Hi friends! Welcome to another Book of the Month. First of all, now go follow on Instagram!
As you likely know, I like to do something of a dump here if I've missed several months of Book of the Month. So without much ado, here are some books I've recently read.
I don’t know if I told you but I didn’t have the best luck with books last year. I just didn’t. When I picked up this book, I was immediately thrown into this world Sarai Johnson created and I knew I would be the better for it. Oh what a book. Grown Women covers fifty years of relationship across four generations of Black women, navigating the complexity of motherhood and daughterhood, and insidious generational trauma that spares none of them. We first meet Charlotte, and her stoicism and penchant for self destruction cues you in that something isn't right. Then we meet Corinna, Charlotte's daughter and her desperation to be invisible, her constant tentativeness and the complicated relationship between the two of them sets the stage for us to meet the other points of this thread: first Corinna's own daughter, Camille, who is finally a glimmer of hope in this heartbreaking tale of womanhood, and later, Charlotte's mother who seems menacing but is where we find answers for all the hurt spilling out of this book.
I enjoyed this book so much that even the dizzying timeline and multiple points of view did not bother me one bit. Last year, I watched Jessie Woo's video talking about the complex feelings a lot of women have as it relates to their daughter. Simply put, a lot of women do not like their daughters, at least not the way they love their sons. I talked about it here just briefly and I said everyone who is a daughter and who has a daughter should watch or listen to that. There is a lot to unpack about the inherent burden and resentment that sits in between too many mothers and daughters. This book captures it so beautifully. You feel the hurt, the anger, the dysfunction, the resentment. Something about how Sarai writes this book that doesn't want you to just automatically will it all away. Instead, you're interested in them unpacking it, going through it, surviving it, and healing from it. I think you sense the love, raw and crass, and much purer when Camille comes along. Sarai depicts these imperfect, deeply flawed Black women (all four of them. Cos chilee, I had my problem with Camille too) and reminds you that forgiveness is so much more for yourself that it is for the other person; that forgiveness is recurrent; that forgiveness is a choice, a tough decision.
"We move not on but forward."
I couldn't recommend this book more.
As far as what I didn't like, I already hinted it a bit: the alternative points of view and the timeline almost got complicated but honestly, it didn't get in the way of the story. What made it worse was that all the main characters' names start with a C. I imagined it seemed like a unique creative endeavor but whew, it almost become confusing. Admittedly, some stories did feel a little repetitive, and perhaps a few pages too long.
So you should definitely read this book and let me know what you think!
And that's about this for this month's Book of the Month. This one was a long time going. Look at all that snow in the background of the photo, ha!
Love,
I
There is something about ambition; the way it gnaws at you, morphs into its own beast eats you from within, then chews you up from inside and when it's done with you, you'd be so lucky if you even recognize yourself.
In Susan Page's biography of Barbara Walters, Rulebreaker, Walters' ambition is forceful, it's desperate, thorough, and at some point maybe a little pathetic. And yet, I came out of it with full respect for the force of this person, who was a fearless pioneer for women in broadcasting, even when she didn't necessarily want to be.
Hopefully it's not too late to say welcome to the new year! Let's just jump right into this one. Here are some books I've recently read.
This was supposed to go out yesterday! But I completely forgot. Never mind, it's still Book of October. We'll get another Book of the Month in November: and this is a promise. Okay, welcome, folks, to Book of the Month. It's actually so crazy the year is about to end or maybe not because people, it has been a long year. I rarely get personal on here and I'm wishing I did because at least I could launch into how crazy this year has been. Yeah.
Anyway, the book of this month is Come and Get It by Kiley Reid, the same author who wrote the masterpiece, Such a Fun Age. To say that I loved that book would be an understatement so with that inherent trust for the author, I went into this one blindly, with no knowledge whatsoever what the book was about.
At about page 15 of this book, a Black girl (the daughter of a professor) overhead her a group of white girls refer to her as “ghetto.” And she found this so hilarious, so ridiculous. I chuckled and said out loud literally, “ah I’m going to like this book.” And like it I did.
Welcome to another book of the month on the very last day of the month! The book of this month is Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman. It’s a book about a group of employees working at a retail store in a small and declining town in upstate New York. The novel focuses on members of the Movement team, who resume at 3:55am every morning to unload trucks, stock shelves, and deal with an odd, self-conceited boss. Through the course of telling this story, we meet a cast of characters: from the ex-convict seeking redemption to the girl who’s holding on to the faded glory of being a “cool kid” in high school to the older lady who’s literally too old for this mess, among others. When a rare opportunity for a promotion presents itself, this divergent group of people must work together to engineer an outcome for their own goal(s). They do this through surmounting personal hurdles, navigate cliché and irritating corporate structures, and the frustration of low-wage work.
Hiya folks! Welcome to another post about books. I'll be posting a bunch of notable books I read recently below. Enjoy!
Welcome to another book of the month! We're going all the way back for the book of this month; talk about an oldie but goodie. I love when a book tugs deep into our hearts and reminds us of our humanity, but not through something profound but in the ordinary, in the normal. This is an amazing story of sacrifice, quiet devotion, love, and ordinariness. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The Book of the Month is Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler. I'm a little new to her work but completely blown away so much I just want to consume everything she's ever written.
Saint Maybe is set in 1965 when the Beldoe family is living an idyllic, quintessential American life in Baltimore before they are struck with a tragedy that transforms their existence forever; but especially the life of their youngest son, 17-year old Ian Bedloe, who assumes the blame for this tragic event. Even as I type this and remember him, my heart breaks just a little again. That's what fiction does. It expands your heart and show you realities you never knew existed. In any case, we follow through Ian through a great chunk of this life (several decades, I believe) as he tries to redeem himself. Through the process watch the Bedloes transform from their nauseously happy status quo to dealing with extraordinary calamities. The New York Times said Anne Tyler likes to break America's heart. They weren't wrong.
Hi party people (very apropos for this post), welcome to another Book of the Month! This month's book is such a delight, I'm eager to get into it directly. I went into this clueless about what the book was about and it turned into such a complex, unexpected, and beautiful story. When we meet Phoebe, she's walking into the Cornwall Inn, wearing a green dress and some fancy shoes but no luggage in sight. As she joins the line to check in, she is immediately mistaken for one of the guests at a wedding happening at the hotel. Meanwhile, she's literally the only one at the hotel (this was just coming out of the pandemic) who isn't there for the wedding. The bride thinks she's accounted for every possible mishap and disaster, except there is no planning for Phoebe, who has reached rock bottom and is at that hotel for completely different reasons from the wedding people. And yet somehow, as if always destined, the two women are exactly where they need to be and just when each needs the other. The book takes us through what happens over the course of the week in what is a funny, tender, complex, and very human story arc.
Welcome to the Book of the Month! I asked last time about whether to talk about a few in one post or just one book per BOM post and it looks like the vote goes for a combination of both approaches. So, let's try that. I feel like knowing me there are some books I will feel so strongly about as to want to dedicate one post too, anyway. So this format works. And today's book feels like one of those books.
Ask again, Yes starts with two NYPD cops, Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhorpe. They eventually become neighbors in the suburbs and the peculiarities of what happens in each home one night sets the stage for explosive events that will ripple through generations.
Happy New Year, friends! Book of the Month suffered last year; not just because I didn't read as much (I really didn't) but because I didn't talk about what I did read as much. I really enjoy books and talking about them and in the spirit of finding pockets of joy everywhere and especially outside of work, hopefully I'll be better at talking about books I read this year.
Towards the end of 2024, I posted about some books I read on Instagram and I thought to share them here, where they can be more permanent. So here goes (in no particular order):
Hi folks and welcome to the Book of the Month. It's Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. OMG this book is amazing. Okay let me be a bit honest/upfront before going on: after reading this book, I read a bit more about the author's life that robbed me somehow and made me think maybe it should not be her telling this story. Bias is an extraordinary thing. I had read this book and was on such a high after reading, and it was a little deflated when I found out more about her. None of what I read is awful or cruel; just some bit about her choices that helps me understand how she chose to paint some characters (ahem the straight white men character(s)). It's a writer's job to create nuance to characters and give them depth but....alright, imma leave that for now. The most important thing is that this is an EXTRAORDINARY book. I cannot say that enough. Oops I'm way ahead of myself.
Yellowface tells the story of a failing author who steals an unpublished manuscript of her late friend. Here is how it really went down. A white author and an Asian author were frenemies; the Asian author, Athena Liu, was a literary darling, while the white one, Juniper Hayward (June, Junie, June Song etc) was mediocre at best, or at least that's how her debut novel was received. Athena was THE star and had everything going for her--heck she just inked a Netflix deal--so much that June started to get envious. So when June witnesses Athena's death in a weird accident, she does what anyone would do (if you are a weirdo white basic babe) in the face of such tragedy and steals Athena's unpublished manuscript. Athena was notoriously tight lipped about her projects and she was no different with this experimental novel on the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers during World War I. June steals it, polishes it (who really knows how much work she put into it except what she tells us), sends it to her agent, gets rebranded as Juniper Song (with an ambiguously ethnic author photo to boot), and makes it big. End of story, right? WRONG. June can't get away from Athena's shadow. Plus newly brought to light evidence threatens to expose her. This story uncovers that, June's desperation to get past this, and so much more.
I did tell you we’ll make up for the lack of a Book of the Month last month, didn’t I? I’m here to fulfill that not a promise.
Here are some books that I’ve read this year that are noteworthy for different reasons; maybe they’ll motivate you to read or reread anything from this list
I read the most delightful book. It’s called Maame. Now that I think of it, perhaps “delightful” is not the ideal descriptive?
Welcome to the Book of the Month! We missed last month and I’m not sure why, but we’ll make it up.
The Book of this month is called Maame by Jessica George. Maame is a novel about Maddie—when we meet her, her life is a boring chaos. Her mother is never around; her father suffers from advanced-stage Parkinson’s and Maddie is his caretaker; her brother is the type of irritating hustler you don’t want around you; and at work, her boss is a nightmare and the work itself strips Maddie of reasons to live. Things aren’t looking good, to say the least. Then her mom returns from her latest trip and Maddie can finally move out. The book shows us how the self-acknowledged “late bloomer” attempts to find her footing, the numerous mistakes she makes during this attempt, and how she survives the impossible. Maame is a nickname given to Maddie by her mother. It is a name she has come to hate because of the burden in places on her and how it saddles her with responsibility that shouldn’t even be hers in the first place. It’s also this name—this forced-on identity—that jolts Maame to the life she deserves.
Another Book of the Month! Welcome. The book of this month is My last Innocent Year by Doris Alpert Florin.
I'm going to start out by saying, I first heard about this book on TwoNightStands. It was one of their best books of 2023. And it did not disappoint.
Welcome to The Book of the Month! Y'all... no need to explain the long absence from here. See previous post for an explanation. Alright, let's dive in. The book of this month is Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley.
I am going to give extraordinary grace to this book because I honestly believe it suffered from the curse of being read after two Chimamanda Adichie novels—I recently reread Americanah and Purple Hibiscus. Listen, once you’ve experienced the ease and delicious smoothness of Chimamanda's work, everybody else just seems like they are trying too hard. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
In sum, the book is about Kiara, steeped in abject poverty and neglect, who has to scrap by on the streets of Oakland, and who, one night, mistakenly stumbles into the failure of America's justice system. For a longer version of the preceding sentence: Kiara and her brother, Marcus, live in a rundown apartment in Oakland called Regal-Hi. Both had to drop out of high school and their family has been fractured by death and prison. Meanwhile, rather than find a way to care for his sister, Marcus is too consumed by his dream of rap stardom; leaving Kiara to hunt for work to pay their rent and take care of them. At the same time, she has to keep the nine-year old boy next door (whose mother has abandoned) fed. In any case, as a minor and high school dropout, her options for work are limited and thanks to a misunderstanding on a drunken night, she turns to a job she never wanted but definitely needs.
Welcome back to the book of the month! I love doing these because people love reading these haha. The book of this month is “The Hopefuls” by Jennifer Close. The thing about giving summaries of books is they are never quite enough. And I’m admittedly not the best with summaries but I’ll try. It tells the story of a young wife who follows her husband to Washington, D.C. to follow his political dreams in the newly minted Obama administration. Matt, the husband in question, is a White House staffer (who was also a campaign staffer) perennially frustrated and antsy about his career. Beth, the protagonist and from whose perspective the entire book is written, is a writer unsure about everything. And when I say everything—I literally mean everything and everyone. Early on in the novel, at a birthday party for another White House employee, Beth meets Ash and Jimmy. Ash is a Texan who also moved to DC for her husband, Jimmy’s, work as an Obama staffer. The foursome quickly become close, going on vacations today, sharing everything including a “cleaning” lady. The book uses the discomfort of a new DC transplant to tell the story of important themes of marriage, friendship, career, political campaigns, and envy.
America’s carceral system is deeply flawed. It is filled with deep injustices and its criminalization of black and brown bodies can never be fully stated. Those are facts. More so, the American prison system suffers from the prison-industrial complex. Where to begin? The imprisonment of people has resulted in the massive economic profit and political influence for certain groups. Again, these are facts.
But what about the people watching over these inmates? Seldom do we hear about correctional officers and staff charged with the responsibility of overseeing inmates. Here is where the book of this month comes in. Life Behind Bars is a first-hand testament of the author, who spent fifteen years on a tour of duty at the Delaware Department of Corrections (DOC). He provides excellent and never-before-seen/heard insights into the world of DOC in Delaware.
Welcome to Book of the Month! The Book of this Month is a historical fiction titled Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. I know people say awards don't matter (don't believe them by the way) but I still want to start off with the awards this book has won. It won the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction and the 2021 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. It was named "Novel of the Year" at the Dalkey Literary Awards, was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize, and longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. I say all of these to show that this book is a masterpiece. It's O'Farrell's magnum opus.
Remember how I said here that I didn't want to read about a pandemic or similar stuff this soon. It turns out I lied Lol. Because Hamnet is literally about The Plague. The book, set in the 1580s, is about a young Latin tutor—constantly bullied by his violent father—who falls wildly in love with a weird, remarkable woman older than him. She is known throughout town for her eccentricity and her ability to heal people and to understand plants and potions. She falls in love with the tutor right back and they get married, and settle in Stratford. There, she becomes an extraordinary mother, a force in the life of her husband who recently started a career miles away in London theatre scene, and their three children. Life is just getting stable when their beloved young son succumbs to The Plague. It is a story about love, family, and more importantly, the many ways grief can ravage even the most perfect union. It shows how people react so different to grief.
Welcome to the Book of the Month! Let's get into it. One important thing you need to know about the book of this month is that it is about time travel. Yes. I will be honest that I didn't know that before going in; I knew nothing about the book before going in. If I knew it was about time travel, I am not sure I would have gone ahead with it. There are also some other things that made me a little uncomfortable but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I have accepted that life comes with a good deal of the good and the bad. It’s very healthy to wade through life with that mindset. Yet some...