The transformative power of literature and some personal bookish news
Plus some recent purchases and the best reviewed books of the week
Hey readers!
I am super excited to share with you that this year I will be serving on the selection committee for the Aspen Words Literary Prize. This particular literary prize means a lot to me. For starters, Aspen Words is located here in Colorado and I love having such a prominent and mission-driven literary entity in my backyard. But more importantly, the Aspen Words Literary Prize honors and elevates the very books that make fiction matter to me. Per their website, “The Aspen Words Literary Prize is a $35,000 annual award for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.” In other words, it awards books that help readers see outside their own perspectives and learn something new about the most important issues facing our world today. Is there any better type of book?
My role will be to serve with William Johnson, the Deputy Director of Lambda Literary, and Randy Winston, Associate Editor of Fiction at Slice Literary Magazine, as one of three selection committee members. We will read all of the submissions and give feedback before they go onto the jury, which is made up of some of my literary heroes, Emily Bernard, Sarah Ladipo Manyika, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Daniel Shaw, and Luis Alberto Urrea. I won’t be able to share my thoughts on the submissions until the longlist is announced, but I’ll continue sharing my reading here along with some personal reflections on what it’s like to read for a committee. I can’t wait to share this experience with you!
This week in books.
This week I read…
Heavy by Kiese Laymon. Oh my goodness, this memoir is amazing. Laymon writes this to his mother—an incredibly brilliant woman who is at times alternately frightening and doting—in a tone that’s brutal and loving. In this memoir, he details his childhood experiences with sexual violence, his anorexia and struggle with obesity, and his addition to gambling. He also shares his deep love of words, language, and educating young writers and readers. In the final pages of the memoir he writes, “I finally understand revision, rereading, compassion, home training, imagination, and a love of black children are the greatest gifts any American can share with any child in this nation.” I’ll be thinking about that sentence for a very long time. I’ll also certainly be seeking out more of his essays and novels to add to my reading list. Amazon | Bookshop
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. This little book is so weird. It’s both delightful and deeply unsettling, and I’ve never read anything quite like it. Set in Japan, the story follows a 36-year-old woman who has been working in the same convenience store for 18 years. While the rest of the world cannot understand her disinterest in career ambition and beginning a family, she understands the rest of the world perfectly, even though she never quite fits in. I loved this book, in part because I’ll always appreciate a small book that packs a punch and in part because it introduced me to one of the most original characters I’ve ever come across. Amazon | Bookshop
Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby. I finally finished this wonderful collection of essays. I’m glad I paced myself because this book is the perfect quarantine read and I enjoyed savoring it. This collection is part essays on modern life and part personal reflection and observation from Irby. Her voice is bold, brilliant, and insanely funny. Honestly, I don’t have much to offer in a way of a review other than to say that this book is hysterical, and I think literally every essay made me laugh out loud at some point. I alternated between reading the physical book and listening to the audio, and the audio was particularly hilarious. Just pick this up, I promise you’ll enjoy it. Amazon | Bookshop
Now I’m reading…
Real Life by Brandon Taylor. This debut novel has gotten tons of praise. It’s a campus novel about Wallace, a queer Black grad student who remains guarded from everyone—even his classmates and friends. Most of the book takes place over the one weekend things change and he finally lets someone in. I’m not far into it but I’m already impressed with Taylor’s writing. I’m excited to see where it goes. Amazon | Bookshop
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi. I’m still reading this as part of my friend Crystal’s readalong. It’s a long one so I’m sure you’ll be seeing it in this section of the newsletter for many weeks to come. Amazon | Bookshop
I put aside…
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sarah Collins. I will 100% return to this book. In fact, I think it might be my next audiobook after I finish Real Life. However, this week I was flipping through so many potential books for my classes that I couldn’t keep up with a longer novel (it’s only like 350 pages but even that was beyond the scope of my concentration this week). Amazon | Bookshop
And I purchased for #BlackOutBestSellerList…
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. I loved his collection of short stories, Five-Carat Soul, and I’m looking forward to reading his most acclaimed novel. Amazon | Bookshop
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo. I love everything by Acevedo and am also hoping that this could be a good one for my classroom. Amazon | Bookshop
The City We Became by N.K. Jemison. Jemison is the queen of sci-fi and this book sounds like a wholly original New York novel. Amazon | Bookshop
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley. I’ve never read this classic and it’s about time. It might also be on the table for our fall season of Novel Pairings… Amazon | Bookshop
12 books that illuminated a vital social issue for me.
In honor of the beginning of my Aspen Words reading season, I’m sharing some books that epitomize fiction with a social impact for me*.
Top Pick: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. For a Southern gothic steeped in the American tradition that explores motherhood, addiction, and incarceration. Amazon | Bookshop
The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero. For a depiction of an immigrant family clinging desperately to their American Dream. Amazon | Bookshop
Beartown by Frederik Backman. For a nuanced exploration of masculinity in a small hockey town. Amazon | Bookshop
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. For an evocative look at the experience of refugees told with the most gorgeously subtle magical elements. Amazon | Bookshop
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. For a middle grade novel that tackles police brutality and the history of racist violence in America. Amazon | Bookshop
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne. For a depiction of love, family, grief, and redemption, framed in relief against the rigidity of the Irish Catholic Church. Amazon | Bookshop
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. For a generational saga that offers parallel stories about the legacy of slavery in the US and of colonialism in Ghana. Amazon | Bookshop
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. For a brutal story about the horrors of the Jim Crow South and the criminalization of Blackness. Amazon | Bookshop
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. For a stunning and heart wrenching portrayal of generational trauma, growing up, and coming out. Amazon | Bookshop
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza. For a tear-inducing family drama that addresses the post 9/11 treatment of Muslim Americans. Amazon | Bookshop
Signs Proceeding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera. For an intense and mystical fable about crossing boarders. Amazon | Bookshop
There, There by Tommy Orange. For a multiple POV story featuring a multiplicity of urban Indigenous experiences. Amazon | Bookshop
*This list does not include 2020 titles which may be eligible for this year’s Aspen Literary Prize.
Bookish reading.
I have been really struggling to concentrate on reading lately. Turns out I’m not the only one.
Why we need to engage with Black literature beyond racial politics.
In trying to plan curriculum, I came across this list of recommended reading by authors of color for an AP literature class. I think it’s a great reading list for anyone interested in diversifying the canon.
I found a lot of new books in this feature of 22 Black authors sharing their favorite books by Black authors. And in this list, I found some new-to-me Black bookstagrammers to follow on social media to keep getting new recommendations.
Looking for some new historical fiction featuring strong female protagonists? I’ve got a list for you.
These are the best reviewed books of the previous week.
This interview with Brit Bennett is essential reading after you’ve finished The Vanishing Half.
Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors and I couldn’t be more excited to learn of his upcoming release.
Novel Pairings.
This week on the Novel Pairings podcast, we’re discussing Passing by Nella Larsen. It’s one of my favorite books and I loved chatting about it with Chelsey. Plus it pairs perfectly with one of the hottest books of the summer and it’s about to become a movie, which means it’s having a pretty epic resurgence right now. It’s a short, readable classic, with a really intense and dramatic tone. I definitely recommend picking it up if you haven’t yet!
And speaking of summer reads, in two weeks on the pod, Chelsey and I will be sharing some great backlist summer reads. In true Novel Pairings fashion, we’re sharing the older books we love by pairing them with the buzziest books of summer 2020. Make sure you’re subscribed on your favorite podcast player so you never miss an episode!
End notes.
Watching: The Great British Baking Show. Again. There’s just nothing more comforting.
Listening: The Stacks Pod. I’ve been a fan of this bookish podcast for a while now, but I’m enjoying going through the backlog and listening to episodes I’ve missed. I also really appreciated Traci’s conversations about White Fragility with the hosts of The Lady Gang podcast. Part 1 of their discussion is in The Lady Gang feed and Part 2 can be found on The Stacks feed, but you don’t necessarily need to listen in order.
Next weekend I’ll be sharing the best books I’ve read in the first half of 2020. Other than a slow June, it’s been a wonderful reading year for me so far, and I’m looking forward to sharing the best of the best with you!
Until then, stay safe and happy reading!
Sara
This email contains affiliate links. When you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting FictionMatters!