(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump by Jonathan Weisman

I learned what the ((( ))) around a name means and I immediately went and added it to my Twitter profile. I learned about Leo Frank. I was reminded of the Gamergate and how it started.

I learned some of the history of Jewish people in the Unites States. I knew about Ford and Lindbergh but if you don't you might be surprised to learn they were antisemites.

As the trump administration has been in office there has been a rise in hate crimes not just against Jewish people but also People of Color, Muslims, Immigrants...basically anyone not White.

What Weisman lays out is the argument that there is something to be learned from the past, how to join together in a common cause and where the danger is greatest. This is a quick read, and it is important. The best defense, the best way to protect oneself and others is to be well armed, and in this case it isn't guns and bullets but knowledge and smart actions. Read what you can to better arm yourself, no background check required.

(Finished November 29, 2018)

Bitterblue (Graceling Realm #3) by Kristin Cashore

My review of Graceling (Graceling Realm #1)

I know this one, Bitterblue, says #3, and that is because there is another book, Fire, but in the timeline of Graceling, this is a continuation where as Fire is a side story or prequel, which at some point I will absolutely read.


This book picks up Bitterblue's story about 9 years after the events in Graceling. It's the story of the challenges of being a young woman who is Queen but also a young woman with all that goes with that, the learning who you are, what you want, what you feel, and trying to learn to be a leader of a people who have been so damaged by their last leader.

My favorites from book 1, Katsa, Po, Raffin, Bann, they are back. And there are new characters to get attached to, Helda, Hava, Teddy...and Saf.

While yes, this is a long book, over 530 pages, it doesn't read as long book. Don't let the length of time it took me to read it make you think it was a tedious read, my life got hectic recently and my free time to read has been reduced and I also paused this read with about 15 pages to go because I got AND HAD TO READ IMMEDIATELY  - Becoming by Michelle Obama -

The lessons Bitterblue learns as she makes mistakes are so much more timely that I think Cashore could have possibly known when she wrote this book back in I believe 2012. Being a leader requires compassion, listening to those who know more than you and then using all relevant and real information to make decisions, and being able to own mistakes and make things right. What a stark contrast from the current occupier of the White House.

And of course there is some romance here and some humor too. I enjoy the way she writes, the blending of drama, humor, romance, and adventure.

(Finished November 24, 2018)

Becoming by Michelle Obama

As graceful and amazing as she seems in interviews and in the coverage of her over her time as First Lady, that is how she writes. She tells her story from her time on the South Side of Chicago as a child to her time in The White House and a small glimpse into life since reentering civilian life with humor, feeling, dignity, and respect both for herself and those she encounters, even when they may not deserve it (for example a counselor at school who told her she wasn't Princeton Material). And of course she addresses Trump and his rise to the his current position. She doesn't go as hard on him as she could for what he has done to her family with his terrible feeding the birther movement. No mention of the awful people outside The White House waving confederate flags. She follows the creed she set forth, When They Go Low We Go High.


I cried at times both for the content and for what we have lost as a country when the outdated and in need of a change system of electing our president gave us Trump even as Clinton won 3million more votes.

The grace and dignity and reverence Michelle Obama lives makes her a role model for mothers, girls, and anyone who has a mother or girl in their life, so basically everyone. This isn't a snark fest or take down of those who could probably use it. Becoming is a treat for the sense, a balm in a time of emotional turmoil that is constant in this day of the 24 hour news cycle and a president who is incapable of speaking any truths or even any coherent thoughts. It's a reminder of a time when there was still a reason to respect the office of president even if you didn't vote for the holder of the office. It hardly seems like only 2 years ago.

All of that aside, we all know so much about her husband, but now we get to hear in her own words what her life was like, her family, how she was molded into the woman she is now. And the end feeling is that aside from her journey as the wife of a man who would become the nation's first Black president, she is a smart, capable, interesting, funny, and amazing person in her own right.

(Finished November 23, 2018)

More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

I believe I have read all of his books now. I will start by saying that of them all (What If It's Us  (joint with Becky Albertalli), History Is All You Left Me, & They Both Die at the End) this wasn't my favorite but I felt like it was important. I will also say that as he writes he gets better and better. This is is debut novel.

Is being Gay or Straight who you are or a choice you make? I believe it is not a choice but is part of who a person is born to be.

And if you could be happy by forgetting, by having memories altered so you are not who you were but who you think you need to be to be happy, if a procedure to do this existed would you? Would you want to completely forget the person who broke your heart or wronged you or a wrong you did?

Add these two questions together and you are in the version of The Bronx that Adam sets his story in. Aaron meets Thomas and starts to feel....but what is it and how is it possible, after all Aaron has a girlfriend he loves and has started to have sex with. So who is he? What makes him him? And when the pain of figuring it out and all that it brings him becomes too much he considers getting this procedure from the fictional Leteo group. It manipulates memory and makes it so people don't remember things.

And then the world really unravels. Are things what they seem? If you are who you are no matter what you remember or force yourself to forget then wouldn't these parts of you just surface again eventually?

And how much happy is enough? More Happy Than Not?

(Finished November 5, 2018)