I am an American

I don’t have to be Jewish, black, indigenous, Muslim, Japanese, immigrant, descended from the Pilgrims, gay, transgendered, or Latina to be afraid. I am an American. And I am afraid. Donald Trump is ripping through and destroying hard-won rights. Not privileges, like corporations have, but basic rights. Mere days into his term as President, he is signing executive order after executive order. Orders that hurt American after American. We suffer when he signs orders to damage the environment. We suffer when he signs orders that damage the indigenous people of our country. We suffer when he gags scientists and government officials. We suffer when he bans people from coming here. We suffer when he guts regulations. We suffer when he appoints incompetent people to high level and far reaching posts. We suffer when he appoints people who are diametrically opposed to the very purpose of the department they’ve been appointed to. We suffer every time Donald Trump tears at the fabric of our society to create a society for him and his rich cronies alone. Poor huddled masses yearning to be free have made us the country we are. Refugees, immigrants, slaves, indigenous people are the ones that created this nation. We need all of us to build our future. I am an American and I am afraid of what Donald Trump is doing. Stand up to him. Do not let him rip apart our rights. Our basic rights. Rights to a good education, rights to science, rights to the environment, rights to know people from other parts of the world, other religions, the right to be people from other parts of the world and of a religion or an atheist. I am an American and that means I get to be Jewish, black, indigenous, Muslim, Japanese, immigrant, descended from the Pilgrims, gay, transgendered, or Latina. But I don’t want to be afraid. I want a nation that stands for truth and justice. I want to be in a nation that affords everyone basic rights regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. I want a nation that respects others even as it disagrees with others. I am an American and I want a good and just nation for all.

Books of 2017- Installment #1

1. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
I had heard of this amazing collection of short stories by Ted Chiang and immediately tried to get it from the library. Apparently everybody else had too because I was wait-listed. Okay, fine, I've got plenty of other books. Off I read and waited and read and waited. Then I heard there was going to be a film adaptation of one of the stories in the book. Ohh!! Okay, library!!! I want to read it before I see the film! Oh, the film's out and I keep hearing good things. Okay, I'll watch the film because 1) the book is almost always better than the film/TV show (notable exception the Sookie Stackhouse books are nowhere near as good as the True Blood series....) and 2) it's a collection of short stories and the film is only about one of the stories.... Okay, so great film, but when am I going to get the book??? Ah, 2017! So this is my first book of the year! And it's hard sci-fi! Love it!! Bring it on!!! :)

2. The Dark Forest by CiXin Liu 
This is the second in the Remembrances of Earth's Past trilogy. This book spans more than 200 years and grapples with interesting issues of how humanity would react to an extraterrestrial threat. I'm not sure I agree with all of the various ideas put forth (and really don't like the scene where they point the Hubble II space telescope at the Earth and take a clear picture of people standing on a building), but it is a very interesting epic. Plus it's always fascinating reading another culture's view on big topics!

3. The Reader by Traci Chee
This young adult book is an adventure story set in a world where reading is magic... literally magic! It was a wonderful story and I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series!

4. By Gaslight by Steven Price
This Canadian-written tome is about a couple of Americans in England during the 1880s (with some bits in other places and times, like South Africa in the 1870s). I found that a very weird choice but okay... It is deeply, deeply, shockingly long. I don't think I have a short attention span, but it's a long book that doesn't feel like it needs to be that long. It took me a good 100 pages to feel actually engaged in the story.

5. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly
This book was something I was really intrigued by despite the fact it is nonfiction- or rather because it is nonfiction! Women in science and NASA in the 40s!! Yay!! So exciting!! I'm so happy that Margot Lee Shetterly got this story out into the world and that the movie (#1 at the box office) propels it even further!! Now, I had to wait for more than two months to get this book from the library, but I'm so glad I got to read it!!

Books of 2016- Installment #22

106. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Wow! Great book! The reviews that I read said that lots of books are set in bookstores but most of the time it doesn't matter. Not so with this book. And they were right! This is a wonderful story where the characters' love of books is a delight! I loooooove this book!!

107. The Order of the Trees by Katy Farber
This was a lovely complement to The Hidden Life of Trees that I read earlier this month. It is a fictional story about the saving of some woods.

108. The Dream-Quest of Vellit Boe by Kij Johnson
This novella was a revisit of HP Lovecraft's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, which I haven't read. I think that the story is interesting without knowing the source material, but I imagine it would be a deeper experience with familiarity with the Lovecraft story. It is a journey, a quest, between two worlds. Personally, my favorite parts were of the cat, that reminds me of my own little Phryne Bear. They are both lithe black kitties with green eyes.

109. Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood
Speaking of Phryne, the next book I read was book 14 in the Phryne Fisher mystery series. Such a wonderful world to spend time in. Quite a treat and a lovely end to my 2016 reading.

Trixie and the Moai 2016 Awards

I am so excited to present the first ever Trixie and the Moai Awards!!!

I read over 100 books in 2016, so there were a lot of books to choose from. But that gave me time and perspective. These books are of different genres (historical, science fiction, literary fiction) and different settings (Massachusetts in the 1600s, Taiwan and the Pacific, England, India and Africa in the future, and present-day Massachusetts). In the end I chose the 5 books that stay with me.

Without further ado, here are the award-winning books of 2016, listed in the order I read them!!