Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: The Red Cover Edition

I don't care who you're rooting for, this year's World Series has been great. For the most part, the long games have been exciting, with big hits good action, and extra innings. What a postseason!

We spent most of Saturday hiking in a local state forest. It's finally looking like fall, with gorgeous leaves and deep blue skies. Well, except yesterday (Sunday), which was non-stop rain. The rain, though, was just the excuse I needed to spend the day making lace. All in all, a near-perfect weekend.

Work has picked up in the pre-holiday season, which is a good thing, though it can cut into my reading time. I also have a new sideline gig that I'm very excited about and will share with you next week.

What I Read Last Week

Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan (Ecco, Oct. 3) is a different kind of memoir. Instead of sticking to a chronological structure, Tan muses about a variety of incidents and issues, from her early experiences with family deaths to life as a child of immigrants, her relationship with her mother, her struggle with medical problems, her writing life, and her fascination with language. I've enjoyed Tan's novels, so I liked getting to know her better, If I were to sum up her life in one sentence, I'd say she is a survivor who has found a way to thrive in the face of difficult challenges. Her writing style is loose and personal and easy to connect to. Tan herself narrates the audiobook edition (Harper Audio, 14 hr. 31 min). She is engaging, and I liked her portrayal of her mother and her rendering of Chinese American accents. The only problem with the audiobook is that you miss out on the Tan family photographs. I'll have more to say over at AudioFile magazine.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone (Crown Books for Young Readers, Oct. 17) is heart-wrenching in its authenticity of what it's like to be a black teen in the South (or, really, anywhere in the United States). Justyce is smart and one of only a couple of black students in an Atlanta private high school. He's also a scholarship student among wealthy white kids. One night when trying to help his drunk, light-skinned biracial girlfriend, he's picked up by the police, who immediately assume he's a black boy trying to take advantage of a white girl. The handcuffs, the total disrespect, and the racial profiling affect him deeply. Justyce tries to cope with the mixed signals from his seemingly friendly classmates with their ingrained prejudice and with his general outsider status by writing letters to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and trying to model his reactions by "what would Martin do?" Justyce doesn't always make the right choices, but he does make believable choices. This book will eat you up. Author Stone makes it clear that civil rights and racial equality are far realized in this country and shows this through Justyce's story. Although written for a young adult audience, readers of all ages will find plenty to think about. The autdiobook (Listening Library 4 hr, 32 in) is read by Dion Graham, who handles the dialect and emotional impact of the book beautifully. His characterizations weren't particularly strong, but his respect and understanding of Stone's book had me listening all in one go. (thanks to the publisher for both print and audio review copies)

Other Stuff

Besides baseball and lacemaking, I've started Alice Hoffman's Rules of Magic. If you liked Hoffman's Practical Magic (book or movie), you really do need to read her new novel, which takes place in (or at least starts in) the 1960s when the Owen children learn their true nature. The sisters in this book grow up to be the aunts we meet in Practical Magic. I'm thoroughly enjoying the audiobook (read by Marin Ireland) and will report back next week.