Reads that Represent

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Reads that Represent

lending library + resource for those looking to learn. PM or fill out form below to borrow, donate or suggest a book. https://forms.gle/gxjjRrDxqwUZm2jY9

10/02/2023

Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Finally got to read Dust Child and knew it would destroy me because of my previous experience with The Mountains Sing. This is Nguyen's second novel and follows along the same lines of her first as a historical fiction novel about Vietnam and how the war affected its citizens.

It's a heart wrenching multigenerational story about two sisters who become s*x workers, a black Amerasian man looking for his parents, and an American veteran haunted by his past actions. It's a story of love, loss, hope and making amends instead of just apologizing. It's a story about the secrets we keep from those we love the most to keep them from the horrors we've lived. It's a celebration of the resilience of the Vietnamese people and a condemnation of the lies we were told about the war.

Nguyen did extensive research and real interviews of Amerasians and those who were Vietnamese s*x workers during the war for her dissertation and was so moved she decided to write a novel about it. I can't recommend this book enough!

06/28/2023

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not quite sure I can adequately sum up how I feel about this book but I'll try! It's the true stories of three different women across the US about their love lives. Taddeo has said before that she wanted the book to be about desire and how women experience it. I was sucked into these women's stories so wholly and really felt for them. Our world is so cruel to women and punishes them for wanting someone to want them, to desire them. A man's desire is natural but a woman's desire is dirty. Taddeo really calls out this false narrative.

To me this book reads like a novel, it's so gripping. Taddeo even intertwines her own story into it. I walked away thinking about how everyone has a story much like these three women that deserves to be told.

05/17/2023

Just finished the first two books in this trilogy and I think it deserves a shout-out. It's a YA fantasy series about a secret society that the protagonist gets sucked into.

The author does an amazing job writing about grief, racism, classism and s*xism and all the ways those things intertwine. I wish these books existed when I was a teen!

I thought the story was well paced. I burned through the first two books in a few weeks and the second one only took me a week! (They are both over 500 pages) The author mixes exposition and action well imo. I don't own these books yet but I am really considering investing in them since I enjoyed them so much!

Let me know if you've read them and what you thought!

02/18/2023

Today is the birthday of both Toni Morrison and Audre Lorde, two of the most influential authors in history. Take a moment to celebrate them this month by reading something they wrote or just reading a passage of something today. I just recently read 'Beloved' and it was incredible! I wish I'd read it sooner.

07/26/2022

July is disability pride month because on July 26th, 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed. It protects those with disabilities from discrimination in regards to employment, transportation, public accomodations, communications etc. It's wild to me that act was only passed 32 years ago. And we still have such a long way to go. This collection of essays really opened my eyes to the challenges that folks with disabilities face. I hope it will encourage you to fight for an equitable future.

07/16/2022

Some new reads I picked up this afternoon! ***rducksandotheranimals

06/19/2022

I'm late to the party but I've really been enjoying Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. This book is very appropriate for pride and is also written by a q***r, Black author. It's a brutal read, I'd describe it as a more q***r Game of Thrones set in a reimagined Africa. Happy Pride!

05/24/2022

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu is written as if it were a screenplay, and it's the most unique book I've read. Yu delves into the stereotypes that Asian actors are often forced to play in Hollywood. Let me know if you're interested in reading it! Donated by

05/16/2022

Just finished reading this book, To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara. I found it very moving and heartbreaking. This book is actually three books in one spanning from 1893, 1993 to 2093. Much of the book surrounds characters from Hawaii and their struggles with colonialism. There's also a post apocalyptic pandemic storyline. If you're ready for one hell of a ride, let me know. She's ready to be lent out!

05/03/2022

If you haven't read this one yet, I got a free copy for you! It's an incredible story that every person should read at some point in their life.

03/11/2022

Happy Women's History Month! I read "The Power" a few years ago and it really stuck with me. It's a story about a world where women hold the power and men are treated as less than. It really makes all the inequalities in our world very striking when we flip the narrative instead of just accepting s*xism as a part of life.

03/01/2022

Y'all. Posting consistently is tough, I don't know how people do it! All that to say, I wanted to highlight this book by Reni Eddo-Lodge, a British journalist who writes about feminism and racism. This book points out the structural racism in Britain. I think people tend to see racism as an issue in the U.S. only but Eddo-Lodge brings up the important point that it's an ongoing problem in many places.

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