No Matter ... Bill Bailey Ain't Never.... by Edgardo Vega Yunque

I read!  638 pages!  And I read it twice.

Yungue's genius writing style took me on a journey of twists and turns that always came together at the right moments and, those connections served to propel me into extended sections of his novel.

The size of the book is daunting but, immediately, upon entrance, it grabs you.   At first, the long explanations and tangents into other minds and histories scare the reader with the fear of boredom to come.  Yet, that doesn't happen.  After a while the words open you up and release a sort of patience.  You are reassured that the writer expects that you will return, to reread, to think, to cross bridges, and to form opinions.  There is promise in his style; there is confidence in his style; he expects you to revisit.  And, you do.

The foundation he builds on is his love of music - of jazz music.  And, what is jazz?  Jazz, an orchestrated symphony of instruments talking of love, of pain, of life, of love.  He takes the opportunity to share the emotional calms and upheavals that come with this creativity and, in doing so, he understand that his writing had to call to life this symphony of stories.

more to come.......

Kindred by Octavia Butler

Kindred!  A word that dips in and stirs expectations.  It stirs the blood.

Butler takes the reader on a harrowing emotional ride through American's history of African-American experiences.  The reader takes this ride in the shoes of a young black female identity and, to some extent, the identity of a young white male.

Octavia Butler, in her written art piece, Kindred, does what she does with such unequivocal brilliance, she transform you the reader into the character.  You are no longer in control of who you think you are when you encounter Butler's words.  Her genius is the ability to take you there; her genius is in her power to make you a part of the other psyche.

What stands out in Kindred is the lack of logic harnessed in the willingness of humans to cave into sadism while expecting love and loyalty from their victims.  She highlights the inhumanity seemingly existing right under the surface of the human.

Butler takes you inside of yourself to quiver with your own insecurity, your own knowledge of that self reflected in all of her characters.  Her approach in this novel unsettles the reader.  The main character, Dana, is dragged into her past to save a member of her family. Positioned as this savior, Dana has to learn to love and forgive in the midst of

more to come.....