If you enjoy strong female characters, a rich Roaring Twenties backdrop emphasizing the Harlem Renaissance, and literary history, this book is for you.
Jessie Redmon Fauset is an African American writer who becomes the literary editor of The Crisis, an NAACP magazine led by W. E. B. Dubois. Jessie discovers and publishes such names as Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes, deftly navigates the ultra-fine line between cultivating the literary gems of The Crisis and functioning as W. E. B.'s lover, and she immerses herself in the higher social circles of the times. The struggle between her conscience, her desires, and her career are almost always at odds with one another as she painstakingly paves the way for other African American people to share their talents with the world.

I found this book to be a propulsive read for me. The author was very descriptive in her character portrayal, and I could feel the vibrant, colorful, jazz atmosphere of the time. I highly recommend it.

Whoever thought that cats were the answer to life's problems? In "We'll Prescribe You A Cat," the reader sees that cats really are the solution to just about all problems.

The story is told through vignettes of various "patients" who come to an obscure, word-of-mouth "clinic" where psychological problems are presumably resolved. The clinic has a single doctor and nurse, both of which are eclectically wise and oddly disavowing at the same time. For each person seeking their help, the prescription is the same: a "dose" of a cat, complete with its life essentials and instructions, to be "taken" at regular intervals for a certain time period. All of the patients become invariably attached to their "prescriptions," and the patients unwittingly are healed of their ailments.

This book is not literary prose, and like most translated books, the wording is sometimes awkward and choppy. However, I found myself relating to the book (as a cat mom) and laughing out loud during the many jocular stories. It was feel-good fiction which was just what the doctor ordered.

In Diane C. McPhail's latest book, "Follow the Stars Home," the reader is introduced to an enterprising young family attempting to travel the Mississippi River on one of the first ever steam paddleboats. The story is narrated by Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt, the matriarch, as the family begins their travel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a planned destination of New Orleans, Louisiana.

"Follow the Stars" starts out a bit slow, and Lydia spends a fair portion of her narration bemoaning her father's disapproval of her marriage to her much-older husband, Nicholas. She is also eight months pregnant and mother to a toddler, Rosetta. However, the adventures they encounter along the way keep the story moving and provide intrigue to the reader. I was particularly fascinated their travel over the falls in Ohio, and by the earthquakes in 1811-1812 that devastated the lower Mississippi region, especially the town of New Madrid (now Missouri).

Overall, it was a good read, but the story would benefit from less repetition and more spice. The major historical events that took place were somewhat over-shadowed by Lydia's insecurities and self-indulgence in her controversial marriage.

I'd give this book negative stars if I could.

To summarize, The Cleaner is about a janitor who takes it upon herself to snoop in other people's things in the building where she works. She plays matchmaker, crochet enthusiast, morality judge, corporate embezzlement investigator, and mother hen. For some employees she leaves little tidbits to encourage their professional growth, relationships or hobbies; for others, she sabotages their employment or their marriages. She is sociopathically meddlesome, narcississtic, and benevolent, all at the same time.

Not only was the writing dull and monotone, but the characters were never fully developed, or even named. It became confusing trying to remember who was who (characters were named with an initial or some nickname, like Yarn Guy). Most people like to gain something from their reading, but my experience with this book was creepy, painful, boring, and tasteless. I'm pretty sure the janitors that I know would all be offended that they were represented in such a derogatory way.

The book's title, alone, is an undertaking, but wait until you try to read it.

Tom Hanks applies his impressive acting career to the page by birthing the story of a fictitious blockbuster. The writing is decent, laced with frequent alliteration, onomatopoeia, similes, and other figures of speech. However, one struggles to keep up with the ever-expanding cast of characters, whose descriptors and emails and text messages derailed the story and this reader's interest. On the plus side, the characters are vivid and fully fleshed out, and the reader gets an insider's view of Hollywood grit. One feels as though they are on set with the actors and crew, drawn into the script, makeup trailer, snooty food orders, long days, and cornucopia of human demeanors. Again, though, the characters just kept on coming. The stereotypes and tropes were heavily sprinkled throughout, and the reader starts to die a slow death from the many communication avenues utilized. Perhaps Tom Hanks is practicing his screenwriting? He has proven himself as a successful actor and filmmaker, but the jury's still out on his writing abilities.

"Daughters of Shandong" surprised me. With it being the first book ever written by the author, Eve Chung, my expectations were low. However, the book was very hard to put down; I found myself staying up late into the night to finish it.

The book opens on a land-owning family, the Angs, in China during the Communist revolution, and is based on the life of Chung's grandmother. The father and paternal grandparents in the family flee to Taiwan, leaving behind the women and children. Hai, the oldest of the all-female children, suffers the most at the hands of the Communists in retribution for her father's societal privilege. The story is written in simple prose, but the narration is very compelling, and the reader feels like they are immersed in the tense, desperate climate of the time. The characters are well-shaped, and for those who aren't familiar with the history in China at the time (like myself), the author provides adequate background information. I highly recommend this book.

For fans of Kerri Maher, I must forewarn: this book is NOT The Paris Bookseller, or like anything she has previously written. While this fact is not necessarily a bad thing, it is worth noting that if you are expecting clean, feel-good fiction, you are in for a rude awakening.

All You Have To Do Is Call centers around the controversial Jane Collective, an organization that provided illegal, underground abortions, and the main fictional characters through which the story unfolds. The six main women ebb and flow through each other's lives, weaving together a tale of complex relationships and life choices, and narrate the story of how women fought for control over their bodies in the days prior to Roe v. Wade. The book does a wonderful job of describing the challenges women faced, such as misogyny, reproductive rights, access to birth control, career opportunities and advancement, the never-ending work-life-balance conundrum, and child-rearing. It was eye-opening, to me, to learn that women had almost no access to the the pill unless they were married, and had to endure privacy-invading questions from chauvinistic doctors.

The timing of this book has not been more relevant since Roe v. Wade. In 2023, our country has gone backwards in time and relegated women to the same Dark Ages mentality that continues to trap women in third world countries. While her book tends to get overly melodramatic about some of the characters personal lives, Maher does a thorough job of highlighting why it is important to understand the sins of the past in order to prevent the downfall of the future.

When I first heard about Montevideo Brief, I was excited about the premise of the story: Spain and France secretly plotting to declare war on Britain while funded by a hidden treasure fleet in Uruguay. However, as time wore on, I found myself just wanting to get to the end of the book.

First, the bad points: the language is very flowery and very in-step with the time period (I think, I am not an expert on 19th century languages), giving the narration and conversations a heavily nuanced, grandiose feel. Also, the characters are stereotypically stuffy and uninteresting, and their circumstances are predictable. I did not read the previous books in the series, but this book did not make me want to read them. Now, the good points: the storyline flowed very well, and I didn't have to keep track of multiple-narrator chapters that flip back and forth between many characters, which seem so popular right now. The background surrounding the characters was well-fleshed out, so I felt like I could hear the ships' cannons and taste the salt of the ocean.

If you are looking for an easy read that blends James Bond with 19th century war and piracy as the setting, this is not a bad read. However, if you want something different from the predictable narrative of this type of story, you should keep looking.

When I first heard about Tanya Frank's book, "Zig-Zag Boy", I knew I had to read it. As the older sister to a man who has been affected by mental illness for half of his life, I am interested in any tool or treatise that may prove helpful in understanding his condition. My brother has been labeled with the full gamut of diagnoses, including clinical depression, schizophrenia, agoraphobia, and bipolar disorder. He has, as of this writing, not yet found a successful solution, but Frank's memoir has given me hope.

Tanya Frank's son, Zach, also called "Zigs", first demonstrated signs of schizophrenia at 19, when he began demonstrating paranoia about the government spying on him. His delusions waxed and waned, and caused Frank to begin the perilous navigation of the bureaucracy known as the American mental health system. She ping-ponged back and forth between a plethora of providers, pharmaceutical band-aids, and unsolicited advice from critics. I found myself cringing, and nodding, and yelling out load as I read her frustrated words that were so relatable.

Eventually, doctors pronounced that Zach was afflicted with "schizoaffective disorder", an illness I had not, yet, heard of, and recommended a heavy drug cocktail. As Frank educated herself more about the disease, she ultimately found organizations, for supporting patients and family members, and for advocating supportive group living rather than hospitalization.

I recommend this book to anyone who knows someone struggling with any kind of mental illness, especially if the illness is vague and not well understood, and also to anyone who seeks healthcare reform for a largely marginalized and neglected group of people in our country. While it is not an antidote to mental illness, the book offers some coping mechanisms, and reminds us that we do not need to face mental illness alone.

Susanne Pari paints a poignant, yet resilient, picture of the Jahani family in this novel. Her writing is comprehensive and beautiful, and evokes a tangible understanding of Iranian American life. I had not previously heard of the author before, but I was intrigued by her insightful narration and master storytelling. This book is perfect for readers who are fans of gorgeous prose and/or immigration history.

Think of swirling Driving Miss Daisy together with Thelma and Louise, and you have The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise!

Tanner is a brooding, directionless young woman spiraling from losing a college soccer scholarship and seemingly existing on the periphery. Louise is a quick-witted grandmother in need of an in-home assistant who hides several surprises. The two women mix as well as oil and water initially, since Louise is only patronizing her daughter in allowing Tanner to move in to help her.

One day Tanner happens to catch a news story on tv about a long-sought after criminal whose description is Louise to a tee. She barely has time to question the validity of her suspicions before she becomes embroiled in the adventure of a lifetime.

This story made me laugh out loud in public, while waiting in a doctor's office, and even brought tears to my eyes. The characters were very relatable and appealing, and the story was plausible and well-developed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a satisfying read, or who knows of that odd older gentleman or lady who seems like there is just something about them lurking with mystery!