Fight Night is written as a letter from 9-year-old Swiv to her dad, who left the family without saying goodbye. The story follows three generations of women: Swiv, her mom, and her grandma. They are all living in a house together while Swiv’s mom is pregnant, with the unborn child they affectionately call Gord. Swiv has been expelled/suspended from school, so her Grandma gives her education from everyday activities. Math lessons are counting grandma’s pills. Writing a family newspaper is journalism. I really loved how the grandma takes the opportunity to teach her granddaughter and also show her that life isn’t always easy.

This book is hilarious! But it’s also a little heart wrenching. It was so fun to read from a child’s point of view. The author did such a good job keeping the story interesting and entertaining while tugging on your heartstrings. 

As someone who was close to her grandma, I loved this story. It was lovely to read about a strong grandmother-granddaughter relationship.

 

Yoke has been on my to-read list since it came out. I would do yoga occasionally for the last few years, but established a routine yoga practice in the past year. I decided it was time to finally read this!

In Yoke, Jessamyn uses her autobiographical tales to explain how to approach yoga, doing it for the right reasons, and how America has culturally appropriated yoga. Jessamyn is so raw and honest throughout this entire book. She gives her personal experiences with racism, fatphobia, and capitalism. This book made me laugh out loud but also really made me think. 

As a fat yogi, I really related to Jessamyn’s stories and reflections. And her experiences that I did not personally relate to gave me a new perspective and challenged me to challenge my thoughts. 

It’s hard to put into words how good this book is & how much I appreciate it. Just know it’s thought provoking, healing, and inspirational. You don’t even have to be practicing yoga to appreciate this book. 

A fun rich people crime book!

The Color of Law sets out to show that America’s cities were racially segregated based on de jure segregation (laws and policies) and not by de facto segregation (e.g., institutions and real estate agencies), as many assume. 

I learned so much from this book. This book does a great job of digging into the racist roots of modern-day America. Rothstein clearly spent a lot of time researching and presenting all of the information to portray how racism and anti-Black laws still have an impact on society today. This book serves as a reminder that, to end systemic racism, we have to make changes to our laws and policies, not just the way people think. 

Highly recommend to any of my fellow white Americans. This book may take a while to get through, but it has so much good information. You will be shocked (or maybe not) at some of the things that got us to where we are today.

I read this for book club, so naturally I did not read the description before I started it. But after about 10 pages I was very confused and had to go read the description. This book is set in the times of Jesus roaming the earth and is from the POV of his wife, Ana. 

Much to my surprise, I loved this book! The writing is beeeeautiful. And the story just flows so well. I have never read a book set in a time period this far back, so this was really interesting. The story is such a unique take on the well-known story of Jesus. 

Someone at our book club discussion said that this is a girl’s story, and I couldn’t agree more. This book takes a time where women were very much erased from history, and focuses on the strengths and lives of some very strong women. 

I never would have guessed I enjoyed a book about Jesus’s wife, but I did!! 

The miscommunications all throughout this book are maddening. The characters were a little flat, but I guess that’s just smut! Too many steamy scenes for me. 

“It’s that glorious feeling that comes from inviting someone into your world.”

Hijab Butch Blues is Lamya’s memoir that weaves their personal life stories of growing up and migrating to the U.S., with stories from the Quran. Lamya sees ways their queerness and religion go hand in hand, which goes against a lot of traditional thinking.

I am always a little skeptical when I start a book with any religious themes, but I am SO glad I read this and ignored that skepticism. This book made me so emotional. The writing is absolutely beautiful and captivating. By using the stories from the Quran, Lamya added so much depth to the stories of their experiences. 

I learned so much from this book and have done a lot of reflection after reading. One of the big things I learned was about being a hijabi Muslim living in the U.S. and how people are treated. The stories of the microaggressions were eye opening; I am so grateful to the author for sharing those. 

One of my favorite stories was Lamya questioning why male pronouns are used for Allah if Allah is neither male nor female, asking if Allah could be nonbinary. This is just one example of Lamya draws parallels between their queerness and gender identity, and their religion. 

A part that really resonated with me and I related to is Lamya's discussion on queer indispensability. They describe this as not wanting to open up to people or show a need for support for the fear that loved ones will leave. Being vulnerable is hard!! And I think being a queer person adds different dimensions to that, which was very relatable. 

In summary: highly recommend. It’s really great on audio, but I will be buying a physical copy to highlight and reference back to.

It is amazing how well Beverly intertwines a romance with the very real racial injustices that were happening during the time period of the story. She does such a good job of noting the issues and struggles of the times, while making you fall in love with the characters and their stories. 

I think this book was overhyped for me. It was sold to me as a must-read lgbtqia+ book, but I don’t agree. It is good, but not life changing as I was expecting. I think going into it with that expectation made me enjoy it a little less. Also, I think the audiobook was not the move for this one, as the narrator was not my favorite. I enjoyed the overall story, but the ending was lackluster for me and the mystery dragged out a tad too much. That being said, I would read something else by Rosen. 

I love the idea of found family in this and the queer safe space they created at Lavender House. It’s hard to imagine living during a time where homophobia was not only the norm, but was also legally punishable. 

There is some graphic on-page homophobic violence, as well as allusions to past violence and homophobia. 

The Book of Unknown Americans alternates between multiple POVs. Two of the main POVs are Alma, the mother of Maribel who suffered a brain injury, and Mayor, who lives in the same building as Alma and Maribel and is intrigued by Maribel. The other perspectives are of other immigrants from various places, sharing their stories of coming to or living in America. All of these people have ended up in Delaware in this same apartment building, living similar yet very different lives. 

“We're the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they've been told they're supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize that we're not that bad, maybe even that we're a lot like them. And who would they hate then?”

Even though this book was published in 2014, I think it still has a lot of important messages applicable today. It’s a look into how immigrants to the U.S. live and how they are treated. So many Americans are quick to shun immigrants without knowing anything about their stories or background. This book is an excellent read for those people, showing that people have many reasons for immigrating, but regardless of that reason, they are deserving of equality and fairness. Even though this book is fiction, I feel like I learned a lot and gained new perspectives on migrant experiences. 

I have read some critiques of this book, which I do not have experience with but want to point out. One being that the book is full of stereotypes of immigrants. Another that the book is very unrealistic. That the ‘ease’ with which Alma’s family obtained visas, housing, and jobs in the U.S. is basically impossible. 

If you read reviews, a lot will complain about the ending of this book. It is indeed heartbreaking and has a very different tone from the rest of the book. I was very shocked by the ending and the turn the book took towards the end, but do not think it takes away from the worth of the rest of the book. This is how the author chose to tell the story.