Top 10 Tuesday: Red, White, and Blue

July 4: Book Covers In the Colors of My Country’s Flag

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

You’re a grand old flag,
You’re a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You’re the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.

1.

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts

• 660 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published November 1, 1987
• Genres: Nonfiction, LGBTQ, Science, Medicine, Politics, American History

… Shilts’ expose revealed why AIDS was allowed to spread unchecked during the early 80’s while the most trusted institutions ignored or denied the threat. One of the few true modern classics, it changed and framed how AIDS was discussed in the following years.

goodreads

I strongly recommend making And the Band Played On required reading for Supreme Court Justices, since the majority does not understand how public discrimination kills people.

2.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

• 453 pages, Paperback
• First published November 10, 1961
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, War, Humor

Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

goodreads

3.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

• 550 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published October 18, 2022
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Appalachia, Coming-of-age, Foster Care, Retelling

It’s the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

goodreads

4.

The Life She was Given by Ellen Marie Wiseman

• 370 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published July 25, 2017
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Women, Mystery

On a summer evening in 1931, Lilly Blackwood glimpses circus lights from the grimy window of her attic bedroom. Lilly isn’t allowed to explore the meadows around Blackwood Manor. She’s never even ventured beyond her narrow room. Momma insists it’s for Lilly’s own protection, that people would be afraid if they saw her. But on this unforgettable night, Lilly is taken outside for the first time–and sold to the circus sideshow.

Goodreads

5.

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

• 368 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published January 16, 2018
• Genres: Literary Fiction, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Family, Women

Two sisters: Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister’s protector; Lucia, the vibrant, headstrong, unconventional one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts to hear voices, it’s Miranda who must fight for the help her sister needs — even as Lucia refuses to be defined by any doctor’s diagnosis. Determined, impetuous, she plows ahead, marrying a big-hearted Israeli only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant. She will move with her new family to Ecuador, but the bitter constant remains: she cannot escape her own mental illness.

Goodreads

6.

Telling Lies for Fun & Profit by Lawrence Block

• 256 pages, Paperback
• First published January 1, 1981
• Genres: Nonfiction, Writing Fiction, Books about Books

Characters refusing to talk? Plot plodding along? Where do good ideas come from anyway? In this wonderfully practical volume, two-time Edgar Award-winning novelist Lawrence Block takes an inside look at writing as a craft and as a career.

goodreads

7.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

• 447 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published February 28, 2017
• Genres: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Social Justice, Race

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. 

goodreads

8.

Rapture of the Deep by David Grindberg

• 224 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published April 1, 2014
• Genres: Fiction, Family

In the middle of the night, the doorbell rings, and Jennifer Johnson is pulled from a deep sleep. Outside her front door stand two police officers, messengers bearing tragic news. Joe, Jen’s recently estranged husband, is missing, the victim of a scuba diving accident.
Joe “Puck” Johnson is a master carpenter. He is quiet, thoughtful, and passionately loves his deeply scarred wife. Their separation, unwanted, painful, and immersed in unfinished business, is now punctuated by this unfathomable loss.

Goodreads

9.

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard

• 466 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published January 1, 1996
• Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Family

The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother’s worst nightmare—the disappearance of a child—as it explores a family’s struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds.

goodreads

10.

The Faulty Process of Electing a Senior Class President by Chris Dietzel

• 275 pages, Kindle Edition
• Published January 19, 2017
• Genres: Fiction, Humor

United Exceptionalism is known far and wide as being the greatest prep school. In recent years, however, it has begun to suffer, and its problems fall on the shoulders of the senior class president. The school desperately needs someone who will offer solutions. Instead, the students find themselves having to choose between two kids who are widely disliked and constantly surrounded in scandal. It will be a year that no one at United Exceptionalism will ever forget.

goodreads

I read this one in February 2018. This was my review:

If you honestly want to know "What Happened" this book is the one to read.

Is this a Hilary Clinton reference? 😃

Thoughts?