What I’m reading

Alligators, Old Mink and New Money by Alison Houtte
A memoir written by a former model who opens a vintage clothing store in Brooklyn New York. It’s just a fluff of a book, but fun. It made me want to go to Brooklyn and visit her store.

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Lisa See wrote Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and the prequel to this book, Shanghai Girls. Dreams of Joy covers the period in Chinese history of Mao’s great leap forward. This public policy experiment had disastrous effects on the populace, the economy and the environment. Although fiction, it does depict what life in the “countryside” was like during this time.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
This book won the National Book Award and its influence from Faulkner is apparent. It’s a story of twelve days in the life of a rural Mississippi family in the days leading up to and following hurricane Katrina. It’s raw and visceral. There were parts that made me gasp. The narrator, 15 year old pregnant Esche, is a character you won’t forget, nor will you forget her brother’s fighting dog, China.

The Obamas by Jodi Kantor
I didn’t learn anything new in this book that read like a People magazine article.

Inside Out and Back Again by Thannha Lai
A book in verse that tells the story of a young girl who leaves Viet Nam in the panic and frenzy of the fall of Saigon and her family's resettlement in Alabama. I read it in an hour, then re-read it because it was such a powerful story. She captures the essence of what I imagine a child’s experience would be like.  Recommend!