The Next Book On My List

Perfect Days by Raphael Montes                 Are you in the mood for the look inside the mind of sociopath, intent on forcing a girl to love him? If so, then stop right here because we have a winner with Perfect Days . It’s the story of Teo, the young medical students whose best and only friend is a corpse by the name of Gertrude. He was living with his mother and dog in Rio de Janeiro, when he met Clarice at a barbeque. Teo was entranced by Clarice and became so entranced that he convinced himself that she would love him if only they were able to spend more time together. And that’s exactly what they did. Clarice had been planning to go to a secluded cabin in Teresopolis, so after drugging her, Teo placed her in a suitcase and took them there. All he needed was time but the sedatives, handcuffs and gag couldn’t hurt. She didn’t realize that all they needed was time together and she could love him too.                 Disturbing enough for you? This book is an in-depth and

Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance by Simone Biles with Michelle Burford                 Simone Biles. I first heard of this amazing young gymnast in 2014. I am a huge Olympics fan. I like the Winter Olympics but I absolutely love the Summer Olympics. And one of my favorite sports to watch is Artistic Gymnastics. I always try and keep track of our Olympic prospects in the years leading up to the final selection and Simone stood out to me when she won the Nationals in 2014. She was incredible! I was hooked. I followed her career from then on and was ecstatic watching her compete and win in 2016 in Brazil. But I didn't know her story. As time passed and she was featured more in magazines and online articles I began to learn more about this stunning young woman. Needless to say I was eager to get my hands on this autobiography.                 Written with the assistance of Michelle Burford, Simone begins her story with a setback and what inspired her to t

Hunger by Roxane Gay                 Is there anything more personal to us than our body? Is there anything more personal and yet so public as our body? Our size, our skin. These are the things that you notice upon meeting someone. Yet as much as we create and dictate what goes into our bodies, how we choose to show or cover our bodies, we can never dictate what or how others view our bodies. Hunger is the story of Roxane Gay's body. This isn't a memoir about dieting and exercise or finding the true her within her body. It is a memoir of her body, her life and her hunger. It is a memoir about pain. It is a memoir about sexual assault. It is a memoir about space. It is a memoir of how we judge and try to dictate other people's bodies.                 Hunger is an extremely intimate portrait of Roxane Gay by Roxane Gay. Whatever image you may have of her, good or bad, will pale in comparison with how she views herself. This book is raw and painful. It begs you to

(My Second Time Around) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell            The first time I read this novel was three years ago, in 2014, when my reading theme was evaluating banned books. I loved this novel. In my original review I commented about how “amazing, innovative, funny, well developed and brilliantly written” this novel was. I abhorred Scarlett, as I still do, as being “beautiful, self-centered, harsh, spiteful, bullheaded, strong.” I wrote about the relationships portrayed between owners and slaves. “In Gone With the Wind the loyalty of the slaves to many of the white families is evident and a source of pride for those slaves. It was interesting at the very least to read this depiction of life in the south after the Civil War.” I ended my review by stating that “there is no hiding the struggles that occurred, the language that was used, the maltreatment that people suffered, the change that happened because of that time in our history. At least with this novel, we are gett

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas                 You may not be ready for this book. I thought I was ready and yet I still got punched in the gut. I heard all of the rave around THUG before it came out. I've had it for months and couldn't bring myself to read it. Now that I have I must recommend it to you. Before you read it though let me say that this is about as real as it gets. You may not want to read the words written on this page. They may make you feel some kind of way about race and privilege and police brutality. It may make you extremely uncomfortable. But it comes from a place that resonates with an experience many people go through. I know because I've gone through these emotions. The anger, the loss, the fear. I've felt the way this main character felt. I could have been the main character. And so could half of the people I've grown up with. Now it’s time for the review.                 Starr is from Garden Heights. She knows about gangs and liv