Complicated

Dignity:  Seeking Respect in Back Row America is a complicated book for me.  Some have criticized it because they consider it to be anti-Trump.  Well, I don't think that anything can be too anti-Trump.  So that wasn't my problem at all.  I found this article, written before the publication of the book, about Arnade's photography, some are included in the book, as the book is a compilation of the work he was doing and posting/publishing during the process.  
So I have some reservations...but I am more in line with this review from one the best journals out there.
And so I did give it five stars. 

An LBGTQ Dystopian Western!

One million stars for originality for Upright Women Wanted!  If Sarah Gailey hadn't made her characters librarians I would have given it five stars.  Remember, these are not REAL book reviews, these are just my opinions.  I am not a big fan of books about librarians.  I know I am a librarian, but I just don't like librarian books!  So putting the whole librarian thing in there...which I totally get, because the librarians were really supposed to be the censors in this dystopian, fascist world, and so that was totally funny and cool, but it just took the joy out of it. 
I don't want to go into the whole librarian thing but I do want to say I LOVE the librarian job that I have and I HAVE LOVED ALL of the librarian jobs I have had! 
Anyway...I do love westerns.  I didn't think I would but then I accidentally read one!  I had ordered the latest Robert B. Parker and when I got it, well it wasn't Spenser and it wasn't Sunny and it wasn't Jesse and it wasn't even a detective or cop novel!  I was disappointed...but then...wow!  Once I met Cole and Hitch I was hooked.   I went on to read other westerns, too but C and H are my favorite.  So I liked the neo-western theme.  I loved the characters, too.  And it wasn't too long.  It was just the whole librarian thing!  But if you don't have a problem with books about librarians, this one is five star fun (and serious). 

Raise It!

Raise Your Voice:  Why We Stay Silent and How to Speak Up by Kathy Khang was a book that I read as part of a Red Letter Christians online book group.  I found my way to the RLCs via Tony Campolo who is just well, pretty amazing. 
I highly recommend this book!  Highly!  I can't say I have gotten the hang of an online book group, but I will be forever grateful to it for helping me to find my way to this book and Khang. 

Bravery

The Breadwinner was one of those books that I didn't really love when I finished it.  Yesterday when it was over, I was "meh" about it but now, overnight, I have come to see it a bit differently, as it is still with me.  I moved it from 3 stars to 4 as a result.  I didn't know it was a series until I started reading it and checked in on goodreads.
A few months ago I was at a school when a Marine was talking to a group of kids about his time in Afghanistan.  I admit, ashamedly that I didn't know much about the horrible conditions under the Taliban, except that they were horrible.  This book is the story of an 11-year old girl, Parvana, who is growing up in southern Afghanistan when it was under control of the Taliban.
When the Marine came to talk, he said that girls and women in southern Afghanistan, where he was stationed, where rarely seen and it was because of the culture of the country.  He said that it was not like that in northern Afghanistan.  It got me thinking then, well, the Taliban isn't in control anymore, so why did the Marine experience this?
It is still like that, even though the Taliban isn't in charge.  Here is a good article.  Oh man...and here is a take on gender identity that is so...beyond words?  Sad?  I don't know the right words at all..
Parvana's bravery is really incredible here.  Girls who don't live in a country where women are treated as poorly as they are treated in Afghanistan can relate to her though, as she can be saucy and mouthy to her mom and sister, just like anyone from anywhere.  I recommend it for and may or may not read more in the series.

Man, man, man...

I LOVED Out of the Easy so much that when I saw Between Shades of Gray a an audio I had to have it!  I am super bummed that Ruta Sepetys doesn't have any other books out now so that I can devour them immediately.
This is an incredibly powerful story.  I really didn't know anything about the Sovietization of Lithuania and the deportation of "enemies of the Soviets."
Horrifying.
A tremendous book.