 Although these bits and bytes may seem impartial, they can perpetuate inequities. Photo credit: Markus Spiske on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla So here’s the thing. I know that “Algorithms of Oppression” was a New York Times best-seller and the book was selected as NYU Press’ Book of the Decade and its author is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow. But I did not like it. (I’M SO SORRY.) I did not have a fun time reading it. I did not enjoy girding my mental loins and plodding into this oh-so academic text. I really hate going against popular opinion but here goes…
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 After arriving in America, the Riveras live in a small, predominantly-Latinx community in Delaware. Photo credit: Josefina Lacroze on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla Numerical ratings are back by popular demand! And by “popular,” I mean that my mom nagged me until I put my ratings back in; apparently, they help her determine whether she should read my articles or not. Such is life. I mean, it’s not like I have hordes of readers panting to determine a book’s worth based on my reviews… so I guess it’s fine to rate them. As a compromise, I’ll add a “my” before the “rating” header to emphasize that these ratings stem from my personal opinion.
 N. Scott Momaday details harsh, sacred New Mexican landscapes in "House Made of Dawn." Photo credit: Joonyeop Baek on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla Full disclosure… I understand maybe 50% of what happened in “House Made of Dawn.” Actually, more like 40%. The book consists of so many layers. It’s one of those novels with in-depth metaphors that can only be unraveled when you read two sentences in just the right way. A brain-teaser of a book that—although small—could kill someone with its sheer intellectual power. The novel is confusing, but in the way that good literature is confusing: you have a certainty that everything will figure itself out, that there will be no loose ends, that you can unlock all the similes and allegories after days of close reading. Did I desperately want to SparkNotes everything? Yes. Did I? Well…
 After a fateful safety drill, Dani and Zaf's world is about to change forever... Photo credit: David Moruzzi on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla One of the cutest scenes in "Take A Hint, Dani Brown" comes when the two main characters do a press event at a radio station. No spoilers, but… they just know each other so well, and it is adorable. Review: At the beginning of Talia Hibbert’s “Take A Hint, Dani Brown,” the romantic leads’ friendly relationship is fueled by five-minute conversations. Zafir, a security guard, monitors the building that Dani teaches in, and the two see each other as (for the most part) platonic acquaintances. But after a photo of Zaf firefighter-carrying Dani out of an elevator post-safety drill goes viral, and Zaf’s mental health organization starts receiving media attention, the two decide to fake-date to keep the publicity going. Naturally, their relationship begins to heat up.
 In "Midnight Robber," Tan-Tan navigates New Half-Way World, a wilderness where her home world sends criminals and exiles. Photo credit: Justin Clark on Unsplash. By Anya Shukla Going forward, I’ve decided to stop rating the books I review. This is not a ploy to get out of doing more work, dear reader; I’ve put some thought into this decision. 1. My ratings are super subjective. I have no set rubric, meaning that I maintain no consistency between ratings: one book may get 1 point taken off for poor character development, while another may only lose .5 points. Plus, my idea of a “good book” has changed over the course of this challenge, meaning that my earlier ratings may not be accurately scaled.
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