Recap: February Reads

How To Read A Book, Monica Wood

The great thing about reading…especially reading fiction…is that it affords one the opportunity to escape. To immerse yourself in someone else’s life, in someone else’s story.

Whether or not you like the characters, for a brief period, you walk with them, you see their highs and lows, their conflicts and resolutions.

And in the best case scenario, as a reader, you’ll come away from the story feeling a greater connection to your own humanity.

How To Read A Book by Monica Wood is a wonderful example of “the best case scenario.”

The lives of a recently released inmate, a prison book club volunteer, and a lonely retired widower collide in this powerful story of love, empathy, and second chances.

You’ll need a hanky for this one. I cried more than once.

5 stars

~

Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli

Ok…so my bookshelves are filled with…books. This shouldn’t be an issue, right? That’s what they’re there for.

The problem is at one point the shelves were so heavily occupied, I had to stack books on top of books. Some of the shelves even began to dip in the center due to the sheer weight of the inventory.

So in the summer of last year, I decided to donate close to half the books I owned. It was a tricky process. I’m not a hoarder by any means. But I get a little possessive when it comes to my library.

Ultimately, those that I chose to keep were a mixed bag of titles. But they basically fell into two camps. The first, were novels that I had previously read and wanted to keep due to their impact and sentimental value.

I often re-read certain titles. And the works of authors like Jane Austen, James Baldwin, Ernest Hemingway, Zora Neale Hurston, and Zadie Smith maintain a lasting relevance. So those novels weren’t going anywhere.

And the second camp…

Well I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but they are books that I either bought with the best of intentions (or books that were gifted to me) that I never actually got around to reading.

This long preface leads us to,

Tell Me How It Ends by Valeria Luiselli.

I was given this title back in 2017, at the beginning of President Trump’s first term. And to be honest, I’m not sure why I waited so long to read it.

This long form essay (coming in at just over 100 pages) is a ringing indictment of America’s immigration policies and the convoluted bureaucratic processes interwoven within.

Luiselli, a Mexican immigrant herself, guides the reader through her time spent as a translator for unaccompanied minors who had recently crossed the border. Luiselli is tasked with helping these children fill out an intake questionnaire consisting of 40 questions.

The questionnaires are subsequently used to help the children find legal aid in their quest for US residency. However, it is a tedious and difficult process. And if there isn’t a lawyer willing to take their case, the child is deported back to their country of origin.

Some of the children Luiselli interviews are too young to even answer the more complicated questions, and they aren’t allowed assistance from the interviewer nor their adult sponsors (relatives currently living in the US.)

But those who are old enough to answer the 40 questions, recount stories of incredible horrors. Stories of gang violence, abuse, and rape.

Many of us have lost our sense of curiosity. We fail to ask the question “Why?”

Why would someone leave their home country knowing the myriad dangers that would entail?

Why would someone attempt to crossover into a land that holds so much promise yet at the same time be willing to sustain the scorn and racism that comes with it?

Luiselli describes the influx of undocumented immigrants as a “transnational” problem, a problem that the US (both democratic and republican administrations since the late 1970s) has played a large part in.

So my question is “When?”

When will we regain our curiosity?

When will we choose real solutions over hard-hearted shows of force?

When will we tap into the empathy and humanity that should exist within all of us?

I don’t know how our story will end. But there is definitely cause to worry.

~

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi.

This title was a re-read. And it was just as entertaining the second time around.

I first read Children of Blood and Bone back in 2020, and I chose it to be the first selection on my book review blog.

You can check out that review and the early days of my blogging life as Ginny Malbec at

Book Review Time: Children Of Blood And Bone

Happy Reading

~G