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taylormadespines
Very Ms. Marvel-esqe with a more clear ending point for the character. Felt age appropriate for the character. Some points lacked a little subtlety but overall I wish there was more Lupe to come.
The Last Book on the Left: Stories of Murder and Mayhem from History's Most Notorious Serial Killers
Ben Kissel, Marcus Parks, Henry Zebrowski
2/5 stars. I’ve never listened to LPOTL but I thought I’d give this a go. I’m a bit over giving more attention to prolific serial killers when Wikipedia and murderpedia exist. I found it hard to get through some of the jokes that seemed to poke fun at victims and not the murderers. Informative in some aspects, but again, something one could find on the internet.
4.5/5 Important story of how this country neglects it’s Black children. Of vital significance if we are serious about revolution. Black lives matter in all respects and that includes child welfare.
This is a book that everyone needs to read. And I mean EVERY ONE! I wish I had a pocket-sized Robin DiAngelo that I could defer to when I’m feeling overwhelmed by white people’s feelings about racism.
DiAngelo does a great job of breaking down how Western society deals with race - it doesn’t. Instead it chooses to ignore it because bringing up racism...is racist? No, because the rhetoric of color-blindness has made our society believe acknowledging race is in itself racist! When really keeping quiet is white supremacy’s next evolution to protect itself.
White Fragility is very accessible and a good first text for white people who want to do better, learn, and unlearn. I’d also recommend this to non-black POC who want the tools to address their own anti-blackness. As a lot of the WF talk applies to us and our communities as well. As for the other content, it can give us the language to better handle WF when we encounter it in real life and we don’t have any white accomplices around us.
I listened to this book on Audible. While the narrator isn’t great (my partner and mom both compared her to a robot), I think her tone was a conscious choice so readers could listen without being distracted by any inferred accusations and therefore end up stuck in a shame hole. I also bought a hard copy on back order recently so I plan on going through again with a highlighter in order to build a reference guide.
Definitely a book any anti-racist needs to read.
DiAngelo does a great job of breaking down how Western society deals with race - it doesn’t. Instead it chooses to ignore it because bringing up racism...is racist? No, because the rhetoric of color-blindness has made our society believe acknowledging race is in itself racist! When really keeping quiet is white supremacy’s next evolution to protect itself.
White Fragility is very accessible and a good first text for white people who want to do better, learn, and unlearn. I’d also recommend this to non-black POC who want the tools to address their own anti-blackness. As a lot of the WF talk applies to us and our communities as well. As for the other content, it can give us the language to better handle WF when we encounter it in real life and we don’t have any white accomplices around us.
I listened to this book on Audible. While the narrator isn’t great (my partner and mom both compared her to a robot), I think her tone was a conscious choice so readers could listen without being distracted by any inferred accusations and therefore end up stuck in a shame hole. I also bought a hard copy on back order recently so I plan on going through again with a highlighter in order to build a reference guide.
Definitely a book any anti-racist needs to read.
EDIT: since learning RD has not given back to communities on which her work preys and instead prioritized her voice rather than making space for BIPOC and LISTENING. White folks got 250 years of free labor (welfare) from the enslavement of Black folks. Since then, the descendants of those white folks have done their best (even at the expense of national security and interest) to keep Black folks distanced from full citizenship. I struggled through some of the book because there were times where it was facts on facts on facts and my brain needed more distance in order to process. But that did not affect the accessibility of the text. EDIT: RD needs to do some serious internal work before speaking on our experiences and butchering them in the process.
Jazz is awesome and I’ve been a fan since her 20/20 special. I know a lot has happened in her life in the past four years so I’d love to see a new memoir in the years to come!
This was...not good. I'm honestly surprised that I disliked this book as much as I did. The premise sounded promising -- Black teens fall in love but also have their own family drama and traumas that they have to work through. Cool, we have some romance but side stories that keep the book from being all about teen ~*love*~.
Brief summary to start. Rex Carrington and Carli Alexander meet and instantly fall in love in a hard-to-believe way that could rival Shakespeare's best. Carli passes out at a basketball game and who is there to catch her but ESPN's high school player of the year, Rex Carrington. After their initial meeting, we learn that Rex's dad is distant due to Rex's mother dying after childbirth and Carli's parents are divorcing for reasons they refuse to share. Carli also juggles with the difficulty of telling her dad that she no longer wants to play basketball but aside from that has no idea what she wants to do with her life. Family drama and misunderstandings ensue.
First of all, let me tell you if you are looking for the WORST and I mean THE WORST young adult romantic male lead, look no further than Rex Carrington. This kid is selfish, stalks Carli (literally, multiple times!), yells at her, and that's not even the worst part. I can't with this guy. God forbid anyone else have their own struggles that detract their attention away from Rex or dare disturb his future in basketball!
Other issues with this book:
- The two main characters fall in love IMMEDIATELY. Not just in the first chapter, but on the first PAGE!
- Despite being drenched in teenage love hormones, Carli and Rex don't talk to or engage with one another until almost 100 pages into the book after their first encounter. And with the passing out part, it's not like their first meeting was full of witty get-to-know-you banter. Then when they DO finally see each other again !BOOM! they're in a relationship; no dates, no texting, just straight up boyfriend and girlfriend with exchanges of "I love you's" not long after.
- This leads to another issue I had with the book. These characters are SO QUICK to judge each other. And you know why? Because they DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER!
- The POV switched way too frequently for me to connect with either character. I at least got to somewhat sympathize with Carli in the last 30 pages of the book, but never NEVER Rex.
- The overuse of so many tropes: secret love child (second I've read in a week; why is this becoming a storytelling tool??), child thinks they killed parent and is thus laden with guilt
- I think the writing at times tried to be existential and deep but just ended up coming across as weird ramblings
In summary, I did not like this book.
Brief summary to start. Rex Carrington and Carli Alexander meet and instantly fall in love in a hard-to-believe way that could rival Shakespeare's best. Carli passes out at a basketball game and who is there to catch her but ESPN's high school player of the year, Rex Carrington. After their initial meeting, we learn that Rex's dad is distant due to Rex's mother dying after childbirth and Carli's parents are divorcing for reasons they refuse to share. Carli also juggles with the difficulty of telling her dad that she no longer wants to play basketball but aside from that has no idea what she wants to do with her life. Family drama and misunderstandings ensue.
First of all, let me tell you if you are looking for the WORST and I mean THE WORST young adult romantic male lead, look no further than Rex Carrington. This kid is selfish, stalks Carli (literally, multiple times!), yells at her, and that's not even the worst part. I can't with this guy. God forbid anyone else have their own struggles that detract their attention away from Rex or dare disturb his future in basketball!
Other issues with this book:
- The two main characters fall in love IMMEDIATELY. Not just in the first chapter, but on the first PAGE!
- Despite being drenched in teenage love hormones, Carli and Rex don't talk to or engage with one another until almost 100 pages into the book after their first encounter. And with the passing out part, it's not like their first meeting was full of witty get-to-know-you banter. Then when they DO finally see each other again !BOOM! they're in a relationship; no dates, no texting, just straight up boyfriend and girlfriend with exchanges of "I love you's" not long after.
- This leads to another issue I had with the book. These characters are SO QUICK to judge each other. And you know why? Because they DON'T KNOW EACH OTHER!
- The POV switched way too frequently for me to connect with either character. I at least got to somewhat sympathize with Carli in the last 30 pages of the book, but never NEVER Rex.
- The overuse of so many tropes: secret love child (second I've read in a week; why is this becoming a storytelling tool??), child thinks they killed parent and is thus laden with guilt
- I think the writing at times tried to be existential and deep but just ended up coming across as weird ramblings
In summary, I did not like this book.