March RandomCAT -- Ripped From the Headlines

It's impossible to get away from the news these days, so let's embrace it and use it to inform our reading this month. There are a variety of issues that are in the headlines, from racism to immigration to the environment, from Russia to Korea, from social media to school shootings.

While you can choose one of the many books on current issues and events recently published, you can also choose to look at an issue at an earlier time or from a different angle. A mystery set in Russia, historical fiction set during the Civil Rights era, dystopian fiction set after an environmental disaster, non-fiction about Katrina or Columbine all work. Take a look at your shelves, or the shelves in your library or local bookstore and see what strikes your fancy.

Here are a few examples:

For Korea:



For Russia:



For immigration:



For #MeToo:



For racism:



Any subject matter you see in the news fits this challenge. Any connection between that issue and the book you've chosen works. I'm curious to see what you'll find to read!

This looks great and I have so many that will fit.

I'm definitely in for this one, although like Kristelh I have so many that will fit, it will probably take me the rest of February to decide what I'm going to read! Although I'm already committed to reading Green Gone Wrong for the ColourCAT in March, and that will probably fit here too.

I always look forward to the Random as it gives me a chance to look over everything in my TBR piles for something that might not have risen to the top otherwise.

I'm currently reading The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown for this month's Color Cat, but I know I won't finish it this month as we are leaving on vacation on Tues and since it's a hard cover I'm not taking it. About the rowing team from Washington that participated in the 1936 Olympics, it also touches on the politics in Germany and the rise of Hitler. And with the controversy about the combined North and South Korean team, it seems like it will be a good fit for this challenge.

I also have The Double Bind scheduled for one of my Bingo blocks this year, so I'll probably read that next month too.

>1 RidgewayGirl:, A great theme :) >4 dudes22:, I'm with you and enjoying how this changes up my reading and pulls unexpected books to the top of my TBR!

I have a lot that fit, but most of them deal with war and/or violence, and I'm not sure I can handle that right now. Thus, I think I'm going to read Crimes of the Father. From the blurb: "Thomas Keneally unforgettably explores the damage done to innocents as the leaders of the Catholic Church prevaricated around points of law, covering up the scandal of sexual abuse in an effort to protect their own. When Father Frank Docherty is unwittingly pulled into the lives of two people who claim to have been abused by a prominent monsignor, he is confronted with the truth about an institution he loves, and compelled to make a terrible choice."

>4 dudes22: I was even just thinking about possibly something about sports, in general, with the Olympics in the news right now! I've read it already, but for anyone interested in it, I think it would fit perfectly!

I'll look through my tbr, but off the top of my head, I have one possibility (title is not coming to me) written by the mother of one of the boys who did the Columbine shooting. I'm not sure what kind of wait list the library has for it, but I'm sure I'll have plenty more on my tbr that could fit.

I am currently reading Born a Crime for book club and really enjoying it so far, so I can recommend it for this challenge.

I may choose another nonfiction for this challenge, something a bit more uplifting than most of the news these days: The Soul of an Octopus. News stories about octopuses have caught my attention lately, most recently on Science Friday.

I like this too and actually think it could be a CAT!

I have two that I tentatively planned to read next month that will work. Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown addresses isolation and disconnection in today's society. Another is a memoir, Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan, about her family's escape from Iran and immigration to America.

Another I would like to work in is North on the Wing: Travels With the Song Bird Migration of Spring by Bruce M. Beehler. It considers among other things, the critical need for preservation of habitat for birds and other creatures.

I think I will read The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. I think that touches on immigration and religion.

>10 LittleTaiko:, It definitely deals with religion and religious extremism, as well as terrorism. I don't remember much connection to immigration, though I was suppose it was there indirectly. It definitely fits, though!

Oh, yoicks. I'm reading The Hate U Give right now, but I know I'll have it finished before March starts. I'll have to have a look on my shelves...

ETA: I think I'll read On Tyranny, then.

I've had The Orphan Master's Son for quite a while. I postponed it because someone described it as "harrowing". I think it's time now.

I'm going to use this challenge as impetus to read a book I borrowed from my BF's dad a while ago: Spyworld: Inside the Canadian and American Intelligence Establishments, by Mike Frost.

I have quite a few of the examples you gave on my bookshelves. I'm leaning towards Born a Crime or The Hate U Give or The Help...

>9 clue: I like this too and actually think it could be a CAT!

Ooooh, remember that when we suggest CATs for next year! NewsCAT, or HeadlineCAT? Probably someone else can come up with something catchier!

Ok, I probably have lots more options, but just looking at the stuff that's been on my tbr the longest (+ the one that came to mind without looking anything up):

Machete Season / Jean Hatzfeld (Rwanda genocide)
When Men Become Gods / Stephen Singular (FLDS/polygamy)
Titanic Survivor / Violet Jessop (Titanic)
Food Pets Die For / Ann N. Martin (pet food recalls)
A Mother's Reckoning / Sue Klebold (Columbine shooting)

>9 clue: & >16 LibraryCin: Great idea! FrontPageCAT maybe?

Two possibiities I have for this are The Allegations by Mark Lawson, a novel about the innocent subject of a social media campaign, and Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz about big data.

OTOH a big news story in March might derail that and I will choose something else.

Great theme! I just picked up the audio of Born A Crime by Trevor Noah and this looks like the perfect opportunity to listen to it.

>9 clue: and >16 LibraryCin: Love this idea for a Cat next year!
I will be reading My Antonia for my real life book club in March. I would also like to get to The Water Will Come on climate change and When They Call you a Terrorist Black Lives Matter movement. Not to mention the many more I could use from my TBR.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch was in the news very recently. Elon Musk says that this test launch was to further SpaceX's goal of eventually providing commercial spaceflight to the Moon and Mars. The event has inspired me to finally read the last book, Blue Mars, in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, about human settlement on and terraforming of Mars. As a bonus, this book fits the March SFFKIT theme too.

What a great topic! I also think it would make a very interesting cat for next year.

In Canada, a topic that frequently makes the headlines is the discrimination faced by First Nation people (that is Native Americans south of the border). Recently, a white man was acquitted of murdering an unarmed Indigenous youth by an all-white jury. Hundreds of Indigenous women were murdered or went missing with the authorities doing very little about it. That's just two examples among many.

So, I am going to read Seven Fallen Feathers, by Tanya Talaga. It is a non-fiction account of what happened to 7 Indigenous teenagers who died in Thunder Bay, in a span of ten years, the background being systemic discrimination and violations of human rights.

>23 Montarville: Good choice. I have that book on my wishlist but I know the topic will be difficult. However, it needs to be pushed into the headlines - again! The examples you give are both heartbreaking and infuriating.

I went through my kobo yesterday and decided in the end to go for a book that's both relevant and been on the reader the longest without being read. I actually have nearly 30 titles on there that could work for this theme (so would totally go for a CAT - CultureCAT last year was brilliant, and this would be pretty similar I guess), so was struggling to decide which one to go for. So although it's sort of a bit out of date (as it's re the Arab Spring, and specifically the uprising in Egypt), I suspect from the title that it will be still pretty relevant. It's Linda Herrera's Revolution in the Age of Social Media. I'm hoping I'll have time to sneak another one in, but that will do for starters!

Just finished How the light gets in by Louise Penny that could be read for this category. Penny created fictional versions of a couple of big stories from Quebec, the Dionne quintuplets and the deterioration of bridges, that form the backbone of this novel of political and moral corruption.

There are so many great possibilities for this month! Two that I'll try to get to are: False Report: A True Story of Rape in America (self explanatory) and Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions (child immigrants).

I also may read Under a Flaming Sky: the Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894, about two forest fires that converged, with devastating effect, on a Minnesota town. It's by Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys in the Boat, which I read and thoroughly enjoyed earlier this month.

I have Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng up next, which I think fits well, as it touches on topics like racism and feminism.

I'm planning to read The End of Policing, relevant to ongoing issues of police brutality and racism.

beebeereads I'm interested to hear what you think of When They Call You a Terrorist! I've been thinking about reading that.

>29 lavaturtle: Waiting for it from the library...I'll report back!

I agree that this could be a CAT all by itself next year... so fun!

I have a few that will fit that are on my reading stack for March:

March: Book Three ~ racism and civil rights
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl ~ racism, context=legacy of slavery
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek ~ the environment
So You Want to Talk About Race ~ racism
The Power ~ feminism, women and power

I'll be reading What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank by Nathan Englander, a collection of short stories on Jewish themes, for my book club and our local library's region-wide read. This fits well into the theme.

>1 RidgewayGirl: I'm having trouble with this, mainly because so much of what's in the news these days is depressing and I really don't want to read depressing. Since baseball spring training just started, and Opening Day is at the end of March, would something about baseball work?

I've got The Kite Runner and Their Eyes Were Watching God plus possibly Cradle to Cradle. Have to read them to see how well they will fit.

>33 owlie13: Of course it would! If you think it fits, it totally does.

So I just finished Linda Herrera's Revolution in the Age of Social Media: The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet - a very interesting look at the events leading up to the uprising in 2011 that led to the downfall of President Mubarak, and the use of social media by all the various actors (including foreign actors such as the US State Dept). Although it is about events several years ago, with the current focus on 'fake news' and Russian involvement in election-meddling it's still very relevant. 4/5.

I just finished Between Shades of Gray about Lithuanian deportees in Soviet gulags during WW2. Not sure that this really fits the category...

I'm reading An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, which touches on so many current issues, including the mass incarceration of black men, failures in the justice system and the way African Americans have to fight to succeed in a society where their every action is stereo-typed in various harmful ways.

I'd like to nominate Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, which I finished yesterday. News theme: hostage taking.

I just read The Longest Night by Otto de Kat, it is about a 96 year old lady who has the "Sedation team" coming the next day so she knows this is her last night. She remembers many key moments in her life. Euthanasia is a regular headline topic here, as it is not legal.

I finished Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894 by Daniel James Brown. While not as polished as his excellent The Boys in the Boat, the story of the series of events that precipitated the Hinckley Firestorm and the harrowing experiences of those it it's path is gripping. It involves irresponsible business and environmental practices prompted by greed and indifference, extreme weather conditions, heroes who saved lives and the willing blindness of many who failed to see what was coming.

I think that makes it fairly relevant to today's headlines.

I am currently reading The Newcomers: Finding Refuge, Friendship, and Hope in an American Classroom by Helen Thorpe. Thorpe spent 18 months observing and interviewing students and families from a Denver high school classroom that is for students who have just arrived to this country as refugees. Amazing look at the refugee experience as viewed through the eyes of teenagers trying to adapt to the American way of life. It is an in-depth look at refugees in America that we don't read about in the headlines.

I'm going to try for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Last month was 100 years since some women were granted the vote, and yet we're still battling with an assumption of male superiority. I'm hoping that returning to the beginning will give me some hope and perspective.

I wasn't expecting Psmith, Journalist to work for this CAT but here is his preface (my underlining):

"PREFACE
THE conditions of life in New York are so different from those of London that a story of this kind calls for a little explanation. There are several million inhabitants of New York. Not all of them eke out a precarious livelihood by murdering one another, but there is a definite section of the population which murders—not casually, on the spur of the moment, but on definitely commercial lines at so many dollars per murder. The "gangs" of New York exist in fact. I have not invented them. Most of the incidents in this story are based on actual happenings. The Rosenthal case, where four men, headed by a genial individual calling himself "Gyp the Blood" shot a fellow-citizen in cold blood in a spot as public and fashionable as Piccadilly Circus and escaped in a motor-car, made such a stir a few years ago that the noise of it was heard all over the world and not, as is generally the case with the doings of the gangs, in New York only. Rosenthal cases on a smaller and less sensational scale are frequent occurrences on Manhattan Island. It was the prominence of the victim rather than the unusual nature of the occurrence that excited the New York press. Most gang victims get a quarter of a column in small type.

P. G. WODEHOUSE
New York, 1915"

Just finished The Curse of the Narrows: the Halifax Explosion 1917 by Laura M. MacDonald that I zipped through simply because it was fascinating and unputdownable!

I'm also reading a new edition of Frozen in Time: the Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie. I already own the book (I used to work with the author) but this one has an introduction by Margaret Atwood and some new information.

And, I'm listening to an audiobook: When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

I did not expect to read something random that fit this challenge, but this is the RandomCAT! I read Fallout by Sara Paretsky for a TIOLI challenge, and lo and behold it fits here as well! The major themes of race relations, biological warfare, and government intrusion are in the headlines almost daily. On that of that, it was a good book and I recommend it. Probably better if you've read at least some of the other books, but I've skipped a few of the most recent and did not feel lost.

I'm counting this. It's very timely!

Yesterday's headlines were dominated by International Women's Day, so I fished Mary Beard's Women & Power from the pile, which also fills the Bingo slot for the 2017 purchase. Some very pithy observations.

I have completed listening to Born A Crime by Trevor Noah which was both an amazing and informative book. Hearing his story in his own words raised this book up to 5 stars.

I have just finished Heather Rogers' Green Gone Wrong: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Eco-Capitalism which was really excellent (albeit quite depressing).

Just finished the revised edition of Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and, like the original version, I gave it five stars! My review is here: Review

Note: I knew Dr Beattie and members of his team who were researchers with the Boreal Institute for Northern Studies where I worked in the library (University of Alberta). It was interesting to revisit and catch up on many familiar names.

I read a short one this morning which is very relevant currently: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. It didn't have anything in it that is new to anyone who is following basic debates in contemporary feminism, but is good to have it all in the one place set out so clearly. 4/5.

WWI and Climbing Mount Everest fit headlines.

Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest / Wade Davis
3.25 stars

George Mallory made three attempts to summit Everest in the early 1920s. On his third attempt in 1924, he and a young, inexperienced Sandy Irvine went missing, and no one knows whether they made it to the top or not. This book looks at all three attempts, plus the people who were involved, many who also fought in WWI.

I really liked the last 1/3 of the book (4 stars worth), but the first 2/3 were hit or miss for me. There were parts that seemed really good, but they just didn’t hold my interest. Some of the stuff on the war was very well-written, but overall, that part of the book just wasn’t all that great for me. However, in the last 1/3 of the book, which followed the last two attempts at Everest in 1922 and 1924, I was fascinated (as I usually expect to be when reading about Everest!). It is possible (but hard to say for sure) the not-holding-my-attention in the first 2/3 of the book (over 400 pages!) could simply be due to stress in my life at the moment. There were also a lot of people involved, so sometimes I would lose track of who was who.

>53 LibraryCin: I have this on the shelf too but it's the size that puts me off. I get the impression that Davis combined more than one story for this - war and climbing. From your review this doesn't appear to have worked well. I've enjoyed other books on Mallory - like Franklin (in #51) he has become a legendary figure.

>54 VivienneR: Many other people liked the book a lot more than I did, so if you can get past the size and give it a try, it might be worthwhile for you, too! I do wonder, though, if I'd been able to just hibernate at home and not have to leave my house and think about other stressors, if it might have made a difference!

ETA: And I did add another book about the Mallory mystery to my tbr just after finishing this one. :-)

I've read We Were Eight Years in Power: an American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates, which is very appropriate for this challenge. This book emphasizes the history of white supremacy in keeping blacks as inferior people throughout U.S. history. It particularly resonated with me since I live in Charlottesville, VA, where we had a violent alt-right demonstration last summer, and our community is trying to find ways of dealing with the situation -- and making sure nothing like it happens again.

>53 LibraryCin: >54 VivienneR: It made my top ten the year I read it. One of the things I loved about the book is that it put the mountaineering into a the context of the personal history of the people that took part in the expeditions. I went back and forth between reading and the excellent audiobook.

Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak / Jean Hatzfeld
3 stars

The author first wrote a book where he interviewed 14 survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. I haven’t read it, though I've read plenty of other books about it. It was only later that he thought to interview some of those who killed during the genocide. In this book, the interviews were interspersed with history, sometimes a description of interview process and how it came about that the author decided to write this one, sometimes the voices of some of the survivors are included.

The killers just came across to me as very cold, no remorse – to them, it was a job. I wonder if that’s why the book didn’t affect me all that much? I felt detached while reading it. Overall, I’m rating it ok, but for me, there are much better books about Rwanda out there.

I finished On Tyranny:
A plain-spoken treatise on where we are, politically, how we could possibly have gotten here, and what to do about it now that we are.
Everyone needs to read this, and soonish would be good.

I've read Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen by Donia Bijan. Bijan's family suddenly became exiled while on vacation in Spain. Her Uncle called and told them it wouldn't be safe for them to return to Iran. Bijan's mother had been involved in politics, particularly in women's issues, and she would not have been treated kindly by revolutionaries.

The memoir painfully describes the difficulty of isolation, learning to live in a new culture and of the distance that grew between her and her father.

I finished another short one by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists. Like Dear Ijeawele which I read a few days ago, this isn't anything new for people who've been following recent developments, but is good to have in the one place so concisely.

I'm running out of time for the month but I'm hoping to start American Pain about the opioid epidemic, We Crossed a Bridge and it Trembled about the war in Syria; or The politics of Resentment specifically about the recall and reelection of Scott Walker in Wisconsin but generally about rural political consciousness.

This month's theme has been awesome for me getting through (a little tiny chunk of) Mt TBR! I've just finished Where Freedom Starts: Sex Power Violence #MeToo which is the latest report/anthology from Verso Books (it's also free from the publisher if anyone is interested).

I read Seven Fallen Feathers, by Tanya Talaga, about seven Indigenous teenagers who died while they were in Thunder Bay to attend high school. It's not an easy subject, but it's worth the read. I highly recommend it.

Murder makes headlines

Snow White Must Die / Nele Neuhaus
4 stars

Tobias is just coming home after 10 years in prison for murdering two teenage girls (his own age) in the small town he lived in. He was convicted on (damning) circumstantial evidence, and that he had blacked out and couldn’t even remember if he’d done it himself. In those 10 years, his family lost so much. There is a new girl in town, Amelie, who befriends Tobias, and tries to find out more about the case. Meanwhile, the townspeople are not happy that Tobias is back.

I really liked this. The viewpoint shifted quite often, which was fine, but there were a lot of characters, so I was getting people confused for a while. Especially amongst the police, as they would sometimes refer to the same person by their first name and other times, by their last name. There was some following of the two main police officers, but I didn’t find either of their personal stories all that interesting. Tobias’s story was, by far, the best part of the book.

I'm about to start Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith, which is set in the USSR under Stalin.

Unexpectedly read something that would fit this challenge. Lisa Genova's latest novel Every Note Played is about a man who is diagnosed with ALS. There are quite a few references to Stephen Hawking whose death was in the news quite a bit last week.

Fool Me Once / Harlan Coben
3.5 stars

Maya, former military, witnessed the murder of her husband, but soon after, sees him on her nanny cam! She sets out to find out what’s going on – is her mind playing tricks on her?

This was good, but maybe not as much as many of his other books. There were plenty of twists, and I definitely didn’t see the end coming! I really disliked Maya, though, and I was still left a little bit confused about one thing at the end. As a side note, I listened to the audio, and the narrator did a nice job.

Found one!

O Jerusalem by Laurie R King takes place in Palestine, post WWI, with politics and historic characters such as General Allenby and T.E. Lawrence in evidence, though not to a point where it overwhelms the plot.

I've read two books for this CAT.

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas is set in the future, but it shows the impact of a "Personhood Amendment" and how it changes the lives of five women. The amendment doesn't just outlaw abortion, but also most fertility treatments. It wasn't a subtle book, but the characters were all complex and the story was fascinating.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones takes on the impact wrongful incarceration and the many stereo-types that dog African Americans in a story of an ordinary couple whose life is blown apart by a false arrest.

>70 RidgewayGirl: Red Clocks is on my TBR. Glad to hear you liked it.

Finished The Girl in Green another outstanding story by this author of Norwegian by Night. The story takes place in Iraq, first in 1991 and then 2013. The author is well versed in the work of humanitarian aid organizations which informed his story-telling and sense of place. Many of the current headlines are about the plight of refugees and the danger of working in war-torn countries.

The reader is taken back and forth from the present to events in the past that impacted the way a particular character was thinking or acting. I think Miller gets the balance just right, enough background to inform, but not overwhelm the narrative of the present story. For those sensitive to tough violence, there are scenes that are not right for you. That said, the violence was impactful, but not gratuitous. Highly recommend this book for readers who like fast paced action, lots of dialogue, pop culture references, reflection on real events, dark humor.

>72 beebeereads:, bb taken :)

For my part, I got a late start on this challenge, but I'm about a third of the way through Crimes of the Father, which jumps between a few viewpoints and timelines, but primarily focuses on a priest who has studied in psychology, and focused on the abuse scandals and systemic flaws that allow for them within the Catholic Church. It's by the same author who wrote Schindler's List, and although I'm only about a third of the way through, I'm already ready to pick up everything else this man has written. The work is incredibly nuanced, from his look at the issue at the book's center down to his protagonist's struggles with a problem that's anchored in his own faith and calling. If you have even the remotest interest, I'd recommend it.

Charley's Web / Joy Fielding
4 stars

Charley (Charlotte) is a columnist for a newspaper. When she is contacted by a child murderer on death row to write her side of the story, Charley is a bit hesitant, but decides to do it. Meanwhile, she and her two kids’ lives are being threatened due to some of what she’s writing in her columns.

This really pulled me in. I wanted to keep reading, and I did! I finished it faster than I’d expected, but the drawback is that I’m afraid I might forget it quicker, as well. However, it was a great read while I was reading, that’s for sure! Definite twist ending I certainly didn’t see coming!

>73 whitewavedarling: Right back at you---I'll take a bb for Crimes of the Father. You sold me with your last line and I have more than a remote interest based on your praise. I just needed a kick over the line to add it to my current TBR.

I finished The End of Policing. It was really good. I absolutely recommend it to anyone concerned about police violence or racial and economic inequality in America.

>75 beebeereads:, I'm glad! I desperately wanted to finish it last night, but my eyes were just too tired after an over-full workday. I know the subject will scare some readers off, but it's an impressive book. I think I've got maybe 75 pages left--hoping to sit down and finish tonight or tomorrow night...

Starting The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin.

News themes: deforestation, exploitation of forest environment and peoples.

I finished A closed and common orbit by Becky Chambers and loved it. The theme is AI, which is very much in the news these days.

I finished When They Call You a Terrorist. This was an important read for many reasons. I try not to “criticize” memoirs that I read based on the simple belief that everyone has a right to their own story without judgment. I can say that this is an important book and I would recommend it to anyone who would like a perspective different from their own. If you are privileged by access including race, gender, money, birthright, profession, etc. this is a must read. Khan-Cullors tells her story in clear, precise language and shares the joy of the loves in her life and also the pain in her experiences. 4*

I finished Crimes of the Father, and really, it was such a good, powerful read. I know it's not for everyone, but I'd certainly recommend it. It was the first 5* read I've had in a while. Thank you, >1 RidgewayGirl: for choosing this RandomCat topic and pushing me to finally get around to it!

Full Review:

Keneally's novel will, without a doubt, scare many people away just by virtue of its subject. It's difficult to pick up a book which you know from the get-go is going to focus on sexual abuse, the Catholic Church, and children who've been taken advantage of by their own priests. And yet, Keneally's creation of Father Frank Doherty is touching, nuanced, and striking; his character is one who is stuck in a situation and place that he never dreamed of entering at all, surrounded by people who distrust him because of his openness and values, and an institution he loves, but sees honestly and feels compelled to criticize because he believes it is only through such criticism that its greatness can be regained, if not maintained.

Keneally's gorgeous writing and unerring pacing make this book nearly impossible to put down, despite the fact that he takes on subjects which, most often, are more comfortably left unspoken. The book is striking, smart, and compelling, and well worth reading for anyone concerned with the Catholic Church as an institution or the faith in our contemporary world, as well as any reader who might be interested in an intricate character study of a man who is caught irrevocably between his faith and his reality.

Absolutely, 100%, recommended.

Necessary as Blood by Deborah Crombie involves human trafficking, so I'll count it as filling this category. I finished the audio this afternoon.

I finished The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas about a police shooting. Really well done, very frustrating. It’s a YA book and unfortunately, ripped from the headlines even this week.

Thank you to everyone who took part in this month's RandomCAT. I have added numerous books to my TBR as a result.

I finished A Vindication of the Rights of Woman last night (just sneaking under the wire). It is very much of its time, but there is a lot that remains valid in this day and age.

The Courage Tree / Diane Chamberlain
4 stars

When Janine’s 8-year old, Sophie, goes away to a camp with the other Brownies/Girl Scouts, it’s an adventure for her. Sophie is in end-stage renal failure, but has been feeling so much better on an alternative herbal mixture that is being tested. On the way home, she and another little girl are in a second vehicle with a younger leader. When their vehicle doesn’t return home, time is ticking on Sophie’s treatment. What happened? Janine and her ex-husband, Joe, are frantic to find Sophie!

This was really good. Another page-turner that kept me wanting to stay up late and read! Oh, Joe and Janine’s parents just made me want to smack them all, though. In addition to a couple other characters.

In addition to Under a Flaming Sky, which I mentioned earlier in March, I also read three others which I think work for this Cat.

Poppies of Iraq was a very good work of graphic nonfiction, about the author's youth in Iraq and the gradual distancing she and her family (her father Iraqi and her mother French) experienced as time and politics changed her home.

The Lentil Underground: Renegade Farmers and the Future of Food in America captured the experience of a group of farmers in Montana and how big agriculture changed by whom and how our food is grown - and what can be done to make smaller scale family farming viable again. It was far more readable than I expected and quite interesting.

And finally, I wasn't going to count The Family Tree: A Lynching, a Legacy of Secrets, and My Search for the Truth, but there's no avoiding the fact that we are still dealing with slavery and its aftermath on a daily basis in the U.S. At several points, it's mentioned that even though states and local law enforcement are clearly unable and/or unwilling to stop lynchings, Presidents declined to speak out about it in a meaningful and Congress won't pass a Federal Anti-lynching law because it was a States' rights issue. Only a day or two before I read that the White House claimed that the shooting of black men was a 'local issue.' A definite headline.....

I also read A Far, Far Better Thing by Jens Soering and Bill Sizemore. Soering was wrongfully convicted in 1990 for two murders he did not commit and he and his supporters are still trying to get him freed.

Motivated by SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launch in February, I finally finished Blue Mars, the final book in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy.

I also started but have not finished yet All We Leave Behind, CBC journalist Carol Off's memoirs about her work covering the political strife in Afghanistan and the struggles of an Afghan family that featured in her documentary.

Well I read most of this book in March, but didn't finish it until now. The Water Will Come
The title says it all...a look ahead to sea level rise by 2100. The author examines threatened areas such as Miami Beach, Manhattan, the Jersey Shore, Venice, Paris, the Marshall Islands. He reports the current status and interviews many officials who are struggling to come up with plans to protect their cities from inundation.

Last week I finished my selection in >14 rabbitprincess: Spyworld, by Mike Frost. While the book itself is dated, having been published in 1994, the issue of balancing national security with public accountability is a perennial one. Part of me would like to read an updated edition of this book... and part of me might not.