Kate’s 2¢: “Stateway’s garden: stories” by Jasmon Drain

“Stateway’s garden: stories” by Jasmon Drain
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

Drain very vividly paints with words what it was like living in the Stateway’s Garden project on the south side of Chicago. As a chronicle for historic purposes, he is successful. What I question is if these stories advance the agenda of cultural betterment or do these stories keep it stuck in its history.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2188057/jasmon-drainActions for this site
About the Author Jasmon Drain is a 2010 and 2011 Pushcart Prize nominee. He grew up in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, and currently resides in the Kenwood neighborhood.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Stateway’s garden: stories DB98978
Drain, Jasmon. Reading time: 7 hours, 44 minutes.
Read by Shayna Small.

Short Stories

A collection of short stories focused on the lives of those residing in the Stateway Gardens public housing projects on Chicago’s South Side. The stories describe a vibrant community fighting the crush of poverty and violence. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.
Downloaded: June 18, 2020

Kate’s 2¢: “Death in Dark Blue (A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery)” by Julia Buckley

“Death in Dark Blue (A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery)” by Julia Buckley
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

I didn’t read the first book in this series, but, I was soon up to speed on who was doing what, why and where. The primary search for Sam’s estranged wife is solved, but the story is open ended when Victoria’s new-born daughter is kidnapped. A sure fire lead-in to another book in this series.

From the WEB:
Julia Buckley is an English Author who writes mystery and thriller books. She has been a teacher for more than twenty years. She lives in Chicago, married with two sons and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, romance writer of America, Chicago writer’s association along with the sister in crime. She has been a member since 2000 with the same groups.
She writes the Madeline Mann series and the new Undercover Dish Mysteries series. “A Dark and Stormy Murder” is the first book in Julia Buckley’s A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery Series.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Death in Dark Blue (A Writer’s Apprentice Mystery) DBC17793
Buckley, Julia. Reading time: 8 hours, 14 minutes.
Read by Sandra Bacon. A production of Indiana State Library, Indiana Talking Book and Braille Library.

Mystery and Detective Stories

An aspiring suspense author finds herself writing mysteries by day and solving them by night in the second Writer’s Apprentice Mystery by the author of A Dark and Stormy Murder and the Undercover Dish Mysteries. Adult. Some descriptions of sex, strong language and violence.

Kate’s 2¢: “Successful aging: a neuroscientist explores the power and potential of our lives” by Daniel Levitin

“Successful aging: a neuroscientist explores the power and potential of our lives” by Daniel Levitin
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

Here are some of the ‘take aways’ I noted:
“…Aging is not simply a period of decay, but a unique developmental stage that, like infancy and adolescence, brings with it its own demands and its own advantages… We need not stumble, stooped and passive, into that good night. We can live it up!”
“ Our choices about how we raise our children in their first years will have a far greater impact on what their lasts years look like than we might previously have recognized…”
“…It is the interactions among genes, culture, and opportunity that are the biggest determinants of the trajectory our lives take.”
“…curiosity, openness, associations, consciousness, healthy practices…”

From: https://www.daniellevitin.com/bioActions for this site
Daniel Joseph Levitin, FRSC (born December 27, 1957) is an American-Canadian cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, writer, musician, and record producer.
He is Known for “Levitin effect”, “This Is Your Brain on Music”, “The World in Six Songs”, “The Organized Mind”, “A Field Guide to Lies”, “Successful Aging (published as “The Changing Mind” in the U.K.); “Music cognition”, “cognitive neuroscience of music”, “cognitive psychology”,
“Successful Aging (2020), as well as the international best-seller “A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age “(2016).

From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Successful aging: a neuroscientist explores the power and potential of our lives DB98872
Levitin, Daniel J. Reading time: 18 hours, 39 minutes.
Read by Daniel J. Levitin.

Subject(s) not available.

Examines the science behind aging joyously, and explores how culture can be adapted to take full advantage of older people’s wisdom and experience. Explains what aging really means, using research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences. Reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2020.

Kate’s 2¢: “Hellbox a nameless detective novel” by Bill Pronzini

“Hellbox a nameless detective novel” by Bill Pronzini
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

As I was reading/listening to the prologue of “The Hellbox”, my inclination was to stop reading. I don’t enjoy hearing potty mouth, inane, angry men yelling at each other. It just isn’t my cup of tea; however, my policy is to read the first chapter, then, decide if the story is worth my time. Fortunately, the first chapter started the story on a saner vein and I continued to read.
Since this was the first book I’ve read in the nameless detective series, I wondered who the speaker was…It is Bill, the nameless detective.
The rant in the prologue could have been ‘fathered’ into the first chapter, letting the reason for the murder and abduction evolve for the reader.
Eventually, I think I enjoyed the story and I sure hope they don’t purchase that house in the woods.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Bill Pronzini is an American writer of detective fiction. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories.[1]
William John Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California in 1943. He attended local schools.
He married mystery writer Marcia Muller in 1992. They have collaborated on several novels: Double (1984), a Nameless Detective novel, The Lighthouse (1987), Beyond the Grave (1986), several books in the Carpenter and Quincannon mystery series, and numerous anthologies.[2]
He published his first novel, The Stalker, in 1971. However, his best known works are the Nameless Detective series, which he began in 1971.[3] As of 2017, there are 46 books in the series, including a number of short stories. While the stories involve the usual range of crimes typical to mysteries, they depict relatively little violence.
Pronzini has written and published more than three hundred short stories. They have been published in a variety of markets, including some of the last issues of both Adventure and Argosy magazines, generally considered the first American pulp magazines. Pronzini’s work has also appeared in Charlie Chan Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Anthology.[3]
His short story collection, Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services (1998), is based in the 1890s and centers on Sabina Carpenter, a Pinkerton detective widow who is working in her late husband’s profession.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Hellbox: a nameless detective novel DB98966
Pronzini, Bill. Reading time: 7 hours, 15 minutes.
Read by Nick Sullivan.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Bill–“Nameless Detective”—and his wife Kerry were in the Sierra foothills falling in love with a cabin, when Kerry went missing. They’d seen Balfour at the diner, and Kerry remembered his name. When she ran into him later along the trail and called him by name, he panicked, and Bill’s nightmare began. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2012.

Kate’s 2¢: “Revise the Psalm: work celebrating the writing of Gwendolyn Brooks” by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Sandra Jackson-Opoku

“Revise the Psalm: work celebrating the writing of Gwendolyn Brooks” by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Sandra Jackson-Opoku

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

Brooks writes about her Black culture from various aspects and facets of her time.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas.[2] She was the first child of David Anderson Brooks and Keziah (Wims) Brooks. Her father, a janitor for a music company, had hoped to pursue a career as a doctor but sacrificed that aspiration to get married and raise a family. Her mother was a school teacher as well as a concert pianist trained in classical music. Brooks’ mother had taught at the Topeka school that later became involved in the famous Brown v. Board of Education racial desegregation case.[7] Family lore held that Brooks’ paternal grandfather had escaped slavery to join the Union forces during the American Civil War.[8]
When Brooks was six weeks old, her family moved to Chicago during the Great Migration, and from then on, Chicago remained her home. She would closely identify with Chicago for the rest of her life. In a 1994 interview, she remarked,
Living in the city, I wrote differently than I would have if I had been raised in Topeka, KS … I am an organic Chicagoan. Living there has given me a multiplicity of characters to aspire for. I hope to live there the rest of my days. That’s my headquarters.[9]
She started her formal education at Forestville Elementary School on Chicago’s South Side.[10] Brooks then attended a prestigious integrated high school in the city with a predominantly white student body, Hyde Park High School; transferred to the all-black Wendell Phillips High School; and finished her schooling at integrated Englewood High School.[11]
According to biographer Kenny Jackson Williams, due to the social dynamics of the various schools, in conjunction with the era in which she attended them, Brooks faced much racial injustice. Over time, this experience helped her understand the prejudice and bias in established systems and dominant institutions, not only in her own surroundings but in every relevant American mindset.[11]
Brooks began writing at an early age and her mother encouraged her, saying, “You are going to be the lady Paul Laurence Dunbar.”[12] During her teenage years, she began submitting poems to various publications. By the time she had graduated from high school in 1935, she was already a regular contributor to The Chicago Defender.[10]
Brooks died December 3, 2000 (aged 83 in Chicago, Illinois.)
From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Revise the Psalm: work celebrating the writing of Gwendolyn Brooks DB87896
Lansana, Quraysh Ali; Jackson-Opoku, Sandra. Reading time: 11 hours, 6 minutes.
Read by Mary Kane. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Poetry

A collection of over one hundred poems, essays, and short stories, all celebrating the life, writings, and activism of Gwendolyn Brooks. Themes explore the everyday experiences of black Americans. Some violence, some strong language, and some descriptions of sex. 2017.

Cornucopia: aromaticapoetica.

I’m always happy, surprised, and delighted when someone else enjoys the pieces I write.

“The Smells of Home” * Memoir * Kate Chamberlin

https://www.aromaticapoetica.com/2020/07/02/“Eating -Up-History-in-Colonial-Williamsburg-Essay-Kate-Chamberlin/