Somehow, it’s July and the year is halfway over. In the recent months, I haven’t posted as many updates about my reading on this blog as I would’ve liked, so I thought I’d do a quick reading check in, using a set of questions from the tag co-created by Earl Grey Books. I left a couple questions out because they didn’t apply to me, so if you’re interested in participating in the tag, check out the original creator’s video!
1 – Best book I’ve read so far this year: This year has been a fantastic reading year so far, as I’ve read many books I’ve loved and few that I didn’t. That being said, two books that stand out to me as my best and most cherished reads of this year are James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other.
One of my reading goals this year was to read and study the work of James Baldwin. He’s an author I’d been meaning to read for years, and when I had the opportunity to take a course on his work in the final semester of my English degree, I leapt at the opportunity. I’ve read 8 of his works this year (and loved and learned them all), but Giovanni’s Room was especially moving.
The main character David is an American living in Paris (as Baldwin did for years of his own life). David has just asked his girlfriend Hella to marry him, and she has left for Spain to contemplate the decision. In the meantime, David falls for a bartender named Giovanni. In this short novel exploring love, poverty, ownership of space, and justice, Baldwin eloquently mediates on themes of masculinity and sexuality that are prevalent throughout his cannon. I highly recommend this novel, as well as any of Baldwin’s other novels and essays, to those who haven’t read it.
My other favorite of this year so far also examines gender, sexuality, and gendered violence and oppression. Booker prize winning Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo is one of the most apt literary portraits of contemporary life I’ve ever read. The novel follows a large cast of characters, many of whom are women and many of whom are Black, in an expanding web. With such a variety of characters, this novel explores the themes of intersectionality, motherhood/parenting, and social activism from a wide range of perspectives. The unique prose style has frequent line breaks, often resembling and flowing like poetry. I know this book is popular on social media (I’m late to the party!) but if you haven’t picked it up yet, please do!
2 – New releases you haven’t read yet, but want to: recent releases I’m really excited to read soon are The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet (I’ve seen so many great reviews of this!), Cleanness by Garth Greenwell (reviewed by @lindsbeereads and @herbook.shelf), and Real Life by Brandon Taylor (reviewed by @lindsbeereads, @parisperusing).
3 – Most anticipated releases for the second half of the year: I haven’t kept up much with recent releases, but I’m very intrigued by the premise and early reviews of the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.
4 – Biggest disappointment: You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. To be fair, I don’t read thrillers very often, but this one in particular was quite disappointing. The premise of the book was fascinating: after Shay witnesses a woman commit suicide, her empathy and loneliness lead her to get wrapped up in a world of luxury and suspicion, at the center of which is a pair elusive and electric twins. However, as the story unfolds, nothing that happens is plausible. The ending is disappointment because it makes little sense— it’s so easy to find plot holes, and certain plot points are uselessly dramatic. Overall, this book was very disappointing.
5 – Biggest surprise: At the beginning of this year, I picked up the highly acclaimed Milkman by Anna Burns with little understanding of what the book was about. While the funny, dense, political, and eccentric novel was unexpected, I thoroughly enjoyed it and have recommended it to many.
6 – Favorite “new” author (new to me): Though I had read some James Baldwin before this year, I read so much of his work this year that he has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Additionally, this year I read Jenny Offill’s Weather, and found her writing style so incredible. I’m excited to read more of her work!
7 – Newest favorite characters: Tracker and Leopard from Marlon James’s Black Leopard, Red Wolf were both very dynamic and interesting characters. I was invested in their stories, didn’t understand their motives, felt disgusted by them, found them funny and entertaining— altogether, they were some of my favorite characters to read about in the first half of this year!
8 – Book that made you cry: Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin and Jesmyn Ward’s memoir, Men We Reaped. Men We Reaped describes the young deaths of five Black men in Ward’s life over five years— it is heartbreaking, eye-opening, and deeply moving.
9 – Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year: I’m interpreting this question to mean the physical appearance of the book, so here are my two favorite covers (and two great books!): Black Leopard, Red Wolf or The Mountains Sing.
(note: I was gifted my copy of The Mountains Sing from Algonquin Books)
10 – What books do you need to read by the end of the year: There are a lot of books I’m hoping to get to soon, but two (very different books) I’m especially eager to get to are N. K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season and Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I’ve been hoping to read N. K. Jemisin for a while, and though I don’t frequently read fantasy, I’m excited to see what this highly acclaimed book offers. It’s also been some time since I’ve read a long Russian classic, and I’m in the mood to pick one up soon. Demons is one of Dostoyevsky’s books I haven’t read yet, but have been wanting to add to my collection.
11 – Favorite book community member: I have so many favorites, but here are a handful.
On YouTube, I find BooksandLala’s videos fantastically creative. Though we have a very different taste in books, she always offers entertaining bookish content. Sunbeamsjess has literary tastes quite similar to mine, so I really enjoy her monthly wrap ups. They are full of great recommendations that I don’t see as frequently on social media.
On Instagram, my favorite feeds are TheArtisanGeek (who also has a great YouTube channel!) and parispursuing. Both are so creative on social media in writing captions and taking photos, offer great suggestions that match my reading taste, and are very kind people 🙂
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