top of page
A New York Tate of Mind
A New York Tate of Mind
In which this reader and explorer reviews books, muses on literary (and other) matters, and shares some of her adventures.

Home: Welcome
My 1-5 rating system:
1 = I did not like it and would not recommend it.
2= It was fine. Read it if the subject matter interests you.
3 = I enjoyed it and would recommend it.
4 = I really liked it, and think you should read it!
5 = One of the best books I've read.
Search


Review: Who is Maud Dixon?
4/5 stars Who is Maud Dixon?, by Alexandra Andrews (2021) WOW this was fun. Totally entertaining! But there's also VERY little I can say...
tatedecaro
Jun 30, 20232 min read


Review: How High We Go in the Dark
2/5 stars How High We Go in the Dark, by Sequoia Nagamatsu (2022) I saw this compared favorably to Emily St. John's Station Eleven, which...
tatedecaro
Jun 28, 20233 min read


Review: Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow
2/5 stars Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) “What is a game?" Marx said. "It's tomorrow, and tomorrow, and...
tatedecaro
Jun 20, 20233 min read


Review: Hestia Strikes a Match
4/5 stars Hestia Strikes a Match, by Christine Grillo (2023) This is a great piece of speculative / alternate universe fiction. The year...
tatedecaro
May 28, 20232 min read


Review: Olga Dies Dreaming
4/5 stars Olga Dies Dreaming , by Xóchitl González (2022) TW: Mention of suicide and rape (not graphic), drug use, hurricane damage Olga...
tatedecaro
May 24, 20232 min read


Review: Ghost Boys
3/5 stars Ghost Boys, by Jewell Parker Rhodes (2018) TW: gun violence, fatal police brutality, mention of lynching This is a middle-grade...
tatedecaro
May 23, 20231 min read


Review The Inheritance Games series
3/5 stars The Inheritance Games (2020), The Hawthorne Legacy (2021), and The Final Gambit (2022), by Jennifer Lynn Barnes I'll be...
tatedecaro
May 15, 20233 min read


Review: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
3/5 stars Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, by Benjamin Stevenson (2022) Ernie Cunningham is from a family of seemingly...
tatedecaro
May 8, 20232 min read


Review: The Last White Man
2/5 stars The Last White Man, by Mohsin Hamid I'm having a really hard time writing about this one. I finished it almost 2 weeks ago and...
tatedecaro
May 2, 20234 min read


Review: So Much More Than a Headache
3/5 stars So Much More Than a Headache, edited by Kathleen O'Shea (2020) I Describe a Migraine I wanted to describe chronic migraines as...
tatedecaro
Apr 21, 20233 min read


Review: Kaikeyi
3/5 stars Kaikeyi, by Vaishnavi Patel (2022) In the Indian epic story, The Ramayana, Queen Kaikeyi is the villain. She is the third wife...
tatedecaro
Apr 18, 20232 min read


Review: Deaf Republic
5/5 stars Deaf Republic, by Ilya Kaminsky (2019) This past weekend I was fortunate enough to attend two of RIT/NTID's Big Read events,...
tatedecaro
Apr 3, 20233 min read


Review: Hell Bent
3/5 stars (reluctantly) Hell Bent, by Leigh Bardugo (2023) A few years ago I read the first book in this series, Ninth House, and...
tatedecaro
Mar 27, 20233 min read


Review: Black Cake
2/5 stars Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson (2022) Very sad to be giving this 2 stars. It started out so well! A 5-star beginning, that...
tatedecaro
Mar 19, 20232 min read


Review: Amy Among the Serial Killers
2/5 stars Amy Among the Serial Killers, by Jincy Willett (2022) I didn't realize until I was well into the book that it's actually the...
tatedecaro
Mar 10, 20232 min read


Review: The Power
3/5 stars The Power, by Naomi Alderman (2016) TW: Physical violence, murder, rape (men towards women, and women towards men) The Power...
tatedecaro
Feb 20, 20235 min read


Review: The Night Circus
5/5 stars The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern (2011) I've read this twice before, and the third read was just as awesome. This time I...
tatedecaro
Feb 18, 20233 min read


Review: The Death of Jane Lawrence
3/5 stars The Death of Jane Lawrence, by Caitlin Starling (2021) First 3/4 of the book - 5 stars. The final 1/4 of the book lost its way....
tatedecaro
Feb 8, 20232 min read


Review: The House Girl
4/5 stars The House Girl, by Tara Conklin (2013) This story is told in two alternating narratives: Josephine is a young slave girl (about...
tatedecaro
Feb 1, 20232 min read


Review: Code Name Verity series
3-5/5 stars Code Name Verity (2012), Rose Under Fire (2013), The Pearl Thief (2017), and The Enigma Game (2020), by Elizabeth Wein I had...
tatedecaro
Jan 21, 20236 min read

Home: Contact
Home: Subscribe
bottom of page