Alexa's 2020 ROOTs

I joined the 2019 group in September (after a summer of unprecedented reading) full of ambitions. I met my goal for the year, but burned out by the end of October. This year, I'm still going to aim for 100 books, but over the whole year, not just the back half. I'm going to do theme months again, but not going to show my TBR lists (except as tags in my catalog) ahead of time. Looking forward to it!

February ROOTs: It's Black History/Authors/Protags/Issues (✊🏾:53) and Romance (❤️:45) Month here! And sometimes it's both (🖤:6)! Representing a total of 104 ROOTs to start with, though the goal is not to read all of them, just to select all books this month from this tag. And while I'm not formally posting a full list ahead of time, I may have set up my own private spreadsheet where I organized my TBR in a grid of "Fiction/Non-Fiction" (F:78/NF:26) on one axis and "Audio/Text/Comics" (🎧:5/📖:48/🗨️:5) on another axis, then sorted my TBR by page count. Then I might also list the one that is currently at the top of the list (i.e the shortest remaining TBR) in each section, except audio, because I really am taking those one at a time.

Finished
1. ✊🏾🎧 How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆½)
2. ✊🏾🎧 Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆½)
3. ✊🏾🗨️ All Coons Look Alike to Me: The Life of Ernest Hogan, Father of Ragtime by Luke Kruger-Howard {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
4. ❤️📖 Dirty Deeds by S.E. Jakes {fiction} (☆☆½)
5. ✊🏾🎧 Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler {fiction} (☆☆☆☆☆)
6. ❤️🗨️ The Silver Metal Lover adapted by Trina Robbins, based on the novel by Tanith Lee {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
7. ✊🏾🗨️ Black AF: America's Sweetheart by Kwanza Osajyefo, et al. {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
8. 🖤🗨️ Casually Kayla Anthology: The Honeymoon Phase by Kayla M. Davis {non-fiction} (☆☆☆)
9. ✊🏾🎧 Becoming by Michelle Obama {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆½)
10. ❤️📖 Teleny, or: The Reverse of the Medal attributed to Oscar Wilde {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
11. ❤️🎧 The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger {fiction} (☆☆☆)
12. ✊🏾📖 A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
13. ✊🏾📖 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
14. 🖤📖 Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon {fiction} (☆☆☆)
15. ❤️📖 Looking for Alaska by John Green {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
16. ❤️📖 Across the Universe by Beth Revis {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
17. ❤️📖 Graveyard Sparrow by Kayla Bashe {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
18. ❤️🗨️ Mighty Love by Howard Chaykin {fiction} (☆☆☆)
19. ❤️📖 The Luxe by Anna Godbersen {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
20. ❤️📖 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
21. ✊🏾📖 America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis {non-fiction} (☆☆☆½)
22. ✊🏾📖 Slumberland by Paul Beatty {fiction} (☆☆☆☆½)
23. 🎃📖 Industrial Magic by Kelly Armstrong {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
24. 🏆📖 Advise and Consent by Allen Drury {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
25. ✊🏾📖 Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture, and Resistance by Adonia Lugo, Ph.D. {non-fiction} (☆☆☆½)
26. ❤️📖 Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story edited by Kelly Milner Halls {fiction} (☆☆☆)

Welcome back, Alexa! I'd be interested to hear what you think about How to be an Antiracist. I follow the author on twitter and like what I've seen so far (he's not well known this side of the Pond, I don't think).

>3 Jackie_K: I'm about a third of the way through it now, and I really like it. It covers similar ground of his other book Stamped from the Beginning (which I read last year) but through the lens of the formative events and elements of his own life. Like, the chapter I'm on right now reflects on his high school and college career, and specifically how much standardized tests (including IQ tests) are used to make broadly racist statements about intelligence and aptitude seem "rational", while completely ignoring how there's a whole billion-dollar test prep industry that (predominantly black and Latinx) underprivileged kids can't afford or don't even know exist. If you have read SftB, you're not likely to be surprised or shocked by any of the data or historical sources he draws upon, but its purpose is more about painting a picture about the layers upon layers of overt racism and implicit bias actually affected the development of one person. If you haven't read SftB, it's a good intro to a lot of the ideas in that book, especially with how the structure cultivates empathy. Both books stand well alone, but they also complement each other really well.

ETA: Going to count this as my review because this impression sustains itself all the way through. (☆☆☆☆½)

Welcome back and good luck with this year's goal!

Welcome back!

#2) Superior: The Return of Race Science by Angela Saini. I read-listened to Saini's Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story last year, and I was excited to read-listen to her follow-up looking at the science of race. It's less focused on specific research than Inferior is, but I think that's largely due to the fact that a) the concept of race has varied far more wildly across different cultures and times than that of gender, so there's more to unpack than just science, and b) the "science" of race (especially with regards to intelligence) has been essentially debunked for almost a century now. Even one of the proponents of possible links between genetics (though not race) and intelligence who she interviewed admits that in his own family, he's the only one with an advanced degree or any kind of intellectual curiosity at all; Saini explains that this phenomenon, of highly intelligent people being born to more intellectually average parents and vice versa (aka "regression towards the mean"), is the statistical standard. Racists will of course try to argue that this does not automatically preclude different racial groups from having different intellectual means, but Saini also establishes, from multiple angles, that skin color and even the ethnicity markers (of the sort home DNA ancestry kits test for) are ultimately insignificant to the larger genetic picture, and how much research in that direction expounds on correlations without proving causation.

(☆☆☆☆½)

#3) All Coons Look Alike to Me: The Life of Ernest Hogan, Father of Ragtime by Luke Kruger-Howard. This is a graphic biography of, as the title suggests, Ernest Hogan, who is credited with being the first composer to publish a piece of ragtime music. However, his achievements were largely overshadowed by one of his first hit songs, "All Coons Look Alike to Me", a minstrel song intended for the amusement of white audiences at the expense of black people. It uses only black, white, and red as a callback to the colors of greasepaint used in blackface minstrel shows; it is also drawn in an unshaded ligne claire style. As a result, black characters and white characters are distinguished only by subtle differences in facial features, hair texture, and external cues like clothing and environment, which helps to underscore how artificial and forced the racial hierarchy is. The comic is "silent" in the vein of silent films: no speech bubbles or integrated captions, but with occasional full page intertitles. This technique means that when you are presented with the full lyrics of the song, it is the most text you get at once in the whole book, and it's incredibly difficult to read. I think it's easy for white people to conceptualize the racism of the past in the overt and violent methods of slavery and lynching, and the legal restrictions of Jim Crow, but we really have no idea the extent to which both forms were reinforced by casual, everyday humiliation.

The full comic is available to read on Kruger-Howard's website.

(☆☆☆☆)

Hi Alexa, welcome back - just popping in to see what you're reading. I'm impressed with your focus on topical issues this month. Look forward to seeing what your fiction choices will be :)

>9 floremolla: Haha, I just have too many unread books (almost 1300!) to NOT approach them topically. Plus, that also tends to be how I acquire books anyway—I get really into one author or topic or whatever, buy everything, then read maybe half of one (in case it's not obvious, I have ADHD 😁)

As for fiction, I'm about ⅔ of the way through Parable of the Talents and finding it as compelling as the preceding book, Parable of the Sower. Octavia Butler could write. I also just finished a rather disappointing romance/erotica novella, but more on that in the morning. It's bedtime now 😴

#4) Dirty Deeds by S.E. Jakes. Like I said, this was a rather disappointing romance/erotica novella. A big part of that is due to the fact that it is apparently a spin-off of another series (which I do own the first book in, but even so, this one evidently takes place in between books 2 and 3). While the series CK information does indicate that it is third in one series, it is still the first in its own series, and to my mind, that should mean it stands on its own, but it doesn't. There's too many character names flung out in the first few pages with little information to distinguish their roles in the story/universe. There's also a lot of abrupt time skips that mess with the flow. And while some plot contrivances are to be expected in both erotica and espionage (its other genre) stories, there were several that were just too convenient or just too obviously about getting to another sex scene. Really, this book mainly suffers from being too short; I was actually starting to get into the second half of the story, but then it just ended. If the first half had had more space to breathe, setting up the characters more clearly, transitioning between scenes more smoothly, etc. I could have really enjoyed this. The writing is good, though some of the characterization is tropey and contrived (again, some of that is to be expected because it's erotica, but the author clearly wanted to have their "every single person in this spy organization is a gay/bi man for no reason" cake and eat their "angsty homophobic parents backstory" too). I'm still interested in reading the actual first book in this series, though, and maybe I'll revisit this one if/after I read the second book.

(☆☆½)

#5) Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler - review to come (☆☆☆☆☆)



#6) The Silver Metal Lover adapted by Trina Robbins, based on the novel by Tanith Lee - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#7) Black AF: America's Sweetheart by Kwanza Osajyefo, et al. - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#8) Casually Kayla Anthology: The Honeymoon Phase by Kayla M. Davis - review to come (☆☆☆)

I was going to wait until I had finished at least one more book, but then my parents came to visit this weekend and I didn't get any reading done. So here's what I've finished since last post:



#9) Becoming by Michelle Obama - review to come (☆☆☆☆½)



#10) Teleny, or: The Reverse of the Medal attributed to Oscar Wilde - review to come (☆☆☆½)

#11) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - review to come (☆☆☆)



#12) A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#13) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#14) Conception by Kalisha Buckhanon - review to come (☆☆☆)



#15) Looking for Alaska by John Green - review to come (☆☆☆½)

I've come to the realization that 4 stars is my way of saying "If Mount TBR weren't so high, I'd read the next book in this series (if it is one)." Maybe someday.



#16) Across the Universe by Beth Revis - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#17) Graveyard Sparrow by Kayla Bashe - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#18) Mighty Love by Howard Chaykin - review to come (☆☆☆)



#19) The Luxe by Anna Godbersen - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#20) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - review to come (☆☆☆☆)

#21) America's Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America by Jim Wallis - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#22) Slumberland by Paul Beatty - review to come (☆☆☆☆½)



#23) Industrial Magic by Kelley Armstrong - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#24) Advise and Consent by Allen Drury - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#25) Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture, and Resistance by Adonia Lugo, Ph.D. - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#26) Girl Meets Boy: Because There Are Two Sides to Every Story edited by Kelly Milner Halls - review to come (☆☆☆)

February ROOTs Debrief:
• Used February 29 as a "Bonus Day" to finish two books I started last year: Advise and Consent and Industrial Magic
• Unhaul/Rehome: Dirty Deeds, Casually Kayla Anthology: The Honeymoon Phase, The Time Traveler's Wife, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Conception, Looking for Alaska, Across the Universe, The Luxe, Girl Meets Boy
• Acquired: Affairs of Honor, X-Men Classic vol. 2, Princeless vol. 9

March ROOTs: It's Women's History Month! As far as my ROOTs are concerned, that means women's studies and feminism topics, women's biographies and memoirs, plus superheroine and Prix Artémisia comics and other feminist-themed fiction.

Currently reading
📖 The Feminine in Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise von Franz {non-fiction}

Finished
27. 📖 Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
28. 🎧 '90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality by Allison Yarrow {non-fiction} (☆☆½)
29. 📖 How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
30. 📖 The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine {non-fiction} (☆☆☆)
31. 📖 Nevertheless, We Persisted: 43 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage edited by In This Together Media {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
32. 📖 Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoë Quinn {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
33. 📖 Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon {non-fiction} (☆☆☆)
34. 📖 The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland {fiction} (☆☆☆)
35. 🗨️ Canopy by Karine Bernadou {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
36. 🗨️ Underwire by Jennifer Hayden {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
37. 📖 Goddesses: A World of Myth and Magic written by Burleigh Mutén, illustrated by Rebecca Guay {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
38. 📖 Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
39. 📖 Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World by Rachel Swaby {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
40. 🗨️ An Invitation to the World of Luisa Felix, Cartoonist edited by Paul Curtis and E.J. Barnes {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
41. 🗨️ Son of Yuppies from Hell by Barbara Slate {fiction} (☆☆☆)
42. 🗨️ Sex, Lies, and Mutual Funds of the Yuppies from Hell by Barbara Slate {fiction} (☆☆☆)
43. 🗨️ X-Men, vol. 5: The Burning World written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Roland Boschi {fiction} (☆☆☆)
44. 🗨️ Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
45. 📖 A Brief History of Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
46. 🗨️ The Green Hand and Other Stories by Nicole Claveloux, with Édith Zha {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
47. 🗨️ Angel Catbird, vol. 1 written by Margaret Atwood, art by Johnnie Christmas {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
48. 🗨️ The Song of Aglaia by Anne Simon {fiction} (☆☆☆)
49. 🗨️ Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends by Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek {fiction} (☆☆☆)
50. 🗨️ The Complete Deep Girl by Ariel Bordeaux {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
51. 📖 Patriarchy as a Conceptual Trap by Elizabeth Dodson Gray {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
52. 📖 Beauty Queens by Libba Bray {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
53. 📖 Graceling by Kristin Cashore {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
54. 🗨️ Girls with Slingshots, vol. 4 by Danielle Corsetto {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
55. 📖 The Immortals by Tamora Pierce {fiction} (☆☆☆)
56. 📖 The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
57. 📖 Park Lane by Frances Osborne {fiction} (☆☆½)
58. 📖 Fire by Kristin Cashore {fiction} (DNF @30%)
59. 📖 America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
60. 📖 Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement by Sally G. McMillen {non-fiction} (☆☆☆½)
61. 📖 The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone {non-fiction} (☆☆☆)
62. 📖 Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)

>18 alexa_d: I'll look forward to your selections this month!

Yay for the bonus day of reading today! Awesome reading theme for March, too.

#27) Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#28) '90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality by Allison Yarrow - review to come; Litsy thoughts (a) and (b) (☆☆½)



#29) How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#30) The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine - review to come; Litsy thoughts (☆☆☆)



#31) Nevertheless, We Persisted: 43 Voices of Defiance, Strength, and Courage edited by In This Together Media - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#32) Crash Override: How Gamergate (Nearly) Destroyed My Life, and How We Can Win the Fight Against Online Hate by Zoë Quinn - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#33) Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by The Countess of Carnarvon - review to come (☆☆☆)

#34) The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland - review to come (☆☆☆)



#35) Canopy by Karine Bernadou - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#36) Underwire by Jennifer Hayden - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#37) Goddesses: A World of Myth and Magic written by Burleigh Mutén, illustrated by Rebecca Guay - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#38) Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#39) Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science-and the World by Rachel Swaby - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#40) An Invitation to the World of Luisa Felix, Cartoonist edited by Paul Curtis and E.J. Barnes - review to come (☆☆☆☆)

Alright, I'm about to go on a huge comics reading spree, I'm probably going to cross 50, if not 60 ROOTs tonight.

Weekend mostly-comics readathon!



#41 & 42) Son of Yuppies from Hell & Sex, Lies, and Mutual Funds of the Yuppies from Hell by Barbara Slate - review to come (☆☆☆)



#43) X-Men, vol. 5: The Burning World written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Roland Boschi - review to come (☆☆☆)



#44) Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#45) A Brief History of Misogyny: The World's Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#46) The Green Hand and Other Stories by Nicole Claveloux, with Édith Zha - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#47) Angel Catbird, vol. 1 written by Margaret Atwood, art by Johnnie Christmas - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#48) The Song of Aglaia by Anne Simon - review to come (☆☆☆)



#49) Wonder Woman: Forgotten Legends by Trina Robbins and Kurt Busiek - review to come (☆☆☆)



#50) The Complete Deep Girl by Ariel Bordeaux - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#51) Patriarchy as a Conceptual Trap by Elizabeth Dodson Gray - review to come (☆☆☆☆)

You've been reading some great titles this month already!

>24 Jackie_K: Haha, yeah, every time I give something four stars I'm like "I know I'm generous in my assessments, but am I really just that easy?" ^_^

To be fair, most of the non-fiction have earned their stars more because of the ideas they've given me to think about than the books themselves (though '90s Bitch and The Female Brain both lost points for giving me so much to think about that I decided the books weren't good enough for their ideas--I've linked my Litsy posts on those in lieu of the reviews I'll probably never get around to :P). And even though most of the interesting ideas I took from Patriarchy as a Conceptual Trap were actually just Margaret Mead quotes, specifically from Male and Female, I let it keep the points for the great rec!

That are a lot of books, Alexa!

>26 connie53: Well, I was trying to read as much as I could get through before my trip to Disney World next week, but since that's not happening anymore, I've slowed down a bit now, lol.

#52) Beauty Queens by Libba Bray - Excellent satire of contemporary media messages aimed at young women, different ways of being a woman or a feminist, touches on intersectional issues perhaps a bit shallowly by today's standards, but probably more than would have been expected by 2011 standards when it was published. Drags a bit in the middle, which is where it loses points. (☆☆☆½)



#53) Graceling by Kristin Cashore - Not quite the "badass fantasy YA heroine" type book I was hoping for, and it seems to change what kind of book it wants to be about five times, all of which I would have preferred to read a whole book of, but it was fine. I plan on reading the prequel/companion book (which is also a ROOT), but it says something that its apparent lack of connection to the characters in this book was a decisive factor in its favor (☆☆☆½)



#54) Girls with Slingshots, vol. 4 by Danielle Corsetto - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#55) The Immortals by Tamora Pierce - I wish I loved this as much as I do Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet, but it has two major weak spots: 1) the entire second book is mostly superfluous, and keeps its reasonably engaging villain at a distance when the time could have been spent making him an incredible villain, and 2) the climax of the series is literally a deus ex machina, because Pierce gave into the fantasy novelist temptation of, having world-built various religious systems quite well, actually incorporating the gods as characters. I also wasn't invested in the main romance. (☆☆☆)



#56) The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley - review to come (☆☆☆☆)

>27 alexa_d: So sorry to hear your trip was canceled. But in these times of corona that is unavoidable. Stay safe!

#57) Park Lane by Frances Osborne - review to come (☆☆½)



#58) Fire by Kristin Cashore - So it turns out my lack of connection to the characters of Graceling might have had more to do with an actual weakness of Cashore's writing and not just those characters in particular, because I cared even less about the characters of this book. (DNF @30%)



#59) America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#60) Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement by Sally G. McMillen - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#61) The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily by Nancy Goldstone - review to come (☆☆☆)



#62) Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce - Still not as good as the Lioness quartet, but far more engaging to me than the Immortals quartet was. (☆☆☆☆)

March ROOTs Debrief:
• Unhaul/Rehome: '90s Bitch, The Female Brain, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, The Passion of Artemisia, Graceling/Fire, Park Lane, The Lady Queen
• Acquired: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Backlash, A History of Women in the West vol. III and V, Ame-Comi Girls vol. 2, Araña vol. 3, and Go Girl! vol. 1. Except for Backlash, these all filled holes (or in the case of Tevinter Nights, was a new release) in series I own most of anyway, and I had to soothe my completionist soul.
• Unfinished:
→ The Portable Dorothy Parker: Going to keep reading this one into April (it technically fits into one of my April themes—Jewish authors—as her father was Jewish)
→ The Feminine in Fairy Tales: Almost on the DNF line for me, but I'm also about halfway through so I'm going to keep going.
→ Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights: This is short story collection and was always a bonus read anyway, so I'll keep dipping into it when I feel like it.

April ROOTs: I've set myself a few themes this month: Jewish authors/bios/topics (✡️), the American Civil War (🎩), science (🔬), and poetry/Greco-Roman classics/Shakespeare (🖋️)

Currently reading
✡️📖 The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker {fiction}
(Bonus read: 📖 Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights edited by Patrick Weekes, et al.)

Finished
63. ✡️📖 Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
64. ✡️📖 Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
65. 🔬📖 How the Universe Got Its Spots by Janna Levin {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
66. 🔬📖 What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
67. ✡️📖 Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
68. ✡️📖 Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
69. ✡️📖 Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
70. 🖋️📖 Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier {fiction} (☆☆☆)
71. ✡️📖 Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
72. 🖋️📖 The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
73. ✡️📖 The Red Tent by Anita Diamant {fiction} (☆☆☆)
74. ✡️📖 The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
75. ✡️📖 Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
76. ✡️📖 The World to Come by Dara Horn {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
77. 🎩🗨️ Action Presidents #2: Abraham Lincoln! by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
78. 🎩📖 The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara {fiction} (☆☆☆☆½)
79. ✡️📖 Moonglow by Michael Chabon {fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
80. ✡️📖 Summerland by Michael Chabon {fiction} (☆☆☆½)
81. ✡️📖 Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
82. ✡️📖 Louis D. Brandeis: A Life by Melvin I. Urofsky {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
83. 🎩🎧 Grant by Ron Chernow {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆½)
84. 🖋️📖 to make monsters out of girls by Amanda Lovelace {non-fiction} (☆☆☆½)
85. 🖋️📖 the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace {non-fiction} (☆☆☆½)
86. 🔬🗨️ Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani and Maris Wicks {non-fiction} (☆☆☆☆)
87. 🎩🗨️ The Life of Frederick Douglass by David F. Walker and Damon Smyth {non-fiction} (☆☆☆½)

#63) Girl in Landscape by Jonathan Lethem - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#64) Men and Cartoons by Jonathan Lethem - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#65) How the Universe Got Its Spots by Janna Levin - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#66) What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe - Fun fact: One chapter discusses how a worldwide quarantine would tank the economy! (☆☆☆☆)



#67) Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem - review to come (☆☆☆☆)

#68) Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#69) Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#70) Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier - review to come (☆☆☆)



#71) Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#72) The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#73) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - review to come (☆☆☆)



#74) The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon - review to come (☆☆☆½)

I read The Red Tent several years ago, and think I gave it 3* as well. The main thing I remember was thinking it was a sort of Biblical chick-lit (albeit with serious themes).

>35 Jackie_K: I liked about the first half of TRT, when it was mostly about Mesopotamian religious practices and how, as much as women like Leah and Rachel are considered major Jewish figures, it actually makes more sense that Jacob wouldn't have really thought about his wives' religious practices because so much of women's lives were considered just so beneath the regard of men. And especially how in such an environment, when Jacob finally does insist his wives give up their goddesses like he has all other gods but the one, it really struck me how little such patriarchal monotheism had to offer women at the time, but of course it wouldn't have occurred to Jacob that his wives even had spiritual needs, never mind that they would have gone unmet by his god alone.

But yeah, everything between when Dinah's husband was killed and when she reunited with Joseph was kinda just filler.

#75) Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#76) The World to Come by Dara Horn - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#77) Action Presidents #2: Abraham Lincoln! by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#78) The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara - review to come (☆☆☆☆½)



#79) Moonglow by Michael Chabon - review to come (☆☆☆☆)



#80) Summerland by Michael Chabon - review to come (☆☆☆½)



#81) Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe - review to come (☆☆☆☆)

Lots, lots of books read, Alexa! You are almost there.