When Mikan Road Was Ours by D. K. Furitani

August 19, 2026

When Mikan Road Was Ours by D. K. Furitani

When his great-uncle dies, a reclusive Japanese-American teacher finds he has inherited a baseball glove and a piece of the family's farm in Japan, but more importantly, his great-uncle's memoirs. He begins to read, learning more about his father's estranged family than his late father ever said about them.

I know you're not supposed to criticize books by non-white authors, especially if they are writing about heritage or how bad their race was treated by white people. But this book seemed disjointed and heavy handed. I understand that the author was trying to educate us, but there is too much over-explaining in some sections. The memoir sections were the most interesting part, but then they just stop, like the author didn't know where to go with them. Rather than the letters and computer notes and poetry, I would have found it more engaging if Ben's memoirs had continued and filled in more of the family history. I was about ready to hit the unnamed narrator with a stick when his dog kept getting out of the yard and he wasn't doing anything to keep his dog safe. Being apathetic or lethargic is one thing, but not when you are responsible for another creature's life.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

World War II Japanese internment camp in California

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

July 19, 2025

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

Mary Pat Fennessy spent all her life living in a housing project in South Boston. She raised her children there the same way that she was raised, with the belief that the Irish of her South Boston neighborhood were better than other people. The residents of South Boston have always lived a certain way and they want things to stay that way, and they want those they consider to be outsiders to stay out. But it's 1974 and change is coming whether they want it or not, and they can't stop it, beginning with the integration of the local high school that they all attended and that their children now attend. Mary Pat's daughter Jules is one of the students affected by the plan to bus white students to a Black neighborhood, but when Jules disappears just days before busing is supposed to begin, Mary Pat's focus switches to finding her daughter, whatever it takes. 

Gritty, violent, compelling. Dennis Lehane a great writer, no question. Mary Pat is not always a likeable character - she has a lot of hateful beliefs. But she is a bad ass who will fight for her child, even though you know she is on a collision course with disaster. Filled with morally ambiguous characters, class struggle, hypocrisy and broken dreams, it's a story of bigoted violent adults raising bigoted violent children. Sensitive readers should take note that there are scenes of violence, and brutality, child abuse, racism, drugs, crimes against women. Will appeal to fans to Don Winslow and Jeffery Deaver.

Busing protest in South Boston in the 1970s

Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

June 11, 2025

Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

Forty years after the Viet Nam war ended, the country is still feeling the after-effects of a senseless war. The story follows three characters: Dan, an American veteran suffering from PTSD who fathered a child with a Vietnamese bar girl, and returns to Vietnam about 40 years later with his wife to try to find the woman and their child; two Vietnamese sisters, Trang and Quynh, who became bar girls during the war to support their family; and Phong, a mixed race man who is a “dust child” fathered by a Black GI, who desperately wants to find his father so he can move his family to the United States. 

A look at the aftermath of the Viet Nam war from a different perspective, that of those left behind to deal with the consequences, told from three different POVs. The Viet Nam war is the background here. A dust child is a mixed race child, the illegitimate child of a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier. Thousands of American GIs left behind these dust children, who were often discriminated against and denied basic human rights. Many of these children were abandoned or given away by their mothers, who feared retaliation from the Viet Cong for associating with American soldiers (which thankfully did not happen). While the children of white GIs suffered, children of Black GIs were treated far worse. I found the character of Dan, the American veteran, to be the least appealing. Themes and triggers include PTSD, exploitation of women, sexual abuse, poverty, and racial discrimination. Recommended for readers who want an alternate perspective on a controversial war.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, in the 21st century

The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

April 28, 2024

The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

Long before he became the fabulous RuPaul, international drag superstar, he was a gay Black child with a mother who suffered from depression her entire life and a father who was largely AWOL. This is a memoir of growing up poor, Black and queer in San Diego and Atlanta, always feeling different and trying to find a place where he belonged. RuPaul discusses candidly his dysfunctional family, his struggles with drugs and alcohol, and his journey to find and accept his identity. If you're expecting a book with celebrity anecdotes, life as a drag queen, and behind-the-scenes dish, this is not that book.

RuPaul in character - I should have legs like that

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

February 3, 2020

Today is National Golden Retriever Day!  Go hug a golden (or any dog)!

My Luke

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Willis Wu works as an extra in a TV police drama called Black and White, as Generic Asian Man.  Even in his personal life, he sees himself as Generic Asian Man.  His career goal is to become Kung Fu Guy, which he considers to be the pinnacle for an Asian actor.  He lives in the SRO (single room occupancy) housing above the Golden Palace Chinese restaurant along with other Asian Americans who are bit players for the TV show, since many of the scenes are filmed at the restaurant.  Willis works in the restaurant when he needs to (such as the times when his character “dies” and he can’t work on the show for 45 days).  Inside his head, Willis lives in an interior Chinatown:  although he is American-born and educated, he can’t seem to find his place in the world, except against a Chinatown backdrop, and he sees himself and the Asian Americans around him as stereotypes that America has cast for them (such as Old Asian Man or Restaurant Hostess).

The plot blends the storyline of a television drama with Willis’ life, written in a script-like format with a Courier font that mimics an old-fashioned typewriter, and eventually the two storylines get tangled into a single jumble.  The narrative style forces the reader to look at stereotypes both “on” and “off” screen and consider the stereotypes in our own lives and how we see others.  Should appeal to readers who enjoy Dave Eggers or Paul Beatty.

(When we were kids, there was a TV program for a few seasons called Kung Fu – I think the whole Carradine family acted in the show.  The main character was a half-Chinese monk being played by a white guy.  My brothers didn’t care much about the story line but really got into the martial arts fighting.  My youngest brother convinced my mother to buy him a kimono style robe, and he would leap out of his bedroom wearing it, give a kung fu yell, and kick-box his way down the hall.  Just a fond memory, grasshopper.)

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

September 6, 2019

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews has gotten himself into a whole lot of trouble:  by protecting an old family friend, he may have committed a felony and implicated himself in a murder.  Worse, his shifty mama has something on him and is engaging in some low-level blackmail, while Darren's wife and uncle are getting up in his business.  Darren is assigned to the task force investigating the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT), reviewing telephone records and correspondence from incarcerated ABT members.  When the son of an ABT leader goes missing, he is assigned to assist local police in the search for the child.

A very enjoyable mystery, fast-paced and complex.  If you haven't read the first book in the series (Bluebird, Bluebird), you should read that one first, since there are frequent references to characters and events in the first book.  This was really the only negative for me, since it's been a while since I read the other story.  While Heaven, My Home could be read as a stand-alone, it was complicated even having read Bluebird, Bluebird.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in return for a review.

The Dragon Lady by Louisa Treger

July 30, 2019

The Dragon Lady by Louisa Treger

Lady Virginia Courtauld and her husband Stephen live on an estate called La Rochelle in Rhodesia in Africa (now part of Zimbabwe).  They are local philanthropists, building a theater and an art museum, as well as funding other local projects.  They believe that the Africans deserve to be treated the same as the whites and that they are capable of governing themselves.  They give their workers better food and higher wages than the other whites living in the area, start a school, and create a workshop where the local women can make and sell their traditional handcrafts.  Their views are controversial and cause conflicts with their white neighbors. 

The title of the book comes from a snake tattoo that Virginia Courtauld had on her leg from ankle to thigh, done while she was a teenager.  No firm reason is given as the reason for or the meaning behind the tattoo, but Virginia appears to have been a girl who liked to shock others.  She was divorced at a time when divorce was strictly taboo and made one an outcast from upper class society – although she yearned to be accepted by the upper crust, she was also a non-conformist who thought and acted as she pleased.

The frame of the novel follows the known biographical details of the Courtaulds’ lives, fleshed out with fiction.  Stephen Courtauld did indeed meet with Robert Mugabe at La Rochelle, and there was a little girl buried on the property whose ghost has been seen frequently.  Eltham Palace in Greenwich, the Courtaulds’ London home, was considered by many at the time to look more like Hollywood than London, but today is considered to be a masterpiece of the Art Deco style (and is on my list of places to visit on my next trip to London – I’ve been to Greenwich, and I probably saw the outside of the palace, but didn’t know its history at the time).  But many other details (like how the Jongy the lemur died and Virginia getting shot) are the author’s invention, which doesn’t damage the story.  This was an enjoyable read about a time and place not well known to many readers, and two actual people who lived fascinating lives.

                                                

Virginia Courtauld and her pet ring-tailed lemur

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in return for a review.

The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz

July 11, 2019

The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz

Billie James is a biracial woman, about 35 years old, who inherited a house in the town of Greendale on the Mississippi Delta.  Her mother, Pia, was a medieval scholar, recently deceased.  She returns to the house with her dog (Rufus, who used to belong to her recently deceased grandmother) because she wants to find out what happened to her father, Clifton James, a well-known local poet who fell and hit his head and died.  Billie was missing for several hours on the day her father died.  Billie and her mother have been estranged for several years from her father’s family, because inter-racial marriage was a felony in Mississippi.  After hearing snippets of information, Billie decides to investigate the events surrounding what happened the day her father died, but her family and the locals don’t want her digging around.

This was a little heavy for reading during the summer, but you take your new library books when your hold comes in.  Very slow moving, like the Mississippi Delta where it is set; the overall themes are the importance of family, place, and the truth.  Many of the characters are well-drawn, even Rufus the dog.  The ending was flat:  one of the things I didn't care for was getting to the end and having one of the characters (Billie's uncle) say, "Okay, this is what happened," after letting the other people in the town lie to her, terrorize her, beat her up, and shoot her dog (the dog is okay at the end).  It turns out Clifton dies as a result of being beat up; he refused to get medical help at the time of the beating and later when De tries to get him to go to the hospital; and when he is found later that night collapsed in his yard, the sheriff doesn't take him to the hospital.

Even though it's described as a mystery, I wouldn't give it that label.  I only finished it because I did want to find out what had happened to the father.  I did not really enjoy this one and don't recommend it.