April was Arab American Heritage Month! My county library sent out an email at the beginning of the month with lists of books by Arab American authors for adults, teens, and kids. I chose two books from the teen list, because while I'm not a teen, I tend to prefer YA to adult.
Let's start with those two books!
Arab American Heritage Month
Something More, by Jackie Khalilieh
★★★
Technically, this author is Palestinian Canadian. I loved that not only is the main character in this book BIPOC, she's also autistic!
This quote from the author's acknowledgements made me feel seen and convicted all at once, and really sums up my immediate thoughts after finishing the book:
"Allistic (non-autistic) readers may find, to their surprise, how much they relate to Jessie. Her relatability, however, may lead some to downplay her autism. Although many of us may appear 'just like everyone else' on the outside, it often means we're just very good at masking. ... Unless you are autistic yourself, you could not begin to fully understand what it is like for us. You may try and you may believe that you get it, or get us, but there is so much more to how our brains work than meets the eye. More than I can properly convey in a book. Our brains our beautiful, complicated, hilarious, and frustrating. We often come off as type A's, know-it-alls, rude, and also, sweet, innocent, pushy, quiet–sometimes all of the above in one single interaction. But it's not about trying to understand us, it's about accepting us for who we are."
I enjoyed the book. Since I was homeschooled all the way from kindergarten to twelfth grade (and proud of it), I like reading books with public school settings, and I hadn't read one for a while, so this book scratched that itch. That being said, I probably wouldn't seek out more books by this author. I found myself getting annoyed by all the boy drama (which was kind of the point of the book, but still) and wishing that Jessie's family came into the plot more. Although I did like the evolution of Jessie's relationship with her sister!
Mirage, by Somaiya Daud
I'd give this book three and a half stars if I had a half star symbol (I really need to find one of those), but since I don't, I think it's more of a three than a four. Did I put the next book in the duology on hold at the library the same day I finished Mirage? Yes I did. However, some things about this book bothered me:
- The sci-fi element just seemed unnecessary. It felt like it was trying too hard to be unique.
- Also, if they have spaceships and terraformed moons, why do the farmers still use ancient agriculture practices? I mean, I totally support that, it just seems unrealistic for the world Daud has built.
- Amani seemed to adjust to her kidnapping way too quickly.
- After watching this interview with Erica Bauman (whom I will be pitching a book to IN PERSON THIS SATURDAY AAAAHHHHH), I have decided that I really dislike prologues. I think the prologue in this book was part of the reason it took me a little while to get into the story. Once it got going, I really enjoyed it, but the beginning was a little slow for me.
Other Arab American Books I Read Recently
I also wanted to give a shoutout to the two adult Arab American books I've read semi-recently, which are The Last Days of Cafe Leila by Donia Bijan (fiction) and The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber (food memoir).
Other Books I Read in April
Carole Purves: The First 44 Years, by Carole Purves
A few years ago, my parents gave a Storyworth subscription to my grandad for Christmas. (Storyworth is a service that allows people to write their own autobiography or memoir using a series of weekly questions that eventually get bound into a physical book. You can order as many copies as you'd like to share with family and friends.) But it was my grandma who really took to the writer's life. So far, she's written two books with Storyworth and is working on her third! While I had already heard many of the stories she shares in her book, there were some I didn't know, and I am grateful for the chance to have gotten a deeper understanding of her life.
Hot Mess to Hot Mom, by Tara De Leon
★★★
This was my very first eARC and I'm so stoked! I feel like a real book blogger now! I only got it because I am acquainted with one of the coauthors, but it's still so cool! And I really did enjoy this book. I only gave it three stars instead of four because, while the main author of this project was a fairly good (and pretty funny) writer, all but two of the chapters were written by other practitioners and many of them were not great writers. Writing is super important to me in both fiction and nonfiction, so while the information was super helpful and I feel a little more equipped to have kids someday, the writing dragged it down a bit for me.
The Storyteller, by Dave Grohl
Okay, I might be a little obsessed with Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters now.
I may not ever like some of the music my husband listens to, but I have a whole new appreciation for rock after reading this funny, down-to-earth memoir. The timeline jumped back and forth a bit, but I didn't find it too confusing, and I really enjoyed the humor, heart, and humility that Dave Grohl brought to this book (which was written during Covid–otherwise he never would have had the time to pen his inspiring and fabulous life story! So ... thanks for that, Covid).
If you're a fan of Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, or memoirs, I highly recommend giving this book a try!
Beauty Sleep, by Cameron Dokey
My fourth Cameron Dokey read ... and definitely not my last 😏
I haven't read very many Sleeping Beauty retellings (I can only think of two others: Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep, by Gail Carson Levine, and Spindle's End, by Robin McKinley), but this was definitely my favorite! I always appreciate the way Cameron Dokey approaches these traditional fairy tales.
However, I had my most upsetting reading experience to date while reading this book. Not because of the book itself, but because of a printing error! Page 155 was missing, replaced by page 165. I thought I was missing a whole 10 pages, but my husband took the book and calmed me down by showing me that after the erroneously placed page 165, the book continued on page 156 as per usual. So I'm only missing a page. But really, it was a wrenching experience.
Starless, by Jacqueline Carey
★★★★★
This book made me weep for a sea serpent.
Good writing, good character building, and good world building are three things I look for in fiction, especially fantasy, and this book had all three in spades.
My favorite quote:
"Thanks be to all the children of heaven!" Evene breathed beside us. "He's not terribly bright, but he's far too pretty to die."
"I'm glad you have your priorities in order, my darling," Zariya murmured.
I don't know what else to say! I just loved it so much. I'll definitely be reading more of Jacqueline Carey's books in the near future!
That's all for April! I'll be at the Washington Independent Review of Books this weekend, so next Wednesday's post will be a recap of my experience there!
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