BOOKS THAT STUCK WITH ME IN 2023
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
by Gabrielle Zevin
I was fully immersed in this world and utterly charmed by Marx.
How Far The Light Reaches
by Sabrina Imbler
I was in awe of this book. Through deeply personal essays, Imbler gives space to pause and consider sea creatures (some that we take for granted and others we know very little about) from a completely different perspective that is considered, nuanced, and emotional. The connections Imbler makes between sea creatures and being a mixed race, queer person and in relationship to other queer communities in the current world we live in is expansive and illuminating.
Central Places
by Delia Cai
I really loved how Delia wrote about being so incredibly in love with the stoner skater kid in high school in small town America, moving away as soon as you can and reinventing yourself in a big, glamorous city. Then with your shiny new big city fiancé, revisting your past and finding what remains no matter how hard you try to change or leave it behind (for better or worse).
I felt like the strongest parts of this book were about Kyle (the main character's unrequited stoner skater crush), it felt more nuanced and compelling - although that may be a bias because lol I'm one of the many who had an unrequited crush on a stoner skater (for better or worse!)
Age of Vice
by Deepti Kapoor
This book is massive but is a fast, compelling read. It is expansive and we see modern India through the extreme highs and lows. Kapoor is uncompromising about the devastating fates that the characters meet - the inevitable unfairness is heartbreaking. I appreciate Kapoor being unflinching but still empathetic in the writing of her characters that are full of depth, want, and hope.
Stay True
by Hua Hsu
A book where you know the existence of it is because the author has experienced something devastating. Heartbreaking. Absolutely moved that in the face of that, Hsu writes in such reverent, honest detail of an all encompassing friendship (filled with growth and slow dull moments you take for granted) in order to remember and honor someone irreplacable.
Essential Labor
by Angela Garbes
I was really afraid to read this book because well, I am at a stage in life where I have to decide about whether or not to have children. I thought this book would sway me in some way and avoided it for as long as I could.
And in a way it did, or at least it did what I think Garbes intended for the book to do, which is to see (as it is right now - the immeasurable) value of mothering. Through various facets of life, Garbes shows how mothering creates and sustains humans - allowing them to function and thrive in community. And that if this were truly recognized and valued, our world would be much more kind and fair.
I value the mothers in my life and although I'm not sure if I'll be one, I'm so grateful for the ones that are and the care, love, and work they give.
Oh My Mother!
by Connie Wang
I'm a fan of Connie Wang's writing ever since I read her work at Refinery 29. I loved the book's premise that a Chinese mother's immigrant story does not have to be one that comes from a place of pain, rather starting more from a place of joy. That's not to say that the essays in this book gloss over complicated, hard moments (it doesn't) - but that this isn't all what defines that experience. Wang's mother is so fierce and confident in her identity and I'm more than happy to be along for the ride.
Chain-Gang
All-Stars
by Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah
Whew this book is a doozy. It is sprawling and you learn about intricacies of this dystopic world (that feels closer than not) through every character that you encounter (that starts as disparate and eventually connects).
The book is cinematic, unflinching in its violence with moments of tenderness that gives some respite amongst the unfair odds. It ends with a moment of sacrifice made out of love, an ending I think about often and am moved by.
(I did read in 2022, but my brain is a sieve and I don't quite remember them and did not get around to putting them all together for your reading curiosity)