More September Reading

If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Having loved Marais' first book, Hum If You Don't Know the Words, of course I had to pick up her second book. It did not disappoint! Once again set in South Africa, this time the story is told through three viewpoints: teenage Zodwa, poor, gay, pregnant, nursing a dying mother; Delilah, an aide worker and excommunicated nun, with a traumatic past; and Ruth, a rich white woman, raging alcoholic, and Delilah's sister. The author brings all three of these disparate women together, and weaves a rich story, showing the extreme racial hatred present in post-apartheid South Africa, the questionable power of the Catholic Church, the desperation with the cycle of poverty,  and ultimately, the family ties of hope and love. Once again, Marais hits an emotional nerve for me - I highly recommend this book.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Written in lyrical verse, Acevedo tells the story of two girls, connected across the sea by the father they lost. Right after 9/11, a plane crashed in NYC that was headed to the Dominican Republic. I remember the news, with everyone wondering if it was another terror attack, but I never went further, to think of the lives and connections lost. Acevedo does just that in this lyrical book told in verse, as she explores the connections between two girls. Camino lives in the DR, waiting for each year when her father returns...except this one. Camino lives in poverty, watchful of the man who stalks her, dreaming of a life where she can become a doctor. Yahaira lives in NYC, having stumbled upon her father's secret as he left for the DR once again, bitter towards him but filled with guilt when his plane crashes. These two girls' lives come crashing together in this gorgeously told story, read in combination with the author. Acevedo gives us a slice of life in the world of these young girls, into life in NYC as a gay teen, into the barrios of the DR and the lives of its residents. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Gyasi's first book, Homegoing, is one of my very favorite reads of the past decade, so Transcendent Kingdom had big shoes to fill. The story centers on Gifty, a research scientist who struggles with the push and pull of her religion upbringing as it meets her field of science. Almost reading like stream of consciousness at times, the story moves rapidly through time, as we meet Gifty's mother, an immigrant from Ghana who struggles mightily with depression, her father who joins the family in America and struggles to find his place here, and her brother Nana, a gifted athlete who falls to the lure of opioids. For me, a slower moving plot embedded into rich character development, this book left me wanting...something more. Perhaps some light? The all-encompassing sadness of the book was difficult in 2020 for me, as this has been such a rough year. Yet that is unfair to Gyasi, as her story so much in America today: the plight of the immigrant as in what jobs are available to them and what are they willing to sacrifice to be Americans; the expectations on a young black athlete, and how society pushes and pulls at them, regardless of what is healthy or right; the conundrum of science and God, and can they both be loved? This is a thoughtful book, sure to provoke conversation in any book group, but I would suggest choosing a good time to read it, not a time when your own heart is sad or broken.

Blood & Honey (Serpent & Dove, #2) by Shelby Mahurin

For those who follow me, you KNOW how much I loved the first book in this YA fantasy series, Serpent and Dove (I compared her to Maas, high praise indeed!). Book two does not disappoint, as once again our female protagonist, Lou, sassy witch who is just learning her own power, and Reid, the witchhunter turned witch himself, are both trying to entrap Lou's mom, who happens to be the witch in charge of lots of awful doings. Yes, there's sex, violence, murder, mystery because that's what YA fantasy is all about and Mahurin delivers it in spades. If you need a new series and an intriguing new world to escape into, I highly recommend this one!

Buried and Cut to the Bone(Agent Sayer Altair, #2) by Ellison Cooper

Round Two of Criminal Minds meets Mindhunters, with a little of The Stranger Beside Me thrown in. As our badass female FBI agent Sayer Altair works on her creepy research project (interviewing psychopaths who DON'T commit violence crimes), she gets pulled into a new serial killer case. This time around it is in the Shenandoah Valley, involving a disappearance from nineteen years ago, plus a couple of fresh bodies. Cooper is masterful at creating a team to become invested in, as well as using diversity which impresses me. She's got a Black female, numerous smart women, an Asian agent, and a few dogs that are incredibly smart as well as tender-hearted. I do love this series, and Book 3 continues the page-turning obsession, with lots of "WOW" moments, and seriously, the last line of the book?! Yikes. I need book 4 immediately!