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Bookwormish, 1st quarter of 2021
May. 4th, 2021 05:28 pmHa, well, apparently April was the sort of month where I didn't manage even to think about writing up my reading from the first quarter of the year (January–March) until now in...May. Yeah. But here we go!
VERY TOP BOOKS
We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez – Damn, this book hits hard and real. It was impossible to decide which of my three "very top books" from this quarter should be listed first; frankly, they all deserve to be first! But I'm putting this one at the top, because I think its very human message is going to stay with me for a long time. It's about three teenagers who flee their home in Guatemala when dangerous circumstances become untenable ones. The book follows them through the long, arduous journey across Mexico (a part of the migrant journey I knew NOTHING about) and then the perilous crossing of the U.S. border. It's a tough read, but an important one, and more than that a good one. It's a fantastic portrayal of tight-knit friendship. The author absolutely succeeded at what she clearly set out to do: put a human face to a catastrophe that's mostly talked about in sweeping terms and statistics. (Similar to how I felt about When Stars Are Scattered, which similarly put a human face to the too-massive-to-comprehend crisis of life in refugee camps.) Talking about all this heavy stuff is probably not a great way to sell anyone on why they should read this book, but it's really good. And maybe essential reading for anyone in North America. (Oh, and I highly recommend the audiobook! Getting to hear the accents and the correct pronunciations of all the foods and such added such richness. Mm, now I'm very curious about Guatemalan food...)
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas – I mean. Surely it was clear by now that everything Angie Thomas does is amazing! I loved this empathetic portrayal of a teenage boy trying so hard to do right by the responsibilities that are piling and piling up on him, despite pretty much everything being stacked against him. For much of this book I found myself saying over and over, "Oh, kiddo. Oh, kiddo." Because yes, Maverick makes a bunch of bad decisions along with the good ones, but given everything he's up against, the logic of those decisions is so relatable. And yet, because it's Angie Thomas, the story is beautiful and compelling too! I also really appreciated how firmly this book pushed back on racist stereotypes about Black men as absentee fathers. All the fathers in this book are incredibly present, fiercely looking out for their kids – yes, even in the case of the dad who's having to do his parenting from prison. I found myself having to excavate and examine some prejudices I still hold, even though I'd like to think I don't, and I'm grateful for it.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor – This book, too, deserves to be listed at the very top of the top three. Obviously! I think it's only down this far because this time around it was a reread. Or a reread of a reread? I've lost track... I was finally able to pick back up my big read of the entire Logan Family series, after I tracked down one errant book that the pandemic had made inaccessible to me, so stay tuned for more of the Logan family! Mildred D. Taylor is masterful. She's one of those writers (like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) where I find myself thinking, how do they do that? Even when they're writing about mundane things, it's so compelling. And the non-mundane things, of course, are even more compelling.
( so many more good books here... )
.
VERY TOP BOOKS
We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez – Damn, this book hits hard and real. It was impossible to decide which of my three "very top books" from this quarter should be listed first; frankly, they all deserve to be first! But I'm putting this one at the top, because I think its very human message is going to stay with me for a long time. It's about three teenagers who flee their home in Guatemala when dangerous circumstances become untenable ones. The book follows them through the long, arduous journey across Mexico (a part of the migrant journey I knew NOTHING about) and then the perilous crossing of the U.S. border. It's a tough read, but an important one, and more than that a good one. It's a fantastic portrayal of tight-knit friendship. The author absolutely succeeded at what she clearly set out to do: put a human face to a catastrophe that's mostly talked about in sweeping terms and statistics. (Similar to how I felt about When Stars Are Scattered, which similarly put a human face to the too-massive-to-comprehend crisis of life in refugee camps.) Talking about all this heavy stuff is probably not a great way to sell anyone on why they should read this book, but it's really good. And maybe essential reading for anyone in North America. (Oh, and I highly recommend the audiobook! Getting to hear the accents and the correct pronunciations of all the foods and such added such richness. Mm, now I'm very curious about Guatemalan food...)
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas – I mean. Surely it was clear by now that everything Angie Thomas does is amazing! I loved this empathetic portrayal of a teenage boy trying so hard to do right by the responsibilities that are piling and piling up on him, despite pretty much everything being stacked against him. For much of this book I found myself saying over and over, "Oh, kiddo. Oh, kiddo." Because yes, Maverick makes a bunch of bad decisions along with the good ones, but given everything he's up against, the logic of those decisions is so relatable. And yet, because it's Angie Thomas, the story is beautiful and compelling too! I also really appreciated how firmly this book pushed back on racist stereotypes about Black men as absentee fathers. All the fathers in this book are incredibly present, fiercely looking out for their kids – yes, even in the case of the dad who's having to do his parenting from prison. I found myself having to excavate and examine some prejudices I still hold, even though I'd like to think I don't, and I'm grateful for it.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor – This book, too, deserves to be listed at the very top of the top three. Obviously! I think it's only down this far because this time around it was a reread. Or a reread of a reread? I've lost track... I was finally able to pick back up my big read of the entire Logan Family series, after I tracked down one errant book that the pandemic had made inaccessible to me, so stay tuned for more of the Logan family! Mildred D. Taylor is masterful. She's one of those writers (like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) where I find myself thinking, how do they do that? Even when they're writing about mundane things, it's so compelling. And the non-mundane things, of course, are even more compelling.
( so many more good books here... )
.
