This is a rather short read, 183 pages from start to end of epilogue, but it is packed with details of what it can be determined explains what landed Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on July 11, 1804 to the stand on the waterfront in Weehawken N.J. with guns pointed at each other.
There appears, even to Hamilton if you read his last writings as sincere, to be blame on both sides. It is sad to think about what more these very smart and capable men could have done had their paths not ended that fateful day. Death does have a way of redeeming people and at the time of his death it did appear Hamilton needed redeeming (not that he hadn't made errors that more time could have allowed him to remedy). But he really didn't. He truly had left his mark on this young country he helped start. The financial system still in place today, the Coast Guard branch of our military service, The New York Post (ok, trash today but important for bird owners across NYC for cage liner), and of course his story on Broadway. I say that last bit with a wink but also sincerity because it has sparked a renewed interest in the revolutionary period of U.S. history in young and old alike.
(Finished June 26, 2017)
Monday, June 26, 2017
Sunday, June 18, 2017
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I won't lie, this was rough, I read it mostly in one sitting, I started it last night (6/17/17) and it was late and I fell asleep 50 pages in and then finished it today (6/18/17). I ugly cried at least twice, was angry often, laughed a bit, and had tears running down my face for pretty much the entire book.
Shit got real on the last page, and before I tell you what I think of the book please take a minute to read the list of names and remember them, because they died, no, they were MURDERED, but they lived too, THEY LIVED!!!
What Angie Thomas did here with The Hate U Give was write in very real voice a character that is one of the bravest most relevant characters I have ever had the honor of meeting. EVER! Starr finds her voice and learns something I have been teaching my kids forever, that brave isn't the lack of fear, it is what you do in the face of fear, it is when you do the thing that scares you.
In what is sadly a ripped from real life story Starr is witness to the shooting of her best friend, an unarmed young black man by a police officer without provocation. What follows is her story, of living in her gang infested neighborhood and yet attending a predominantly white school well away from where she lives. She is two different people in each place...until Khalil's murder and her worlds collide.
What we can all learn from this is that we all have an extremely powerful weapon and can, if we care enough to use it, we can stop these senseless killings, we can make things better, we can heal and not hurt...the weapon? Our voices!!
Thank you Angie Thomas for this incredible story. I hope someday it is past and not present.
(Finished June 18, 2017)
Shit got real on the last page, and before I tell you what I think of the book please take a minute to read the list of names and remember them, because they died, no, they were MURDERED, but they lived too, THEY LIVED!!!
What Angie Thomas did here with The Hate U Give was write in very real voice a character that is one of the bravest most relevant characters I have ever had the honor of meeting. EVER! Starr finds her voice and learns something I have been teaching my kids forever, that brave isn't the lack of fear, it is what you do in the face of fear, it is when you do the thing that scares you.
In what is sadly a ripped from real life story Starr is witness to the shooting of her best friend, an unarmed young black man by a police officer without provocation. What follows is her story, of living in her gang infested neighborhood and yet attending a predominantly white school well away from where she lives. She is two different people in each place...until Khalil's murder and her worlds collide.
What we can all learn from this is that we all have an extremely powerful weapon and can, if we care enough to use it, we can stop these senseless killings, we can make things better, we can heal and not hurt...the weapon? Our voices!!
Thank you Angie Thomas for this incredible story. I hope someday it is past and not present.
(Finished June 18, 2017)
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich
Yes I am a little bit past being a YA. But I love a good YA book. Often it is only the characters that are YA but the stories are amazing and ageless.
We all know the usual or typical story device of girl meets two boys, one is a "good" guy the other more a "bad"boy. She begins to have feelings for them both, they both do their best to win her heart, and in the end she picks one and they all live happily ever after.
Well this story takes that trope and twists and turns and bends and snarks it.
Imagine if you will that the two boys trying to woo the girl aren't exactly what they seem. What if they were the assets of a super secret agency that trains young people to be Love Interests. There are goods and bads and they must compete to make their target fall in love with and choose them. The chosen gets to spend their life spying on and giving the target's secrets to the agency which then sells the secrets to the highest bidder. And the one that isn't chosen, the loser? Well let's just say unrequited love is deadly.
Now imagine if you will that even knowing this you learn that they still aren't what they seem, these boys. And they begin to learn about themselves and life and choice....That is just scratching the surface of The Love Interest.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dietrich's style and flair for snark, his poking fun at the typical teen coming of age romance trope even as he spins a tale of love and coming of age. Was a fun and interesting, well spun story!! I look forward to more from Cale Dietrich.
(Finished June 13, 2017)
We all know the usual or typical story device of girl meets two boys, one is a "good" guy the other more a "bad"boy. She begins to have feelings for them both, they both do their best to win her heart, and in the end she picks one and they all live happily ever after.
Well this story takes that trope and twists and turns and bends and snarks it.
Imagine if you will that the two boys trying to woo the girl aren't exactly what they seem. What if they were the assets of a super secret agency that trains young people to be Love Interests. There are goods and bads and they must compete to make their target fall in love with and choose them. The chosen gets to spend their life spying on and giving the target's secrets to the agency which then sells the secrets to the highest bidder. And the one that isn't chosen, the loser? Well let's just say unrequited love is deadly.
Now imagine if you will that even knowing this you learn that they still aren't what they seem, these boys. And they begin to learn about themselves and life and choice....That is just scratching the surface of The Love Interest.
I thoroughly enjoyed Dietrich's style and flair for snark, his poking fun at the typical teen coming of age romance trope even as he spins a tale of love and coming of age. Was a fun and interesting, well spun story!! I look forward to more from Cale Dietrich.
(Finished June 13, 2017)
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
Maddy and Olly. 18 and in love. Only Maddy can't go outside. Ever. If she does she will surely die. She's allergic to the world (as in like the boy in the plastic bubble).
But thanks to meeting Olly Maddy wants to live...really live...even if it means she will die.
Her mother has taken care of her for her whole life, they are very close. Maddy's house keeps her alive and her mother doesn't want to risk losing her daughter so she has done everything she can to keep Maddy safe.
But Maddy wants more and runs away taking Olly with her.
What happens when a girl allergic to the world tries to find her place in it?
I had to read this before the movie comes out and I saw the trailer recently so I knew my time was running short. I am so glad I did, but now, as usual I am worried how it will be translated for the screen.
I really liked the story, the connection between Olly and Maddy felt so important for them both and I liked how innocent and true it reads. When time is limited there is a lot of cutting to the heart of the matter and that is how Olly and Maddy approach their budding feelings. At the same time there is the "typical" teenage trait of jumping in and ignoring other things when a relationship is new. For example Maddy wants to spend less time with her mom and her studies so she can IM with Olly.
Life can be so messy and complicated even when it is good...falling in love shouldn't feel like falling off the world but it does...and your heart can try and kill you when it breaks....but life is so worth living and love is so worth the fall...that's what I take away from this story
(Finished June 11, 2017)
But thanks to meeting Olly Maddy wants to live...really live...even if it means she will die.
Her mother has taken care of her for her whole life, they are very close. Maddy's house keeps her alive and her mother doesn't want to risk losing her daughter so she has done everything she can to keep Maddy safe.
But Maddy wants more and runs away taking Olly with her.
What happens when a girl allergic to the world tries to find her place in it?
I had to read this before the movie comes out and I saw the trailer recently so I knew my time was running short. I am so glad I did, but now, as usual I am worried how it will be translated for the screen.
I really liked the story, the connection between Olly and Maddy felt so important for them both and I liked how innocent and true it reads. When time is limited there is a lot of cutting to the heart of the matter and that is how Olly and Maddy approach their budding feelings. At the same time there is the "typical" teenage trait of jumping in and ignoring other things when a relationship is new. For example Maddy wants to spend less time with her mom and her studies so she can IM with Olly.
Life can be so messy and complicated even when it is good...falling in love shouldn't feel like falling off the world but it does...and your heart can try and kill you when it breaks....but life is so worth living and love is so worth the fall...that's what I take away from this story
(Finished June 11, 2017)
Saturday, June 10, 2017
A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes
There are two classes of citizens in the US, those with full rights and who are part of the Nation and those who are given less in the way of rights and are treated differently thus are part of the Colony.
There is a parallel to be made between colonization and current issues around race. Hayes uses the Revolutionary period of US history to lay out the argument. But the prevailing argument of this well written and well laid out book is that it isn't as much the laws or taxes in the case of the revolutionary cries for independence but the nature of enforcement used, then and now.
In colonial New England the actions of customs officials and others acting for the Crown conducted searches at will on residents who were British subjects treated differently than their fellow subjects residing over seas. The goal was to collect taxes on items to help replenish the King's coffers after war depleted them. Revenue.
In Ferguson it wasn't really just the shooting of Michael Brown, it was the way policing, the way enforcement was handled. For example the order for police to write tickets not with the goal of public safety but to raise Revenue.
From the war on drugs to the end of "Stop and Frisk" Hayes talks about the law and the order aspect of policing, the rise of crimes and the decline. And he confronts the truth of where he ends up sitting as a white male with money in it all and how he reacted as a young man, a college student, and an adult with children working in the news industry.
So well written.
And an extra kudos to Hayes for using the term "survivor" rather than victim when he talks about sexual assault.
(Finished June 10, 2017)
There is a parallel to be made between colonization and current issues around race. Hayes uses the Revolutionary period of US history to lay out the argument. But the prevailing argument of this well written and well laid out book is that it isn't as much the laws or taxes in the case of the revolutionary cries for independence but the nature of enforcement used, then and now.
In colonial New England the actions of customs officials and others acting for the Crown conducted searches at will on residents who were British subjects treated differently than their fellow subjects residing over seas. The goal was to collect taxes on items to help replenish the King's coffers after war depleted them. Revenue.
In Ferguson it wasn't really just the shooting of Michael Brown, it was the way policing, the way enforcement was handled. For example the order for police to write tickets not with the goal of public safety but to raise Revenue.
From the war on drugs to the end of "Stop and Frisk" Hayes talks about the law and the order aspect of policing, the rise of crimes and the decline. And he confronts the truth of where he ends up sitting as a white male with money in it all and how he reacted as a young man, a college student, and an adult with children working in the news industry.
So well written.
And an extra kudos to Hayes for using the term "survivor" rather than victim when he talks about sexual assault.
(Finished June 10, 2017)
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