This was a very cute collection of short interactions between the author and her partner. It shows the positive aspects of being in a romantic relationship with your best friend. The art style is cute and fitting. I looked into the author, and she has other works similar to this. I think I'll probably read them when I need a pick-me-up. This was quite wholesome and uplifting.

I am a huge Star Trek fan and was super excited to finally read George Takei's memoir. It explores his experiences as a child while his family was living in internment camps during World War II. His mother was born in the United States and grew up in Japan while his father was born in Japan and grew up in the United States. George was quite young when this happened, and his parents did a decent job protecting from the worst parts of what was happening. It made me happy to know many Japanese descendants worked together as a community to aid each other and make a home for themselves in those camps despite the circumstances. At the same time, it's something that should have never happened in the first place.

This is a story told through the eyes of a child. It makes the historical truth of what happened much more digestible and approachable. I would recommend it for all ages, honestly. I also have George Takei's autobiography and I'm planning on reading his upcoming memoir about coming out and his LGBT+ activism. It's such a gift to be able to have a first-hand account of such vital historical events. We won't have people from that generation around much longer, so I'll savor what I can learn from them.

I read Dean Atta's debut novel, The Black Flamingo, and loved it. I couldn't help but check out some of his poetry. It generally feels very modern but succeeds in introducing topics of race and queer identity. There is a lot of intersection of the human experience specifically as a queer black person. It's refreshing to feel represented in Atta's work as queer person of color myself. The poetry is easy to follow. It is simple, yet eloquent in structure and clear in its messaging. It was an enjoyable read and I would be happy to read more poetry by Atta in the future. This wasn't mind-blowing, but it felt genuine and is better than most modern poetry books I've picked up recently.

This was Toni Morrison's first novel and all I can say is, what an important piece of work this is. The story's main character is Pecola, but the story mostly explores how other characters interact with Pecola. We don't get as much of an introspection of her character as I was expecting. Pecola is a dark-skinned girl growing up in the 1940 Ohio, so there are very strong social implications. I participated in book discussion for this book. Enjoyable is not a word I would use to describe it, because it would be innacurate. Despite that, it is still an amazing book that tackles difficult themes and makes you think critically about race relations and how self-hatred is taught, specifically in the context of racial identity.

My biggest takeaway from this book was just how internalized racialized self-hatred is. I've met so many black women that don't like themselves and have adopted "ugliness" as an adjective for themselves. Children are not born knowing prejudice, but they model the prejudice present in the society around them. In turn, those directly put down by that prejudice can grow up with so much insecurity. This is illustrated in the book by Pecola's mother, Polly (Pauline). She has a foot deformity and internalizes "ugly" into her identity. She ends up taking out her bitterness on Pecola. There are multiple examples in the book of her treating the white family she works for better than her own child. The internalized self-hatred is something that she is passing down to Pecola with her actions. This is a message that unfortunately, is still so relevant. Additionally, it reveals that we have not come as far as we could have by now. 

Morrison adopts multiple points of view in the story. I think that her intent with this was to tell a story that mirrors the experience of a spectator looking from the outside in. This makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand that the discrimination and poor treatment Pecola receives, especially from other black people, comes from a place of trauma. I don't think that would have been as easily understood if it was mostly Pecola's point of view. Pecola is a very young child and doesn't understand a lot of what happens to her, including her

sexual assault

. I think hearing events from Cholly's (Pecola's father) point of view, for example, made that scene much more horrific, memorable, and impactful. Understanding that the actions of Pecola's parents come from a place of trauma made all the building blocks for the story make sense. Pecola's mother specifically treats her poorly because she has an inferiority complex. Her rejection of Pecola comes from the rejection of her own blackness. That message would not have been as clear if there was only one point-of-view.

Patricia Breedlove makes for an interesting character study. My initial thoughts were that she was particularly harsh with Pecola. She is a disapproving parent that never thinks that Pecola is good enough. As the story evolves, we obtain more information about Mrs. Breedlove's past. While this does not excuse her actions, but it does provide context. This is a woman who married a man she thought she would be happy with. However, she entered the relationship with deep rooted insecurity and false beliefs about the world. The main one being that only pretty people are allowed pretty lives. Ugly people deserve ugly lives. Blackness to her equates to ugliness and unhappiness, while whiteness equates to beauty and happiness. Since she thinks that her blackness makes her ugly, just like it makes her daughter ugly, she inadvertently ends up contributing to Pecola's misery. By the end of the story, I can't help but feel sadness and pity for the woman Patricia was and the woman she ends up becoming. She was a woman that once was young and hopeful. A woman who ends up angry, bitter, unhappy, and a believer in the lies a racist world has told her about herself.

It's reasonably clear based on this work that Morrison was aware that society is focused on a Eurocentric beauty standard. Proximity to whiteness is coveted. For example, on page 72, for example, Pecola has the following internal dialogue:

Patricia Breedlove expresses a similar sentiment, but through her actions. She treats Pecola worse than the white children she serves for her employer. She sees her proximity to them as a proximity to whiteness, and therefore a proximity to beauty.

There are passages in the story referring to the white children Mrs. Breedlove cares for, Dick and Jane. The passages serve as a contrast to Pecola's dysfunctional family. We don't acutally get to see the details of Dick and Jane's family life. We only see an outside perspective of how they are perceived by the black characters in the story. They are seen as something to aspire to in contrast to Pecola's dysfunctional and broken family. The fact that they are white just reinforces the false ideas people like Pecola and her mother have about blackness. If only they were whiteer they would be happier, prettier, and more functional. Obviously, these things are not true, but they are unable to see that because of the message society has made them internalize so deeply.

Cholly, Pecola's father, also has his backstory explored. This helps give context to the person Cholly becomes (in a similar way to Patricia Breedlove). He is a black man that has been humiliated throughout his early life and made to feel like less than. His violation of Pecola, I believe, is his way of exercising agency in a world he feels has denied it to him his entire life. It helps the reader understand the character better and fives him more dimension. He is still just as vile for doing what he did to Pecola, but having his backstory makes him more than just a one-dimensional villain. It allows readers to understand that to some extent Cholly is a victim too. He is just, unfortunately, a victim that also became a perpetrator of abuse. It makes me wonder how different Cholly and Pecola's lives could be if he had made different choices. Maybe if he had chosen to exercise his agency in a healthier way the consequences wouldn't have been so damning. I also think it speaks to how often black men in fiction and media are just relegated to the deadbeat father trope. Toni Morisson's exploration of Cholly's past grants the character the time a lot of white characters in media are granted automatically and black characters rarely get. 

The content of this book is something that I think should be vetted by an adult before being presented to younger readers. There has been a lot of discussion recently about book banning and this book is often included in those banned book lists. A lot of the messages and triggering scenes are not gratuitious by any means, but they are uncomfortable. They are written in a way that isn't sexy, funny, or glorifying of the actions. A lot of the text is also implied, so there is no sexually explicit content in the story at all. I can see a mindful teacher guiding a class through this books successfully. I remember reading books like Night by Eli Wiesel in high school, and that book also has very difficult content to get through. If a parent believes that content in a book is not appropriate for their child, they should be allowed to prohibit it in their household, but not the household of other parents. At the end of the day, each parent should be responsible for their own child and what they consume. That does not give them agency over what books other children read. 

I have really complicated feelings about this one. First, I'd like to commend David Bennett for his bravery and honesty. He exposes very intimate details about how he distanced himself from Christianity for a while. He became a gay activist and eventually ended up finding his way back to Christianity. His journey back to Christianity is somewhat convoluted, though. He goes from having a more liberal view on sex to believing that celibacy is the only way to have a true relationship with Jesus. He breaks off potential romantic relationships because of this conviction. 

I respect Bennett's own personal navigation of this. It was brave of him to write this book at all. However, I take issue with his consistent tone of self-loathing almost. . He comes off as self-hating even when he doesn't mean to be. This is especially in context of his original beliefs which were per page 32:

There is another segment on page 128 that displays his change of opinion as follows:

He states that he doesn't advocate for what others should do, but his writing style implies otherwise. He is essentially stating that he believes that he must self sacrifice in order to follow Jesus. This is odd theologically to me as someone who also identifies as a queer Christian because the Bible consistently talks about how Jesus had to sacrifice himself so that we wouldn't have to. It's also surprising that this ends up being his stance since he is a survivor of reparative/conversion therapy. I do not agree with his position, but I respect his right to have it. He mentions his own struggles with being accepted within the LGBTQ+ community on page 186 as follows:

And then continues later in the next paragraph:

A lot of these statements feel contradictory. On one hand, Bennett is an advocate for gay rights for all, but he is actively advocating against the better interest of the LGBTQ+ community. He seems to understand where this majority of the LGBTQ+ community he speaks of comes from because he was an atheist gay pro-LGBTQ+ advocate. However, he doesn't seem to have the ability to empathisize enough with their stance to not see himself as a victim of discriminatory practices. It is unfortunately hard to not have his personal doctrine still riddle with homophobia as a result.

On a more positive note, I do appreciate Bennet's discussion of romantic love being valued over platonic love both in church circles and the secular world. here are some of the quotes I appreciate from the text:

Page 114:

Page 192:

Page 219:

I identify as aromantic asexual and can relate to this alienating feeling. Romantic relationships take priority, whether in the secular or religious context. It really diminishes the importance of platonic relationships. In the church specifically there is also an over-sexualization of platonic relationships between people of the opposite gender, but that's a separate issue not addressed in this book. 

I would not call this book an enjoyable read per se, but it was interesting. I think Bennet's personal story is interesting, but I would not recommend it to anyone who already feels depressed or is a self-hating gay person in a church community. I think it definitely would do more harm than good. It's going to be a 2/5 for me.

I have so many friends that have ADHD, both diagnosed or self-diagnosed (and currently seeking a diagnosis). It was refreshing to read through this and get a glimpse of how ADHD can be debilitating for day-to-day functioning. Roxanne and Richard switch back and forth in first person point-of-view as they each give their perspective as a couple that lives together in the United Kingdom. 

Roxanne elaborates on her journey from self-hatred to self-love, from toxic romantic relationships to a now healthy one, and learning to work with her ADHD rather than fighting it. On page 12, for example, she states:

I have witnessed my own mother have executive function issues like this. Roxanne gives another example of having trouble with directions and my mother has the exact same issue.  A lot of my friends with ADHD can also relate to the level of shame that is expressed by Roxanne here. 

Roxanne's husband, Rich, is her greatest supporter. You can hear the level of compassion through the narrative voice that they use with each other. Their relationship as not all been smooth sailing. However, getting diagnosed has allowed both Rox and Rich to have more compassion for one another and find ways to tackle a problem together rather than place blame on each other. There is a very important part of the book where Rox talks about co-dependency. She admits that she does need Rich in her life to function properly, and she is not ashamed of that. Her quality of life is exponentially better since she has opted to share her burdens with Rich. I think that neurodivergent people often live in the margins of society because we are taught that we must function the way everyone else does. We must learn to be independent in every way imaginable and if we are not, we are somehow failing. Neurodivergence can be debilitating and disabling in some ways, and I had never thought of codependence in the way that Rox framed it. It really made me rethink my own relationship with hyper-independence and how helpful it has been to let that go slowly. My quality of life has also improved as I've let go of the burden of having to do everything alone.

This book was a healing experience to read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in learning about ADHD, either for themselves or for loved ones around them. Even if you don't know anyone in your life that has ADHD this book provides a lens of empathy if you ever do encounter anyone who has this disorder.

This is such a wonderful introductory summary to intersectional feminism.  It is written as a letter to a friend who is raising a daughter and wants tips on raising a feminist. Adichie makes 15 different suggestions and expresses her reasons for each. A lot of the passages go over what women's expectations of men should be in an equitable relationshop. For example, on page 13 Adichie tells her friend (referring to her friend's husband, Chudi): "And never say that Chudi is "babysitting"—people who babysit are people for whom the baby is not a primary responsibility.

Chudi does not deserve any special gratitude or praise, not do you—you both made the choice to bring a child into the world, and the responsibility for that child belongs equally to you both." This is something that a lot of people don't think about. Babysitting implies that you are doing a paid job or are doing someone a favor. This should not at all apply to men who are caring for their own children. By that logic, women would always be babysitting when caring for their own kids.

Another example of a gendered expectation Adichie gives is cooking. On page 15 Adichie states "The knowledge for cooking does not come pre-installed in a vagina. Cooking is learned. Cooking—domestic work in general—is a life skill that both men and women should ideally have. It is also a skill that can elude both men and women." Personally,  I see cooking as equivalent to knowing how to do laundry. What I mean by that is that they are both skills that anyone can and should learn how to do. It is a basic survival skill that is necessary and an economically intelligent decision as well. However, I understand that generally society much more harshly judges women for not knowing how to cook in particular. 

This manifesto addresses feminism as a whole as well. One of my favorite quotes is on page 20 where the text states "Being a feminist is like being pregnant. You either are or you are not. You either believe in the full equality of men and women or you do not.". It's so true. You either believe in equal rights regardless of gender or you don't. It's the same reason it is so important that feminism be intersectional. Regardless of what kind of profession you have or whether you are cisgender or transgender your rights as a woman should be defended. Otherwise, you are not a true feminist.

This short read was refreshing and has so much important information jam packed into such a small package. I'm looking forward to continuing to read more by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I have a friend who informed me that if I like Adichie's work I should check out works by the man who influenced her, Chinua Achebe. I will definitely be checking that out soon.

Los personajes resaltan por sus diferentes personalides. El libro es una crítica de tradiciones machistas y al mismo tiempo es una carta de amor a la cultura y cocina mexicana. Mamá Elena es mi personaje menos preferido. Es una mujer santurrona e imponente. La tradición indica que Tita nunca debe de casarse porque como la hija menor es su responsabilidad  cuidar de su madre toda su vida. Esta costumbre es la raiz de los demás eventos de la historia. 

Tita tiene dos hermanas. De todas las hermanas Rosaura es la que mas me recuerda a Mamá Elena. Las dos se preocupan mas por las apariencas que el bienestar emocional de ellas mismas y los demas. Causan mucho sufrimiento a Tita y aquellos a su alrededor por esto. Nunca terminan siendo felices al final de la historia tampoco. De las hermanas mi favorita fue Gertrudis. Tiene la oportunidad de escaparse del rancho de su madre antes que Tita.

Termina trabajando en un burdel, pero esto no se le convierte en una limitación. Ella eventualmente se convierte en una general de la revolución mexicana. También logra encontrar el amor.

Creo que es un mensaje muy progresivo y feminista. Es muy común en historias asi que a las mujeres se les castigue por la promiscuidad. Fue refrescante ver que ese no fue el caso aqui.

Adicionalmente, las relaciones de raza se embarcan como tema en esta maravillosa historia.  Eventualmente se revela algo muy importante sobre el origen de Gertrudis.

Se descubre que Mamá Elena tuvo una relación secreta con un hombre mulato produciendole el embarazo con Gertrudis. Fue producto Gertrudis de una infidelidad. Cuando el esposo de Mamá Elena supo de la infidelidad y que Gerturdis no era su hija, tuvo un infarto y murió.

Este trama secundario revela el racismo existente en México durante la era de la revolución. Además, enseña que apesar de ser tan estricta con sus hijas, Mamá Elena es hipócrita. Ella violó muchas normas sociales y en el proceso de no ser feliz ella intentó diseminarle esa miseria a sus hijas. Lo mas frustrante de esto es que el descubrimiento no es hecho hasta que Mamá Elena no está para tomar responsabilidad por sus acciones.

Mamá Elena es un ejemplo de las cadenas generacionales que no permiten que crezca ni progrese su familia. Rosaura intenta continuar esta tradición imponente con su hija, Esperanza. Creo que esto es una reflección de como la lealtad ciega a la tradición aveces tiene que romperse para poder mejorar las vidas de las generaciones futuras. Esto es una decisión que tiene que tomarse de manera activa. Sino, terminanos repitiendo los mis errores de nuestros antepasados.

El Dr. John Brown es un personaje que es importante dentro de la historia. Le sirve a Tita como una revelación de la vida que puede tener fuera del rancho. Le permite tener a Tita el espacio de formar una identidad independiente a su madre. De muchas maneras Tita representa lo opuesto de Mamá Elena y Rosaura. Es una mujer que crea su propio camino y eventualmente llega a tener la felicidad que Mamá Elena y Rosaura nunca tuvieron por su lealtad a la tradición.

Este libro es un tributo bello a la cocina y la cultura mexicana. Al mismo tiempo, sirve de crítica de las tradiciones que pueden causar un retraso para las generaciónes futuras. Tita está basada en una tía abuela de la autora y que nunca terminó casándose. Me imagino que este es un final mas feliz que Laura Esquivel hubiera querido para su tía abuela.

DNF 02/28/2025. I think devotionals are just not for me. This one was lying around among my mom's books, and I have just not picked it up since. I just want to sit down and read it all at once and devotionals aren't really for that.

He seguido a Alexis Valdes desde que era muy joven. Actualmente también sigo a su hija, Ámerica Valdes, que es actriz y cantante. Cuando vi que habia escrito un libro no me aguanté la curiosidad. Valdes tuvo un padrastro muy abusivo por muchos años. Esta etapa de su niñez es un gran enfoque del libro. También habla de los familiares que lo impactaron bastante durante su juventud. No habla mucho sobre su carrera o vida adulta. Yo honestamente lo prefiero así porque me permitió conocer a Alexis el muchacho e ir mas allá de su imagen pública.

El libro te transporta al mundo de un niño travieso, inteligente, pero con mucho amor y dolor en su vida. Desafortunadamente, Alexis y su familia pasaron muchos malos momentos cuando su madre se casó con su padrastro. Era un señor con mucha ira. Le pegaba a Alexis para disciplinarlo. Odiaba al padre de Alexis y a Alexis por ser hijo de una relación previa. Siempre habia un ambiente de miedo en la casa. Es increidble como personas que crecen en casas así pueden tener tan buen sentido del humor. Entre los momentos de miedo y tristeza Valdes encuentra la manera de hacerlo a uno reir. Habla de travesuras y amistades que tuvo en el colegio. Elabora con momentos en las que escribia cartas a una estación de radio en Polonia. Se siente el amor que él recibio de su padre, madre, y su tia, Ámerica. Nombró a su hija Ámerica por su tia a quien quería tanto. Los momentos bonitos que describe con esas figuras en el libro mientra vivia en Cuba me recuerda mucho a momentos con mi familia. 

Alexis nunca nombra a su padrastro. De alguna manera se siente como si eso es una representación de que ese señor ya no tiene poder en su vida. En sus propias palabras él explica el porque tomo esta decisión. Tardó mucho tiempo la madre de Alexis en abandonar esa relación tóxica. Es un ejemplo de lo que le pasa a muchas familas en estas situaciones. El miedo a lo que puede pasar si abandonan al abusador los mantiene atrapados. Me alegro mucho que Alexis y su familia encontró eventualmente libertad de ese vínculo con su abusador. 

Se nota que escribir este libro es una señal de que Alexis ha sanado muchas heridas de su juventud. Deseo que aquellos que han sido víctimas del abuso encuentran esa paz. Leer este libro es una experiencia optimista y creo que bastantes lectores encontrarán mucha alegria en completarlo.