So Glad!

When I saw that Front Desk came out on audio I was so excited!  This is on the list for possible Newbery winners with the goodreads group and I know that means that the publisher thinks it is possible, too. There are a couple that I still can't get to because they aren't yet on audio.  It is not too often that a book will be a winner without having had an audio version.  It's just because of buzz.  And the faith that the publisher has in the book.  But I can remember one time when the audio came out after the award was given so I still have hope that even if one wins that I can't listen to now, I will eventually! 
Front Desk was so good.  And it was semi-autobiographical which I didn't know until I heard the author's note at the end but that made it even better.  Kelly Yang has made me think about a lot here.  Just a fantastic book and such real characters and one that made me cheer and also brought tears to my eyes at tender moments and made me angry at the prejudice and hate in the world, which is all too real.  If this one the Newbery I would not be mad!  It isn't my total pick but I wouldn't be mad at all!  Great book! 

Ha Jin

After The Boat Rocker, I wanted to read another Ha Jin book and found A Good Fall, which was probably the best book of short stories I have ever read because all of the stories were consistent in excellent quality.  Now I just want to read more and more of his stuff!  So so good!

An Accident

The Boat Rocker was a book I read by total accident.  I didn't even realize it was an accident until I was 1/2 way through it, but I was hooked.  I saw a book with a similar cover and thought that I wanted to listen to it, then I saw this one available on audio and it completely hooked me.  Not knowing much about China, this makes me want to know more.  And I loved the main character, Feng.  It was just perfect.  Loved it.  Highly recommended.

If I worried

that I would find a "dud" in Jewell Parker Rhodes books that I quickly bought on audible and blew through, I need not have done so!
But I didn't!  So that is good!
And there was no need to worry because they were all fantastic!
Sugar was wonderful!
The only bad part is that I think I have read all of the children's/tween books that she has written so far!
So I look forward to her next!
Another thing to totally love about JPR's books is that now I have some fantastic and different historical fiction to recommend to kids and tweens!
I also love the setting of this one and Bayou Magic and Ninth Ward as I am totally mesmerized by New Orleans and the LA bayous.  It was so interesting to me that Sugar's River Road Home was inspired by the Laura plantation, where my mom and I visited.
I also learned about society before the Chinese Exclusion Act and what led to this and want to know more about this time in history.  Man, again, an excellent, really compelling historical fiction read!

What was it...

I am just not sure what it was about this book that made me not like it very much.  Every time I don't like a book, I try to find a way to like it.  Chasing Secrets was just...rushed maybe?  Or maybe it was "this could be so good!" or "oh man it is so ALMOST there" that it is a bigger disappointment that it doesn't rise to that possibility and so I end up being harder on it than I would otherwise.

I mean, here is something totally new to me, anyway.  I had no idea about the plague being in San Francisco.  But I just couldn't get into as much as I should have.  The main character, Lizzie, is thirteen and the daughter of a doctor.  He is this super-peaceful dude who doesn't charge people who can't pay him.  Lizzie's mom is dead.  She has an other brother who is a bit of a rebel.  The family lives with her aunt and uncle who are part of high society, her uncle runs a newspaper, the rival of which is owned by Hearst.

There is a lot that is really good in this book.  For some reason, it just didn't move me all that much.  But I would still recommend it.  It probably was just me.  Maybe I just listened to it too quickly.

I mean there was a lot here, the whole idea of yellow journalism, the treatment of Chinese immigrants, classicism, women's rights, you name it, you know?  I just didn't it went deep enough on any one theme or issue.

SUCH a good story!

I am so glad I became open to westerns.  It was Robert B. Parker who did that for me.  Without Virgil and Everett, I don't think I would have read Some Kind of Courage, and that would have been a shame.  This is a western, for sure.  Full of adventure but also substance.  Dan Gemeinhart is a new-to-me author!