In My Mailbox (11)

This week was a better week for mail. I picked up on two books from the library. The first listed is from my branch and Nervous Conditions comes highly recommended and it is part of our library collection at Color Online. Visit Eva for Library Loot and Story Siren for In My Mailbox. Marcia at The Printed Page hosts Mailbox Monday.

Donations :

Corregidora by Gayl Jones the tale of a blues singer Ursa, consumed by her hatred of the 19th century slave master who fathered both her grandmother and mother. This is a highly impactive novel wrought with sexual tensions and taboo family secrets. The narrative is interspersed with elliptical stories and memories that bring intense emotions to the surface of the reader's consciousness.

The Strangness of Beauty by Lydia Yuri Minatoya Absolutely beautiful novel about three generations of Japanese women. When Etsuko's sister Naomi dies during childbirth in Seattle, Etsuko takes on the role of mother to the baby, Hanae. After a few years of American life together, Hanae's father decides it's time to send both Hanae and Etsuko back to Japan, so Hanae can learn about her heritage and get to know her maternal grandmother, Chie. The three women, a Japanese woman from a prestigious samurai family (Chie), her ignored American-immigrant daughter (Etsuko),and her American-born granddaughter (Hanae), learn much about each other and the world during their turbulent years together. The setting is pre-World War II Japan, providing not only an incredible background, but the means for a fascinating history lesson as well. The characters are unique, intense, and real. And their interactions (both with each other and with their countries) are some of the most moving demonstrations of emotion I've encountered in a novel in some time . ~Meg, reader

Skywriting by Margarita Engle
Stones From the River by Ursula Hegi
Moonlight of the Avenue of Faith by Gina Nahai
Bird at My Window by Rosa Guy
Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Etta
The Untelling by Tayari Jones

Library:

She's So Money by Cherry Cheva. I picked this up because it has a great cover and good reviews. I'm not enjoying this though. I'm going to finish it and then I'll tell you why I am unhappy with this. Of course, feel free to ask me now.

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
An excellent coming-of-age story of a young peasant girl given the opporunity in both colonial Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and native patriarchial culture, to be educated. She is extremely bright,
ambitious, hard working, and so incredibly observant of all around her, that she makes the best heroine I've read about in a long, long time. Kudos!! Srongly recommend this book to one an all. ~Sheila

From paperbackswap I ordered Brown Girl In The Ring by Nalo Hopkinson after reading a review by Cora at 50 books by People of Color Reading Challenge. Cora, by the way, is a voracious reader and a great reviewer. She's reviewed several Octavia E. Bulter titles which would in part explain my bias.