Bookwormish, 4th quarter of 2018

A separate post about my entire year's worth of reading is coming soon, but first, here's that thing where I tell you my favorites from just this quarter year:


VERY TOP BOOK:

We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates – It’s rare that I’m able to pick just one favorite out of a whole quarter year’s reading, but this is a book I’ve found myself recommending at every turn, so it deserves that honor. I think Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of our most brilliant current thinkers, and this book took me terrifyingly deep into the history and present of American racism. I feel like this book rewired my brain.


MORE TOP BOOKS: 

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui – A truly excellent and moving memoir that interweaves the author’s experiences as a child immigrant in the US, with her parents’ wartime experiences in Vietnam, all seen through the prism of the author’s own shifting perspectives now that she’s a parent of her own child.

The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork – In recent months I’ve hit on some really fantastic examples of just how much the YA genre has to offer in powerful, empathetic examinations of mental health/illness… This is a beautiful portrait of a depressed teenager figuring out how to find meaning in life again.

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid – A reread; yup, still brilliant.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – Also a reread; also still brilliant.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf – I don’t really know how to describe Virginia Woolf, since she’s so famously and obviously brilliant. I’m still trying to catch up on her canon.
 

( even more good books! )

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