The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 🔖🔖🔖🔖

First published September 1, 1952 

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Literary awards: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1953, Premio Bancarella 1953, National Book Award Finalist for Fiction 1953

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The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of Santiago, an aging fisherman, and his long struggle to catch a giant marlin.  (Source: wikipedia) 

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This was a quick read and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I love the character and enjoyed the descriptive story. To be invested in a story about a fish says something to me. :)

The Outsiders by S E Hinton 🔖🔖🔖🔖

First published April 24, 1967 

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Literary awards: Books I Loved Best Yearly Awards for Secondary 1991, Margaret A Edwards Award 1988

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The Outsiders is about two weeks in the life of a 14-year-old boy. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider. According to Ponyboy, there are two kinds of people in the world: greasers and socs. A soc (short for "social") has money, can get away with just about anything, and has an attitude longer than a limousine. A greaser, on the other hand, always lives on the outside and needs to watch his back. Ponyboy is a greaser, and he's always been proud of it, even willing to rumble against a gang of socs for the sake of his fellow greasers--until one terrible night when his friend Johnny kills a soc. The murder gets under Ponyboy's skin, causing his bifurcated world to crumble and teaching him that pain feels the same whether a soc or a greaser. (Source: goodreads) 

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I read this as a teenager, or I watched the movie; I am not sure which. I do know my mom hated it and would not let us read it. My foster sister got in so much trouble when she did so! 

As an adult, I enjoyed it. I could tell it was written by a young woman as it had a naive tone. It had a good message, yet this was a bit heavy when it may have actually been okay to not make it so obvious but allow the reader to pick up on their own. The characters were good and well-done. 

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Why was this banned?  Violence, profanity, too depressing, glorified violence, portrayal of a non-traditional family.

My take: 

Violence - yes. Teenagers and young adults participate in fighting as rival "gangs" ranging from punching, kicking, using found items as weapons such as bottles or pipes, switchblades, and guns. 

Profanity - not a one, unless you consider "golly" to be profanity. Profanity is discussed and stated that it was used in comments, yet the book does not use them. 

Too depressing - spoiler: characters die 

Glorified violence - I think this misses one of the entire points of this story.

Portrayal of a non-traditional family - meaning a young man raising his brothers because their parents died recently in a car accident?  Or a character being raised by a single mom? Horrors (insert sarcasm).

Would I want my kid reading this? Sure. He already has as required reading in 8th grade. I was fine with that. 

Take My Hand by Delon Perkins-Valdez ✖️

First published April 12, 2022

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Literary Awards: Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Nominee for General Fictions 2023, Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction 2022, NAACP Award for Fiction 2023 

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Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients are children—just 11 and 13 years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day, she arrives at the door to learn the unthinkable has happened and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.

Because history repeats what we don’t remember. (source: goodreads)

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Sometimes my privilege is very clear. Not finishing this book is one of those times. 

Though the story is quite slow, the main reason I could not finish was because I could see where it was leading and I could not emotionally handle it. My privileged self has the luxury to shut it down. Yet not before I did some research on the two girls this is based on. 

As I've said on a few other reviews - humans are disgusting.

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty 🔖

First published January 1, 1980 

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Literary awards: National Book Award for Fiction 1983, National Book Award Finalist for Fiction 1981

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Including the earlier collections A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, The Golden Apples, and The Bride of the Innisfallen, as well as previously uncollected ones, these forty-one stories demonstrate Eudora Welty's talent for writing from diverse points-of-view with “vision that is sweet by nature, always humanizing, uncannily objective, but never angry” (Washington Post).

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I have to disagree about Eudora Welty's vision being "sweet by nature, always humanizing, uncannily objective" as Washington Posts Suggest. This book contained the forty-one promised stories and I enjoyed exactly zero. I *almost* liked two. I have no idea about the author as a person, though I read her as pompous. I could be way off. I hated the frequent use of the n word, that seemed to be not cool during the time period in which she wrote. Her stories often made no sense to me. Most times, it was as if two or more stories were pieced together to make one, and they were not related in the least. One paragraph we could be talking about apples and the very next thought is so completely unrelated and could be about something like the lake. I kept feeling like I was missing paragraphs. 

I'm betting I just missed the brilliance. 

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers 🔖🔖🔖

First published June 4, 1940

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Carson McCullers’ prodigious first novel was published to instant acclaim when she was just twenty-three. Set in a small town in the middle of the deep South, it is the story of John Singer, a lonely deaf-mute, and a disparate group of people who are drawn towards his kind, sympathetic nature. The owner of the café where Singer eats every day, a young girl desperate to grow up, an angry drunkard, a frustrated black doctor: each pours their heart out to Singer, their silent confidant, and he in turn changes their disenchanted lives in ways they could never imagine. (source: goodreads)

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This was slow going yet interesting enough in parts to keep me locked in. I enjoyed the main characters except for the drunk and the man in love with a teenage girl. One was too brash and the other kinda icky. One stayed the same through the end, another actually made changes. You can read it to find out for yourself. :)

Someone said this book is *not* about unrequited love. I think it really is. Not romantic love (probably) but friendship and connection love. It was about our need to be seen, to be heard (if I dare say) and the lengths we'll go for that, and how many times it is counterfeit.

I liked it enough. It had a huge Grapes of Wrath feel for me at times.

The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean 🔖🔖🔖

First published May 7, 2024

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It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return. (Source: goodreads)

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Another outlier review. I had high hopes for this one based on previous reviews from other readers. I wanted to love it more than I did. 

I did finish, and wanted to, as the mystery aspect grabbed my attention. Even so, it was sort of slow moving and there was almost zero character development. There was a surprise ending, which was cool, yet the discovery of who was behind the gross crimes was not that much of a shock and felt flat. 

There are some disturbing aspects to the crimes in the story, so be warned. Sinister crimes, young girls missing or murdered ... you can guess what you'll find therein.