Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko spans several decades, members of a family, and even countries and continents. It begins with Hoonie, a physically handicapped fisherman living in a Korean village. It then follows Sunja, Hoonie’s beloved daughter who becomes pregnant after an affair with an older Korean businessman who visits from Osaka. After a visiting…
Author: cheerstothebookends
The World According to Fannie Davis
My non-fiction book of the month for February was The World According to Fannie Davis, written by Spelmanite and beautiful Black woman, Bridgett M. Davis. The author came to D.C. in January to discuss her book and do a signing, and I was lucky enough to attend. I didn’t grow up with “the numbers,” but…
Us is . . . fine.
Do not read the following post if you have not yet seen the film Us. This post contains major spoilers. I went to see Jordan Peele’s latest film, Us, again last night . . . even though I really didn’t want to. I had convinced myself (since I was being strongarmed into attending again anyway) that the…
How to Read More in 2019
When I talk to people about my book-reading-quest of 2018, they almost always marvel. “How do you find time to read so much?!” is the most common question (accompanied by a baffled face) that I receive. Yes, I’m a lawyer by day, a traveler when I can, a supporter a charities, a baker on the…
February Bookend
Friends, just don’t even say anything about how long it took me to get this February Bookend up. As a matter of fact, let’s just not even discuss the end of February and beginning of March. Those are times that I would like to leave behind me. We’re through it and through with it (yes,…
White Tears (Left Me Bored to Tears)
I haven’t read an entire book in a day in so many years. That used to be par for the course with me, but I haven’t had the spare time or really the inclination to commit a whole day to such an endeavor in a month of Sundays. This was not the book for which…
If Beale Street Could Talk (Novel and Film)
“Beale Street is our legacy,” James Baldwin said. It is, but he gave it to us. He gave us two characters, Tish and Fonny, who are not remarkable at all…which is exactly what makes If Beale Street Could Talk unmistakably remarkable. Baldwin painted a portrait of young Black people in love, but what’s more, he…
The Leavers
Polly, the protagonist of the novel The Leavers by Lisa Ko, is a character unlike the majority seen (or read) in modern mainstream literature. She is an immigrant woman who is ambitious, who has sexual desires, who trudges through the monotony of daily life in the working-class, who sacrifices for her child, who also makes…
Training School for Negro Girls
Sometimes, I buy books just because I see them a lot. I try to visit different bookstores as much as I can, and when I do, there are some books that pop up in many or all of them. Training School for Negro Girls is one of those books. I saw it in the curated…
The Vegetarian
Sometime last spring, I stopped wearing bras. I lost a bit of weight, which caused my bra size to change froma 32G to a 30F, neither of which is terribly easy to find in stores…or cheap. Around the same time, my relationship with my ex was disintegrating. It’s clear to me now that some of…
