"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read." -Mark Twain

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Usually when I know my mom is reading a book for book club, I don't pay it much attention. But when the cover looks like this, it's hard to ignore. She brought it to Texas with us over Thanksgiving and I kept eying it, my curiosity growing each day. As she was attempting to read on the flight home she was drifting in and out of sleep, so I took the liberty of reading the introduction. I was hooked. Unfortunately school got in the way of my finishing it, but that's what Christmas is for. 

This book, as the cover states, is a memoir, but I figure it's good to tell you in case you were distracted by her hair. Mishna is a white kid from a white background with white parents, but she lives the black ghetto with her father who is convinced that he is black, and that his daughters need to be as well. Unfortunately for Mishna, she's a bit awkward and a bit too white. Unlike her naturally-popular little sister, Mishna is incapable of fitting in with her black neighbors and friends. However, when she gets transferred to a rich, smart, white people school, she finds that she is too "black" to fit in with her fellow Caucasians.

This book was genuinely funny and seriously entertaining. It opened up a world that is completely foreign to me. 

Downside: It has a lot of language in it, so don't say I didn't warn you. 

But you should read it. Cause you can read it in a day. Or maybe two.

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My sister is an author. She's a pretty good one, too. A few months ago she went to a writers conference to pitch her novel. While there they had some sort of drawing, and she won this book. When she brought it home I flipped it over to read the back.

 Insert horror here. 

Seriously. It sounded so sketch. I was pretty sure the main character was kidnapped, date raped, and then like, killed or something. I told her to let me know how it was, she said she'd let me know if she finished it. 

She did. She loved it. Rightfully so. It was epic.

I was right, the girl was kidnapped. But it was no where near as sketch as I thought it would be. I literally did not put this book down. Front to back in one sitting. It was that good. 

It was good because you learned to feel exactly what the main character felt. You experienced her fear, her anger, her pain, and her Stockholm Syndrome.

Downside: Same as above. Language. 

Read it.

 

I had a lot of downtime at work over the break, and my boss told me it was cool if I brought a book. Well, being me, I forgot. Luckily, I work in a bookstore. I went a took a look around, secretly thinking that nothing could be better than Stolen. But I needed something to pass the time and this looked quick, so I paid the $8.99 and brought it to my desk.

It's about a high school girl with popularity and depression issues. I feel like the story has been told before, but there was still something intriguing about this book. It was another one that I read in a day, partly because it was an easy read, partly because I wanted to know what happened next.

I would recommend it, but it's not at the top of my list.

Plus side: No language. That was nice after the other two. 


One Year Ago