A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship
by Michelle Kuo
A memoir of race, inequality, and the power of literature told through the life-changing friendship between an idealistic young teacher and her gifted student, jailed for murder in the Mississippi Delta.
From page one, Michelle Kuo's extraordinary memoir, Reading with Patrick, pulled me into a journey from Arkansas to Harvard, and places in between. It challenged my assumptions about the label "murderer" and reinforced my own professional experience teaching at-risk students. Kuo's entertaining writing style and honesty fuel a deeper conversation about education, race, and justice in contemporary America.
Read More
Confusion of Languages is a nail-biting thriller that invites readers into an off-limits world, written with vivid details of place and culture. "Every embassy residence is equipped with a panic room with bulletproof door. If you feel you are in danger, lock yourself in your panic room and radio the embassy immediately." These are the rules. However, no sanctuary exists for the vulnerable emotional situations that Cassie and Margaret encounter as ex-pat military wives living in Amman, Jordan.
Read More
Cycles of addiction, neglect, or “maternal bad choices” tend to revolve through generations. Relationships between mothers and their children fuel the compelling-if-somewhat-tangled plot of Woman No. 17. Complex dynamics between the mom (Lady), The Sitter (S), and her charges (Devin, 3, and Seth, 18) play out while The Sitter attempts to sort her own “mom-issues” and Lady wavers between divorce or reconciliation with her absent husband.
Read More