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Bookwormish, 4th quarter of 2017
Dec. 30th, 2017 07:42 pmTime for that thing where I tell you my favorites out of the many books I read this quarter of the year!
...Wait, I have to pick just some of them as favorites? But I read 29 books this quarter and I liked almost all of them... Arggggh. These "favorites" lists get longer every time...
VERY TOP BOOKS:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – As excellent as advertised! A deep and personal look at racism and police brutality in America through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr, but also an amazing portrait of a family and a community. Even better, I listened to the audiobook read by Bahni Turpin, and she's so good. The voices, and the characters' code-switching between different registers in different social contexts, brilliantly brought to life.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – I always forget, until I read him again, how Alexie excels at this impossible-seeming mix between tragedy and humor. Really deep tragedy and yet really true humor. Also, he reads the audiobook of this himself, and it's great!
Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón – You can tell this author is a poet (he's written with Björk, in fact) because this novel has so few pages but there's so much in there, a whole world of global forces coming together in tiny 1918 Reykjavík. World War I, national independence, personal freedom, the flu epidemic, homosexuality, homophobia... All centered around a rebellious gay teenager and the almost surreal, cinema-inspired world he inhabits.
The Power by Naomi Alderman – Another one that's as great as advertised! Really thoughtful and fascinating exploration of what might happen if women suddenly developed superior physical strength to men, what upheavals might happen and in what directions the world might change. Hint: it's nowhere near as simple as you might imagine. Described as a Margaret Atwood-esque book...and also as a better Margaret Atwood book than Atwood herself has written lately.
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – I don't know how to describe Oyeyemi. Somehow different from anyone else I've read, I think. This is a Snow White retelling (sort of) in racially segregated America. It's strange and fascinating.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – I finally read Maya Angelou! I'm ashamed it took until now! A beautiful and terrible story of growing up. Somehow, this line really caught me: "Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity." Also this: "The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance."
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle – Ah, this one too was as excellent as I'd always heard. Doyle does an amazing job of conveying the sound and feel of working class Dublin, by telling the story almost entirely in dialogue, in the dialect of the characters.
( MORE TOP BOOKS IN HERE! )
.
...Wait, I have to pick just some of them as favorites? But I read 29 books this quarter and I liked almost all of them... Arggggh. These "favorites" lists get longer every time...
VERY TOP BOOKS:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – As excellent as advertised! A deep and personal look at racism and police brutality in America through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr, but also an amazing portrait of a family and a community. Even better, I listened to the audiobook read by Bahni Turpin, and she's so good. The voices, and the characters' code-switching between different registers in different social contexts, brilliantly brought to life.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – I always forget, until I read him again, how Alexie excels at this impossible-seeming mix between tragedy and humor. Really deep tragedy and yet really true humor. Also, he reads the audiobook of this himself, and it's great!
Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón – You can tell this author is a poet (he's written with Björk, in fact) because this novel has so few pages but there's so much in there, a whole world of global forces coming together in tiny 1918 Reykjavík. World War I, national independence, personal freedom, the flu epidemic, homosexuality, homophobia... All centered around a rebellious gay teenager and the almost surreal, cinema-inspired world he inhabits.
The Power by Naomi Alderman – Another one that's as great as advertised! Really thoughtful and fascinating exploration of what might happen if women suddenly developed superior physical strength to men, what upheavals might happen and in what directions the world might change. Hint: it's nowhere near as simple as you might imagine. Described as a Margaret Atwood-esque book...and also as a better Margaret Atwood book than Atwood herself has written lately.
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – I don't know how to describe Oyeyemi. Somehow different from anyone else I've read, I think. This is a Snow White retelling (sort of) in racially segregated America. It's strange and fascinating.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – I finally read Maya Angelou! I'm ashamed it took until now! A beautiful and terrible story of growing up. Somehow, this line really caught me: "Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity." Also this: "The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance."
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle – Ah, this one too was as excellent as I'd always heard. Doyle does an amazing job of conveying the sound and feel of working class Dublin, by telling the story almost entirely in dialogue, in the dialect of the characters.
( MORE TOP BOOKS IN HERE! )
.
