With the Fire on High

 With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo, 395 pages.

High school senior Emoni Santiago has what feels like an impossible amount on her plate. She has a daughter to raise, a grandmother to support, and no idea what she's going to do with her life after high school. The only things on her plate that don't stress her is the actual food. Emoni is magical in the kitchen, with an instinctual understanding for what goes together and a gift for making people feel things with her food. A culinary arts program at her school (complete with a trip to Spain) could be completely life-changing for her, but can she afford to care about what she wants with so many people depending on her?

This book by the same author as The Poet X had many of the same things I loved about that book. In some ways they are similar books, with Afro-Caribbean protagonist dealing with complex family relationships that are still very rooted in love, but they are also different enough characters and problems that it didn't feel like reading the same book again. Emoni's problems feel very real, and it would be hard not to get deeply invested in her. The imagery in this book is vibrant, and the voice is deeply engaging. This was probably further strengthened by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by the author and helps Emoni feel very real. This is an excellent young adult novel, I would recommend it widely, but especially to teens. 

City of Thieves

City of Thieves by David Benioff, 258 pages.

Lev Beniov is a young man trying to reach adulthood in the harshest circumstances possible. The Nazi siege of Leningrad seems endless, everyone in the city is teetering on the edge of starvation, and crimes are punished without mercy. Which is why taking the knife off a dead German soldier is considered a crime that comes with a death sentence. A powerful colonel tells him that if he and the charismatic deserter her was imprisoned with bring him a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake, they will not only live, but be rewarded. The task seems impossible in a city that has been starving for months, but Lev and Kolya will plunge into the most dangerous situations for a chance at life.

This book has an interesting premise, and has some really solid adventure elements. That being said, it definitely feels like a book written by a man, for men. It is a coming-of-age story that feels like it has a lot to set it apart with extraordinary circumstances, but Benioff's overreliance on tired tropes makes it feel a little cliche despite everything working in its favor. It's a fairly solid work of historical fiction, but I don't know that I would recommend it unless you are particularly interested in the siege of Leningrad.

The Poet X

 The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, 368 pages.

Xiomara Batista often feels like no one is on her side. She's Afro-Latina and in possession of a body that gets her more attention from men than either she or her traditional catholic Mami would like. Which is just one in a long list of things her Mami blames her for, a tension that would explode if she ever finds out Xiomara is questioning her faith. It feels like the only place she can feel safe being herself and expressing her true thoughts is in the poetry she writes in her journal. But Xiomara is not the type of girl who is content to live her life quietly forever. 

This was an astonishing young adult novel. I listened to the audiobook, which is read by the author and really makes this novel in verse come to life, which is exactly what I would expect for a book of poetry read by an award-winning slam poet. I found this book startlingly honest, tackling hard issues for young adults without ever feeling exaggerated or implausible. Xiomara's troubles are undoubtedly hard, and sometimes seem impossible to solve from inside, but they never seem even a little hard to believe. Their resolution feels similarly believable. I would recommend this very widely to teens, but also to anyone else.   

Another selection of graphic novels read in May

My Time Machine by Carol Lay (2024) 168 pages

IN A WORLD, where H.G. Wells' book is nonfiction and the 1960 movie is a documentary, "Carol Lay's My Time Machine is serious and funny, a sly cautionary political satire." It was a fairly quick read that I read in one day. I loved the pop culture sci-fi references as the author's stand-in and her engineer ex discuss theories about time travel and build a working time machine. Survival and exploration and a concern for our future are all reasonably realistic. It is a fun adventure with solid art.

Laika by Nick Abadzis (2007) 205 pages

This is only around 200 pages, but it is jam packed with story panels. Unless you are cold-hearted, you will cry. It is such a sad story. There are moments when Kudryavka "Little Curly" later renamed Laika "Barker" is treated with kindness, but also neglect as if expendable. We follow Chief Designer Korolev of the space program and Yelena the dog handler hired by the medical department as well. Yelena truly cares, Korolev is ambitious to prove Soviet technological supremacy. Kudryavka's voice and inner imagination is also brought forward. She just wants to be free and in a loving home. I finished it while cuddling with one of my cats with kleenex close by.

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (2018) 537 pages

This combines coming of age, a found queer family, and two timelines. It is difficult to describe, but I do love sci-fi and fantasy being mixed. Sunbeam is the name of the fish space ship that Mia's found family flies to restoration jobs. We meet Mia post-high school starting a new job with this crew that does building restorations through outer space. Five years earlier, we see Mia's experiences in a girl's boarding school where she befriends Grace. Through games, work and learning, and through mischief, pain and challenging relationships, Mia discovers herself. Finding out how past and present converge feels so satisfying. I love the art! The limited color scheme works and even delivers some beautiful nature shots and awe inspiring galaxies and nebulas. Floating buildings and creatures that take on gaseous forms are magical too. As the primary color of different sections change it does sometimes take a moment to recognize who is who, since some of the main characters have similar haircuts. But it is not a problem often. The mystery of where Grace comes from and the serious trouble Mia goes to to reunite with her makes for a heartwarming conclusion.

Things They Lost

 Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor, 268 pages.

Ayosa Ataraxis Brown's special gift is for remembering. Although she is just a lonely child living alone in her ancestral home, she remembers the decades before her birth, when she was just a wriggling thing that followed her mama around. Nabumbo Promise Brown was a brilliant photographer, but she is not a brilliant mother, and Ayosa never knows when she will come of go. Ayosa spends her days dancing and listening to the death news with the ghostly Fatumas who live in her attic, and trying to avoid being snatched by wraiths pretending to be her mama. Then, against all odds, Ayosa makes a human friend and suddenly has to consider who truly deserves her loyalty. 

This was a really interesting piece of magical realism set in Kenya. I really liked Ayosa as a character, and thought her voice came through very strongly throughout. The cast is small, but each member is slowly built up into interesting characters. There is also something very aching about Ayosa's loneliness, and her need to be needed. I really enjoyed this book, and I think it would be great for enjoyers of magical realism.

Sag Harbor

Sag harbor by Colson Whitehead (2009) 332pp

I was fortunate to spend some time on the far reaches of Long Island this fall and in conversation the book Sag Harbor was brought up. Being vaguely familiar with all-black towns such as Nicodemus, Kansas, formed in the post-civil war era and more recently all-black beaches, I checked it out. Very much the traditional coming-of-age story with the usual hijinks and the expected teenage humor. Colson does more as he interweaves the founding of the community and the travails of being the other in a very exclusive enclave, and the varied and complex characters who end up on a spit of land at the end of the Eastern seaboard. But this is not sociology wrapped in a memoir, it is a humorous read with just enough pathos to make you think and connect with the author and his community.

Flamer

 Flamer by Mike Curato (2020) 366 pages

This past week was Banned Book Week. I read Flamer over the weekend. This graphic novel is one of the books most often challenged in recent years. It is fictional, set in the 1990s, but semi-autobiographical. I loved the art, which is mostly in black and white with yellow, orange, and red highlighting certain things. Aiden is on a camping trip with his scout troop in the summer between middle school and high school. He is anxious about switching from Catholic school to a Public school. The symbolism of flames from campfires to X-Men Jean Grey's Phoenix to passionate emotions are so layered and deeply textured. Boys of this age can be rude and crude. The story deals with homosexuality, bullying, Catholicism, and attempted suicide. It explores all this very sensitively and honestly. I give it 5 out of 5 stars, and it should definitely be read by more people rather than be restricted. Parents do have the responsibility to monitor what their children read and discuss issues with them. The problem is when one group of parents try to make choices for all other readers.

The Morningside

 The Morningside by Téa Obreht, 304 pages.

Fleeing from their disintegrating (at times literally) homeland, Silvia and her mother are placed by the Repopulation Program into The Morningside, a crumbling building that was once a luxury tower on an island being swallowed by the sea in a world profoundly impacted by climate change. Sil's Aunt Ena also lives in the tower as its super, and she teaches Sil all of the folklore of their homeland that her own mother won't. Silvia becomes convinced that the mysterious woman with her three huge dogs living on the top floor is really a malevolent entity, and her search to prove it will have dire consequences for her family.

This was such a weird, interesting book. It builds very slowly, and never really tells the reader what's real and what isn't. I found it very compelling, although hard to describe.

Candidly Cline

 Candidly Cline by Kathryn Ormsbee, 320 pages.

Cline Alden loves music, just like the other Alden women before her. But these days her mama doesn't seem interested in music, insisting that it won't get Cline anywhere and that she should be practical. So when Cline hears about a young songwriters workshop forty minutes away at the University of Lexington she's sure she has to go, and just as sure her mama won't understand. With some fibbing and some help from her gran she manages to get to the workshop, where she realizes just how much of herself she's been keeping to herself. Which only becomes more obvious when she starts falling for her songwriting partner when she hasn't even told anyone she likes girls yet. 

This book was so extremely wholesome and honest. Despite being a middle grade novel Ormsbee's prose is rich and lush, and Kentucky comes through clear and strong. I also appreciate how focused this book stayed, not going off on the common diversions I was expecting from a coming of age novel and instead staying very focused on it's own themes. It also gave me a good list of classic country music to look into. Overall, I found this novel so emotionally fulfilling and smart, and I would definitely recommend it to others, middle schoolers or adults.

Anger is a Gift

 

Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro 463 pp.

It's not often a book gives me a strong, visceral reaction but this one hit me hard. The story is one we have seen too often in the news: police overstepping their boundaries, causing death to the innocent African-Americans. The story centers around a high school student named Moss who, when he was younger, saw his father gunned down by an officer and suffers from PTSD as a result. His father's crime was being a known protester against injustice who just happened to be shopping. When the Oakland high school in a rundown building with no money for books or other services, enters into a contract with the police department to make things "safer" the first thing that happens is the serious injury of a previously injured student by "malfunctioning" metal detectors. A student walk-out turns into a violent travesty with the police injuring and ultimately killing a teen, a young man who is Moss's first real boyfriend. Further demonstrations also turn violent and eventually the Oakland mayor and police chief back down somewhat - after a white girl is killed by police. Events in this book are sickening because they are going on in too many places in this country, Reading this book brought back the same feelings I had as a junior high student when I read Kristen Hunter's The Soul Brothers and Sister Lou. Just the idea that we still need books about racial injustice against young people over fifty years later is sickening. When will it ever end? This is one of the books I will be discussing with high school students as part of the Great Stories Grant. 

Mongrels

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones (2016) 302 pages

I read this as an ebook through Libby. This is categorized as horror because the main characters are werewolves, but aside from some blood and gore, it doesn't feel too frightening. A coming of age urban (rural?) fantasy is closer to the mark. The story is somewhat non-linear as the main boy playacts different roles in his family. He is being raised by an uncle and aunt, and he yearns for the day he'll become a werewolf like them. For this indigenous author werewolves are sort of a metaphor for the outsiders of society. But in the story it is no metaphor, they really are werewolves and the boy has to learn their particular ways. He teaches us that many "facts" about werewolves in movies are false. His family is transient and poor. It is good to walk in his shoes for awhile as he struggles with never fitting in and learning who his parents were.
 

Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal, 312 pages

Eva Thorvald was born to a chef and a sommelier, and while both of them left her life pretty early, Eva still had gourmet food and drink in her blood. Told in vignettes from different points in Eva's life, Kitchens of the Great Midwest paints a portrait of an up-and-coming chef as she follows her curiosity from childhood through adulthood, becoming a culinary superstar. It took me a while to get around to this book (originally published in 2015), and while I enjoyed it well enough, I think I liked Stradal's The Lager Queen of Minnesota more. However, I may be in the minority in that opinion, and that's perfectly OK.

Banned Book Club

 Banned Book Club by Kim Hyun Sook, 198 pages.

When Kim Hyun Sook started college in South Korea in 1983 she expected to study English Language and Literature and expand her worldview. It was quickly expanded far more then she ever imagined, as she quickly got pulled into the student protest movement through the titular "Banned Book Club." This graphic memoir takes place during South Korea's Fifth Republic, a military regime that was very heavy on censorship and very quick to brand any criticism of the government as communism. This memoir is not only Kim Hyun Sook's coming of age memoir, but also a story of people coming together to defy impossible circumstances, often with mixed success.  

This was a very exciting memoir, and it also made me realize I don't know very much about Korean history, even relatively recent Korean history. This is a fast, efficient read that I think is definitely worth the time.

Object Lessons

Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen (1991) 262 pages

Twelve-year-old Maggie and her parents, Tommy and Connie Scanlon, are the main characters in this coming-of-age story. Tommy's father, John Scanlon, is a force to be reckoned with. He is an outspoken Catholic, angry that the Mass is now said in English instead of Latin. His opinions are harsh and his sons and wife dare not cross him, although Tommy did that just once when he married Connie, his pregnant girlfriend. Connie feels that she has been the scapegoat of the family and avoids the Scanlons when possible. Maggie has been the most comfortable with her gruff grandfather, but when he becomes hospitalized one summer, the family dynamics seem to be in flux. Meanwhile, a developer is building new houses in a wooded area behind Tommy and Connie's house. The neighborhood kids can't stay away from the construction work. Maggie's friendships are changing, to her dismay. Her mother seems less available lately. Her parents don't seem to spend time together anymore. This book is a trip back in time, but its lessons are current for any modern time period.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, 256 pages.

Stunningly beautiful writing from the award-winning author of Night Sky with Exit Wound.
Told in a series of letters to his mother, Little Dog recounts their shared history as immigrants to Hartford, Connecticut, from Vietnam. The trauma of the war haunts Little Dog, his mother, and his grandmother. It shapes all of the movements they make during the protagonist's youth. His fraught relationship with his mother gives way to his telling of his self-discovery, of who he is and who is becoming.
Really, one of the best books of the year (2019).

Master of Sorrows

Master of Sorrows by Justin T. Call, 562 pages

At 17 years old and nearing the end of his schooling, Annev is on his last chance to prove himself to his schoolmasters and become an avatar. Competition is fierce, as only one of the remaining acolytes can become an avatar, and even those of his age who have already achieved the role are able to compete as spoilers. With enemies among his masters and his peers and the love of the beautiful Myjun on the line, Annev is determined to win this time. But Sodar, the priest who took Annev in and has been teaching Annev magic on the sly (using magic is grounds for execution), may not be so keen on Annev's ambitions. Something is up here, and it's up to Annev to reconcile it with his ambitions.

The first book in what will undoubtedly be a sweeping trilogy, Master of Sorrows sets the scene for the complex creation of a dark lord that is destined to ruin the world. But who's to say what's truly good and truly evil? I enjoyed this nuanced origin story, and I look forward to seeing what comes next in the series. I'd recommend it to fans of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles, seeing as they've had (and will continue to have) a long wait for the next book in that series.

Do you mind if I cancel?

Do you mind if I cancel? / Gary Janetti, read by the author 159 pgs.

Janetti is a successful writer and producer but it wasn't always that way.  Starting out, he insisted he was a writer but it took several years for him to put a word on paper.  Instead he worked odd jobs, temped, was a hotel bell boy and more.  In his mind, this was "research" but there was also that niggling doubt that the research was really just his life.  Obviously he moved past that stage.  Now his resume includes writing and producing shows like Family Guy, Will & Grace and Vicious.  This book is a short memoir of a life that in some ways very typical, in others, very extraordinary.  I loved almost every word and appreciated hearing the authors own voice in the audio version.

Sissy

Sissy: a coming-of-gender story / Jacob Tobia, read by the author, 319 pgs.

An interesting memoir about a person deemed "male" at birth who realized pretty early on that he was different but not sure in what way.  As he grows up, he decides he isn't a "he" so much or a "she" but evolving.  From a childhood of being bullied to an adulthood of activism and acceptance, Tobia takes us through issues that a LOT of us have, theirs are just slightly different.  I appreciated the concept that many of us have to figure out  some gender issues.  I mean, being male isn't just one thing, being female isn't just one thing, we all have to find our way a bit, even if the she/he thing fits you perfectly.  Neither fit Jacob but they managed to figure out something that did. I loved hearing the authors voice.  This book will help those that are confused by their own gender issues and those who just don't understand that there are issues about gender.

Home after dark

Home after dark / David Small, 399 pgs.

Russell's mom runs off with his dad's best friend.  Then he and his dad move from Ohio to California.  He is tossed in with a new crowd and is trying to find his way.  He and his dad rent a room from the Mahs then move to their own place.  Russell makes some friends but is a little wary of all of them, especially bully Kurt.  Then his hard drinking dad leaves.  A teen on his own with no money, he ends up back with the Mahs. Russell has it pretty tough but Small's art makes this an interesting but dark story. 

The Hollow Ground

The Hollow Ground by Natalie S. Harnett, 336 pages

This book took me a long time to get through. It is based on the real-life coal mine fires that devastated Pennsylvania in the 1960's. Brigid Howley is an 11 year-old girl whose life is in shambles after the coal mine has destroyed the town's local economy and made the area inhabitable. On top of that, she faces social rejection for being Irish, lives with a family curse, and has a troubled home life. I would read a chapter and then have to put to down for a day or so. However, Brigid perseveres and maintains a strong spirit despite all of the hardship she experiences. This is a great book for anyone who loves a coming-of-age story.