Search
GC
Gun Culture in Early Modern England
Book
Guns had an enormous impact on the social, economic, cultural, and political lives of civilian men,...
The Undocumented American
Book
Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented...
Make Your Home Among Strangers
Book
A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, winner of the International Latino Book Award for Best...
Papers, Please
Games and Entertainment
App
A dystopian document thriller. The award-winning, critically-acclaimed border inspector game, now...
Unaccustomed Earth
8.0
Rate It
Book
Eight stories—longer and more emotionally complex than any Lahiri has yet written—that take us...
India immigrants short stories
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated It's Not Like It's a Secret in Books
Jun 4, 2019
Sana is a California transplant from Wisconsin; both her parents are immigrants from Japan, so despite feeling like she's a midwesterner, none of her friends think of her as one. There's a cringe-y scene early in the book where she cheers with her friends about being "midwestern farmer's daughters" and they tell her she's cute for thinking that, but she's Japanese, obv. I felt really bad for her. When her family moves to California, suddenly she's not the only Asian girl in a sea of whiteness. It's an interesting mix of having a place with your own people but also fighting the stereotypes of sticking with your own ethnicity. It's assumed she'll be friends with the other Asian kids, which annoys her, but she also finds to be true; having not had the opportunity to have friends like her before, she finds she really likes it. But she also tries to break that mold and be friends with people she's not assumed to like - like Jamie Ramirez and her Hispanic friends, and Caleb and his white goth friends.
The book also explores the way racism hits races differently; the Hispanic kids get hassled by cops while the Asian kids don't - though they also have things expected of them that the Hispanic kids don't. The book gets into cultural expectations as well - PDAs are not really a thing in Sana's world, so she's reluctant to be public about her affections at school, which drives misunderstandings.
It's only in the last few chapters that all the secrets come out, and Sana struggles to put things right.
One thing I really liked about the book is the narrative structure. At the beginning of the school year, Sana's English teacher gives them a project, which is to keep a journal to transcribe poems into and talk about what they mean to you. Chapters from Sana's poetry journal are interspersed with chapters of the narrative, and give some nice insight to how she's feeling. Her love interest, Jamie, also loves poetry, and it plays a large part in their relationship.
I quite enjoyed this book.You can find all my reviews plus more at http://goddessinthestacks.com
The book also explores the way racism hits races differently; the Hispanic kids get hassled by cops while the Asian kids don't - though they also have things expected of them that the Hispanic kids don't. The book gets into cultural expectations as well - PDAs are not really a thing in Sana's world, so she's reluctant to be public about her affections at school, which drives misunderstandings.
It's only in the last few chapters that all the secrets come out, and Sana struggles to put things right.
One thing I really liked about the book is the narrative structure. At the beginning of the school year, Sana's English teacher gives them a project, which is to keep a journal to transcribe poems into and talk about what they mean to you. Chapters from Sana's poetry journal are interspersed with chapters of the narrative, and give some nice insight to how she's feeling. Her love interest, Jamie, also loves poetry, and it plays a large part in their relationship.
I quite enjoyed this book.You can find all my reviews plus more at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change
Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2017 FINANCIAL TIMES AND MCKINSEY BUSINESS BOOK OF THE YEAR | NAMED A BEST FALL...
Business biography technology
Lighthouses have long been the symbol of salvation, warning sailors away from dangerous rocks and shallow waters. Along the Great Lakes, America’s inland seas, lighthouses played a vital role in the growth of the nation. They shepherded settlers traveling by water to places that had no roads. These beacons of light required constant tending even in remote and often dangerous places. Brave men and women battled the elements and loneliness to keep the lights shining. Their sacrifice kept goods and immigrants moving. Seven romances set between 1883 and 1911 bring hope to these lonely keepers and love to weary hearts. The Last Memory by Kathleen Rouser 1899—Mackinac Point Lighthouse Natalie Brooks loses her past to amnesia, and Cal Waterson, the lighthouse keeper who rescues her, didn’t bargain on risking his heart—when her past might change everything.
My Thoughts: This is a collection of short stories "novellas" about lighthouses and their keepers. The authors have given a precise account of the lives that these people led while helping to save the lives of others. The hardships they faced, loneliness, living in a remote area and dealing with the aftermath of shipwrecks.
The stories will draw the reader in and will fall in love with the heroines in the stories. I think of all the stories my favorites were Rose and Natalie. Rose being strong and independent, Natalie has a wonderful outlook on life after losing her memory. The reader will love all the women in the stories, these are the two that I identified with the most.
Living on a small island has given me a love for the lighthouse, and I have visited many on the Eastern Shore. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed these stories and the characters in them. Whenever you visit a lighthouse you try to envision the people that were once living there, this book gives us a wonderful look into some of those lives.
The readers will also learn how important the lighthouse is to people and the ships. It is fascinating to learn the working day of the lighthouse keepers. It was pleasant reading that the writers did make sure that the word of God was written into the stories. God is our lighthouse and we must always remember to look toward the light.
I think that everyone will enjoy this novella.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Thoughts: This is a collection of short stories "novellas" about lighthouses and their keepers. The authors have given a precise account of the lives that these people led while helping to save the lives of others. The hardships they faced, loneliness, living in a remote area and dealing with the aftermath of shipwrecks.
The stories will draw the reader in and will fall in love with the heroines in the stories. I think of all the stories my favorites were Rose and Natalie. Rose being strong and independent, Natalie has a wonderful outlook on life after losing her memory. The reader will love all the women in the stories, these are the two that I identified with the most.
Living on a small island has given me a love for the lighthouse, and I have visited many on the Eastern Shore. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed these stories and the characters in them. Whenever you visit a lighthouse you try to envision the people that were once living there, this book gives us a wonderful look into some of those lives.
The readers will also learn how important the lighthouse is to people and the ships. It is fascinating to learn the working day of the lighthouse keepers. It was pleasant reading that the writers did make sure that the word of God was written into the stories. God is our lighthouse and we must always remember to look toward the light.
I think that everyone will enjoy this novella.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dana (24 KP) rated Enrique's Journey: The Story of a Boy's Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother in Books
Mar 23, 2018
This nonfiction book really made me think about the immigration crisis for Central America. It also connected a lot with the current Syrian refugee crisis.
When I was younger, my family and I never had to think about immigration. Yeah, we lived in a town where there were a lot immigrants, but we still didn't really think about it. It was more of a passing thought about them being here, not what it actually took for them to get here.
This book opened my eyes about how horrible these people have it when they are making the journey north to America. They see this land of opportunity where it is supposed to be safer for them to live, but instead, they are hounded at every step of the journey and are even deported when they get here.
It is very disheartening to see how much crap these people have to put up with. Not only do they hop on and off of trains that can either kill or maim them, they also have to deal with gangs trying to kill them, police forces who want them gone by whatever means necessary, and the migration officials who have no cares in the world if these people, yes, fellow human beings, are okay or safe.
This nonfiction mainly follows a sixteen year old boy named Enrique as he travels from Honduras to America. It shows a lot of the grittier parts of the journey that no other news outlet or book that I have seen shows. It gives the reader an inside view into the people who have to go through this instead of only showing the numbers that equate to it, though there are still parts of this book that have that aspect.
One thing that I wasn't too fond of while reading this were the very dry parts where there was only information shown. It felt like a very journalistic piece (the author is a journalist, but still). I wanted to read more about these people instead of showing the figures like there are in the other journalist pieces I have read.
Overall, if you want to learn about the migration crisis, pick this book up. If you think you know everything there is to know about migration, still pick this up, you may learn something new.
When I was younger, my family and I never had to think about immigration. Yeah, we lived in a town where there were a lot immigrants, but we still didn't really think about it. It was more of a passing thought about them being here, not what it actually took for them to get here.
This book opened my eyes about how horrible these people have it when they are making the journey north to America. They see this land of opportunity where it is supposed to be safer for them to live, but instead, they are hounded at every step of the journey and are even deported when they get here.
It is very disheartening to see how much crap these people have to put up with. Not only do they hop on and off of trains that can either kill or maim them, they also have to deal with gangs trying to kill them, police forces who want them gone by whatever means necessary, and the migration officials who have no cares in the world if these people, yes, fellow human beings, are okay or safe.
This nonfiction mainly follows a sixteen year old boy named Enrique as he travels from Honduras to America. It shows a lot of the grittier parts of the journey that no other news outlet or book that I have seen shows. It gives the reader an inside view into the people who have to go through this instead of only showing the numbers that equate to it, though there are still parts of this book that have that aspect.
One thing that I wasn't too fond of while reading this were the very dry parts where there was only information shown. It felt like a very journalistic piece (the author is a journalist, but still). I wanted to read more about these people instead of showing the figures like there are in the other journalist pieces I have read.
Overall, if you want to learn about the migration crisis, pick this book up. If you think you know everything there is to know about migration, still pick this up, you may learn something new.
SM
Sexagon: Muslims, France, and the Sexualization of National Culture
Book
In contemporary France, particularly in the banlieues of Paris, the figure of the young, virile,...