The Home Place in review: #Booktube #nature #amreading

I was very excited to hear about The Home Place, Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, published by Milkweed Editions and when I received a copy, read it and was not disappointed. Below is my review which I posted on Book Tube. Under the video is the text of the review. I hope you enjoy it.

When I opened The Home Place, Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, published by Milkweed Editions in 2016, I expected to read the story that is described in the title. And while the book relates the magic of being in nature and that the sense of the author’s race influenced his experience, what I discovered is that this is a profound book about identity, connecting the past with the present.

In one section that particularly resonated with me of how our identities are often stumbled upon and shaped by others, in particular deeming “what is acceptable,” the author, a hybrid of scientist and poet writes:

“Black and white, good and evil—ideas harped on by religious folks, preached from some pulpit, or broadcast on television—were an ice of the pool of my consciousness. There are preconceived notions—of where I should go, of what I should do, and even of who I should do it with—of who I am supposed to be as a black man. But my choice of career and my passion for wildness means that I will forever be the odd bird, the raven in a horde of white doves, the blackbird in a flock of snow buntings.”

A professor, ecologist, and birder, Lanham traces his love of nature back to his boyhood in South Carolina where one of his important influences was his paternal grandmother who was one generation removed from slavery and was equally spiritual (some might say superstitious) and traditionally religious without seeing any contradictions.

I found myself immersed in The Home Place as if it was taking me on a literary journey on which I was eager to see what happened next.  I was particularly moved by the author’s relationship with his father, who died young when the author was in high school and whose death Lanham had not really grieved until his forties when a writing instructor gave him the assignment that evoked this book.

Reading The Home Place, Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature by J. Drew Lanham, published by Milkweed Editions, greatly enriched my life.  It reminded me of how complicated identity can be and that nature is worthy of not only respect, but reverence.

This is Janet Mason with reviews for Book Tube.

For more information on my most recent published novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

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Visiting Berlin Through The Undercurrents — #history #amreading

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Family Redefined — My Good Son reviewed on BookTube — #LGBTQ #amreading #BookTube

It is my pleasure to bring you this review of My Good Son by Yang Huang. The book is very thought provoking and stayed with me

The review is below where I have posted the #BookTube video and below that is the text.

When I first heard about the novel My Good Son by Yang Huang (from University of New Orleans Press), I was intrigued.  Initially, my curiosity was piqued because of the gay character. But what I found was that the novel was deeply layered starting with the strong Chinese culture that the narrator is rooted in. It is a complicated tale of a simple subject: of the strong love of a parent for a child, in this case a father and his young adult son, and the sacrifices that the parent makes for that child. In the book, an American who is the son’s age enters the picture and teaches the Chinese father a few things. In return, the Chinese father helps the young American come out to his own father.

The novel has a complicated subplot that I won’t go into, but I will say that the book held my interest. The Chinese son comes off as rather spoiled, but he is his father’s only child. The father, who is a tailor, wants the son to do better than him. He wants his son to go to college, an ambition that the father once had when he was young. I found the backdrop of the culture in China (quite different than my experience of growing up as a lesbian in the United States) to be compelling and relatable.

When the young American gay friend enters the picture, the Chinese father sees an opportunity for the American man’s father to help his son go to college in America, but this is contingent upon the Chinese father helping the young American reunite with and come out to his own father.

When the two fathers meet, the young American man translates a question for the Chinese father:

“Do you think that living in China made me gay?”

….

“No!” he exclaimed. “Your son came to China to be gay. China is not a gay nation.”

…. “In China, foreigners don’t have as much pressure as they do at home. People in Yanzhou rarely talk to foreigners, few of whom speak Chinese. Since we keep a respectful distance, Jude might feel more comfortable living here as a gay man.”

I found My Good Son by Yang Huang (from University of New Orleans Press), to be a quietly insightful, engaging, and complex novel. I found that it made me think more about my own experiences and that the complexity stayed with me.

This is Janet Mason with reviews for Book Tube.

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

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Stronger than we realize — Loving Artemis in review #amreading #lgbtqallies #lgbtqall

I was happy to read this review from Literary Titan and wanted to share it with you. The review captures the feeling that I had after I edited the novel. A fair amount of time had passed since I first wrote the novel and even more time had passed since I had grown up in this place where the novel is set. I realized that I had been more empowered than I thought at the time.

This is true for all of us: we are all stronger than we realize.

Loving Artemis, written by Janet Mason, is a tale of finding love that starts during a time when being LGBTQA+ was not accepted and spans to a time when it has become more accepted. Artemis is a young girl in love with a girl named Linda. She wants to do something to get her attention and thinks that riding a motorcycle will impress Linda. But, as she becomes closer to Linda, Linda isn’t sure what she wants.

Artemis and Linda separate, and Grace come into Artemis’ life. Grace isn’t sure if she could ever love anyone, but the more she gets to know Artemis, the more she realizes she can love someone. However, Artemis falls prey to a devious plan that gets her removed from school. Grace decides to move on with her life and finds the one person meant for her. She sees someone she thinks looks like Artemis at a Pride parade in 2015, and all her memories and feelings come flooding back.

Janet Mason does a beautiful job developing this coming-of-age story. Her character development is well done and allows the reader to easily imagine them in their mind. The character of Artemis is complex and relatable for many people. Her character had a bright future, but she got mixed up with the wrong crowd of people. Readers will want to see if things turn around for Artemis and will be drawn to keep reading to see where she ends up.

Linda is a lovely character filled with self-doubt and unsure of the future. She seemed like she was really trying to figure out what her life should be like. She wasn’t sure if she would go to college or end up like her mother. But she was able to figure out where she was meant to be in the end.

I was especially drawn to the character of Grace. I think her character was stronger than she even realized. Her personality jumps off the page and makes readers pay attention to what she has to say. She knew what she wanted in life and knew how to get it. I enjoyed reading about her character, and I felt like I understood why she made the decisions she did. I wish I was more like her when I was younger.

I loved this book. Janet Mason discussed issues that the LGBTQA+ community has endured for many decades. In addition, she brought up topics of historical significance so that we readers can look up these topics and learn more. I think these are important topics to discuss, and I am glad they were able to bring them up in their book.

Loving Artemis is a heartfelt coming-of-age Lesbian romance novel that follows the lives of women that were just coming into their own back before it was socially acceptable. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in LGBTQA+ topics and ones that love fiction that includes some reality.

Pages: 269 | ASIN : B0B33TZ9DX

For more information on my most recent novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

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A tale of resiliency: Loving Artemis in review–#amreading #bookreview #LGBTHistory

BookView Review: Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love and marriage by Janet Mason

Mason spins a stunning tale of resiliency, compassion, revolution, and courage in her latest novel that takes readers on two women’s journey of love and contentment. The daring and fiercely strong-minded Artemis have always known her preference for girls. When Linda comes into her life, a passionate relationship begins. But Linda soon disappears from Artemis’s life, leaving her heartbroken. The latter starts dealing drugs and has a brief relationship with Grace. Eventually, Artemis and Grace also separate, choosing different paths in life. Now decades later, both women have their new lives. But when Grace spots Artemis in a pride parade, she realizes she still has feelings for Artemis. LGBTQ intrigue and self-discovery create a vivid backdrop to a narrative that carefully details the toll of intolerance and bigotry. Mason’s flair for characterization and attention to detail provide Grace and Artemis’s individual stories authenticity. Mason elegantly weaves together the LGBTQ issues, adolescent and young adult angst, and romance threads, and an intriguing cast—including the fierce Artemis, the sensitive Grace, the vulnerable Linda—will keep readers invested in the story. The story is as much the history of the nation as it’s a tale of love, perseverance, and self-discovery. Wholesome, authentic, and beautiful, this page-turning LGBTQ romance satisfies.

To order my most recently published novel Loving Artemis, an endearing tale of revolution, love, and marriage, click here:

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