Was there a more highly recommended book published this year than The Vanishing Half? It appears on everyone’s “Best-of 2020” reading lists and was recommended to me by friends and by my son. Naturally, I had very high expectations for the book, and it mostly came through for me. Bennett follows twin teenage sisters Desiree and Stella Vignes as they run away from their small, southern, Black community to the big city of New Orleans and a life of freedom together.
Just about one year ago, Random House put out its list of best books of the decade to celebrate entering the 2020s. Little did they know that this book about the AIDS epidemic in Chicago in the 80s would resonate so strongly as we all face a widespread and lethal epidemic in the first year of this new decade.
One of the things I have appreciated most in books this year is their ability to completely transport me to another place or time or culture. Although The Girl With The Louding Voice was not always a happy journey, I was completely absorbed and would emerge from each reading session dazed.
I take great pleasure in getting a book recommendation from a friend and finding that I love the book as much as they did. My friend, Jane and I almost always agree on books. So when she urged both my husband and me to read The River, I figured it had to be good. It is excellent. I love everything about this book.
Last month when I reviewed The Black Flamingo, I described how much I enjoyed its novel-in-verse format. By sheer coincidence shortly after writing that review, I read Clap When You Land, another novel written in verse for the young adult audience that offers plenty to adult readers too. I read this book cover-to-cover one rainy Saturday and found it an engrossing and entertaining escape.
Writers & Lovers is one of the best fiction books I have read this year. If you haven’t discovered Lily King (the author, not my co-editor), then you have a real treat awaiting you. Her previous book Euphoria was stellar and Writers & Lovers follows suit.
In Rodham, Curtis Sittenfeld uses historical facts to create a novel about Hillary Rodham and how her life might have turned out had she turned down Bill Clinton’s marriage proposal to pursue her own political ambition. What a fascinating premise! Not only is the idea for the novel great, but so is the execution.
Back in June when so many people were sharing lists of resources for those who wanted to educate themselves about anti-racism, this book appeared over and over. I added it to my library cue, but it was in such high demand, I didn’t get to check it out until this month. Although it is a difficult read, I am glad I finally got the chance.
In this powerful novel, Ayad Akhtar tells the story of what it was like growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in America’s heartland the Muslim son of Pakistani immigrant physician parents. His father, a successful cardiologist, embraced the American dream, thrilled with his seemingly unlimited opportunity and all that his money could buy. Even while feeling a part of the U.S., however, father and son experienced discrimination because they were Black. Those experiences were magnified after the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11, when being Muslim became another reason for discrimination.
Although The Black Flamingo looks in format like a book of poetry, I would describe it as a novel in verse. And although it is marketed as young adult fiction, I can unhesitatingly recommend it to any reader who loves a good coming-of-age story.
If you’ve been an L&L reader for a while, you know that I love a good historical drama, and Conjure Women is one of the best I have read in a long time. Like many contemporary writers, Atakora jumps around in the timeline to build suspense, but she does it with expert skill that keeps you turning pages much later into the night than you probably should.
October seems to be my month for memoirs. Without realizing it, I chose to review two memoirs in this edition of L&L. They are two of the best books I’ve read recently. Inheritance has been on my radar for a while having appeared on many “must read” lists. I am so glad that I finally opened it up and read it!
When my book club chose The Truths We Hold as this month’s read, I figured it would be about just who the Democratic vice presidential candidate is and how she got to where she is today. This memoir delivers so much more than that though. From Senator Harris’ description of her childhood in Oakland, California, we understand how her parents’ activism in the civil rights movement shaped the person she would become.
If you are looking for an epic, historical family drama, look no further. Set in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in the first half of the 20th century, Fall On Your Knees weaves together the stories of the Piper family over four generations, as well as the stories of their extended families and neighbors. MacDonald expertly reveals both dark secrets and terrible mistakes her characters make at the same time ensuring you feel the same love for them that she does.
Migrations is one of those rare novels that has stayed with me long after I finished reading it. McConaghy has written a totally original and compelling adventure tale filled with memorable characters driven by the universal human emotions of love, regret, ambition and compassion.
Having read The Warmth of Other Suns, Wilkerson’s illuminating first book about the history of Black migration from the South to northern industrial cities that won the Pulitzer Prize, I was eager to read her latest book, Caste. And I was not disappointed. In Caste, Wilkerson has written a second seminal book – one which I predict will also win many literary prizes.
Fifteen Dogs is one of the most entertaining books, with one of the weirdest premises, that I have ever read. Set in and around downtown Toronto, the story begins with a conversation in a bar between the gods Hermes and Apollo, who share a drink and make a wager. They debate whether the cause of human unhappiness is consciousness, and so decide to bestow human consciousness on a group of dogs so see if their lives are made happier by it.
I will admit I was nervous to start this book, which I added to my reading list at the suggestion of smart people who offered resources to educate and spread anti-racism. In my vague understanding of who Malcolm X was, I pictured him as an angry, violent version of Martin Luther King Jr.
Another Brooklyn reminds me of a soap bubble. It is a beautifully sweet and sad book that took less than two days to read. It is a book about memory, and I find it hovering in my memory ever since I finished it.
In Deacon King Kong, James McBride once again proves his master storyteller status. McBride sets the novel in the housing projects of New York City in the late 1960s with an unforgettable main character named Sportcoat. Beloved by many, Sportcoat is an old, Black man who fights his demons by consuming vast quantities of bootleg liquor.
