The Removes by Tatjana Soli
365 pages

What’s it about?
This is a work of historical fiction.  The novel opens in 1864 in Kansas Territory.  Fifteen year-old Anne Cummins watches her family murdered in an Indian raid and then she is forced into captivity by the Comanche.  Her story alternates with the stories of General George Armstrong Custer and his young, privileged wife Libby.  We see the American West through their very different eyes.

What did it make me think about?
It is hard to believe these stories were set a mere 150 years ago.  How the world has changed.  Soli does not romanticize the American West, the settlers that came to claim it, or the American Indian.  This is a story of violence and hardship.  It is hard to believe how the West was won….

Should I read it?
I found this novel disturbing, interesting, and ultimately sad.  It focuses most of it's attention  General Custer and his wife Libby.  What a hard life it must have been out on the frontier. This novel was obviously very well researched and if you have any interest in the American West, General Custer, or just like a good work of historical fiction, then pick this one up.  

Quote-
“The nomadic lifestyle suited him, and he thought he understood what no politician in Washington could ever figure- even mansions of gold had no leverage to a people who craved space and movement, who considered all and in common and found a barrier of any sort to be a kind of  death.  What they wanted was a floating world.”

If you like this try-
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers
Varina by Charles Frazier

8 1/2 stars
​

The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar
352 pages

What’s it about?
In the summer of 2011 Nour, her mother, and her two sisters move back to Syria to be closer to family- but Syria is not the same country they left years before.  Nour is desperately missing her father- who recently died of cancer.  In her grief she begins to tell herself her father's favorite story.  The story of Rawiya- a young girl that lived in the 12th century.   Rawiya disguises herself as a boy so she can apprentice herself to a mapmaker and see the world.  This book alternates between Rawiya’s story and Nour’s story.  These are two tales of maps, journeys, and ultimately,  how where we come from, and the stories we tell ourselves, shape who we become.   

What did it make me think about?
 What a timely selection.  Syria and the refugee problem has been in the news and yet the plight of refugees can seem so far removed from us.  These alternating stories are not only captivating, but they also teach you something about the beauty and history of the Syrian culture.  

Should I read it?
If you read to learn something, to broaden your horizons, then this is a great choice.  This book is so beautiful- the writing is almost poetic.  Nour and Rawiya are characters you really care about.  I would highly recommend this book.  

Quote-
"He told Rawiya to be careful of her words.  'Stories are powerful,' he said, 'but gather too many of the words of others in your heart, and they will drown out your own.  Remember that.'"

"But safety is not about never having bad things happen to you.  It's about knowing that the bad things can't separate us from each other."

If you like this try-
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
The Buried Giant by Kazoo Ishiguro
​Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
​Exit West by Moshin Hamid

​9 stars

My Bother Moochie by Issac J. Bailey
286 pages

What’s it about?
 Journalist Isaac J. Bailey was only 9 years-old when he watched his older brother, and hero, being led off in handcuffs and charged with murder.   Moochie would not return to the family for 32 years.  Issac Bailey uses his skills as a journalist to look back and reflect on how this event shaped his life. 

What did it make me think about?
 This is a memoir that will make you think.  You may or may not agree with all that is written but this memoir sure gives you a particular perspective.  We all know the impact of crime on the victims, but this book demonstrates how crime and incarceration in the black community also has a powerful impact on the criminal as well as all those that love that person.   "I've known that though some of my brothers have done monstrous things, they are not monsters, that they can be just as loving and compassionate and wise as the rest of us, that they are just as complex and fully deserving of being treated like full human beings- that their lives matter- despite what they've done."  

Should I read it?
Although this book highlights the immense problem of race in America, it provides no easy answers. Maybe a start is reading books such as this.  Books that give us a different perspective.  Not only reading them but being open to what the author is saying.   This author goes back and forth between raging at the white man and all that the white race has done to create these problems- to being angry at those young black men that make poor choices.  Race in America is a complicated problem but if we don't start hearing each other it is not going to go away.  Maybe this book is a start.

Quote-
"The white man ​set us on an awful course, stealing us from Africa and enslaving and raping and beating us, then lynching us, then putting us on the back of the bus and forcing us to raise their children, who treated our men and women like kids, then banning us from the best neighborhoods and schools, then blaming us for the resulting maladies.
            But many black families found a way to navigate through it all without succumbing to prison and fulfilling a stereotype.  I know Mama wanted us in that number."

If you like this try-
Fire Shut up In My Bones by Charles M. Blow
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
Educated by Tara Westover
All Over But the Shouting by Rick Bragg

8 stars

Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich
209 pages

What’s it about?
Barbara Ehrenreich is a well respected journalist with a host of books to her credit.  In this book she turns her attention to our new found fascination with "wellness" and our aversion to death.   At 74 years-old she has made some decisions.  "Once I realized I was old enough to die, I decided that I was also old enough not to incur any more suffering, annoyance, or boredom in the pursuit of a longer life."  She began to question the way the medical establishment was steering older Americans to expensive tests and procedures as they age.   As a scientist (she has her Ph.D. in cellular biology) she questioned the efficacy of these treatments.  

What did it make me think about?
As someone who does her best to live a healthy lifestyle this book was very thought provoking.  It had never occurred to me that our focus on wellness was anything but healthy.  Ms. Ehrenreich makes many valid points in this book.  However, she also just rants against various pet peeves- the humiliation involved in women's health practices, religion, the way the fitness industry is geared towards the wealthy, and that "mindfulness" is just another invalid theory being thrust upon us by Silicon Valley.   All very thought provoking statements, but not really backed up by science either way yet.   

Should I read it?
I really enjoyed "Nickel and Dimed".  A previous book by the same author that tackled the plight of the low-wage worker.  This book was interesting and did have lots to say, but sometimes I felt like Ms. Ehrenreich was just spouting her personal opinions.   Sometimes these opinions seemed to lack facts to back them up.  The premise that our health obsession is another way for the rich to define themselves- and also a way for us all to remain focused on ourselves has some validity.  However, I would have liked some more science to back up these claims.  She did get around to discussing more of the science in the second half of the book and I appreciated that.  The idea that our cells possess agency was a fascinating concept.  You mean immune cells can just decide to go rogue?   It did give me pause about how much I want to chase after preventative care.  Maybe I should just be holding on until I feel something is wrong before I go have that test....   All in all an interesting read.  I would recommend it to groups as it would promote some lively discussion.  Now I am going to go eat a brownie!!!

Quote-
"If their is a lesson here it has to do with humility.  For all our vaunted intelligence and 'complexity', we are not he sole authors of our destinies or of anything else.  You man exercise diligently, eat a medically fashionable diet, and still die of a sting from an irritated bee.  You may be a slim, toned paragon of wellnessss, and still a macrophage wishing your body may decide to throw in its lot with an incipient tumor."

If you like this try-
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Gut by Giulia Enders
The Lucky Years by David B. Agus M.D.
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

7 stars

Lost Empress by Sergio De La Pava
623 pages

What’s it about?
 This novel takes in the world of professional football, Rikers Island, the medical world, and everything in-between.  Nina Gill is the main protagonist.  She is the daughter of the aging owner of the Dallas Cowboys- and Nina is a football whiz.  Her brother outmaneuvers her for control of the team and her response is to beat him at his own game.  She launches her indoor arena team as an alternative to the NFL.  So begins the action.

What did it make me think about?
 This is a partial review because I only made it to page 200.  Mr. De La Pava is a fine writer and this book got mixed reviews.  People seemed to either love it or hate it.  Maybe it was the mood I was in but I just couldn’t read more than 10 pages read without being annoyed with this book.  After 200 pages I felt like the author was SO pretentious…  This book seemed intent on showing the reader how smart, sophisticated, and glib he was.    How many paragraphs can you read like this- “For four years he impressed no one; but while that failure to impress certainly impressed him, evidence of sound ambient judgement is at least mildly impressive, the fact that his failure to impress made no lasting impression only served to impress upon him how wildly unimpressive the whole enterprise was.”  I couldn't take it anymore. 

Should I read it?
 I kept thinking if I continued I could have liked this one- but I was so annoyed I quit anyway.  This may have been a good one to read with a group and discuss.  I could still be convinced this book has merit- but on my own I just did not like it.  I finally decided the pain of reading it wasn’t worth any type of reward at the end.  I am open to being convinced…..
​

Quote-
“Dia has not heretofore been a connoisseur of notes, mostly just listened to whatever the radio deemed worthy of audition.  Only now is it beginning to dauyn on her what a greave error this has been.  Not that she’s engaged in a clinical dissection of keys and modes and theory, just her almost reptilian response to visceral pleasure.”


If you like this try-
Underworld by Don Delillo
White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
Sweet bitter by Stephanie Danler

No stars as I did not finish