So THAT'S how it happens (not really)

I have always wondered how people flee a country.  When I read Exit West and read of the doors through which those seeking to leave scramble, I admit I honestly thought for a second, "Oh, wow. How is that possible?  Huh."  Well, no, it doesn't happen that way.  That is the magical realism part of the book, but the rest seems very raw and real.  This was a love story, and a refugee story and a story of the evils of humanity story and a story of the beauty of humanity story.  And it shows how life does go on, in small and in "ordinary" ways, like falling in love and feelings and "normal" things, even in the midst of the very worst of times.
On goodreads, Diane S. said this about the book, "We need more books like this, or no, maybe that's wrong, what we need are more readers of books like this. The country it takes place is unnamed, but one part makes it sound as if it is in Asia somewhere. A country under siege by opposing parties, a country at war with itself, a dangerous place, how so many in this world live in constant danger, constant war.," and I couldn't agree more.

Hard to Swallow

I don't think that it can be said, "another book about the Holocaust" because that connotes that we don't need "another book about the Holocaust," or so it seems to me.  And we do need "another book about the Holocaust."  Because it was so unspeakable and so horrible and so inhumane and so-hard-to-believe-that-a-human-being-could-do-this.  That is why we always need "another book about slavery" and "another book about what we did to Native Americans" and another and another and another.  Because racial hate and crime and violence keep going on and on and on.
Anna and the Swallow Man is a VERY different Holocaust novel.  I am not quite sure, no, I am VERY sure, I didn't understand all of it.  I would love to talk to someone who did understand it.  I know it wasn't meant to be taken literally, all of it anyway, but there was just so much that went over my head.  However, it was so well written and the parts that I did "get" were profound.  So I would very much recommend this, even though I can't say I understood it.

Another!

When I was writing about Crenshaw, I found out about Home of the Brave.  In March I went to Denver and I got my Denver Public Library card, where I found the audio book!  And I listened to it and it was great!  So many thanks to Katherine Applegate, goodreads.com and Denver Public Library for making this all possible!
Kek is from Sudan and because of all of the war in Darfur. Minneapolis, Minnesota. First he is in a refuge camp and then he is sent to live with his aunt and his cousin, who is in eleventh grade.  Kek is in fifth.
This was Applegate's first book after the Animorphs.
I found it to be so so so good...there were times when I laughed and times when my heart cried.
I wonder how this matches up to the actual experiences of Sudanese refugees.  I am trying to find something written about the research that Applegate did to write this and/or the reaction of the Sudanese refugee community.  I so want this to be an authentic kind of story, because it is just so very, very good.  There are a lot of really good African proverbs in this book as well.
OH MY GOSH!
I just realized, though I think I knew this before, but I am not sure, but I just realized that Applegate also wrote the Roscoe Riley Rules series, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE and recommend to everyone in the world!

Easy on the Eyes

My mother is in love with Sam Shephard.
She is in love with a lotta guys, actually.
And the ones she finds to be super handsome, like Sam Shepherd, she is just batty about them.
It began with Crimes of the Heart and then she was hopeless since Baby Boom.
We knew he was a playwrite.  And an award-winning one at that.  I guess I always thought that he was an actor first and then a playwrite.  But someone, it seems even cooler, more amazing that he was an award-winning playwrite before I even knew he did picture shows, as they say.
Buried Child won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979.
This story is really powerful and moving and hard.  It is the story of a family pretty much falling apart because of a series of horrible, horrible choices.  Ones that will haunt and torture them until they die.  It is not a feel-good story.  It will stay with you, though, for sure.  And make you a lot happier about your own lot in life.

Should Have Known Better SPOILERS!

Pax.
Pax.
Pax.
Pax.
Oh Pax.
Terrible.
Terrible.
Terrible.
This is a terrible, terrible book that starts out with a very descriptive story of the violent death of a baby bunny.

Talk to Me

This was a good song.  I used to have such a crush on Mickey Gilley.  Navajo Code Talker:  a novel about the Navajo Marines of WW2 was a very good book.  Again, very important to read for those who are still thinking that we treat Native Americans just swell.  It made me angry and guilt-ridden.  Amazing, incredible story of brilliance and bravery.

What I Didn't Realise

was that most of How I Live Now is set in England.  For one reason or another, I am not big on books set in England.  Maybe because I have never been there and probably will never go there!
Set in a time that has not yet come, but could come tomorrow, for the way that human nature is, Daisy is sent to England from Manhattan to live with her cousins and while she is there London is attacked and war breaks out.
This is more than a war story though.  It's about first love and loneliness and loss of a parent and finding a little joy amidst all of the misery.  Good stuff, but it wasn't a 5 star for me.