April Stories I Ate This Month

For everything that I have had going on this month, I was still able to read quite a bit. I don't think I will get that much reading in throughout May, but we'll see.

Movies

• Saban's Power Rangers
• I was skeptical about this movie when it came out last year. I grew up watching the original Power Rangers and even dressing up as the Pink one for Halloween and crushing on the Red one all of the time. I was worried that the nostalgia would hold me back from enjoying this new version. However, I really enjoyed it. I do wish that they had morphed sooner though. It felt like it took forever to get to them being Power Rangers. 
• A-
• Jeepers Creepers 3
• I watched the original two films with my great-grandma growing up. I own the first on VHS. I didn't even know that they had come out with a third one. It had been a while since I had watched the original two so I don't remember much about them but I was still able to enjoy this one. It had a similar spooky feel without being the most terrifying film ever. The same feeling that I have with the other two just without the memories. 
• B+

TV Shows

• Jessica Jones -season 2- a Netflix Original
• It is no secret that I love all of the Marvel shows that Netflix produces and really enjoy any Marvel superhero movies too. Although three years separate the first and second season of this show. I didn't feel disconnected. I'm really going to miss Malcolm and Jessica working together, but maybe season 3 will surprise us.I love the new connections that Jessica is making in her personal life though. 
• A+

Audiobooks

• When They Call You A Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir - Patrisse Khan-Cullors
• I was expecting her to talk more about the movement itself but she really delved into its creation and her motives behind it. It was a great insight.
• A+
• The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop - Steve Osborn
• The typical New York City accent meshed with the hilarious yet action-packed stories of a New York City cop makes this perfect!
• A+

Books

• The Poet X - Elizabeth Acevedo
• I was excited to read this YA contemporary in poems. It reminds me a lot of Ellen Hopkins' books that I really enjoyed throughout high school. It delved into family relationships, family expectations, struggling with faith, first love, etcetera. 
• A-
• Blackout - Kit Mallory
• This book comes out on May 8th and I will be putting up a full non-spoiler review before that. I had the privilege of being sent an ARC by Mallory. And I love it! LGBTQ+ representation, mental health awareness, etc. 
• A+
• History Is All You Left Me - Adam Silvera 
• This book has been on my radar since it was published. I believe that this is the first book I have read where the main character was a gay man. I read the first 250 pages in one sitting and finished the last bit the following morning. I haven't done that in years! I got emotional and really felt everything Griffon was going through.  I can't wait to read more by Silvera. 
• A+

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter ~ Erika Sanchez

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.

But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role. 

Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.

But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?

Book Review:

Recently, I have been really into contemporary books with a deeper message than your typical fluffy contemporary; therefore, I was excited to start this book. I was interested in learning about the Mexican familial culture a bit more closely than what I've learned in Spanish classes. I always find contemporaries dealing with immigration to be very interesting as well, like American Street by Ibi Zoboi. Needless to say, I went into this book expecting it to be amazing. However, I was let down. It was by no means a bad book. I still really enjoyed it. It just wasn't what I wanted. 

I felt that Sanchez did a really good job at portraying Julia's family in a realistic way. However, Olga's character, although told through 2nd or 3rd person accounts, was a bit disconnected. That may have been what Sanchez wanted as it lent to the aspect of Julia having to figure her dead sister out for the readers as well as herself. Nevertheless, even when Julia began to understand her sister more, I still felt disconnected. 

Julia was also a really annoying protagonist. I really wanted to like her and I did feel connected to her as she tried to figure out her worth. There just wasn't a lot of character development for her until the last few chapters. 

Even though I had various problems with the story, I can not deny that Sanchez depicted the culture and family in a realistic way. You could tell how the immigration process that the parents experienced left its mark on them. It also made sense that familial obligation was a sentiment forced on Julia, as it was forced on her parents as well. 

Pages: 344                                                                                                                              Rate: 3/5

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness ~ Susannah Cahalan

An award-winning memoir and instant New York Timesbestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?

In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.

Book Review:

I listened to this as an audiobook and am so glad that I did. It was such a riveting story that you would think was fiction but this is a memoir. Cahalan experienced the psychosis full of loss of memory, mass amounts of confusion and paranoia, and mood swings while everyone believed she was going crazy and that she would never be the same again. She almost ruined her career. If it were not for her family, for her significant other, for her friends, and for the doctors who took a chance on her, she may never have been diagnosed properly. 

Cahalan knew that she wasn't crazy, although she felt like it. Thankfully her parents fought for her and she finally, after being hospitalized and losing her vocabulary and memories, was diagnosed by a doctor who had the experience to see what her other doctors didn't. It is truly amazing how one person can change your life. No other doctor was able to properly diagnose Cahalan, they were all ready to deem her psychotic and in fact it had nothing to do with psychosis. 

It was interesting to hear some of her memories and learn about her experience from that but also from her talking with family and examining her medical records as she does not remember much of what happened to her during her "month of madness."

Pages: 250                                                                                                                                           Rate: 5/5

Favorite Quote:

“Sometimes, Just when we need them, life wraps metaphors up in little bows for us. When you think all is lost, the things you need the most return unexpectedly.”  

Promise Me, Dad ~ Joe Biden

Photo Rights: Hitha On The Go

In November 2014, thirteen members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past forty years; it was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized, and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor fifteen months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. "Promise me, Dad," Beau had told his father. "Give me your word that no matter what happens, you’re going to be all right." Joe Biden gave him his word.

Promise Me, Dad chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden’s extraordinary life and career. Vice President Biden traveled more than a hundred thousand miles that year, across the world, dealing with crises in Ukraine, Central America, and Iraq. When a call came from New York, or Capitol Hill, or Kyiv, or Baghdad—“Joe, I need your help”—he responded. For twelve months, while Beau fought for and then lost his life, the vice president balanced the twin imperatives of living up to his responsibilities to his country and his responsibilities to his family. And never far away was the insistent and urgent question of whether he should seek the presidency in 2016.

The year brought real triumph and accomplishment, and wrenching pain. But even in the worst times, Biden was able to lean on the strength of his long, deep bonds with his family, on his faith, and on his deepening friendship with the man in the Oval Office, Barack Obama.

Writing with poignancy and immediacy, Joe Biden allows readers to feel the urgency of each moment, to experience the days when he felt unable to move forward as well as the days when he felt like he could not afford to stop.

This is a book written not just by the vice president, but by a father, grandfather, friend, and husband. Promise Me, Dad is a story of how family and friendships sustain us and how hope, purpose, and action can guide us through the pain of personal loss into the light of a new future.

Book Review:

I have been loving listening to audiobooks over the past couple of years. I go through different phases. Sometimes, they are all I want to listen to. I basically ignore music, podcasts, everything. However, the current phase that I am going through has been listening to memoirs by politicians. As you know, I listened to Hillary Clinton's newest memoir not that long ago, I have a review up on the blog for that as well. Therefore, when Joe Biden's newest one was on my recommendations page on audible, I decided to listen to it right away. 

If you want a memoir that is outlining Biden's political ideology and giving lots of details about why he made the political decisions that he did, and so on... this is not the book for you. Obviously, his political ideology comes up, but it is not the main focus of this memoir.  This story chronicles the year his son Beau dies from a rare brain cancer. This was the same year that Biden had to make a decision to or not to run for President 2016. Not only was he still doing his job as Vice President, dealing with the issues in the Ukraine and Iraq, etc; but he was also watching his son die, his grandchildren witness their father's demise, his children be the rocks for his son, and dealing with his own feelings because of that situation.

The story is heart-wrenching and inspiring at the same time. This man remained dedicated to his family but also even more committed to his country throughout the worst time of his life. He compartmentalized in the most extraordinary way possible. It's a talent, a necessary component of the life he leads, but a talent nonetheless. Needless to say, he inspired me. He made me believe in him as a person and as a politician in a way that I have never believed in another public figure before. He promised his son that he would be okay and although he will never be the same man he was when Beau was alive, he will be okay, possibly even better. 

Towards the end of the book, we learn why he chose not to run for President. We all knew some of the story from his announcement to not run, but he words it here in a way that he couldn't have at the time. He knew that he was unable to give his undivided attention to being President and all of the tasks that would come with that, he was still grieving. Although he remained a dedicated Vice President throughout the tragedy, he knew that he was unable to be President at this time. He gives me hope as he says these things, however. I believe that he will do amazing things for our country, as President one day or not. He still believes that our country has hope and that as a people we can do all of the things we need to in order to change the world. If he chooses to run for President in 2020, he has my vote. 

Favorite Quote:

"If the problem is fear than the answer is knowledge."

March Stories I Ate This Month

Even though I had Spring Break this month, I was unable to get much reading done or tv shows watched. Most of the stories that I have consumed are audiobooks because they are easy to listen to while doing other things. As I write this, I am currently listening to a memoir about the Black Lives Matter movement which you will see in next month's Stories I Ate This Month. I've started some tv shows but have yet to finish a season. I have not watched any movies. And I have started two physical books but I have yet to finish either.

Audiobooks

• The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Heroes ~ Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, with Jeffrey E. Stern
• I followed this story on the news when it happened and then learned more about Alek Skarlatos no his time on Dancing With The Stars. It was really interesting to hear what each of the men heard, saw, experienced through their own eyes and the memories that have resurfaced overtime and those that have stayed hidden. Told in flashbacks. 
• A+
• It Takes Two: Our Story ~ Drew and Jonathan Scott
• I've been obsessed with the Property Brothers for a few years. I love all of the shows that they have done and cheered Drew on while he danced rather awkwardly on Dancing With The Stars. It was really interesting to listen to how they came into the success that they now have and what comes with the fame.
• A+
• Undaunted: The Story of America's Servicewomen in Today's Military ~ Tanya Biank
• I chose this book to read for a book report in my Minority Politics class. It was really eye-opening and hope-filling. I learned about the personal discriminatory experiences that these women have experienced while trying to fight for our country and also learned how they overcame the oppression and pushed forward. 
• B+
• The Red Parts ~ Maggie Nelson
• This memoir follows the story of Maggie as she learns about her Aunt Jane who was murdered before she could ever meet her. She sits in the courtroom as the real murderer is on trial decades later. Such an interesting perspective. 
• B+
• I'll Never Change My Name: An Immigrant's American Dream from Ukraine To The USA to Dancing With The Stars ~ Valentin Chmerkovskiy
• I've been obsessed with Val for years!! He has been my favorite pro on DWTS forever! Listening to his journey from Ukraine and how he learned to assimilate into the US and managed to keep his heritage alive. It was also such a unique perspective on ballroom dance competitions, family, etc. 
• A+

Books

• A Clash of Kings ~ George R. R. Martin
• I preferred the first book in the Game of Thrones series more than this one and I think that is one of the reasons it took me so long to get through it. However, it was still pretty good and I am excited to continue with the series.
• B+ 

Update on my Goodreads Reading Challenge

I have read 25 of the 100 books that I want to read by the end of the year! I am currently one book ahead of schedule. Thank you Audiobooks!

Friend me on Goodreads if you want! 

The Last Black Unicorn ~ Tiffany Haddish

From stand-up comedian, actress, and breakout star of Girls Trip, Tiffany Haddish, comes The Last Black Unicorn, a sidesplitting, hysterical, edgy, and unflinching collection of (extremely) personal essays, as fearless as the author herself.

Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles, Tiffany learned to survive by making people laugh. If she could do that, then her classmates would let her copy their homework, the other foster kids she lived with wouldn’t beat her up, and she might even get a boyfriend. Or at least she could make enough money—as the paid school mascot and in-demand Bar Mitzvah hype woman—to get her hair and nails done, so then she might get a boyfriend.

None of that worked (and she’s still single), but it allowed Tiffany to imagine a place for herself where she could do something she loved for a living: comedy.

Tiffany can’t avoid being funny—it’s just who she is, whether she’s plotting shocking, jaw-dropping revenge on an ex-boyfriend or learning how to handle her newfound fame despite still having a broke person’s mind-set. Finally poised to become a household name, she recounts with heart and humor how she came from nothing and nowhere to achieve her dreams by owning, sharing, and using her pain to heal others.

By turns hilarious, filthy, and brutally honest, The Last Black Unicorn shows the world who Tiffany Haddish really is—humble, grateful, down-to-earth, and funny as hell. And now, she’s ready to inspire others through the power of laughter.

Book Review:

I laughed every second of this audiobook! Even when Tiffany was discussing more serious issues she made them hilarious, but still managed to get the seriousness across. I loved how humble she remained throughout even though she had gained so much more "fame" whilst writing the novel. 

Prior to the movie Girls Trip, which is incredible and hilarious, Tiffany was a struggling comedian. She made a living doing what she loved but she was nowhere near "famous" or "rich;" however, she kept doing what she loved because that is all she ever did. Although the book is shorter than the others I have recently listened to, she chronicles her life from her poverty-stricken childhood to the adolescence she spent caring for her recovering yet belligerent mother, to her experiences with social services, her first experiences as an entertainer when she began  DJing bat mitzvahs, to finding her father and losing him, to very dramatic relationships, to pimping, to her first acting job, to meeting Will and Jada Smith during Girls Trip, and so on. She manages to give you the smallest of details and somehow make them seem to be more interesting than they really are. She picks on herself and also reminds the readers that if she could make it, so can they. 

If you are looking for a hilarious memoir to get you out of your reading slump, this is the book for you.

Pages: 288                                                                                                                           Rate: 5/5

Favorite Quote:

“You kill them with your success. Then they’ll have to kiss your motherfucking feet.”

Our Revolution: A Future To Believe In ~ Bernie Sanders

Throughout the Presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders galvanized voters with his progressive platform and vision for America. In the book, Sanders shares experiences from the campaign trail and outlines his ideas for continuing a political revolution to fight for a progressive economic, environmental, racial and social justice agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all.

Book Review:

I decided to pick up this audiobook knowing that I would agree with much of what was being said politically. During the 2016 Presidential Campaign, I was an avid supporter of Bernie. I agreed with the majority of his policies. I believe that he truly cares about the growth of the middle class and not the protection of the 1%. I also knew that he would make it his mission to protect the planet, lower the United States's carbon footprint, etc; all things that I believe to be important. However, what I did not pay much attention to during the campaign was how he developed these ideas. How these important issues became his values. 

I was pleased that he was narrating the book himself. For me, that always makes the audiobook much more interesting. It doesn't sound as though someone is just reading off of the page. You can actually sense the emotion of what he is saying. I was also pleased that Mark Ruffalo would be doing some of the reading himself. Ruffalo is another avid supporter of Bernie and of his ideas, so I knew that he would also be able to portray the emotion of the words. Both of their voices were really soothing and passionate. 

Learning more about Bernie's childhood was important. It developed his family values and demonstrated how he developed his ideas. It was also really interesting to learn about his early political career as that is something that I also did not pay much attention to during the campaign. I feel that those parts of his life really helped me understand his ideas and why he had such values that he was passionate about during the campaign. I won't be specific because I feel that that takes away much of the value of listening to or physically reading the book, which I avidly recommend. 

Pages: 464                                                                                                                                             Rate:5/5

Favorite Quote:

“This campaign was never just about electing a president of the United States—as enormously important as that was. This campaign was about transforming America. It was about the understanding that real change never takes place from the top on down. It always takes place from the bottom on up. It takes place when ordinary people, by the millions, are prepared to stand up and fight for justice."

The Nowhere Girls ~ Amy Reed

Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.

Who are the Nowhere Girls?

They’re every girl. But they start with just three:

Grace Salter is the new girl in town, whose family was run out of their former community after her southern Baptist preacher mom turned into a radical liberal after falling off a horse and bumping her head.

Rosina Suarez is the queer punk girl in a conservative Mexican immigrant family, who dreams of a life playing music instead of babysitting her gaggle of cousins and waitressing at her uncle’s restaurant.

Erin Delillo is obsessed with two things: marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation, but they aren’t enough to distract her from her suspicion that she may, in fact, be an android.

When Grace learns that Lucy Moynihan, the former occupant of her new home, was run out of town for having accused the popular guys at school of gang rape, she’s incensed that Lucy never had justice. For their own personal reasons, Rosina and Erin feel equally deeply about Lucy’s tragedy, so they form an anonymous group of girls at Prescott High to resist the sexist culture at their school, which includes boycotting sex of any kind with the male students.

Told in alternating perspectives, this groundbreaking novel is an indictment of rape culture and explores with bold honesty the deepest questions about teen girls and sexuality.

Book Review:

I was skeptical going into this book. I was expecting it to be too much like Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. Obviously, it had its similarities, but it was not the same at all, which I was beyond grateful of. The similarities were that a group of girls was brought together by an anonymous girl (we know who it is, they don't) to change the patriarchal system in their town and school that allows for girls to be raped, for boys who rape to not be held accountable, for girls to be harassed every day, for boys who harass them to not be held accountable, etc. 

It was overall a great story. At the beginning, I did find it to be a slow start. It took until I was about halfway through the book before I was sucked into it. However, it is an easy read, the characters are really interesting (especially Erin). Although, it took awhile for me to be interested in it overall, I really enjoyed the dynamics of the story. I enjoyed the character development as the girls in the town began to realize that they weren't alone, that they could speak up, that maybe they could get justice. I also enjoyed the friendships that developed between Grace, Erin, and Rosina. 

Pages: 416                                                                                                                                 Rate: 3/5

the sun and her flowers ~ rupi kaur

Book Review:

I could rave about Rupi Kaur's poetry for days. I loved her first collection, milk and honey, and this was no different. I did not want to put the book down. I read and reread the poems many times before moving on to the next poem. I analyzed the words compared to the beautiful, yet minimal sketches that she includes on the various pages. I was beyond happy with this collection. 

My favorite poems were probably "introvert" and another one that didn't have a name but is on page 223. They both come with sketches and those images just really amplify the messages that each poem is trying to convey. 

The collection is the perfect infusion of feminism, mental health awareness, and self-love. 

Pages: 256                                                                                                                                 Rate: 5/5

February Stories I Ate This Month

School has been very intense this month and I haven't been able to consume too many stories but the ones that I have had time for have been really good!

Movies

• Black Panther
• Such an amazing superhero movie! Actually, just an amazing movie in general! Prior to seeing it, I didn't know much about it and I am glad that I went into seeing it that way. It made it all the more incredible. Also, as I'm sure you have seen all over social media, it has been great for the African American community, especially the children to see people who look like them on the big screen, celebrating African cultures, etc. 
• A+

TV Shows

• Smallville (season 1)
• I have been obsessed with superhero related things the past few months, as you can see by my last Stories I Ate This Month. Therefore, I decided to watch this old tv show from the early 2000s which is on Hulu. I'm loving this version of Clark Kent/Superman/Man of Steel.
• A+

Audiobooks

• Promise Me, Dad - Joe Biden
• I cried,  a lot. There will be a review going up on April 2nd. It has been scheduled already. Also, #Biden2020. 
• A+
• Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness - Susannah Cahalan
• This chronicles Cahalan's life as she goes mad, gets the proper diagnosis of a rare auto-immune disorder, and recovers. Very interesting. 
• A+

Books

• I Am Not Your Mexican Daughter - Erika L. Sanchez
• It was slow going in the start but the whole story was really interesting to follow and I really felt for Julia. 
• B-