When this preordered audiobook popped up on my phone as "ready-to-read," I started right away. I've been waiting for this one!

And, great news! It's as compelling and wonderful as I thought it would be. Michelle Zauner, solo artist who performs indie-pop music as Japanese Breakfast, wrote an essay for The New Yorker in 2018 with this same title. It was so popular, she got a book deal from it and expanded the essay into a memoir detailing her complex yet powerful relationship with her Korean mother, who passed away in 2014 at 56 from cancer.

Her honesty about their connection and how it was fostered through their mutual love of Korean food--which she gets in a Korean food store called H Mart--is something many can relate to. I remember specific moments with both my grandmother and mother based on what we were eating at the time. Still, the anecdotes she shares, through the lens of a Korean-American daughter living in America with a Korean mother, are enlightening, emotional, and heartwarming. I have to say, eating octopus tentacles as they are still moving is something I won't soon forget. This memoir has it all: humor, humanity, and heart.

Michelle does her own narration, which adds even more emotion to the memoir. You can tell she's a singer based on her lovely voice!

I highly recommend this one. Such a wonderful "listen."

If a person gets struck by lightning, they could (although it's rare) suffer from a skin irritation called "lightning flowers." A web of fern-like red marks bloom across the skin, caused by the transmission of static electricity along the superficial blood vessels that nourish the skin.

Standefer starts her memoir with a description of this mark and then reveals that she, at the age of 24, had to have a cardiac defribulator implanted into her chest to keep her alive. Katherine--and her younger sister Christine--both suffer from a genetic heart-rhythm condition known as Long QT Syndrome, where the heart occasionally produces short, chaotic heartbeats. During these bouts, the person either faints or, if more serious, dies. Katherine's rugged life in Wyoming and work as a ski instructor are upended by this diagnosis.

This book chronicles Katherine's struggles with the American health insurance system, hospital/doctor care, and--through her queries about the work that goes into mining the minerals/materials to make the defribulators--larger entities, including the corporations that operate the mines and just how much land (and livelihoods of the natives who use the mineral-rich land for food and sustenance) suffer for the development of today's tech. While iPads, etc. are "wants," Katherine's defribulator is a "need," and she feels a certain responsibility for the environmental and personal damage caused by the mines. While discussing these issues, she also relates her personal experiences--the constant worry she'll do something to active the defribulator, finding love amidst chronic illness, losing the ability to pursue the outdoors actitivites she loves, etc.

I enjoyed this one! Katherine read the audiobook, which made the story even more effective and I really felt for the challenging life she has to lead--and that it began when she was so young. If you enjoy personal stories of struggle married with issues of environmental and social justice, I suggest you give this one a listen.

Full disclosure: I tried numerous times to read the physical book of this and wasn't hooked enough to stay with it. So, when I saw it as the Audible Daily Deal, I thought I'd give it a try.

The audiobook hooked me. The narrator, Zeno Robinson, was terrific. Since the book is framed as a "how-to book" of sorts and the narrator, protagonist Darren, addresses the reader directly in certain parts, the reading aloud structure works really well here--and Zeno is amazing at it.

This book is quite the roller-coaster ride of a narrative. The protagonist Darren is a 22-year-old who lives with his mom in Bed-Stuy, New York, and is content to work at the Starbucks in a lobby of a Manhattan high-rise, spend time with his childhood sweetheart Soraya, hang with his friend Jason, and have as little ambition as possible.

One day, he ends up impressing a regular, Rhett Daniels--CEO of tech start-up Sumwun--and is offered a job as a salesman on the 36th floor. The atmosphere of Sumwun's office is chaotic, intense, and laser-focused. Darren's the only Black employee, and endures a Hell Week of training where the trainer, Clyde, seems to revel in tinging his training instruction with as many racist comments as possible. Soon, Darren has become "Buck," a business-obsessed salesman who his family and friends don't recognize. After tragedy strikes--for the company and for Darren personally--his job takes on a new mission and things get even more complicated and satirical.

I liked this one! The action--and intensity of the situations--keeps building and I was riveted. The critiques of start-up culture, racism, and self-help were on-point and Darren's voice was so well portrayed through Zeno's narration. This one will definitely keep you entertained while doing chores--it definitely did me!

Eye-opening, infuriating, educational, and hilarious, this book is a must for any white person hoping to learn more about the microaggressions (and major transgressions) of racism that Black people experience day in and day out in our country.

Amber is a comedian, host of her own show on Peacock TV, and a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers. She lives and works in New York City, but is from Omaha, Nebraska. Her sister, Lacey Lamar, still lives and works in Omaha. After years of the Ruffin family regaling friends and family with stories about the many (MANY) instances of racism Lacey has experienced, Amber and Lacey thought it would be helpful to put them into a book. Thanks to Lacey's copious note-taking, she had a packed journal to pull from. As she and Amber mention many times throughout the book, the stories in the book are just the tip of the iceberg. And what a tip it is.

Whether it's Lacey dealing with outright hostility by white storeowners while trying to buy donuts to being used by her elementary school art teacher as the model for "how to draw negros," each story is, at turns, funny (Amber's a hilarious narrator) and enraging. And, as a white woman, I will admit, some were educational as well. Location is definitely part of the issue, as the racism that Lacey experiences in Omaha is much worst than what Amber experiences in New York. Yet, the throughline is the same--it's 2021 and racial stereotypes and the racism they engender are thriving in America, especially Omaha, the 44th largest city in the United States.

At only five+ hours, this is a quick listen and yes, even with such a serious subject, very funny at times. Amber does most of the narration, but Lacey chimes in every now and then. Their sisterly rapport is funny and sweet. Whether you're a white ally looking to expand your worldview or someone who thinks racism isn't as prevalent as you hear in the news and read on social media, this book is essential. Racism won't be eradicated until all of us learn more about what Black Americans deal with every day and how inaccurate stereotypes are. This book is a great place to start.