I received a copy of Magic City by Jewell Parker Rhodes from harperperennial. From my backlistbooks2025 list, I read it this month. In 1921, racially motivated riots took place in Tulsa, OK, where previously Black people lived and worked in an affluent section of the city. This is a fictionalized story of the Black man who was in an elevator with a white woman when she screamed, leading to assumptions about what may have happened between them and kicking off the riots.⁣ ⁣ I really wanted to learn more about what happened in Tulsa, but this was more of a character driven book about fictional characters. Mary was raped by a farmhand and when she screamed, others assumed that Joe had raped her. She then befriends Joe’s sister and tries to help exonerate Joe. Mary comes off as a bit of a white savior type character. Joe talks to the ghost of his brother and also to the ghost of Houdini, as he repeatedly escapes from jail. This book suffers from multiple repetitions of the characters names. I appreciated that it referred to a (fictional) previous lynching of a Jewish man, which was created as a “bridge between Jewish and African American struggles to escape bondage, and as an illustration that prejudice blunts growth, literally and spiritually,” according to the author. I listened to the last 25% of this one.⁣ ⁣ What are you reading today?
After not finishing two books, I chose a middle grade book from my shelf, which sometimes helps me with book slumps. Paper Chains by Elaine Vickers is about best friends Katie and Ana. They each have issues within their families – Katie is adopted and has heart issues, while Ana’s dad left their family and her mom is depressed. Her grandmother Babushka comes to stay with them and she and her little brother Mikey aren’t the hugest fans. At the beginning of the book, Katie is thinking about how all stories have a beginning, but she doesn’t know her beginnings. Her family makes a paper chain to countdown to Christmas and they put things they are thankful for on the papers. She writes that she is thankful for her birth family and is nervous to let her adoptive parents know this.⁣ ⁣ I appreciated that Ana’s family is Jewish and when Mikey makes a paper chain, his counts down to winter break instead of to Christmas, and includes blue chains to represent when Hanukkah takes place. At times, this felt like two parallel stories about the two separate families, but the girls come together when Ana decides to reunite with her father. Like many middle grade books, this involves the kids leaving home without permission, which is something I wish would not happen as much in books! It was interesting that both girls had Russian heritage, but they never actually discussed this. Babushka served as a good character to connect the cultural stories both families shared.⁣ ⁣ If you made a paper chain countdown, what would it count down to?
Although this book was originally published in 2014, I received a paperback copy of the version shown here, which was released in 2021. I had never read a book by Jenny Colgan before, but I’d heard good things. This was a sweet book about Rosie, who goes to a small village in the UK to help her great aunt, who is having health issues and can no longer run her sweetshop. Leaving her job in London and her dead end boyfriend may be difficult, but I was cheering for Rosie to realize how much better off she was in Lipton!⁣ ⁣ The people that Rosie meets in the village are fun and entertaining and I especially enjoyed 6 year old Edison. I thought this book was sweet and cozy. There is a romance involved, but it isn’t the focus of the story. There are also flashbacks to Rosie’s aunt Lillian’s life in the village as a young adult during World War 2. In the audio, the transitions to different time periods and viewpoints were a little jarring. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this one.⁣ ⁣ What would you buy at a candy store?
Thank you workmanpub and Artisan_Books for sending me a copy of Mother Sauce by Lucinda Scala Quinn - actually I received two copies and I'm not sure why! workmanpublishingambassador WorkmanAmbassadorMarch⁣ ⁣ Mother Sauce is a cookbook containing 100 iconic and beloved Italian-American recipes from the last century. "In her latest book, Lucinda Scala Quinn cooks classic Italian-American recipes, and along the way shares their origin and gives credit to the incredible women who developed our cherished Italian dishes. Home cooks and food lovers alike will delight in this masterful collection of America’s favorite comfort foods, from Baked Ziti and Sausage and Pepper Hoagies to Chicken Marsala and Cannolis. With gorgeous recipe shots, archival photos, ingredient sidebars, and cultural essays, Mother Sauce brings nonna’s cooking to kitchens everywhere."⁣ ⁣ What is your favorite Italian dish?
Say You'll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez has drawn some mixed reviews based on the hard times that both main characters have experienced. I did find it sad, but I still loved it. It is about Samantha, who meets veterinarian Xavier just before she moves back to CA to be with her family as her mother is experiencing dementia (not Alzheimer's, although I've seen reviews say that it is...). Because Xavier has a vet practice in MN, a long distance relationship ensues. ⁣ ⁣ I thought that while a lot of this was sad, especially the parts about Xavier's childhood, there were still funny parts and I enjoyed Samantha's family a lot. With the support of a strong family, so much is less difficult. I liked how the theme of the story was memories - making them and holding on to them. ⁣ ⁣ What is your earliest memory?
From my backlistbooks2025 bonus list, I read Trashlands by Alison Stine. This dystopian story takes place in a future world where plastic is has great value. In Scrappalachia, Coral is a plucker, pulling plastic out of the river, while she avoids being made to strip at the strip club which is the center of the area where she lives with her adoptive father in a school bus and with her partner, but her child was taken and put to work in a brick making factory.⁣ ⁣ I thought this was a strange book and it was somewhat hard to follow as the timeline isn’t told completely in order. Many of the characters have viewpoints. The people are named after places and plants. Brittany Pressley did a good job with the narration of this one!⁣ ⁣ If you had to choose your name using that of a plant or a place, what would you choose?