courtreadsmostlyfiction

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Writing over here these days:

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

I am not reading

 Last night I found out a colleague of mine at Cherokee Nation died due to COVID. She and I worked down the hall from each other, running our departments that often coordinated on at-large citizen events. We didn’t always get along, and somehow that feels worse. She’s was my dear friend’s grandmother. I tried to process all of this loss and guilt -- I’m failing -- and was texting with another dear friend, former colleague, and now a tribal councilor, and he said some Cherokees aren’t taking it seriously. I think it is going to ravage Indian Country and my Cherokee community. And I’m far away, and I feel helpless and hopeless, and I make masks and I can’t make enough. And I am not reading.

A few weeks ago I switched to lighter reading, last week I found a book by one of my favorite authors that somehow I still haven’t read, and even that can’t hold my attention. I know that not reading is a warning sign for my mental health, and I still can’t read more than a few pages at a time.

If you are reading, there are some e-books on sale today that are really good, so wanted to share. 

The Nickel Boys - one of my favorite reads from last year, but want to warn that it’s depressing and will break your heart. If a good cry would help, try it.

In The Woods - if you need a good mystery and have never read Tana French. (And I’m so jealous if you’ve never read her - you have so many more treasures to open!)

The Bromance Club - if you need a funny, feminist romance.

Seven Days Of Us - If you need a lighter quarantine story - grown kids have come home for the holidays and the whole family has to quarantine together. BUT ONLY FOR SEVEN DAYS, which seems SOOOOO short now. It’s funny and you know I love me a dysfunctional family.

And if you also are not reading, I have a podcast, and specifically the first episode, to recommend called Sugar Calling. It’s Cheryl Strayed talking to authors, and in the first one, George Saunders read an email he sent to his students and it’s one of the things that made me feel better today.

Other things that made me feel better:

My kids are each doing something nice for me - Birdie painted me a picture and “Ox” is making me sugar cookies (his idea, Grant is doing a lot of the implementation).

Colleagues that are so understanding of me canceling everything, sending support and love and things to watch, and offering to reschedule everything for me because “ain't no way you hired someone who can't calendar lol.” And that is true.

Taking time to get ready and wearing a new dress (motivation to get out of bed).

This quiz. I’m 82% Elizabeth Bennet.

Some Good News

Fuck, this is hard. Sending you love and health and peace and courage and virtual hugs and good books and attention spans to read them. 

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Pandemic reading

Today’s my birthday (turned 39) and turns out it’s hard to have a genuinely happy birthday during a pandemic when you are already an anxious person. I feel guilty saying that, too, because so many people did so many lovely things (especially Grant!) to make my day a good one and we are safe and healthy. And I am really sad.

I’m not reading much during the pandemic, either (and I’m 6 books behind my book goal). The most helpful thing I did for myself was to have permission to not read literary fiction if I didn’t want to (even if my hold came in from the library). I’m more likely to pick up a book now that I’m reading mostly mysteries, romance, and YA. Join me! You can also join me in playing too many games on my phone (Harry Potter Mystery) and trying to not look at the news but then looking at it anyway. And sometimes we’ll meditate and sometimes we won’t. And sometimes we get under the weighted blanket and just stay there for a long time.

Without further ado, I list I never thought I’d make...

WHAT TO READ IN A PANDEMIC

I’ve been reading and enjoying:

Truly Devious (it’s a mystery series and takes place on a campus)

American Royals (a romance, and a “what if” America were a monarchy not a democracy)

The Bride Test (a romance)

Other things like this if you want to escape, too:

Maisie Dobbs (mystery & historical fiction)

The Wedding series by Jasmine Guillory (romance)

The Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny (mystery)

The Bruno series by Martin Walker (mystery)

The Ninth House (about the secret societies at Yale)

The Kiss Quotient (romance)

Harry Potter (we also made our dining room into the great hall so we could be teaching homeschool at Hogwarts)

And, in case you need it...

WHAT NOT TO READ IN A PANDEMIC

Station Eleven (though a wonderful book, if you haven’t read it, just never do)

The Road (especially if you have kids)

The Jetsetters (takes place on a cruise)

Sending you as much love and light as I can possibly muster!

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best books of 2019

I read 179 books in 2019 (and finished the 179th, The Handmaid’s Tale, on 12/31, so I can watch the series and read The Testaments). This is the most I’ve ever read in one year (in 2018, I read 173). I was sharing this update with my grandmother, and she asked me if my goal was to read as many books as possible. I thought about it for a bit, and it’s not but it is? I told her how I knew I only had so many books I’d get to read in a lifetime, and I probably think about that fact too much. I don’t want to read just for quantity’s sake, yet I know that I find some of the best books because I have an insatiable appetite for reading. Too many books, too little (life)time.

I also read instead of watching TV (generally), and love when I’m reading something that pulls me away from social media. I love reading when Grant is reading next to me (on the couch, in bed, across from me at a restaurant on an introvert date).

And last but not least, books have saved my life before many times, and making time for reading helps keep me sane. 

...now onto our program - my favorite books of the year! This year I also blogged more, if not *regularly*, so some of the books below were suggested before. If you got my Christmas card, some of these might not be surprises, either, since we had the fun idea of listing our family member’s favorite books. Some of mine are different, though, since I had to have that done in early December, and there was so much good reading time left in the year! I went on holiday break on the 17th and had saved a lot of good books for my vacation.

TOP ELEVEN (I wrote about all except the last three -- thanks December reading for those books that made this list! -- in previous posts, so will try to capture in one sentence why you might want to pick it up): 

Good Talk (graphic memoir) - I bought my copy at The Strand, and have bought at least 10 copies to give to friends who are parenting in the age of Trump.

(posting this pic to prove my point, even though I’ll likely get shit from Grant about our Amazon bill)

The Most Fun We Ever Had (literary fiction) - a book with a dysfunctional family (yes, please!) and a character who cusses a lot PLUS a ginkgo biloba tree.

Fleishman Is In Trouble (literary fiction) - I want to reread this, and I rarely reread things; a rare 5-star rating from me that made me think about how I participate in misogyny without even realizing it.

Speak No Evil (literary fiction) - a queer, black immigrant high schooler in DC grapples with his identity.

The Nickel Boys (literary fiction) - a fictionalized story of real history: a disciplinary school in Florida where black boys are sent (and often “disappear”); the ending had me crying. (Also on Obama’s list of his fave reads of 2019)

Red, White & Royal Blue (romance) - more romance with bi relationships and politics, please!

Educated (non-fiction, memoir) - it wasn’t what I expected at all, I couldn’t put it down, and ultimately I think it’s about surviving.

Heads of the Colored People (short stories) - stories (and usually I hate short stories) about black identity that I’m STILL thinking about.

Disappearing Earth (mystery) - this was on so many best of lists (including the NYTimes top TEN for the year), and the hard cover had been sitting on my shelf for two long. I had it first on my read-during-winter-break list. As soon as I read two pages, I was sucked in. Two young sisters disappear in Russia’s Far East, and then the story unfolds, told by the perspectives of folks directly and indirectly connected to the crime. 

All This Could Be Yours (literary fiction) - I requested this at the library before it even had a cover :) because I’m a Jami Attenberg fan. A dysfunctional family’s patriarch is dying, and his son and daughter are called to his bedside, where the whole family grapples with his life of crime and abuse.

Juliet Takes A Breath (YA) - Juliet (Nuyorican lesbian) gets a coveted internship with hippy, white feminist author, and white feminism rears it’s ugly head.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: 

Nothing To See Here (literary fiction) - one time, a guy in Chicago had a job at a newspaper where he was the Biblioracle and he would recommend books to folks who wrote in if you told him favorites and what you read recently. 1) I need that job! and 2) he recommended Kevin Wilson’s The Family Fang to me, and I loved it. I was excited to read this, and it felt like such a real representative of politics and friendship even though people literally burst into flames.

The River (literary fiction / mystery) - in Grant’s top 5 of the year, and one of my favorite Peter Heller books (which is saying something, since I loved The Dog Stars and Celine). Two high school boys go for a graduation trip in the boundary waters, and there’s a brushfire growing and possibly a woman missing.

The Chain (thriller) - I keep picking up thrillers that people swear are the next Gone Girl or even better, and nothing is. This didn’t make my top ten, but if you want a page turner with a twist and also think about the banality of evil and what you might or might not do, try this.

Royal Holiday (romance) - Jasmine Guillory is always on point! I couldn’t even save this for Christmas reading!* A personal stylist gets to go to England to style the Meghan Markle (shout out to Suits!) fictionalized equivalent, and her mom goes along and finds romance. 

Intercepted, Fumbled, Blitzed (romance series) - have you read all of Jasmine Guillory? Pick up Alexa Martin next! It’s funny and captures the nuance of being a football fan or former football fan; the book doesn’t deny how it exploits men of color or the traumatic brain injuries. 

They Called Us Enemy (graphic memoir) - I don’t think that I would have ever picked up a graphic memoir if I didn’t already love Mira Jacobs (see Good Talk, above) and George Takei (LOVE him on facebook) already. Now I might seek them out. It’s George’s story of the Japanese internment camps that America likes to not remember.

Slay (YA) - Q: Do you need a YA version of Ready Player One written by a black woman? A: YES! After all of the racism she experiences in gaming, a black high schooler creates a video game only for black folks. No one knows she’s the creator. When a young kid is killed supposedly due to the game, she faces being revealed and wonders what she created.

The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali (YA) - I couldn’t put this book down; it’s about a young, queer Muslim woman whose parents want to marry her off. It’s never the right time to come out, and when they find out unexpectedly, she’s sent off to Bangladesh.

Heaven, My Home (mystery) - The follow up to Bluebird, Bluebird, and just as wonderful. Black Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is back, and is tasked with finding a missing 9 year-old boy from a white supremacist family.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed (non-fiction) - I asked my therapist if she had read this, but she hadn’t yet. She did tell me that she sees a therapist, though. Reading this (and hearing that) made me feel less alone and less crazy. It’s also pretty funny. (AND you know I don’t like non-fiction!!!)

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About (non-fiction, essays) 

Southernmost (rural fiction) - did I just make up a genre? Yes! If you liked Plainsong or anything by Kent Haruf (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, read that instead), I think you’d like this. A rural town, where a preacher decides not to turn his back on a gay couple, and then faces the consequences. I found it thoughtful, nuanced, and real. 

The View from Penthouse B (light fiction) - hmm, can’t stop making up genres! This is witty and well written, and I think is the book equivalent of a warm bath. I loved these sisters who end up living together in an NYC penthouse (the sister who owns it: separated from her scandal-ridden husband and lost her fortune in a Madoff-like ponzi scheme, and the sister who moves in is fairly recently widowed and everyone but her is ready for her to get over it).

Daisy Jones & The Six (historical fiction) - I think this was Grant’s favorite of the year, and it was definitely in the top 5. I loved it, too. It felt like the book version of Almost Famous.

American Spy (spy thriller) - it has so many things I’m looking for in a book all-in-one: excellent writing, fully developed characters, and moving plot. The premise is a black woman in U.S. intelligence during the Cold War, and the book grapples with racism and sexism and patriotism and family. So good!

To Night Owl from Dogfish (middle grade fiction) - I picked this up because Meg Wolitzer is one of the authors (wrote The Interestings) and because I’ve seen it on so many (non-middle grade) lists. It didn’t disappoint! Q: Do you need an LGBTQ Parent Trap-like book in your life (A: Yes, obvs). Pick this one up! I will try to read it with Ox in a year or so.

WHEW!

In 2020, I’m hoping for more 5 star reads (only five in 2019 - Good Talk, Fleishman Is In Trouble, Educated, Speak No Evil, Heads of the Colored People), more mysteries to make this list (bonus if it’s a new series [or new-to-me series] I can get lost in), and that I find the time to paint more book covers.

BONUS MEME

*Gah this meme is me, but this is my blog, so whatevs! Also a lot of these memes, too, which I hadn’t seen before!

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best books of August and September

September has been the month of sickness at our house, and it’s continuing into October (but at least it feels like fall outside)! We got back from our family beach vacay at the Outer Banks -- where I didn’t read as much as I wanted to, but I did get lots of games in and got stung by jellyfish larvae -- at the end of August, and I was trying to get caught up at work, and then had to have an emergency tooth extraction. (This is my reminder to schedule your 6 month dental appointment, even if you feel like you don’t have enough time.) I was in such pain for a week after that I think I read 6 pages during that whole time. 

But you know what’s more (a lot more) fun than dental surgery? Good books.

In these two months, the two best books I read were:

The View from Penthouse B

It made me laugh, is a smart read, and is a page turner. A widow moves into her sister’s NYC penthouse apartment (the only thing she has left after investing with Madoff), and they are soon joined by a younger, gay roommate. 

The Love and Lies from Ruhksana Ali

Wow, this is so good. Rukhsana is queer and Muslim and headed to California Tech - she’s just trying to make it through her senior year and move out of her house. Of course it doesn’t happen that way. (It’s YA and if that makes you not pick it up, you are really missing out*.)

Other 4 star reads:

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness

Patsy

Evvie Drake Starts Over and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill (if you are looking for Jenny Colgan like reads)

We Set the Dark on Fire and Gods of Jade and Shadow (OMG I loved Gods so much - read if you like myths)

How Could She

Very Nice (though Bad Marie is better)

The Gone Dead

When All is Said

The Huntress

Girls Like Us

And all the books!

*One more note: I was listening to one of my book podcasts -- What Should I Read Next -- and Anne was talking about being a recovering book snob. It really resonated with me because like Anne, I used to turn my nose up at romance, at YA, a little bit at mysteries, and I thought I wouldn’t like one of my favorite books of the year (Good Talk) since it was a graphic memoir and only picked it up because I liked the author. Anyway, don’t be like me. Good books are good books, regardless of genre.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best Books of July

The first best book I read this month was The Nickel Boys by Colston Whitehead. His book The Underground Railroad was a favorite read a few years ago, and I was so excited about this one I was requesting it at the library before it had a cover. It tells the story of Elwood, a young black man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time (though that’s almost anywhere in America - then and now), and ends up sent to a disciplinary school called Nickel. It’s based on a true story, and the treatment of the children is terrorizing and horrifying, with many hidden in secret graves that have been unearthed as recently as this year. Even in this hell, Elwood still tries to follow MLK’s words and believe in the decency of humanity. I gasped at the end, and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. BLACK LIVES MATTER. FUCK WHITE SUPREMACY. Read this book and pass it on.

Now, completely fucking switching gears: The second best book I read this month (I can have two bests because it’s my blog, buddy) made me start to contemplate a third child, mostly because I look forward to the time when I have grown children and I want a lot of them. The universe heard this, and was all, REALLY, COURT? and my kids have been ridiculously tantrum-y and fighty and last night I got 3 hours of sleep and they are FOUR and SEVEN and oh my God I was wrong. Sticking with 2!

But the book, The Most Fun We’ve Ever Had, is the best stand in for actually having 4 kids. It’s a family saga that takes place in the Midwest, and a book review called it the book version of The Family Stone movie (sold!) and I think it’s a better, updated, funnier The Corrections. I don’t even care if Jonathan Franzen ever reads the prior sentence, I stand behind it that much. There’s drama, roadtrips, love, lies, cussing and a ginkgo tree. WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED? Claire Lombardo nails down exactly how it feels to be a parent, and a kid, and she also commented on my Instagram. READ IT!

Other wonderful reads in the 14 this month include some beachy ones if you’ve still got vacay plans coming up:

-The Flatshare - SO SO GOOD! I wish I would have finished it before I answered the book recommendation below. If you like Jenny Colgan, I think you’ll like this. A woman – Tiffy – needs housing in London quickly, and agrees to share a one-bedroom flat with someone who has night shifts and will spend the weekends with his girlfriend. Tiffy will not be in the flat from 8am to 6pm on weekdays, and never the twain shall meet. Or that’s how it’s supposed to go, anyway…

-The Wedding Party - but start with The Wedding Date and then The Wedding Proposal. It’s so smart and funny and steamy, and if you don’t take my word for it, take ROXANE GAY’S, MF!

-The Gown - I wasn’t sure about this one, but ended up loving it. It’s the story of Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown from the point of view of one of the embroiderers after the war when London was still rationing.

Happy, meaningful reading, y’all.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Hi! Love your book lists and recommendations. I'm in a hard beach read mode this summer - I think I'm peaking on Jenny Colgan. I have a great list of "real" books for the Fall but I just need to veg this summer. What do you recommend?? Best Heather - Santi and Gisele's Mom

I am ridiculously excited that you are the first person to ask through this forum (and, side note: we need to hang out and talk books while our kids play/engage each other)!

My recs:

-Daisy Jones and the Six

-The Wedding Date

-City of Girls

(All have great writing, and we’re fun and page turners for me)

I love a good mystery/thriller/suspense for a beach read, so if that’s your jam, too, check these out:

-The River

-Maisie Dobbs

-Still Life (the first of the Inspector Gamache series)

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best Books of June

Things I (still) have a hard time grasping:

We’re halfway through 2019

Birdie turned FOUR years old yesterday

I can’t go non-stop with work and with parenting without my body reminding me to (making me?) slow down

So far in 2019, I’ve read 94 books (63% of 150), and 11 of them were in June. Now I’ve got the idea of trying to hit 200 for the first time, but we’ll see. (If that seems like a lot: I listen to the All The Books podcast by Book Riot, and highly recommend it. I learned that the amazing host -- Liberty Hardy -- reads 600 books a year for her job. She also has a hammock in her bedroom for all of the reading, and now, so do I.)

The best book I read in June was Fleishman Is In Trouble, and so far it would be in my top 3 for the year. I just googled some reviews of it (I wouldn’t recommend that, because it might include a spoiler, and it made me want to pick it up and read it again to see what I missed the first time around). It is brilliant and clever and funny and revelatory. Read it! Then let’s talk about it!

Other notables, uppers (all 4 stars):

Daisy Jones and the Six - If you are like me and are one of the few people who haven’t read this yet, add it to your summer list. I didn’t think I’d like this, and then I really did. Read it if you want Almost Famous in book form. Grant gave it 5 stars!

City of Girls - I was fully prepared not to like this book, but I fell into 1940s New York City happy to stay there for awhile. A quote that sums the book up well: "At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time," she muses. "After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is." FUCK YES TO THIS.

The Bookshop on the Shore - Jenny Colgan, the author, is such a lover of books, and you can tell in her writing. I’m devouring the stuff she’s written because it usually takes place in bookstores (sidenote: I used to REALLY wish one of my parents would buy a bookstore so I could stay in it overnight and all day and read to my heart’s content without a budget instead of having to buy the super editions since they would last longer). 

Other notables, downers (all 4 stars):

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About - (non-fiction alert!) read if you are ready for the piercing realness of these essays

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong writes beautifully, but I’m not a big poetry reader, and I got lost in some of the language. And yet... it was raw -- as trauma is -- and several sentences seemed to be transcribed directly from feelings in my brain that I struggled to put into word.

Once More We Saw Stars - (non-fiction alert!) read if you want to cry a lot and grieve with parents whose two year old dies when a chunk of a building in NYC falls on her. It’s filled with pain and hope and grace and I couldn’t put it down. Hug your little ones tighter, even when they poop on the floor on their birthdays, not that that happened to me yesterday or anything.

We’ve now covered hammocks and Babysitters Club specials and poop, so I think I’m done here.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best Book of May

This month especially, I am so happy to live in a world with books. 

The best book this month is Red, White & Royal Blue, and I couldn’t put it down. It’s so rare to have a real character that is bi (written by an author who is bi), and it’s got politics and royals, and what else do you need for a summer PRIDE read? Nothing!

In total, I read 23 books this month, with a lot of 4 star reads that are perfect beach reads. If you want to read:

a dystopian thriller that you can’t put down, pick up The Last

a dysfunctional family epic, pick up Ask Again, Yes

historical fiction about another dysfunctional family and wealth and secrets and Maine (why is that such a good beach read setting?), pick up The Guest Book

a dishy book (see what I did there?) about Ruth Reichl’s rise and abrupt end at Gourmet, read Save Me The Plums 

a tragic mystery/courtroom drama intersecting with immigration and family secrets, read Miracle Creek

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best Book of April - Good Talk - STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND READ IT

Okay, so I don’t have strong feelings about my best book of April or anything, but holy books it was amazing. If I tell you about the format*, you still have to promise to read it. Good Talk is a memoir -- and it’s rare that I read non-fiction, much less think it’s the favorite of the month -- written by Mira Jacobs, an Indian-American woman, about talking to her son about race and politics during the time of Trump. 

*It’s a graphic memoir, which means you need to read it as an actual book, not a kindle. Also this picture is giant but I’m using it FOR EMPHASIS about how amazing this book is.

Every person I’ve sent it to or recommended it to has loved it. Stop reading this post and go order it or check it out, and then you can read about the other books.

Total books read this month: 13 

Of these, I really recommend:

- Death is Hard Work, 4 stars, which takes place in Syria and is written by a Syrian author. A father dies, and his last wish is to be buried where he grew up, so his children try to take his corpse across Syria (what would normally take a few hours, but with the checkpoints and war, it’s an arduous, dangerous journey).

-The Other Americans, 4 stars. It’s the story of the aftermath of a hit and run of a Moroccan immigrant and how his family and neighbors search for and hide the truth.

-The River, 4 stars, because Peter Heller wrote it and it’s amazing and made me cry. It’s about two high schools who decide to go to the boundary waters and then it turns into a thriller. DAD: DO NOT BUY THIS AND I’M TELLING YOU THAT FOR NO REASON (LIKE I AM TOTALLY NOT GETTING IT FOR YOU FOR FATHERS DAY)

-Jar of Hearts, 4 stars, which you should put on your summer/beach reading list if you want a good thriller. I stayed up too late on a work night reading this because it is such a page thriller and I didn’t think I’d sleep until I knew what happened. Three high schoolers are best friends when one of them is murdered Fast forward a decade or so, and one of the living is a police officer investigating the case and one is a suspect. Sexual violence trigger warning. 

-A Woman is No Man, 4 stars. A story of two timelines of a mother and daughter’s attempted arranged marriages, of immigration from Palestine, of family violence and trying to break the cycle, of the oppression of patriarchy.

Happy reading!!

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Best Book of March

March ended on an up note, and I joined the 38 club! Grant joined me in NYC to celebrate my birthday, and we went to The Color Factory (highly, highly recommend; plus the tickets were $38 so how could I resist?) and finally saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on broadway (the price and the year long wait were totally worth it, plus costs have gone down slightly, so it’s a good time to get tix. Lucky you!).

Here’s the book haul for March. Out of the 14 I read during the month, I had no 5 star reads, but I had 11 4-star reads, and I’ll take it!

For the best book I read in March, though, I’m gonna go with American Spy, because it’s the one I’ve recommended the most. It’s a spy thriller, and it has so many things I’m looking for in a book all-in-one: excellent writing, fully developed characters, and moving plot. The premise is a black woman in U.S. intelligence during the Cold War, and the book grapples with racism and sexism and patriotism and family. So good!

Other four star reads include:

Queenie - a twenty-something black woman in London looking for love in all the wrong places. It’s funny and deep and dark and real. Possibly some trigger warnings. Now I want a book from the perspective of her friend Kyazike. Read if you liked Tiny Beautiful Things. (That’s possibly a really weird comparison, but they are both funny and deep and dark and real, so I’m going with it.)

The Parade - oh Dave Eggers, thanks for putting a book out this year (and Montgomery Library system, thanks for getting it to me on the first day it was out). Two unnamed corporate employees are sent to an unnamed post-civil-war country to build a road. Can peace conquer capitalism and the military industrial complex that exists everywhere? (spoiler alert: no). Read if you liked The City and the City, but if you haven’t read The City and the City, it’s better, so read it instead.

The Far Field - I put this book on my to read list because I haven’t read much that takes place in the Kashmiri region, and I learned a lot. That makes it sound boring, but it wasn’t. It was a slower read, and a slower burn, but I gasped at the end. Read if you would like The Goldfinch and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena to be combined into one book.

Washington Black - I waited too long to read this one! Wash is born into slavery, and then taken under the wing of one of the more “progressive” slave owning brothers, Titch, as an assistant. Titch assumes he has saved Wash, and they both grapple with the meaning of freedom. Read if you liked The Good Lord Bird.

Cherry - this one hit really close to home. It was heavy and hard and unflinching about the heroin epidemic and war and our neighbors (and husbands) that become the casualties and wounded. After I read it I read a lot about it because it was SO REAL when it came to the drugs (that the consequence of not having dope was worse than robbing a bank, for instance, or that they couldn’t get clean b/c they couldn’t afford to be sick for a month). I found out the author wrote it from prison when a publisher contacted him and encouraged him to write. Fascinating. (I’m glad I read the book, and I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it. It’s graphic and sexist.) Read if you like alpha-male stuff like Chuck Palahniuk. 

Scrublands - now I think all thrillers need to take place in Australia. At the very beginning of the book, a young priest kills 5 townfolk before church. There are multiple witnesses to the heinous crime, but no one knows why he did it. Read if you liked The Dry. Q: And if you didn’t like The Dry, can we still be friends? A: Unsure.

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls - A black family is stunned and torn apart when the oldest sister and her husband are arrested for embezzlement. Read if you liked The Turner House.

In the Distance - first of all, it’s a book about the American West that I didn’t find offensive or racist, so it’s got that going for it. Håkan leaves Sweden with his brother for America, and then makes a lonely journey across the country, creating an unwanted legend in the meanwhile. Grant, you should probably read this one, and I haven’t told you that yet. Read if you liked The Road or I think other Cormac McCarthy stuff but I’ve only read The Road.

Descent - a family of 4 takes a vacation in the Colorado mountains before the daughter is leaving for college, and she disappears. It’s a thriller and family drama, and now I can’t wait to read Tim Johnston’s latest, The Current. Read if you liked The Painter. Grant add this to your list, too.

Emergency Contact - only YA on the list, but it was so good! A Korean American woman heads to college and ends up in a secret are-we-friends-or-more relationship. Read if you liked A Very Large Expanse of Sea, but A Very Large... is probably better.

(And in the “books I didn’t love but thought I would” category: The Alchemist. It just didn’t do it for me!)

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Best Book of February, some recs, and an update

February is a really hard month for me. I’m ready to say goodbye to the snow and cold weather, and my mental and physical health needs the sun. But, it’s over! And I read some good books!

An update

I try to make sure my self care is on overdrive during this gray, dreary, hopeless month (as much sun as I can get, lots of reading, meditating almost every day), and I added in a routine? hobby? something-that-turns-my-brain-off? activity this month, and I’m painting the covers of my favorite books. It feels just hard enough (I never really know if I can do a book until it’s done, or not), and so satisfying to be able to complete a painting in a day or two. I’m excited to have my favorite books hanging up on the walls of my house! My favorite one I’ve done so far is Maud’s Line, a Pulitzer finalist, written by Cherokee author Margaret Verble. (And if you want to see more painting works in progress, follow me on instagram @courtreadsmostlyfiction)

Feb Best Book

The best book I read was Educated. I know, I know, I’m SUPER LATE TO THIS PARTY, but if you were reluctant at all to pick it up -- like me -- it’s better late than never, so pick it up. I thought it would be pat; it wasn’t. I thought it would be predictable; it wasn’t. Tara writes about her life so precisely and with so much nuanced humanity. It’s an inspiring read with excellent writing, and even though our stories/lives are so very different, I felt my heart and survivor-ness and loss reflected in her words. Anyway, you know I read MOSTLY FICTION, so for a memoir to be the best book out of a lot of good books this month, you know it’s good.

Other recs from this month

Educated was by far and away the best book I read (only 5 star read this month), but so many others were good that I wanted to share them, too. All of the following were 4 star reads!

If you loved The Wedding Date, try Intercepted (and put Fumbled on your library hold list). I might now call myself a bonafide romance reader, and I owe it all to Roxane Gay who recommended Jasmine Guillory.

If you loved The SIgnature of All Things, try Bowlaway. This book has a plucky heroine, an antagonist you can love to hate, and part of the ending made me gasp out loud.

If you liked Eligible, try Unmarrigeable. I love me some Curtis Sittenfeld, but Unmarrigeable is a better reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, and it’s set in Pakistan. (If you’re wondering how much I loved this book - my library book ran out, and I bought it on kindle rather than have to wait again to finish it.)

And I can’t think of a “if you liked X...” for this one, but just read The Fifth Season. Even if you don’t think you like fantasy.

All the Feb books

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Best Book(s) of January

I read a lot in January, which is good because I’ve been much slower so far in Feb (I read 20 books in Jan, and I’m on my second for Feb, which is quite a different pace; relatedly, February just generally sucks). And if YOUR February is sucking, then at least I have some book recs for you!

The best book I read in January is Speak No Evil. It is so deeply human that I couldn’t put it down, even when I was afraid of what would happen. It’s about a black immigrant high schooler in DC who is wrestling with many facets of his identity, and trying to really belong with a foot in two different worlds. Read it and let’s talk about it! (And if you need more convincing, here’s what Black Leopard Red Wolf -- the book I just started reading -- author Marlon James said, “Speak No Evil is the rarest of novels: the one you start out just to read, then end up sinking so deeply into it, seeing yourself so clearly in it, that the novel starts reading you.”)

Runner up is Heads of the Colored People -- also a 5 star read for me -- which is really wonderful short stories about black identity (and keep in mind this is a recommendation from someone who doesn’t love short stories). There’s one short story of communication between two school parents -- that was satiric but was still too close to being true -- that I can’t stop thinking about.

Below are all my Jan books. Lots of Bruno series (by Martin Walker) to feel like I’m in France, a few 4 star reads (Census, Waiting for Eden, All You Can Ever Know, The Overstory), one I WISH would have been a 4 star read (The Dreamers, didn’t love the ending), and I’d skip the Milkman next time because it was a slog.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

My Best Books of 2018

I thought last year was a hard year, and I think 2018 heard that and said “challenge accepted!” I spend a lot of time this year anxious and depressed, and luckily one of my coping mechanisms is reading (also luckily I have health insurance and found a treatment program to learn more coping skills). My goal was 100 books (same as 2017, and I met that goal on December 31, 2017), but I hit that in August, so I upped the goal to 160. As of this writing, I have read 173 books (holy forking shirtballs!), and here are the best ones: 

Best book regardless of category: There There by Tommy Orange

If I’ve talked to you about books this year, then you’ve heard about this book and about how much I love it (when I thought it was left off the Washington Post 50 best fiction books of 2018, I was going to cancel my subscription; then I turned the page and saw that it was on their 10 best books so all was well). It’s a debut (which is amazing) and expertly grapples with identity and trauma and violence. It’s one of those books where I felt like the author was writing sentences straight from my brain and feelings straight from my heart. I’ve wondered if I love it so much because of my Native identity, and I wonder if I should have a disclaimer that I’m biased, and as I write this, I also don’t care. I’m biased toward fucking awesome books. It’s amazing, it’s on the top lists for a reason, and read it already!

Best fiction:

An American Marriage - first of all, this is $6.28 on kindle today, so buy it if you haven’t read it already. If you made a venn diagram of race, racism, marriage, the American criminal justice system, and injustice, this book would be at the center. The characters are human and there are no easy answers. 

Pachinko - this is an epic novel, about a Korean family living in Japan in the 20th century, that illustrates what immigrants must do to survive. Unfortunately timely. (Also, you should read it even if this weren’t the case, but I don’t often think that epic sagas are page turners, but this was).

Swimming Lessons - If my best fiction list were one of those “one of these things is not like the other” this would be the other. The thing all 4 of these books have in common is incredible writing, but this one feels lighter. I’m not sure if that’s an apt description because the material is heavy, but it feels limited to one family versus entire peoples. It’s smart, tightly plotted, and full of surprises. (The only thing I didn’t L-O-V-E was the ending, but I still gave it a 5 star review because of the other 97% of the book). Anyway, read it, too. (In case you need at least a sentence about the book to consider it: a wife writes letters to her husband and hides them in books, then disappears and twelve years later, her daughters come home when he is ill and thinks he has seen his wife.)

Best mystery/thriller:

The Banker’s Wife - I couldn’t put this down, and I recommended it to Grant before we went to the beach for the week. He told me he had already made his beach reading list, and that I was giving him beach-reading-anxiety. I dared him to read one page, and this book made it to the list. (In the first chapter - a plane containing a banker goes down on its way to Geneva, and in the rest of the book, his widow tries to figure out what happened.)

The Bone Readers - I found this book because it won the 2017 Jhalak prize (for British writers of color) and it deserves much more attention and acclaim. It’s a crime story in the Caribbean with the unforgettable Miss Stanislaus, and I JUST FOUND OUT THAT IT IS THE FIRST BOOK IN A TRILOGY. All best books should be, right? (And it is $3.99 on kindle today!)

Bruno series - If you like Three Pines (of Louise Penny’s making), I think you’d like the Bruno books. Bruno is a rule breaker but moral follower, the books take place in rural France, and there’s a mystery and fabulous descriptions of food. What else do you need?

Best young adult/youth:

Leah on the Offbeat - Did you see the movie Love, Simon? It was based off a book by this same author. Leah is Simon’s bi friend, and I don’t know if I can express how much it meant to read an awesome book with a bi character. I can only imagine what it would have been like if I had read this in middle or high school, and maybe I would have come out to my family before the age of 37.

Children of Blood and Bone - I saw this described as Hunger Games in Africa (which is honestly why I picked it up), but it’s so much more / better than that description. It’s a fantasy about trying to get magic back, and it is a magical book. Read it.

Penderwicks series - I got the first book (The Penderwicks) to read to Ox, but he didn’t love it. I fell head over heels with the girls and wish this series would have been around when I was growing up. See if you can resist Rosalind, Sky, Jane and Batty.

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street - The kids in this biracial family are determined to not lose their family brownstone in Harlem. So good!

Best romance:

I don’t usually read romance, so I’m not sure if these would be categorized here in a bookstore, but also don’t let this categorization turn you away. If you enjoy rom-com movies, you’d like these.

The Wedding Date - Roxane Gay recommended this book, and it’s so fun and steamy and real. What happens when you get stuck on an elevator with a hot guy? Read it and find out.

Cafe by the Sea - I found Jenny Colgan books this year, and they make me want to run away to Scotland (a place I’ve never really wanted to visit), and open a bookstore or cafe. If you need to escape with a light read (that doesn’t have horrible writing) where it’s pretty likely two people end up together, pick this up. After I read this, I kept reading her books and am now rationing them for myself so I have one when I need a light read or need to kick start my reading mojo.

Best nonfiction:

This blog is CourtReadsMostlyFICTION for a reason, and I rarely pick up non-fiction. So you know the books below have to be phenomenal to make it on my list.

Heavy - I just finished this heartbreaking and searing memoir about trauma, abuse, survival, family, writing, success, black bodies, and weight, and I will be thinking about it for a long time. Kiese, thank you for your courage and words. (I’m also a fan of his novel Long Division.)

Heart Berries - I read this when I was in my partial hospitalization treatment program (and in the memoir, Terese also gets mental health treatment), and while I think it might not have been the best time to read such an honest account, it’s probably a good time for you to read what we do to Native women.

Calypso - I am thankful I live in a time when I get to read new David Sedaris words pretty frequently. I have high expectations for his work, and this sailed over it. It’s still funny, but really thoughtful about suicide and loss and Trump and partners. Also, I read the essay Still Standing (about his episode with a stomach virus) when my whole family was vomiting and shitting and nothing else made us laugh.

Becoming - This is going to come out wrong, but I didn’t think I’d enjoy this book, much less love it. But it’s so real and so readable, and not a typical political memoir. I have loved the Obamas for a long time, but now I might have a new favorite one. It’s number one on the Amazon charts right now, so you’ve probably read it, too, so let’s just talk about how wonderful and human she is, okay?

Best poetry:

There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncè - I saw Morgan Parker read with Roxane Gay, and one of the lines from her poems stuck with me (I just want to understand my savings account. What is happening to my five dollar one cent.) I never read poetry, but read two of her volumes back to back because I loved them so much (and will go back to them, something else I rarely do). Read it.

Best short stories:

You Think It, I’ll Say It - I love Curtis Sittenfeld (I have since Prep, and I’ve read everything she’s written since) but I was d-o-u-b-t-f-u-l of this book since in general I really fucking hate short stories. But I really loved this (beware, I’ve recommended it to two people and one person loved it and one person didn’t), in part because it is frankly post-Trump and because it is painfully and funnily real.

Florida - Let’s read EVERYTHING by Lauren Groff because she is this amazing as a person, and she writes short stories that I love (see paragraph above) and wonderful books. (Disclaimer - the person above who loved YTIISI did not love Florida, because it is dark and accurately portrays Florida.)

Single, Carefree, Mellow - Katharine if you are reading this, can we be friends already? From the author of Standard Deviation (top pick of 2017), this collection of short stories was un-put-down-able. ($5.49 on kindle right now!)

More List(s)!

My fave book recommenders have their top lists here: Matt Compton (if he recommends a book to me, or tweets about it, there’s a 99% chance I will love it); I’ll put a link to Roxane Gay’s list as soon as she publishes it (because it’s ROXANE GAY); the list for the 2019 Tournament of Books.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Vacation reading and bookstagram

During the last month, I’ve gone on two 4-day long vacations, which is doing wonders for my reading goal and for my mental health (the latter being the purpose, the former being a bonus). Grant and I just got back from the beach in Ft. Lauderdale, where I read:

Norse Mythology (4 stars)

Tangerine (3 stars)

The Italian Teacher (4 stars)

Girls Burn Brighter (4 stars) 

The Left Hand of Darkness (3 stars)

Maybe in Another Life (3 stars)

If you love Neil Gaiman and/or myths, you’ll love Norse. And I really enjoyed The Italian Teacher (slow burn of a story) and Girls Burn Brighter (sad, triggering heartbreaker), but I didn’t LOVE them. I’m on the search for books I L-O-V-E LOVE this year, so send recs of those my way.

Also, I’m so super late to this party, but while I was on vacation, I discovered bookstagram. I started an instagram account for my reading (@courtreadsmostlyfiction), and didn’t realize there was a whole world I had been missing out on all this time! I feel like I just discovered a million new places to find what to read next; or how I imagine Grant feels when he finds a reddit dedicated solely to bacon curing or something. Sometimes the internet is just a really wonderful place.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Harry Potter

I’m rereading all of the Harry Potter books right now, because last week I took a vacation from my life and went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida all by myself.

I’ve read them countless times (and I’m reading them to Ox right now, and we’re on The Goblet of Fire), but the last time I read them all in a row was right before I started working on the Hill #funemployment.

As you might know, when I get excited about something, I gush about it just-a-little-bit (#jenis #weightedblankets) and basically try to force it (politely) on people I love. I am doing the same thing with Harry Potter (and talking non-stop about how much I love HP world), and I’m realizing there are people who haven’t read the books! If you’re thinking about reading them, do it. (And right now, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can read them all for free. And if you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, you can get 3 months of it for $1.99, which I *might* have done, Grant, if you’re reading this.)

So: you might like Harry Potter:

even if you don’t like fantasy! Secret of mine: when these books came out, my Mary Ma told me to read them, and I said I hated fantasy and wouldn’t read books about wizards. Then I was at her house a few years later and stuck with no book, so I picked up the first book, and then couldn’t put it down.

even if you didn’t like the movies! I do like the movies, but I’ve watched them so many times, so I thought I knew the earlier stories really well, but the books are different. And better!

if you’re part of the resistance (#dumbledoresarmy)

if you want something to read to kids (yours or someone else’s) that’s not boring. It’s hard for me to put the book down at night after I tuck Ox and Bird in. (And sometimes I don’t! I keep reading, and then we just pick up a little farther along the next night.) And if you’re reading to kids, you can get books 1, 2, and 3 beautifully illustrated. I read those to Ox, but we didn’t want to wait for an illustrated number 4 before we started reading it.)

even if you don’t like young adult books. Listen, it’s an international best seller for a reason!

on that note, even if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like things that are mainstream. There are countless examples in the book about being on the margins.

if you like 2 Dope Queens! Jessica Williams loves Harry Potter and now seems to be besties with JK, or Jo as she refers to her, which is totally awesome and I’m only THIS MUCH jealous.

if you want a fierce, smart girl role model #hermione

if you want to be in a story where a kid can escape a tough childhood and actually go to a magical place, and in a story where good can triumph over evil.

The bullet is why I come back to it again and again, I think.

[courtreadsmostlyfiction]

Books I make Grant read, vol. 1

I’m almost halfway through my annual book goal (yay!), but the books I’ve been reading lately have been good, but not great. I’m ready for some more five-star-level books! (And it feels like it sucks even more when I expect a book to be excellent -- ahem, Force of Nature and The Female Persuasion -- and it’s goooood, but not excellent.)

I was feeling like I didn’t have much to write about or recommend here, but then Grant told me today that he cannot put down a book I recommended to him, so I’m starting this series! Grant usually reads about 30 minutes a day (as he said, that’s usually all he has in him), but all he wants to do is to keep reading this book.

I am really going to have to sell this one (selling it already!) but it’s by an author I found after he passed, Kent Haruf, and it’s the first book I read of his, and now I’m reading everything I can get my hands on (#forfreefromthelibrary, #bookbudget). The book is Our Souls at Night (and PLEASE read it before you watch the Netflix movie, which is pretty good), and it takes place in a small town where two older people start sleeping (literally sleeping) together to combat loneliness. It nails the good and bad things about small towns, and, maybe most importantly, is really, really hopeful. Don’t we all need some of that right now?

(Okay, and if that didn’t convince you: read it, and if you don’t like it, I’ll give you $5. Offer is limited to the first 5 people who reach out, but I seriously doubt even 1 person will. #safebet)

#booksimakegrantread fiction haruf