May's Reading List

People all over the world, join hands, start a love train...

“ My dream would be a multicultural society, one that is diverse and where every man, woman and child are treated equally. I dream of a world where all people of all races work together in harmony.” —Nelson Mandela—

While The Apartheid Republic of America continues its descent into fascism under Donald Trump and his abettors, we are living through a prime example of why reading and knowledge are powerful tools for one to have. Public libraries are the true safe haven’s of a free and open democratic republic, halls filled with the stories from our collective past, and insight into our futures, as co-inhabitants on this little blue marble floating in the infinitesimal stygian darkness of outer space.

Franklin Roosevelt knew and understand the power of the written word, unlike the functionally illiterate opiate addict Donald Trump. “Books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny. In this war, we know, books are weapons. President Roosevelt’s words continue to ring true today as the Christian Nationalist “Y’all Qaeda” movement seizes the Apartheid Republic of America. Thankfully we are seeing more pushback from the judicial branch.

To me, reading isn’t merely the acquisition of more useless trivia knowledge but the connection to people across time and locations. Whether its non-fiction, fiction, an eBook, audiobook, or the real McCoy, utilizing your local library can help during these tumultuous times. Before jumping into this past month’s reading list, here is my latest piece of art therapy and yes, I HAD to jump on the #tacotrump bandwagon!

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The ratings I have listed are my own that I add to the database on The StoryGraph, along with adding my own reviews. If you are still using Bezos’ Goodreads, there is a better alternative!

1. The West: A New History in Fourteen Lives—Naoíse Mac Sweeney (3.5/5)

2. The Unit: My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America’s Most Secret Military Operatives—Adam Gamal with Kelly Kennedy (4.0/5)

3. The Thirteenth Tale—Diane Setterfield (4.0/5)

4. So Witches We Became—Jill Baguchinsky (4.0/5)

5. Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future—Patty Krawec with Nick Estes (4.5/5)

6. Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery—Theodore H. Schwartz (4.25/5)

7. The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line: Untold Stories of the Women Who Changed the Course of World War II—Major General Mari K. Eder (4.25/5)

8. At the End of the River Styx—Michelle Kulwicki (3.75/5)

9. Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia—David Graeber (4.0/5)

10. The Birdwatcher: A Novel—William Shaw (3.75/5)

11. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity—David Graeber and David Wengrow (1.0/5.0)

12. Burdened: Student Debt and the Making of an American Crisis—Ryann Liebenthal (4.25/5)

13. They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45—Milton Mayer (4.25/5)

14. How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? A Novel—Anna Montague (3.5/5)

15. The Shawshank Redemption—Stephen King (4.0/5)

16. Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls: Stories—Alissa Nutting (3.25/5)

17. Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead—Jim Mattis & Bing West (4.0/5)

18. Notes on Surviving the Fire: A Novel—Christine Murphy (4.0/5)

19. The Golden Gate: A Novel—Amy Chua (4.0/5)

20. Once Upon a River: A Novel—Diane Setterfield (3.5/5)

21. Something Wicked This Way Comes: Green Town #2—Ray Bradbury (4.0/5)

22. Zelensky: A Biography—Serhii Rudenko (3.25/5)

23. The Ones We’ve Been Waiting For: How a New Generation of Leaders Will Transform America—Charlotte Alter (4.25/5)

24. The Madwomen of Paris: A Novel—Jennifer Cody Epstein (4.0/5)

25. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—Bettany Hughes (4.25/5)

26. The Guns of August—Barbara W. Tuchman (4.25/5)

27. Dinner on Monster Island: Essays—Tania de Rozario (4.25/5)

28. The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary—Simon Winchester (4.0/5)

29. Autocracy Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World—Anne Applebaum (4.25/5)

30. Silent Spring: The Classic that Launched the Environmental Movement—Rachel Carson (4.0/5)

31. Finding Me—Viola Davis (4.75/5)

32. Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War—Deborah Cohen (3.0/5)

33. The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America—Timothy Snyder (5/5)

34. Inverse Cowgirl: A Memoir—Alicia Roth Weigel (4.5/5)

35. The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History—Ned Blackhawk (4.25/5)

36. Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age—Amy Klobuchar (4.5/5)

37. Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am—Julia Cooke (4.0/5)

38. Surrender, White People!: Our Unconditional Terms for Peace—D.L. Hughley and Doug Moe (4.5/5)

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As always, remember to support your local library. Thanks for stopping by The Bohemian Broadside. Stay inspired and just keep swimming!