Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver

 I think I've enjoyed everyone of Barbara Kingsolver's books.  Her characters are realistic and engaging. In this story, she borrows from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens using the same first person narrative of an orphan from birth to adulthood in a modern day setting.  The story was so moving because she poignantly portrays the struggles of single moms, abandoned and fostered children, drug abuse from prescriptions for pain, the power of love and ultimately the strength of the human spirit  This one goes near the top of my 2023 list.

Pulitzer Prize Winner

Published: 2022  Read: October 2023  Genre: Fiction

When I Wear My Alligator Boots - Shaylih Muehlmann

 Sub-title: Narco-Culture in the U.S. - Mexico Borderlands

I was given this book as a gift.  The young woman who wrote it was working on her doctorate and stayed in the communities of Mexico that live with the drug culture that has invaded parts of the country.  It was eye-opening.  She suggests that the "war on drugs" has feed the growth of the cartels as it provides a market for illegal drugs. Everyone becomes involved either directly or indirectly.  A difficult read.

Quotes:

"The phenomenon whereby people simultaneously become defensive during an interview and inflate their own role is what Elizabeth Dunn (2007) has called the 'pufferfish syndrome'."

Published: 2014  Read: October 2023  Genre: Non-fiction Sociology