Kate’s 2¢: “Holler, child: stories” by LaToya Watkins

“Holler, child: stories” by LaToya Watkins

NOTE: 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 her thoughts about what she reads. Inho…

   These stories were ably read by various narrators, which added their original ethnic voices to enhance the authenticity of the story’s under-lying theme. Although, I didn’t appreciate the Ebonics, bad grammar, and poor English, these stories highlight how we all have human frailties and bleed red blood.

   This was a story included on the NLS cartridge automatically sent to me with books NLS have chosen.

From www.LaToya Watkins.com:

LaToya Watkins’ writing has appeared in A Public Space, The Sun, Kweli Journal, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Kenyon Review, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and elsewhere.She is a Kimibilo fellow and has received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, MacDowell, OMI: Arts, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and the Camargo Foundation. She is the author of Perish and Holler, Child.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Holler, child: stories DB116449

Watkins, LaToya Reading time: 7 hours, 7 minutes.

Joniece Abbott-Pratt; De’Onna Prince; Lisa Renee Pitts; Kacie Rogers; JD Jackson; Aaron Goodson

Short Stories

Family

“In Holler, Child’s eleven brilliant stories, LaToya Watkins presses at the bruises of guilt, love, and circumstance. Each story introduces us to a character irrevocably shaped by place and reaching toward something—hope, reconciliation, freedom. In “Cutting Horse,” the appearance of a horse in a man’s suburban backyard places a former horse breeder in trouble with the police. In “Holler, Child,” a mother is forced into an impossible position when her son gets in a kind of trouble she knows too well from the other side. And “Time After” shows us the unshakable bonds of family as a sister journeys to find her estranged brother—the one who saved her many times over. Throughout Holler, Child, we see love lost and gained, and grief turned to hope. Much like LaToya Watkins’s acclaimed debut novel, Perish, this collection peers deeply into lives of women and men experiencing intimate and magnificent reckonings—exploring how race, power, and inequality map on the individual, and demonstrating the mythic proportions of everyday life.” — Provided by publisher. Unrated. Commercial audiobook.

Kate’s 2¢: ”I’m A Fan: a novel” by Sheena Patel

”I’m A Fan: a novel” by Sheena Patel

NOTE: 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 her thoughts about what she reads. Inho…

   Cintra Godfrey did a good job of narrating this critique of culture using a mocking voice.

–The character maintains that she is not a main character in this ensemble, rom-com of betrayal, she is a supporting act.

–She is a fan and because of that, she can be cut out.

–Second generation immigrants have the  privilege of self-actualization

–I want to be rescued, so I retreat into delutions.

–I want the illustion, rather than my self-respect.

Fans pick their heros and make them part of the identity.

—

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheena Patel is a writer and assistant director for film and TV12. She was born and raised in North West London12. She is part of the 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE collective and has been published in 4BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE (Rough Trade Books) and a poetry collection of the same name (FEM Press)1. Her debut novel, I’m A Fan, will be published by Rough Trade Books on 5 May 20222. Sheena is also among The Observer’s 10 best debut novelists of 20222.

   Early life[edit]

Patel is a second-generation immigrant[9] with a Kenyan-Indian father and a Mauritian mother. She was born in northwest London[10] and was a voracious reader from early in life, reading what she describes as a large amount of “filthy books” for her young age.[9]

She studied English literature at Queen Mary University alongside Sharan Hunjan[11] and Rosh Goyate. The three women, along with Sunnah Khan, formed 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE in 2017.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

I’m a fan: a novel DBC29749

Patel, Sheena. Reading time: 6 hours, 15 minutes.

Read by Cintra Godfrey.

Psychological Fiction

A debut novel about a young British woman, power, intimacy, and the internet. Sheena Patel’s incandescent first novel begins with the unnamed narrator describing her involvement in a seemingly unequal romantic relationship. With a clear and unforgiving eye, she dissects the behavior of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world. I’m a Fan offers a devastating critique of class, social media, patriarchy’s hold on us, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed. Adult. Descriptions of sex. Strong language. Violence.

Downloaded: April 11, 2024

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Kate’s 2¢: “Grasshopper: A Novel” by Barbara Vine

“Grasshopper: A Novel” by Barbara Vine

NOTE: 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 her thoughts about what she reads. Inho…

   Kristin Allison did a good job of narrating this absorbing tale. The author had an interesting way of using flashbacks to fill in the back-story, but the ending is still a surprise.

   I enjoyed this unique story.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries.[1]

Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.[2] A second string of works was a series of unrelated crime novels that explored the psychological background of criminals and their victims. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.

Early life[edit]

Rendell was born as Ruth Barbara Grasemann in 1930, in South Woodford, Essex (now Greater London).[3] Her parents were teachers. Her mother, Ebba Kruse, was born in Sweden to Danish parents and brought up in Denmark; her father, Arthur Grasemann, was English. As a result of spending Christmas and other holidays in Scandinavia, Rendell learned Swedish and Danish.[4] Rendell was educated at the County High School for Girls in Loughton, Essex,[3] the town to which the family moved during her childhood.

After high school, she became a feature writer for her local Essex paper, the Chigwell Times. She was forced to resign after filing a story about a local sports club dinner she had not attended and failing to report that the after-dinner speaker had died midway through the speech.[5]

Personal life[edit]

Rendell met her husband Don Rendell when she was working as a newswriter.[3] They married when she was 20, and in 1953 had a son, Simon,[6] now a psychiatric social worker who lives in the U.S. state of Colorado. The couple divorced in 1975 but remarried two years later.[7] Don Rendell died in 1999 from prostate cancer.[6]

She made the county of Suffolk her home for many years, using the settings in several of her novels. She lived in the villages of Polstead and later Groton, both east of Sudbury. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1996 Birthday Honours[8] and a life peer as Baroness Rendell of Babergh, of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk, on 24 October 1997.[9] She sat in the House of Lords for the Labour Party. In 1998, Rendell was named in a list of the party’s biggest private financial donors.[10] She introduced into the Lords the bill that would later become the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 (the intent was to prevent the practice).

In August 2014, Rendell was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September’s referendum on that issue.[11]

Rendell was a vegetarian who was described as living mostly on fruit.[12] She described herself as “slightly agoraphobic” and slept in a specially made four-poster bed because “I like to feel enclosed.”[12]

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Grasshopper: a novel DB52427

Vine, Barbara. Reading time: 16 hours, 17 minutes.

Read by Kristin Allison. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Psychological Fiction

Young Clodagh Brown loves heights but suffers from claustrophobia. As a teenager she climbed electrical pylons until an accident claimed her boyfriend’s life. While in London, Clodagh joins a group of eccentrics who enjoy climbing rooftops. But tragedy strikes again. Some violence and some strong language. 2000.

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