself and confront her past before she’ll ever be able to face her future.”
I thought this was a cute book and I liked it better than Sophie Kinsella’s previous release!
Title: What White People Can Do Next
Author: Emma Dabiri
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Harper Perennial, 6/22/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review / Non Fiction November
My Rating: 4 Stars
I was quite interested in reading this book as the next step in my antiracism journey; however I found it quite academic and sometimes hard to follow. It contains multiple essays on the topic of coalition and is focused out of the UK, specifically Ireland.
“Vital and empowering What White People Can Do Next teaches each of us how to be agents of change in the fight against racism and the establishment of a more just and equitable world. In this affecting and inspiring collection of essays, Emma Dabiri draws on both academic discipline and lived experience to probe the ways many of us are complacent and complicit—and can therefore combat—white supremacy. She outlines the actions we must take, including:
Stop the Denial
Interrogate Whiteness
Abandon Guilt
Redistribute Resources
Realize this shit is killing you too . . .
To move forward, we must begin to evaluate our prejudices, our social systems, and the ways in which white supremacy harms us all. Illuminating and practical, What White People Can Do Next is essential for everyone who wants to go beyond their current understanding and affect real—and lasting—change.”
I liked the essay about reading which stated that we should read beyond books on antiracism because this reduces Black people to their experiences of white racism. The suggestion of reading fiction from authors of color is something I have been trying to do as well.
Title: The Redhead of Auschwitz
Author: Nechama Birnbaum
Genre: Non Fiction
Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers, 11/28/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review / Non Fiction November
My Rating: 4 Stars
I am usually quick to pass on books with “…of Auschwitz” in the title at this point, but this is a true story told in the words of an 18 year old who was sent to Auschwitz, written by her granddaughter, and true stories are worth reading. Rosie who narrowly escaped death in Auschwitz and went on to have 5 children, 28 grandchildren, 120 great grandchildren, and 7 great great grandchildren. Rosie’s sister also survived alongside her and their stories are quite impactful. Rosie knew that she would make it back home, and she did.
“Rosie was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. She often dreamed what it would look like under a white veil with the man of her dreams by her side. However, her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is forced out of her home and sent to the most gruesome of places: Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Rosie’s head is shaved and along with the loss of her beautiful hair, she loses the life she once cherished. Among the chaos and surrounded by hopelessness, Rosie realizes the only thing the Nazis cannot take away from her is the fierce redhead resilience in her spirit. When all of her friends conclude they are going to heaven from Auschwitz, she remains determined to get home. She summons all of her courage, through death camps and death marches to do just that. This victorious biography, written by Nechama Birnbaum in honor of her grandmother, is as full of life as it is of death. It is about the intricacies of Jewish culture that still exist today and the tender experiences that are universal to all humanity: family, coming of age, and first love. It is a story that celebrates believing in yourself no matter the odds. This is a story about the little redheaded girl who thought she could, and so she did.”
What horrors these young women went through are interspersed with the stories of Rosie’s childhood before the war, which served to break up the difficulties in reading about Auschwitz, and later about Theresienstadt, from which Rosie was liberated. Somehow she maintained her faith and passed it along to her family as well. I don’t think I’ve read about a traditional Jewish Holocaust survivor before and this meant a lot to me.
“The greatest revenge we can inflict is to have tolerance and kindness for all people.”
“Evil happens when good people do not see the good in other people, when we judge each other, when we put ourselves higher than others, when we stand by someone else’s evil and do not speak up.”
Title: Hungry Hearts
Author: Jennifer Rudolph Walsh (ed.)
Genre: Essay Collection
Publisher: Dial Press, 3/9/21
Source: Publisher
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review / Non Fiction November
My Rating: 4 Stars
This is a short book of essays on life changing moments written mostly by women of color.
“Over the course of four years, the traveling love rally called Together Live brought together diverse storytellers for epic evenings of laughter, music, and hard-won wisdom to huge audiences across the country. Well-known womxn (and the occasional man) from all walks of life shared their most vulnerable truths in a radical act of love, paving the way for healing in the face of adversity. Now, off the stage and on the pages of Hungry Hearts, sixteen of these beloved speakers offer moving, inspiring, deeply personal essays as a reminder that we can heal from grief and that divisions can be repaired. Bozoma Saint John opens herself up to love after loss; Cameron Esposito confronts the limits of self-reliance in the wake of divorce; Ashley C. Ford learns to trust herself for the first time. A heartfelt anthology of transformation, self-discovery, and courage that also includes essays by Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Amena Brown, Austin Channing Brown, Natalie Guerrero, Sue Monk Kidd, Connie Lim (MILCK), Nkosingiphile Mabaso, Jillian Mercado, Priya Parker, Geena Rocero, Michael Trotter and Tanya-Blount Trotter of The War and Treaty, and Maysoon Zayid, Hungry Hearts shows how reconnecting with our own burning, undeniable intuition points us toward our unique purpose and the communities where we most belong.”
My favorite essays were Period Playlist, My Funny Valentine, When Sisterhood Ends, and On Silence.
Title: The Henna Artist
Author: Alka Joshi
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Harlequin Audio, 3/3/20
Source: Library Audio App
Why I Read It: Book Group
My Rating: 4 Stars
I had heard that many people loved this book so I was glad to have the chance to listen to it for my book group’s next pick. I found it to be an interesting story.
“Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist—and confidante—to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own…Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow—a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does.”
I read some own voices reviews that said the story is not necessarily true to India and their culture, so keeping that in mind, I did enjoy all of the nuances and cultural stories told about Jaipur and I would not mind reading the next book in this series.
Title: If This Gets Out
Author: Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich
Genre: YA Romance
Publisher: Wednesday Books, 12/7/21
Source: Publisher via Net Galley
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review.
My Rating: 3 Stars
This book was quite long in my opinion and it didn’t hold my interest well. This is the story of a boy band and what happens when two of its members fall for one another.
“Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartthrobs in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, the pressure to stay in the closet has Ruben confiding in Zach. On a whirlwind tour through Europe with an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, the two come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben realize they will never truly have the support they need. How can they hold tight to each other when their whole world is coming apart?”
The band management forces the band members to conform to certain styles although they aren’t necessarily the way they actually are, and therefore force Ruben and Zach to stay closeted. I am sorry I did not enjoy this one more than I did.
Title: Amazon Original Short Story Collection
Author: J. Courtney Sullivan, Rainbow Rowell, Suzanne Redfearn, Chandler Baker
Genre: Short Stories
Publisher: Amazon Originals, 12/1/21
Source: PR for Collection
Why I Read It: Sent to me for my review.
My Rating: 4 Stars
This is the next Amazon Original Short Story Collection, but I can’t seem to find a link to the stories grouped together as a collection. They are each available on their own though, and are free with kindle unlimited.
Model Home by J. Courtney Sullivan is about a home improvement couple who need to make some improvements on their marriage. They are in the midst of filming a holiday special, which the husband says will be their last. But the wife is conniving and works on convincing him to stay with it.
If The Fates Allow by Rainbow Rowell takes place on Christmas 2020 and 2021 and addresses the differences in the two years with regards to Covid. In 2020, Reagan makes the effort to quarantine and then get together with her grandfather. In doing so, she meets Mason, who lives next door.
The Marriage Test by Suzanne Redfearn is about a couple who haven’t known each other long but are planning a Christmas wedding. First, they go through a family tradition of finding ingredients for a cake which they need to bake together. This seems like a good way to find out if a couple is really meant to be!
Oh. What. Fun. by Chandler Baker was a fun and humorous look at Claire, the matriarch of a family who plans the perfect Christmas gathering and how stressful it actually is for her.
These short stories were a total of 194 pages, so not long and each were fun reads in their own right.
Title: The Bride Test
Author: Helen Hoang
Genre: Rom Com
Publisher: Berkley, 5/7/19
Source: Purchased / My Shelf
Why I Read It: Buddy Read / TBR
My Rating: 4 Stars
I had this book before I had The Kiss Quotient, and I finally read that one recently and now have read this one as well. They are stand alones, but in the same world and characters from the previous appear in this one as well.
“Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection. With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.”
While I like this author’s writing a lot and I did enjoy this book, I wonder about Khai’s mother forcing him to find love. I think he was wrong about his inability to have feelings, but he is definitely not defective and there are plenty of people who choose not to have relationships in any case. On the other hand, a good forced proximity romance is one of my favorites!
As you can see, I once again read a lot this month, and a lot of it was chosen from my shelves, which made me happy! This post included 11 of the books I read this month. Of these books, 8 were print, 1 was an audio book, and 2 were ebooks. Genres included non fiction, historical, essays, short stories, and romance.
Have you read any of these books or do you want to? What have you been reading lately?