Malaka Gharib's graphic memoir takes us through her adolescence when she spends summers in Egypt with her father instead of at home in California with her (Filipino-American) mother. I added her mother's national identifier not because it has a tremendous bearing on this part of Gharib's story, but to underscore that young Malaka is navigating multiple racial, ethnic, and national identities at a life stage when there's a lot to figure out about yourself, even if you're coming of age in a homogenous environment that matches your looks and culture and those of your family members. (nb junior high was an emotional shitshow for me from which I may never fully recover)

We join Gharib in Egypt and later other Middle Eastern countries, spending time with her father Maged and his girlfriend, eventually wife, Hala. This isn't so much a memoir of seminal moments in Gharib's life, as it is a de-spooling of her summers, which she sometimes experienced a stranger in her own family. Her father's increasing financial success, which means moving to more conservative cities, necessitates or coincides with Hala becoming more overtly religious. Because she travels back and forth between the US and isn't raising children, Gharib's freedoms aren't as constrained as her stepmother's, and at first she isn't cognizant of what life might be like for her parents and their SO's, because adolescent. She gains maturity--and distance--as the memoir progresses, taking us with her to care with more nuance.

I'm also taken with Gharib's illustrations. I love how much she does with wavy lines and color textures.

full disclosure: the author is my BFF

Tumble is a middle grades novel, but I think the 1st person narration is so mature that the book will appeal to YA readers, as well. Protagonist Adela (Addie) is faced with a dilemma: her stepfather Alex has proposed adoption, which Addie eventually realizes will necessitate her birth father, whom she doesn't remember meeting, giving up his parental rights. It's not like she should take this unidentified man into account when making her decision, but she is curious about who he is...

When Addie and her friend discover a breadcrumb, they follow a trail that leads them to the local historical society (archives nerdery ensues) and to Addie's father, wrestler MANNY BRAVO! Alex is a wrestling fan, so Addie has grown up with knowledge of the luchadores, but not of the Bravos specifically.

As the rest of the novel unfolds, Adela comes to know her Bravo half and also deepens her understanding of her mother, and the father who raised her. She also learns some wrestling moves.

This is a layered book, with multiple themes and even a gay uncle who helps reinforce a regular Celia C. Pérez theme about finding and being yourself. Normally I dog ear pages to remember favorite passages, but I didn't want to mess up my signed copy, so I didn't. Ergo, I can't share the quotations that impressed or moved me.

Chinese American Alice Choi is literally living the dream: she was discovered singing karaoke in Seoul and been assigned to a five-person group that is set to debut in a few months time. She's told catching up to her bandmates will be hard work, but she doesn't grok the emotional component of that labor. Like most K-pop trainees, Alice, renamed "Harmony" by her label, must be perfect. The first step to perfection is making weight, so while she's learning intricate dance moves and trying to fit in with her roommates and navigate the loneliness of having little contact with the outside world, she's on a cabbage diet.

It's a K-pop novel, so expect forbidden romance, competition between trainees, struggle to achieve, and family not understanding the pressure.

I recently reread [b:Ballet Shoes|10444|Ballet Shoes|Noel Streatfeild|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388180362l/10444._SX50_.jpg|1505465] for the zillionth time and somehow got into a Noel Streatfeild rabbit hole. I discovered that Ballet Shoes had an adult forerunner, The Whicharts. The Whicharts begins almost the same way as Ballet Shoes. There are a few differences, in that the three girls are half sisters of a womanizing brigadier. Pauline, named Maisie in The Whicharts basically becomes a professional mistress. This meh novel will be remarkable to the maybe none of you who are highly familiar with Ballet Shoes!

This K-pop hopeful is a Korean-American girl relocated to Seoul for her mom's job. 17-year-old Rachel has been in a trainee program since she was 11, and is anxious to make her debut--as is her backstabbing rival, Mina. There are dirty tricks, a boy, a sister, and a neglected best friend in this enjoyable quick read, though the vague ending is a little frustrating.

In this follow up to [b:Shine|50855956|Shine (Shine, #1)|Jessica Jung|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580350020l/50855956._SY75_.jpg|73696907], or hopeful is now an idol, 5.5 years into performing with a 9-member girl group called Girls Forever. Now that I've spent 30 seconds researching the author on the internet, I understand Jung's duology to be a tell-all, which adds spice to the otherwise pretty good novels. I wonder how K-pop communities are responding!

Stephanie Grisham, who worked in both the East and West Wings of the Trump White House, for a while simultaneously, reports on what a shitshow the Trump administration was and the pride she took in being the first one to leave it on January 6, 2021. SORRY LADY you don't get credit for quitting two weeks before the end, especially not while narrating all of the misery you took part in and promoted as a communications director.

Shit Grisham says

resistance hero Mitt Romney

lolwut?!? I mean maybe he resisted a couple of times, but "hero"?!?

half the people in the country had chosen this man to lead the free world

please! not even half the voters in the country chose him

But to whichever Hollywood liberal wrote the note about its being a "shit show"--you may have been trying to be nasty, but it turned out that your note was prescient.

For some who purports to understand the press, Grisham using her boss's "nasty" to ascribe the journalist's motivation seems dumb.

The "hand slap" [reference to Melania smacking Donald's hand away at the inauguration] was another piece of "evidence" that Melania hated Donald and couldn't even stand the thought of being touched by him.

Trump White House-ian use of scare quotes, especially around the word "evidence" lol.

I'll end with this bleak report

The discussion got quite heated, especially between the secretary and National Security Advisor O'Brien, how at one point said to Mnuchin, "You are going to be the reason this pandemic never goes away."

Greatest president and administration ever!

This is a quick read by WNBA player Sugar Rodgers about her childhood and college experiences. No co- or ghostwriter is acknowledge, and the book could have benefited from one. It could go deeper and flow better and include more of Rodgers' professional career. She is such an inspiration, it would have been nice to understand her better.

The titular funeral girl, Georgia Richter, is a growing up, with her twin brother Peter in their parents' funeral home. After her grandmother dies, she discovers that she can see the ghosts of the recently department. One of the things she does when she meets them is ask if there's anything she can do to help them before they go on their way. Until now, the process of waking the dead and fulfilling their last wishes has been far less creepy than knowing how embalming works.

This is a story of secrets, friendship, and differentiating oneself from the morticians you love. I liked reading it just fine. I think tween and teen weirdos will more out of it than I did, as a middle aged YA aficionado.

6'5 WNBA pioneer and model Lisa Leslie wears lipstick while playing, hence the name of her memoir. I love the WNBA from afar, so didn't know who Leslie was before reading her book. Damn! She's accomplished. She won all the awards, including gold medals in four Olympics, plus loads of MVPs.

Her story is a pretty quick read and I think well ghostwritten until the end when there's a lot of God talk that didn't appear earlier.