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Divya Manian

divya@sfba.club

Joined 9 months, 1 week ago

I love murder mysteries & history. Preferably in the same book.

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Divya Manian's books

To Read

Currently Reading

Nina Simon: Mother-Daughter Murder Night (Paperback, 2023, Harper Large Print) 3 stars

Think: Gilmore Girls, but with murder.

High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be …

Readable mystery set in Monterey

3 stars

Ostensibly about a Filipino-jewish woman who lives in Monterey who has a high powered real-estate agent & Filipino American mother with cancer who joins her in solving a murder. I really do not like copaganda and sadly this book tries to include a Native American cop who does the "right thing" but still how is that not copaganda? Also there is almost nothing Filipino in the book about ostensibly 3 Filipino American protagonists.

The book is very readable though. My quest for mysteries without copaganda continues.

The W.E.B. Du Bois Center at the University of Massachusetts: W. E. B. Du Bois's Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America (2018) 5 stars

A fantastic review of how W. E. B. Du Bois's data portraits were so ahead of its time

5 stars

Not only did he operate with great financial constraint but he was also constantly ignored by sociologists of his time. This pioneering work won a gold medal at the exposition where these charts were showcased. What a beautiful set of charts. Worth learning from and seeing in detail. I was gutted by the chart that showed how dramatically Black population increased after civil war. To me that was the sign that a lot of violence / death impacted the enslaved people. So much pain hidden in one chart.

Will Leitch: How Lucky (Paperback, Harper Perennial) 4 stars

Great mystery featuring a young man who is disabled due to Spinal Muscular atrophy

4 stars

The author bases their main character on their friend's son who has spinal muscular atrophy. I appreciate how positive the writer shows this young man to be. They do show police to be incompetent as they usual seem to be in real life which was good but the end was very cinematic and I didn't quite like that. Otherwise a great slow burn thriller!

P. Djèlí Clark: The Dead Cat Tail Assassins (Hardcover, Tordotcom) 4 stars

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins are not cats.

Nor do they have tails.

But they …

Another excellent Fantasy from P. Djéli Clark

5 stars

It has been SO RARE to read fantasy that is based on Black & African traditions. I am so delighted that P. Djéli Clark has woven yet another set of worlds that is delightful & action packed. I feel this is a book that would be suitable for young teens and above. What a wonderful tale. Not one dull moment.

Allison A. Bailes III: A House Needs to Breathe... or Does It? (2022, Bright Communications LLC) 5 stars

If you own your house, read this book before you do any HVAC work

5 stars

You must read this book if you own your home before beginning HVAC work. Sadly I made the mistake of doing my HVAC work BEFORE I read this book but luckily I was not too far off the mark. Most HVAC professionals sadly do not actually know the "whys" of what they are doing and simply offer cookie cutter solutions that do not fit what your house needs – especially an existing home.

Things to remember - If you want to do anything, ensure you also insulate your home! Ensure there are no leaks in or out of the home. Otherwise, all of the other work will have to use more energy due to leaks of air. - A ductless mini split is highly recommended to condition air around your homes - A ventilated dehumidifier is highly recommended to bring in fresh air & dehumidify it - Ensure you always …

Premee Mohamed: And What Can We Offer You Tonight (Hardcover, 2021, Neon Hemlock Press) 5 stars

In a far future city, where you can fall to a government cull for a …

Beautiful murder mystery in a fantasy

5 stars

I have been more interested recently in murder mysteries that are set in different genres as I cannot tolerate reading any murder mystery involving sympathetic cop / detective. This is a murder mystery based on fantasy that punches up and involves a satisfying victory of the poor over the rich.

Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin: The Home Edit (Paperback, 2019, Clarkson Potter) 5 stars

Pretty good in getting your organizing juices flowing

5 stars

The key takeaways for me: - Organize in groups based on actions you take with those things. E.g. have a coffee station with ground coffee, French press, coffee mugs. Or group all stuff that is used for breakfast together - Label these groups! Very important. Otherwise you wouldn't know how you grouped them. - Dont stuff in things unless they belong to the group. This means your shelves will be a little sparse as the stuff gets used. DO NOT FILL IT WITH OTHER THINGS - Make sure you have a place to put every item you buy BEFORE you buy it. It's a good way to curb my shopaholic tendencies.

commented on Baghdad Noir by Samuel Shimon (Akashic Noir)

Samuel Shimon: Baghdad Noir (Paperback, 2018, Akashic Books) 3 stars

Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn …

These stories give a more full depiction of the horror visited upon the Iraqis with the American invasion. One story is about a man who leaves a mental asylum not knowing who he is – other than what is in his file – because the Americans demolished the walls thinking it was a military facility. Another is about how horrific it was to be a woman under the Baathist regime to be a leftist person who does not believe in Baathist regime ideals. I learned how close Iraq is to Iran and started looking for news about both the countries. I learned 3 Iraqi women who were influencers have been killed in Iraq www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/27/iraqi-tiktok-star-om-fahad-shot-dead-in-baghdad-night-attack and how Iran began a crackdown on women who did not cover their heads at the same time they launched their missiles on Israel military targets. www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/24/iranian-women-violently-dragged-from-streets-by-police-amid-hijab-crackdown

Kylie Cheung: Survivor Injustice (Paperback, 2023, North Atlantic Books) No rating

“ They found that out of nearly 113,000 emergency visits that year related to sexual violence, 16% resulted in out-of-pocket costs for the survivors.

In those cases, the average cost of care was $3,551 per person. Costs were higher for pregnant people: $4,553 per person, on average.”

Survivor Injustice by 

This is actually from NBC news coverage of the same study quoted in this book.