New Jim Crow – Read It and Rate It

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Non-fiction Review #1 * * * * * Stars (Amazing!) “The New Jim Crow” is about how the US’s system of mass incarceration is a new form of a racial caste system similar to that of Jim Crow. It explains all aspects of the system from the war on Drugs, unfair policies, sentencing and plea bargains, the experience of jail, and most importantly how they’re discriminated against even … Read more

Phantom of the Opera – Read It and Rate It

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux Classic Mystery Thriller Review #1 * * Stars (Just ok) The Phantom has been playing mean tricks on the opera workers for weeks now and no one knows why. Some say he’s a ghost. But then one day a man finds a girl that he knew from his childhood. He follows her into a dressing room. He hears a man’s voice. He asks the girl, Cristine, who … Read more

Low Men in Yellow Coats – Read it and Rate it

Low Men in Yellow Coats (novella) by Stephen King Mystery Suspense Thriller Review #1 * * * Stars (Pretty good) I was a little disappointed. I thought for Stephen King’s books would captivate me from the very beginning. I had to push through, hoping to get to something interesting. I finally got there. He did give amazing detail on the Low Men. I could clearly see it in my mind’s eye.

By Night – book review

By Night  vol. 1 by John Allison Comics Science Fiction Supernatural * * * * Stars (Great!) Jane and Heather go way back, but haven’t seen each other since they graduated from college. Now they’re both back in their hometown, Spectrum, where exactly nothing happens ever. Heather has a great idea that’s sure to be fun – the Charleswood Estate, abandoned for years, has officially run out of money to fund its security man (conveniently, … Read more

Proud – book review

Proud: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Mohammed Biography/Autobiography/Memoir Nonfiction * * * * Stars (Great!) Ibtihaj Muhammad describes her path to the 2016 Olympics from her childhood, where her parents encouraged all of their children to participate in sports, discovery of fencing (her mother was actually the one who saw the fencing team practicing at the high school Ibti was to attend and pushed her to try out), and how her … Read more

Radium Girls – book review

Radium Girls by Kate Moore Nonfiction * * * * Stars (Great!) During WWI a number of young women worked in factories as dial painters – using radium paint to illuminate the numbers and dials of wristwatches and console panels.  They did not know then that radium was harmful.  Over time, these women developed terrible and debilitating illnesses, many of which proved to be fatal.  Those that sought medical assistance were often misdiagnosed and all … Read more