The Burrow

(Well, she's new to me, anyway)  Following along in my unplanned journey into Stories of Exile, I've found Ibi Zoboi.  She is a clear voice, a no bullshit, cut to the heart, I can't read another word but I cannot put this down kind of writer - and her voice is unlike any other I've read. She brought me to Haiti and Detroit and inside juvenile detention and I'm still wondering what happened to those I met along the way.  They were very real.   On the first page of  American Street , ICE separates a teenage Haitian girl - with American citizenship - from her mother - whose paperwork is not exactly in order - as they step off the airplane into New York, and, as Manman promises, la belle vie .  Fabiola's struggle to free her is just one of the threads Zoboi has running through her story.  There are three cousins and an aunt.  There are good boys and bad boys - because these are high school kids so of course there are both kinds of boys.... s...

I love that the library is open, this time not just for outdoor pickup, or only for indoor grab-your-reserved-book-and-go, but for actual browsing in the shelves.  There were two youngsters getting their first library cards and there were two shiny new bestsellers on the NEW BOOKS cart right inside the front door.  I grabbed them both. I started with Faye Kellerman's The Lost Boys , another in her series about the ultra-Orthodox widow married to the converted (but did he really have to??) homicide detective.  The plots are always interesting, the family dynamics are often compelling, and the characters grow with the passing years.  I don't have many main characters in my life who are also approaching 70; it adds an interesting dimension to the stories. All of that was true in this book, but I spent much too much time screaming at the pages.  If ever a book were in need of a copy editor, it's this one.  After bringing a six pack  to the table, a guest o...