Makes You Want to Run!

I have not been running as much lately...I had a fall and it kinda scared me, so I have been doing the elliptical and the stationary bike and running only a mile or two every day.  But man...the Track series by Jason Reynolds reminds me what it is like to feel the freedom and the strength that comes from running.  Reynolds just has that way....such a wonderful story, such great characters...Mr. Reynolds is just a master.  Lu was an excellent addition for those who run and those who want to run and those who feel and those who want to feel and for black skinned people and for white skinned people and for being who feel good in their skin and for being don't feel so good in their skin and well, just for humans in general.  I think that the best way to read this series or any of his book narrated by Guy Lockhard is to listen, because this man is just so excellent at reading and expressing the words of his friend. 

Bellows Fall is Falling Down

But it is also building up.  Bellows Falls is number 8 in the series and yes, yes, another great one!  I don't know what it was about those few that didn't 5 star for me, but these last few really have! 

This is how it happened

How It Happened  was one of those books that, when it came in through a library hold, I couldn't remember why I had wanted to read it, but then once I started to I didn't care, I was just thankful that I got it!  Michael Koryta did a great job weaving a really interesting mystery that kept me guessing right until the end.  I loved it!

REALLY good

I was so glad that my turn for Where the Line Bleeds finally came up from the library.  Man.  This book was just excellent.  Jesmyn Ward is just such an incredible writer.  This story unfolds so so so well and just sucked me in and really speaks volumes about the "land of opportunity" that is our country.  And man, it is even worse now than when this was written!   What a book. 

In a Short Story Collection

this year I was introduced to J.A. Jance.  For some reason I used to think that Jance was British and you know how I am about off-putting Briticisms, so I never gave her much thought.  The short story captured my interest though and so I thought I would try the first in the Joanna Brady series, Desert Heat, even though I am not big on female detectives.  This was good though.  I did enjoy it very much and I hope to read the second one and keep going if it is as good as this one was!  It's set in the real town of Bisbee, AZ. 

American Girl

Fabiola is an American who has lived in Haiti with her Haitian-born mom for most of her life.  The book chronicles her first year back in the US as she lives with her aunt and three cousins and hopefully awaits the release of her mother from an immigration detention center.  American Street is one of the best books I've read this year and I would hope that it would get some kind of Printz recognition.  It takes place in Detroit on American Street.  Excellent book. 

Lucas Davenport, U.S. Marshal

Lucas is now a U.S. Marshal!  Golden Prey is the first book that details his new career.  It also introduces two other Marshals, Bob and Ray (not sure if it is Rae or Ray because I listened to the book instead of reading it).  I hope these two become regular characters!  Great, great, great!  I have to admit, the beginning totally had me fooled for awhile!  I thought maybe Lucas had hit bottom or something!  I was totally fooled!

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

I figure that most ideas seem like good ones at one time or another, don't you?  Ideas we try out, anyway.  I mean I have had lots of bad ideas, but I think that when I have tried out ideas, put ideas into action, they really all seem like good ones.  Reading A Good Idea seemed like a good idea at first.  Then when I started listening to it, it seemed like a bad idea and I quit.  But then I picked it up again and it was a good idea!  In short, I really liked A Good Idea.  The only thing that I thought was weird was all of the underage drinking, but the store was really tough on checking IDs when people bought cigarettes.  Underage drinking went on all the time.  In bars, in houses, in front of the law and the mayor and parents, but yet, when the main character, Fin, went to purchase her cigarettes she was ID'd, even though the guy selling the smokes knew she was 18.  I guess I am sensitive to this because drinking can have such potential damage for people other than the drinker.  But smoking?  It just kills the smoker.  I think it's just such a strange thing.  Strange to see people pouring themselves into their cars, behind the wheel, after concerts, and driving off.  Yet people can't smoke in an outdoor concert venue.  Just strange to me.

But this was a good book.  A mystery that I really figure out.  It is a sad book in so many ways.  But good one.

A Disco Inferno

Once I saw the Burn Baby Burn was written by Meg Medina who wrote Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass.  I bought it.  And I am so glad that I did.  I didn't know anything, really about 1977 in New York, and that is to my embarrassment.  There was the black out, and Son of Sam.
I knew about Son of Sam, but not that much.
Burn Baby Burn isn't about the Son of Sam or about the Black Out, per say, it is the story of a young girl, Nora, and her senior year in high school, her father who has a new family and seems to have forgotten is first family, except that he is sometimes on time with the rent check, even though he is very financially well off, her brother Hector who has serious anger issues and violent tendencies and now a drug dealing and drug using problem, and her first experience with love.
The ERA movement is also a back ground to Burn Baby Burn and while the 70s usually leave me a little cold, not sure why, this book was one I couldn't put down.  Medina is just such a great storyteller and Nora is so real.  Excellent.

Very Depressing...

This has been a harsh winter, indeed, so maybe it wasn't the best time to read Stray Bullets.  This was the first volume, and I guess having the word nihilism in the subtitle, was a clue!  But I still didn't even realize how dark and depressing these stories could be.  Again, this is not for kids.  Not really even for teens.  Not really even for adults, maybe!  Just dark and miserable stories.  I don't know if I could recommend this to anyone!  Good stories, but super-dark.  The art was very good.  But I felt sick after reading it.

Jack Gantos...

Jack Gantos is one of my most favorite writers.  In 2003 he came to Sewickley and I was able to hear him speak.  This was such a memorable, memorable evening.  I fell in love with the man and with his works, gobbling them up after his visit.  Joey Pigza stole my heart completely.  And then Jack Henry books were wonderful.  I think I even loved them more!  Listening to this story, read by Gantos himself was moving and memorable.  I loved this man.

Rising Out of the Ashes

I guess I deserved a good streak of good books after suffering through those Ashes books and lately I've been pretty lucky.  Under the Bridge helps me out with Washington, too!  It's also the first Skateboarding-Fiction book I've ever read, so I learned a bit!
Under the Bridge takes place in Spokane, one the poor side of town.  It is told from the POV of high school student, Tate who is a pretty awesome skateboard dude, with a pretty tough life.  Life isn't totally bad.  You get the sense that his parents are good folks, even if his dad is pretty rough and tough on Tate's younger brother, Indy.  Indy is a skateboarder too, and rebel big-time.  He is always fighting with his dad and is finally kicked out of the house, ends up quitting school and dealing drugs.  The book revolves around Tate trying to save his brother.  It's fast-paced and good read, I read it in one day, which is rare for me.  Opps!  Guess I already had Washington!  Oh well, it was worth reading anyway!