Hello Patrons! 🙂

I have been so busy this week with life that I forgot to update when I finished the book I was reading! So I finished listening to The Doctors Blackwell by Janice P. Nimura on Monday afternoon, and then Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson on Tuesday evening, and started listening to Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo on Monday and finished it on Thursday.

(I also started reading Dear Juystce by Nic Stone on Wednesday and I am 70% through. I think it’s fine. It’ll probably be 3.5 stars.)

Let’s get into it and talk about my ratings and my other thoughts about each of these books.

I am going to go by order of when I finished the books.

The Doctors Blackwell

This is about the 1^st and 3^rd female doctors in the United States. I found the Blackwell sisters prickly, not super endearing. That is just who they were. I liked learning about how medicine was in the mid-19^th century. The narrator’s voice of this audiobook was odd as well. By the time I finished the audiobook I was like okay….? I have no idea what could’ve been different with this book though. If you want to learn about medicine pick this book up. If you want a feminist history in medicine, I don’t think this is exactly it.

Love is A Revolution

So, around the 60% mark the tone of the book took a hard left turn into sounding like an afterschool special from the 90’s. The tone was saccharine. I liked that Nala learned to love herself and focus on herself, but I felt it could’ve been done differently. Also, Imani, Nala’s cousin annoyed me. I was just underwhelmed in the second half and that took the whole book down for me. Will I read more of Renee Watson’s books in the future? Maybe. We will see.

Mediocre

If you want a book to fill you with rage read this book. I learned so much about American History that made me so angry and intrigued. I read Oluo’s first book, So You Want to Talk About Race a couple months ago and really liked it. This is along the same vein but with more of a historical flavor to it.

Overall Thoughts:

I am bummed that I am starting off March with books that I am not wowed by, but I have positive vibes for the rest of the month. My copy of Chain of Iron is coming on Tuesday and I am going to start it the minute I have it in my hands. (I listened to the first 2 chapters on audiobook and am so excited to also read it physically!) I also started reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy for book club next month. It’s good so far, and if I finish Dear Justyce before Tuesday I will continue reading that. Will I bring it into work with me? No. I will figure something to take to work.

Tell me what you read this week or what you’re reading in the comments! Tell me what you’re listening or listened to this week as well. Take care of yourselves, wash your hands, wear a mask in public (!!!), practice selfcare, and…