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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.

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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.
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Review: The Girl in Red and Lost Boy
5/5 stars The Girl in Red (2019), and Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook (2017) , by Christina Henry Trigger Warnings (both...
tatedecaro
May 274 min read


Review: Those We Thought We Knew
5/5 stars Those We Thought We Knew , by David Joy (2023) Trigger Warning: Racially motivated violence It's hard not to just copy-paste a...
tatedecaro
Apr 115 min read


Review: The Book of Doors
5/5 stars The Book of Doors , by Gareth Brown (2024) Fantastic book for book-lovers! Cassie works at a bookstore in New York City. She...
tatedecaro
Jan 162 min read


Review: Falling Back in Love with Being Human
5/5 stars Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls , by Kai Cheng Thom (2023) "from the depths of my rage and...
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Nov 15, 20243 min read


Review: A House With Good Bones
5/5 stars A House With Good Bones , by T. Kingfisher (2023) To me this was reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the...
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Aug 19, 20242 min read


Review: The Door of No Return
5/5 The Door of No Return, by Kwame Alexander (2022) TW: Violence, descriptions of the slave trade, mention of rape “Black history began...
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Jun 5, 20242 min read


Review: Ink Blood Sister Scribe
5/5 stars Ink Blood Sister Scribe, by Emma Törzs (2023) Fabulous. So fun! This is a fantasy-thriller with gothic libraries filled with...
tatedecaro
Feb 10, 20242 min read


Review: Station Eleven
5/5 stars Re-read of Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel (2014) I first read this book in 2017, when the realities of a worldwide...
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Sep 18, 20232 min read


Review: Barracoon
5/5 stars Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo," by Zora Neale Hurston (2018) Barracoon tells the story of Olualo Kossula, also...
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Jul 24, 20233 min read


Review: Weyward
5/5 stars Weyward, by Emilia Hart (2023) I absolutely LOVED this book, but let me get some trigger warnings out of the way first: sexual...
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Jul 7, 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,...
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Apr 3, 20233 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...
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Feb 18, 20233 min read


Review: The Book Eaters
5/5 stars The Book Eaters, by Sunyi Dean (2022) Vampires for book lovers! (with zombies too, kind of). I was planning to wait until next...
tatedecaro
Nov 11, 20222 min read


Review: Truly Devious series
5/5 stars Truly Devious, The Vanishing Stair, The Hand on the Wall, and The Box in the Woods, by Maureen Johnson (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)...
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Oct 8, 20222 min read


Review: What Strange Paradise
5/5 stars What Strange Paradise, by Omar El Akkad (2021) Beautiful and haunting and cinematic. The narrative follows Amir Utu, a 9-year...
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Jul 7, 20222 min read


Review: Clap When You Land
5/5 stars Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo (2020) Sixteen year old Camino Rios has grown up in the Dominican Republic (DR) with...
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Jul 1, 20221 min read


Review: Lanny
5/5 stars Lanny, by Max Porter (2019) This is such a unique, beautiful, poetic, fantastical little book. If you're a fan of poetry, a fan...
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Jun 7, 20222 min read


Review: Shrill
5/5 stars Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, by Lindy West (2016) "Women matter. Women are half of us. When you raise every woman to...
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May 10, 20223 min read


Review: The Deep
5/5 stars The Deep, by Rivers Solomon (2019) Decades back, pregnant African slaves were thrown from slave ships into the ocean. Their...
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Dec 29, 20212 min read


Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
5/5 stars The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman (2013) "Grown-ups don’t look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside,...
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Dec 13, 20212 min read

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