My Name Is Iris by Brando Skyhorse

My Name Is Iris  by Brando Skyhorse

Published by Avid Reader Press ISBN 9781982177850

Hardcover, $28, 257 pages

One of  the best things fiction can do is create empathy on the reader. Brando Skyhorse's new novel, My Name Is Iris does that masterfully.

Iris Prince is a second-generation Mexican-American. She has a good job, a young daughter she loves, and she is getting a drama-free divorce from her husband. Iris and nine-year-old Mel are moving into a new home in a nice neighborhood.

Iris's mother has always taught her to follow the rules to living in  America- speak English in front of strangers, walk far from gringos on a sidewalk until they acknowledge you, call them "sir or ma'am", and never ever cry in front of anyone. Iris always tries to follow the rules.

But suddenly the rules were changing. A company created "the Band", something a person wears on their wrist that had their identity on it. You would use this band to get a drivers license, pay your utility bills, basically anything you need to do, you need the Band to be able to do it.

In order to get a Band, you have to show proof of not only your citizenship, but also of your parents' United States citizenship.  This is something Iris in unable to do, and her life was shrinking because of it.  Eventually, the government required employers to prove their employees each had a Band. 

While the Band was becoming a part of American life, Iris notices a wall in front of her house. This wall appears to be growing, and no one else seems to be concerned or even acknowledges that it is there. Her neighbors (who are all white and pepper Iris with microagressions in each encounter) and even her ex-husband make no mention of this huge wall growing in front of Iris' home.

Iris doesn't understand what is happening. She has always followed the rules, she believes that if she works hard and raises her daughter to work hard, she will be justly rewarded with a good life. But now those rules mean nothing.

Brando Skyhorse has created a character in Iris Prince who is unforgettable. The reader has empathy for a woman who is doing everything right only to be told that it doesn't matter, it only matters where your parents came from. My Name Is Iris is such a timely and relevant novel, a great companion to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. I found myself shaking my head in disbelief and yet also thinking that this is something that frighteningly could be a reality. I give My Name Is Iris my highest recommendation, it is truly a superb piece of fiction.

Thank you to TLC Tours for putting me on Brando Skyhorse's tour. The rest of his stops are here:

TLC tour schedule:

Monday, July 31st: @marensreads

Tuesday, August 1st: @tialala001 on TikTok

Tuesday, August 1st: @librarywhore

Wednesday, August 2nd: @wendysbookclub – review

Thursday, August 3rd: IG: @anovelkingdom and TT: @anovelkingdom

Thursday, August 3rd: @nissa_the.bookworm

Thursday, August 3rd: @mikaylasbooknook_  on TikTok

Friday, August 4th:  @exclusivepalmbeachliving on TikTok – review

Friday, August 4th:  @page_appropriate 

Saturday, August 5th:  @storytimewithshelbs on TikTok 

Sunday, August 6th: @bethanys_books on TikTok 

Monday, August 7th: @andrea.c.lowry.reads 

Tuesday, August 8th: @nurse_bookie

Tuesday, August 8th: @spaceonthebookcase

Wednesday, August 9th: @thatreadingmom on TikTok

Thursday, August 10th: @aneedleinmybookstack 

Thursday, August 10th: @ambershelf – review

Friday, August 11th: @suzylew_bookreview

Friday, August 11th: @ems_rxlibrary on TikTok

Friday, August 11th: @donasbooks – review

Saturday, August 12th: @gallaghergirlreads

Sunday, August 13th: @jadeelawson on TikTok

Sunday, August 13th: @the.caffeinated.reader  

Monday, August 14th: @kelly_hunsaker_reads 

Monday, August 14th: Bookchickdi – review

Tuesday, August 15th: @bookoholiccafe 

Wednesday, August 16th:  @laura_cover_stories 

Wednesday, August 16th: @kayewiththebooks – review

Thursday, August 17th: @thepoetscorner_ on TikTok

Thursday, August 17th: @subakka.bookstuff and Subakka.bookstuff

Friday, August 18th: @finding_joyathome

Friday, August 18th: @allthebooksalltheways

Saturday, August 19th: @pineshorelittlefreelibrary – review

Sunday, August 20th: @ohmynameiskaylee on TikTok 

Monday, August 21st: @book_boss-12

Tuesday, August 22nd: @booksandcoffeemx

Tuesday, August 22nd:  @wovenfromwords – review

Wednesday, August 23rd: @books.inreallife on TikTok

Wednesday, August 23rd: @secretreadinglife

Thursday, August 24th: @totahlybooked

Friday, August 25th: @bookswithniki on TikTok

Saturday, August 26th: @backporchpages

Saturday, August 26th: @bookgirlbrown_reviews

Sunday, August 27th: @books_n_yogapants

Sunday, August 27th: @oilycaffeinatedmama  

Monday, August 28th: @angiearoundwonderland

Monday, August 28th: @ataleoftwolitties – review

Tuesday, August 29th: @blackbiracialandbookish – review

Wednesday, August 30th: @rickys_radical_reads

Wednesday, August 30th: Eliot’s Eats – review

Thursday, August 31st: @bookdragon217 – review

Friday, September 1st: @djreadsbooks

Two of the best books I've read this year

Reprinted from the Citizen:

If you’ve been nostalgic for the 1960s after hearing about the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the Woodstock concert, this month’s Book Report will bring you right back to that time with two of the best books I've read this summer.

The first book is a memoir by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy about growing up with her eight siblings in her Catholic family in Iowa of the 1960s and 1970s. Her father’s favorite saying, Many Hands Make Light Work, is the title of this sweet family story. 

Joe Stritzel was a professor of agronomy at Iowa State University. He and his wife, Marcella, and their nine children lived in a big, rambling home near the campus. “Mom radiated calm as powerfully as Dad radiated action,” explains how a family of 11 managed to get through the days in an orderly fashion.

Joe began buying up homes in the neighborhood to fix up and rent to the ever-increasing number of young adults heading to college. He managed to accomplish that by an using inexpensive labor force: his nine children, whom he dubbed “the baseball team.”

While other kids were spending their summers at the lake or playground, the Stritzels were hard at work on the houses. The little ones pulled nails out of wood and stacked it; the older kids tore up carpets, torn down wallpaper and dragged out furniture left behind.

There are so many wonderful scenes in this charming book. The kids like to sing, and Joe thought they were good enough to be on "The Lawrence Welk Show." They had an assembly line going when it came to pick the numerous cherry trees in their backyard. And once, Cheryl babysat for a family that had a lion as a pet — who hung out in the living room with her. That was crazy!

They rarely took a vacation, but one year they all piled into the station wagon and drove from Iowa to Ohio to visit Joe’s family. Mom made sandwiches for the two-day ride, but the highlight was stopping at A&W to get 11 root beers (the little ones got baby root beer mugs) and as a special treat, 11 ice cream cones, all vanilla.

Many Hands Make Light Work will inspire nostalgia for a simpler time. It is a book filled with humor and joy and you’ll find yourself smiling the entire time you’re reading it.

Cara Wall’s debut novel, The Dearly Beloved, is set in the 1960s New York City. Two young ministers — Charles, the son of academics who are perplexed by his choice of career, and James, whose father came home from World War II a broken alcoholic — are hired to be pastors of the historic Third Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village. 

Charles is a student of scripture and wants to tend to his parishoners’ spiritual needs. James finds that he is drawn to the social justice needs of the people living in the city. He sees poverty and neglect, and believes that the church should be addressing society’s larger problems.

Charles’ wife, Lily, is not religious. Her parents died when she was a teenager, and she lost her faith because of it. She was a good wife to Charles, but she had no interest in being a traditional pastor’s wife or being involved in the church in any way. As society was going through major upheaval in the 1960s, Lily became more involved in women’s issues.

James’ wife, Nan, came from a religious family. Her father was a popular minister and her mother was a traditional pastor’s wife, something that Nan did her best to emulate. Nan became very involved in the church, starting a youth choir, and sat in the front row each Sunday.

Nan wanted to be friends with Lily, but Lily wanted nothing to do with Nan. The other thing Nan wanted was to have children. Lily didn’t particularly care for children. When Lily became pregnant, it caused further friction.

The Dearly Beloved is a moving story about faith, family, friendship and love. Charles loved Lily and respected her choice not to be involved in the church. Nan respected her husband’s choice to be more socially relevant, but she encouraged him not to neglect his own parish.

Both couples are tested by personal challenges over the years, things that could tear apart a marriage and friendship. I found myself involved in their stories, and moved by their circumstances. Wall writes these characters so beautifully, you may not understand their choices, but you will care deeply what happens to them.

If you read

BOOK: Many Hands Make Light Work by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy

GRADE: A+

PUBLISHER: She Writes Press

COST: Trade paperback, $16.95

LENGTH: 289 pages

---

BOOK: The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

GRADE: A+

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

COST: Hardcover, $26.99

LENGTH: 352 pages

Weekend Cooking- Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel
Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books ISBN 97815011122521
Hardcover, $26, 384 pages

Once I saw the hilarious trailer for Amy Poeppel's novel, Small Admissions, I knew I had to read it.
See for yourself. (Note- there is language in this that some may find objectionable.)



I'm about three-quarters of the way through the book, and I love it. Kate is a twenty-something young woman who just went through a terrible breakup with her boyfriend. Kate has fallen apart, she has no job, she drinks so much the neighborhood liquor store owner looks upon her with scorn, and her friends and family do not know how to help her get out of her funk.

Kate's sister Angela gets her an interview for a job in the admissions office of the prestigious Upper East Side of Manhattan Hudson School, where to everyone's surprise, Kate gets the job.

I am loving everything about this book. The characters are wonderful, and Poeppel seamlessly weaves the various characters into the story- Angela, Kate's friends Victoria and Chloe, the admissions staff at Hudson, and the parents desperate to get their children into Hudson.

I laughed out loud so many times, mostly at the craziness of the private school admissions process. Poeppel clearly knows this world well and skewers it with a sense of gentle love.

Kate and Angela's parents are professors, "nerdy academics" as Angela calls them. There is a scene at the family home, back when Kate was just about to graduate from college, that applies to Weekend Cooking.

At the house, they convened in the cluttered kitchen over a meal that their mother called "Kaltes Abendbrot" or sometimes "Smorgasboard," depending on the selection, which in either case referred to black bread and things to put on black bread. Sprigs of dill were tucked between tiny shrimp and sliced eggs, not-quite-cooked to hard-boiled, and there was a chunky pate that made Angela wonder, "Chunks of what?"  Kate took off her jacket and pushed up her sleeves, saying "Mmmm, what a spread!" while Angela felt her usual disappointment, wondering what would be wrong with a nice chicken Caesar salad for once.

The four of them together (otherwise known, their parents had taught them, as a clan, or kinship unit, or conjugal family) stood around the butcher-block island to eat, as they had every school night. "Like pigs at the trough," their mother used to say happily. "Standing promotes digestion," their father reminded them. So did the tiny glasses of digestif they always drank after dinner. Lots of words for that too: Obstler or akavit. Kirschwasser or Schnapps.  "Corrupting a minor" was what Angela's friend's mother had called it when she notified the police on the evening of the dinner-balls.

Small Admissions is a gem of a book. If you're looking for a story that will make you laugh and have you rooting for the main character, this is it. People have compared it to The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries, but I enjoyed Small Admissions much more than those. I highly recommend it.

Amy Poeppel's website is here.
Reading With Robin interviewed Amy Poeppel on her podcast here.

Books About Celebrities

Reprinted from the Citizen.

Books by and about celebrities have a built-in audience. People are curious to read more about their favorite stars, how they got to be where they are, who influenced them and yes, even for some good old gossip.

Three recent books by and about celebrities have published, all different and interesting in their own way.

Leslie Bennetts “Last Girl Before Freeway”: The Life, Loves, Losses, and Liberation of Joan Rivers” is the lone biography here. Bennett covers Rivers’ entire life, where she was Joan Molinsky, to her rise as a stand-up comedienne, her successes and failures, to her eventual death in September of 2014 during what was supposed to be a simple surgical procedure. 

The book is comprehensive, and with a subject such as Rivers, who accomplished so much in her life, it flies by quickly. Joan Molinsky grew up in a household where her doctor-father, a kind and hard-working man, never made enough money for his wife, who feared poverty and always tried to keep up with the Joneses. 

Joan was one of the first successful female stand-up comediennes, and the book is filled with anecdotes from younger female stand-ups who sing the praises of Joan’s generosity, even though Rivers often resented being called a mentor. She always wanted to be hip and relevant, and her fearless stand-up routines, which she continued weekly even up to her death, reflected that.

The early sections of the book rely on material from Rivers’ own writings (she wrote several books, including two memoirs), but once Bennetts interviews people who worked with Rivers, who knew her well, the book gives the reader a better overall picture of this complicated woman.

Rivers was driven, and her many self-reinventions, rising from the ashes of her failed Fox talk show after her very public falling out with Johnny Carson to become not only a successful stand-up comic but also a hugely successful businesswoman designing and selling jewelry in the fledgling QVC network, are an inspiration to anyone who has been knocked down in life.

Actor Bryan Cranston’s “Life in Parts” tells his story of a journeyman actor, where he began as a soap opera actor on “Loving” and became famous as the goofy dad on “Malcolm in the Middle”, and then hit the stratosphere playing high school science teacher-turned-drug-kingpin Walter White on “Breaking Bad”.  

“Life in Parts” recounts his childhood, with a father who wanted to be a successful actor but failed, and then takes you through the life of an actor trying to make it. Cranston is successful because he treats acting as a craft, something to be finely honed. 

He shares stories from his early days on “Loving”, including how he found out he was fired, and there is a little good gossip here. He speaks fondly of his days on “Malcolm in the Middle”, and there are a few chapters on “Breaking Bad”, with some interesting inside information for fans.

For anyone who loves the craft of acting, “Life in Parts” is wonderful book. Cranston has such a reverence for the work of acting, and reading about his process, about how much he cares about doing good work, is fascinating. 

Trevor Noah is best known as the new host of “The Daily Show”, but his book “Born a Crime: Stories From A South Africa Childhood” is about his life growing up as the son of a black African woman and white Swiss man in South Africa. 

Noah is a terrific writer, and he grabs your attention right from the beginning. He grew up when apartheid was ending, after Nelson Mandela was freed from prison, but things didn’t get easier for South Africans right away. There was a strict caste system, and black Africans were pitted against colored Africans, and since Noah was half-white, he didn’t fit in anywhere.

“Born A Crime” gets its title from the fact that it was illegal for blacks and whites to marry, so his parents had to hide their relationship, and Trevor was never allowed to walk next to both of his parents.

The book is a really a love letter to his mom, who pretty much raised Trevor alone, although Trevor spent a lot of time with his grandmother. His stories of childhood are touching, funny and sad.

Anyone who likes a good memoir will enjoy “Born a Crime”. It gives the reader a look at a place many of us are unfamiliar with, yet his story of a mother who worked hard to give her son a better life is universal.

“Last Girl Before Freeway” by Leslie Bennetts-A 

Published by Little Brown

Hardcover, $28, 433 pages

“A Life in Parts” by Bryan Cranston- A-

Published by Scribner

Hardcover, $27, 289 pages

“Born A Crime” by Trevor Noah- A+

Published by Spiegel & Grau

Hardcover, $28, 304 pages

Loner by Teddy Wayne

Loner by Teddy Wayne
Published by Simon & Schuster ISBN 9781501107894
Hardcover, $26, 202 pages

A friend whose taste in books I truly respect told me I must read Teddy Wayne's Loner. So of course I did.

Told from the perspective of 18-year-old David Federman, an intelligent, but socially inexperienced, freshman just starting at Harvard. David wasn't popular at his middle class New Jersey high school and was looking forward to being with people he had something in common with at the prestigious university.

He hangs out with a group of people who were much like he was in high school- on the fringes, not the cool kids. Then David meets Veronica, a self possessed, beautiful young woman from a wealthy Manhattan family.

David makes it his goal to date Veronica. He decides that to get closer to her, he would date her roommate Sara, part of his group of friends. Sara is sweet, smart and hardworking, and close to her family.

Veronica seems to be the kind of girl who gets by on her looks, but how she got into Harvard seems to be a question in my mind. She gets David to write a term paper for her, and it appears that she is using David, but he believes she will come to see him for the great man he is.

As the story progresses, David's obsession with Veronica grows and you get a sinking feeling in your stomach that something is going to go wrong here.

Wayne writes beautifully, and his characters are very well drawn, even as Veronica and David are not quite what they appear to be. Wayne also takes on the charged atmosphere on college campuses today, with the timeless issues of belonging and wanting to fit in clashing with the sexual politics of today.

Loner is a quick read, only 200 pages, but the story will stay with you a long time. I recommend it.

The Most Compelling Books of 2016

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

The year 2016 is quickly coming to a close, and it’s time to reflect on all of the reading I’ve done this year with my list of the most compelling books of 2016. These are books that long after I finished reading, I find myself still thinking about them.

I didn’t read much non-fiction this year, but two titles in that genre made the list, including the one book I was most moved by: Lisa Fenn’s Carry On. Fenn, a producer at ESPN, was looking for a good documentary subject when her father told her about two high school wrestlers — one was blind, the other lost both legs in an accident, and both lived in poverty. Fenn becomes involved in trying to help these young men make better lives for themselves. It restores your faith in humanity and helps you to understand the world better. 

Carry On

Jeffrey Toobin, whose book was the basis for the FX smash TV series The People v. O.J. Simpson, turned his attention to the Patty Hearst kidnapping in American Heiress. Toobin brilliantly immerses the reader in the mid-1970s as he tells of wealthy heiress Hearst’s kidnapping by a group of ragtag political extremists, and what happened when she became an ally to their violent cause. 

American Heiress

Mysteries and thrillers were tops on my reading list, something different for me. Chris Bohjalian’s novel The Guest Room shows how easily one mistake can turn the life of a happily married father into a nightmare. You can feel a pain in the pit of your stomach as his life unravels after a bachelor party, and the ending is shocking. 

The Guest Room

Lisa Lutz’s The Passenger opens with a woman’s husband lying dead at the bottom of the stairs and her on the run. We discover she was already on the run for something else and when she is saved by a stranger, their lives become entwined. You’ll hold your breath the entire time you’re reading. 

The Passenger

Irish writer Tana French’s latest Dublin Murder Squad mystery The Trespasser is the best of the series so far, with a protagonist, detective Antoinette Conway, who is tenacious as she maneuvers her way in an all-male environment to solve a murder that hits close to the squad. 

The Trespasser

Much of the fiction I read this year was just outstanding, and emotional. Caroline Leavitt’s Cruel Beautiful World, set in the early 1970's, follows a 16-year-old girl who runs away with her teacher, and how that affects her sister and Iris, the woman who raised them. Iris’ story moved me most, and these characters are unforgettable. 

Cruel Beautiful World

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Louise Erdrich’s LaRose starts out heartbreaking, as a man accidentally kills his best friend’s young son and, following his tribal tradition, gives his young son to the grieving parents as amends. This beautifully sad book is filled with the fascinating characters affected by this act, and the writing is devastating. 

LaRose

Jennifer Haigh’s Heat and Light tackles the topic of fracking and how it impacts the lives of a small Pennsylvania town where the factory work is gone and people are torn between saving their environment and making enough money to survive. Haigh’s brilliant novel especially resonates in today’s atmosphere. 

Heat and Light

Richard Fifeld’s The Flood Girls is set in a small town as well, in Montana. Rachel comes home to make amends for all the trouble she caused and befriends her teenage neighbor, a young man who doesn’t fit in. Again, the characters here are so well-drawn, and the ending is just shattering. 

The Flood Girls

Deanna Lynn Sletten’s Finding Libbie is a novel that didn’t get a lot of attention, but should have. When a young woman finds a wedding photo of her father with a woman not her mother, she sets out to find out what happened to the bride. It’s about first love, the difficulties of marriage, and the heartbreak of mental illness and addiction. 

Finding Libbie

Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno perfectly places all of the pieces of the puzzle in a story that spans a century, telling how a 19th-century Russian painting affects a variety of people. Given the current interest in Russia, this one is a must-read, and Marra is a genius storyteller. 

The Tsar of Love and Techno

And finally, the book that everyone (including Oprah) has on their list: “The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead. I don’t normally like books that everyone loves, but this one is incredible. Cora's story, a slave who runs away on a literal underground railroad, is just one punch to the gut after another. Every American should read it. 

The Underground Railroad

Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and blogs about books at http://bookchickdi.blogspot.com. You can follow her on Twitter@bookchickdi, and she can be emailed at laruediane2000@yahoo.com.