What I read in March 2019

Another slow month, full of lots of work and some travel prep and travel. I will need to step up my game to get to that magical number 40! That's just how some months go, though.



Here's what I read:

The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life by Lauren Markham |  This book was the February read for my book club on refugees. It was the story of twin brothers, Salvadorean, who make it to the U.S., crossing the border illegally and finally getting their resident status. It is a good way to understand a bit about the crisis at the southern border (if you want to call it that), and a little more about the U.S.'s direct role in the problems to our south. The brothers weren't super likable, necessarily, and in that sense it felt "real" to me - for some reason that I can't put my finger on, I think we tend to find the Latin refugee/immigrants a bit unlikable at times. It may be because they are often very frank about being in the U.S. only to make money and send money back, or bring family members to the U.S. It doesn't fit our "romantic" idea of what a refugee is. But it is SO important for us as Americans to understand that the U.S. has put Latin America into a corner, destroying in many cases their democracies, stability, and economies, and for that reason alone I feel strongly that the people from these countries should be welcome with open arms in the U.S. We should all read more about their stories and the political history behind them that has shaped them.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George | This book came highly recommended by my friend Jenny, and while I didn't like it very much (I really couldn't identify with the characters, and the writing was a translation from French and felt a little disjointed and straining to be "poetic"), there were some really nice passages and ideas throughout. The premise (a bookseller who owns a book store on a barge and recommends books to others as a sort of health remedy) was really nice.