Huntington Public Library Adult Reading Challenge

  Deep sad story of a Chinese boy and Japanese girl in Seattle during WWII and their young love, jazz, friendship and coming of age when Kako has to go to an internment camp. Thank goodness it ends well with a reunion in later years. This book was bitter and sweet, but well written and impassioned.

  This timely novel is set in an independent bookstore owned by a Native American woman (perhaps mirroring the author's personal life) and is haunted by a client that passed on All Soul's Day of 2019. Tookie works at the bookstore and has lived a multifaceted life as an ex-convict and deals with the complexity of her current life and the ghost of Flora. The novel cleverly weaves the events of the early months of the pandemic, George Floyd's killing in Minneapolis, the subsequent protests through Tookie's narrative.

  I took my kids to the beach and they were well enough entertained that I had time to read, but that never happens, so I hadn’t brought my book! I then downloaded The Office of Historical Corrections and read halfway through it as the kids played. This is a collection of short stories and a novella. Each of the stories deals with race in a different context. In the title novella, the main character is an officer in a fictional government office which corrects historical facts in public - signs, conversations, museum displays, etc. Another character is dismissed for over zealous correction, and the main character is dispatched to clean up the ensuing controversy. The story was an engaging read that dealt themes related to passing – What does it mean to be black or to be white in the US? How does any of us take advantage of privilege wherever we can find it? – as well as the idea of truth, both as it concerns historical facts and each of our lived experience. It was engaging through...

ShinJu is the first in a long series, and for me, it was a fantastic read--a great introduction to the "detective" Sano who continues to solve crimes in feudal Japan for many more books. By chance, the first one I read was #17 or #16--but this first one was stronger and really set the scene and tone.  

I could get behind the fantasy genre more, if more of it looked like this. I don't want ancient elf-vampire feuds or "ash-blood plagues" or Chosen Ones. I want culturally relevant styles of magic that change the course of real history in important but sensible ways. I want people with motivations beyond fighter, thief, wizard, cleric, and bad guy. No forests, no mountain castles. This delivers in spades.

  This novel tells of the harrowing life of a girl born in Japan Illegitimately to a Japanese mother and black American father. She’s taken in by her grandparents who keep her away from the outside world, fearful of how her existence will taint the family honor. The book follows her from childhood through adulthood and I couldn’t put it down! Finished it in one day!

  This is the second in the Sano Ichiro mysteries that take place in feudal Japan. I read the first one, Shinju, and another one that was number 16 I think, and now I am hooked. Well-plotted and nice descriptions. I also enjoy that the author has created a creepy antagonist for the noble hero and detective, Sano, as well as a good supporting cast of characters who I hope will continue to reappear. There are usually one or two parts that get a bit dark for me, but all in all, I'm in.

  A great book about a family from Gary Indiana during the Great Depression when there father leaves to find work a young girl named Deza her brother Jimmie and her mom set out to catch up with him a sometimes funny and often poignant book it is a nice read.

  This book was strange, fun, beautiful, and heart breaking. As crazy as the plot sounds, Light from Uncommon Stars reads naturally and somehow none of the characters feel contrived. It features a family of aliens who escape the "endplague" and are making donuts, a violin teacher who made a deal with Hell to turn over 7 souls in exchange for her own, and a gifted trans woman musician who's run away from home. The violin teacher both identifies the trans woman as her final student and falls in love with the captain/mother of the alien family. This intersection of worlds allows for Aoki to make piercing observations of the impact of music, what makes a true culinary experience, and the relationship between our bodies and our souls.

  Deep sad story of a Chinese boy and Japanese girl in Seattle during WWII and their young love, jazz, friendship and coming of age when Kako has to go to an internment camp. Thank goodness it ends well with a reunion in later years. This book was bitter and sweet, but well written and impassioned.