Ten Books in my TBR Pile

It's been an exhausting few days, so all I've got in me this weekend is a peek at some of the books I'll be reading soon. I'm glad there are so many amazing books out there, but man, the pile of books I have waiting for me to get to them never seems to get any smaller! Here we go, the next ten books in that never-ending stack.

1. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander - I actually started reading this one months ago, but then I hit a cloudy period where it was too hard to focus, so I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks over reading physical books. I am eager to get back into it, this is such an important topic right now, and there is so much I didn't know about mass incarceration.

2. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez - I checked this one out from the library before we closed due to COVID, so it has been waiting for a while. 😬 I need to get to it!

3. Remembrance by Rita Woods - So...I believe this was one of the books on a 52 Books by Women of Color to Read in 2020 listfor January. I am very clearly doing AMAZING with my reading this year.

4. Little Gods by Meng Jin - See above. Another of the January books that I requested from the library in January to read in January. I am amazing at keeping up with reading.

5. The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu - I've been eager to read this book about Nannerl Mozart for a long time. I've found with Marie Lu I either love her storytelling (Legend) or I hate it (Warcross), so maybe this book will be the tie breaker. 

6. Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw - I don't even know what this book is about, but I am very much in love with its cover.

7. Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim - It's a book about revenge, and I'm into that!

8. All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace - The description for this one feels sort of Peter Pan-esque but without the straight up racism, which is always a bonus. I'm a little nervous it's going to creep me out, since I don't do well with creepy generally speaking, but I'll keep y'all posted.

9. Goddess in the Machine by Lora Beth Johnson - I've got a thing for weird space stories where people go into cryo sleep and wake up far into the future with unfathomable things happening, apparently, between this and the Aurora Cycle books. Also, this is another gorgeous cover, and it's got gold sprayed edges. I'm a sucker for sprayed edges.

10.  We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry - Once upon a time, I joined the Fantastic Strangelings virtual book club, which was amazing, but as I have proven, I am not great at keeping up with the books I want to read. This was the second book the group read, I think back in March? I ended up canceling my membership when COVID hit, but I am still eager to finally read this book!

Let's Read about Ruth

Earlier this afternoon, I was contemplating which book I was going to review this week when I got a notification on my phone from Washington Post. I swiped down to see what it was, and my stomach dropped when I read that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, trailblazer and fierce defender of justice, had passed away. Like countless others across the United States, I am feeling heartbroken and defeated. 

Even in moments of hopelessness I am, to my core, a librarian, so I thought maybe compiling a list of recommended reading about this great lady might help me feel the tiniest bit better. After taking a moment to pull ourselves together and contact our representatives reminding them of the precedent set in the last election year to wait until a new president has been elected to nominate a new Justice, let's spend some time being inspired by RBG's tenacity, intelligence, and courage. After all "reading is the key that opens doors to many good things in life."

"I would like to be remembered as someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability."

 

Free to Be Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Story of Women and Law by Teri Kanefield tells the story of how Ruth Bader Ginsburg became one of the most powerful and influential women in the United States.

"My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."

My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Mary Hartnett, and Wendy W. Williams is Ruth's first book after becoming a Supreme Court Justice. It is a collection of her writings and speeches throughout her life.

"Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. It shouldn't be that women are the exception."

Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik takes a behind-the-scenes look at the life of this feminist pioneer.

"I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others."

Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life by Jane Sherron De Hart is a comprehensive biography of the experiences that sculpted RBG's advocacy for gender equality and passion for justice.

"People ask me sometimes, when - when do you think it will be enough? When will there be enough women on the court? And my answer is when there are nine."

Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World by Linda R. Hirshman tells the story of the first two women to serve on the Supreme Court.

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time."

 The Unstoppable Ruth Bader Ginsburg: American Icon by Antonia Felix is a pictoral retrospective celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the 25th anniversary of her appointment to the Supreme Court.

 

"I tell law students...if you are going to be a lawyer and just practice your profession, you have a skill...but if you want to be a true professional, you will do something outside yourself...something that makes life a little better for people less fortunate than you."

Rest in power, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Thank you for everything you did for us, and may your memory be a blessing.

The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett - Chelsea Sedoti

My rating: ⭐

From the cover:

"Hawthorn wasn't trying to insert herself into a missing person's investigation. Or maybe she was. But that's only because Lizzie Lovett's disappearance is the one fascinating mystery their sleepy town has ever had. Bad things don't happen to popular girls like Lizzie Lovett, and Hawthorn is convinced she'll turn up at any moment - which means the time for speculation is now.

So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie's disappearance. A theory way too absurd to take seriously...at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie's life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. After all, it's not as if he killed her - or did he?"

Sooooo this book is problematic as hell, and I'm shocked that none of the reviews I looked through when I first started reading it mention that (rest assured, I'll be getting into why, and be warned - it will involve spoilers). There were some that mentioned how unlikable Hawthorn was as a character, which I will heartily second. She's a senior in high school, but I kept forgetting that because of how childish and bratty she was. I'm all for writing teenagers like they are teenagers and not miniature adults who happen to still be in school, but this was so far beyond that...even Hawthorn's best friend, brother, and parents spent pretty much the entire book begging her to not be so self-involved and immature. Eesh.

Then we get into the whole inserting herself into Lizzie Lovett's life to "investigate" her theory (her theory, by the way? That Lizzie is a werewolf. I mean, for fuck sake, a young woman is missing and, being realistic, probably dead, and Hawthorn is like lolz she's not missing, everyone, she's a werewolf!) She goes to the diner where Lizzie works and takes Lizzie's job, and then when Lizzie's boyfriend comes in to get a little quiet time away from the missing person's investigation for his long-time girlfriend, she immediately brings Lizzie up and tells him her werewolf theory. Which takes us to the first reason I found this book so problematic: Enzo goes along with it, and the two end up in a relationship.

Why is that problematic, you ask? Well, Lizzie was a senior in high school when Hawthorn was a freshman. Three years later, Lizzie is at least 20, and if I'm recalling correctly, Enzo was a few years older. Even to begin with, it was weird to me that a grown ass man in his early/mid twenties was like "ok, yeah, let's hang out with a high school kid and pretend my missing girlfriend is actually a werewolf," but then it progresses to the point where Enzo and Hawthorn SLEEP TOGETHER, and I was like um. What.

And not only that, but later on in the book after the two have "broken up" (it's never a conversation, it just kind of...happens...) Enzo gets into a relationship with a classmate of Hawthorn's. I mean, I get that your girlfriend disappeared and was later confirmed to be dead, which is traumatic as hell, but again, this is a GROWN. ASS. MAN. Dating not one but TWO seventeen-year-old girls. How did this not come up in ANY of the reviews I read?! 🤮

CW before proceeding: Discussion of suicide

So we've got predatory behavior from a traumatized adult man, why not throw more problematic content in. Toward the end of the book, after a far too long werewolf investigation, we learn that some hikers discovered Lizzie's body. While everyone suspected some kind of foul play, it turns out Lizzie died by suicide the night she went missing. I'm not going to get into the particulars, but the book sure as shit did, including speculation about why it happened the way it did, which is bad enough on it's own. But then following the discovery of her body, there are multiple comments to Hawthorn about how Lizzie gave up and how Hawthorn is stronger than Lizzie was, so she needs to fight, and I just...

Fuck anyone who talks about suicide like that. Lizzie wasn't weak because of the way she died, and shaming someone for their mental health struggles is pretty fucking despicable. I thought we got garbage books about suicide out of our systems in 2016 with Thirteen Reasons Why, but apparently not. This book was infuriating, and I know I've already said this, but I'm stunned that this doesn't come up more in reviews of this book. 

If you are having suicidal thoughts, please do not feel shame. Your experiences and emotions are valid. You are valid. If you need someone to talk to, you can reach someone day or night at 1-800-273-8255. If texting is more your speed, you can also text HOME to 741741 to reach a crisis counselor. When you call, you'll hear an automated message and be asked to wait on the line until a trained crisis worker answers. Workers don't follow any kind of script, so once someone is on the line, you'll be able to talk to them about whatever you need. No judgment, just support.