After hitting a bit of a slump in the first quarter of the year, my reading has been much more enjoyable over the last two months. In April and May, I finished eight books—the six pictured above and two poetry collections pictured below. The winner was definitely Redefining Realness, and I'm happy that there weren't any regrettable reads in the bunch.
Redefining Realness by Janet Mock
In Redefining Realness, Janet Mock shares her story of growing up as a poor, multiracial trans woman in Hawaii and explores the varied and nuanced parts of her identity and history. I appreciated how she balances memoir with educational/informational context, so this book would be a great introduction for people who don't have much experience with issues affecting the transgender community. Intersectionality is stressed throughout the book, and she acknowledges the challenges she faced as a poor trans woman of color while also explaining how lucky she was to have things like an accepting family, some institutional support at school, and doctors to advocate on her behalf—many trans youth do not have that privilege. The writing was slightly clunky in parts, but her honesty and the value of her story make up for that. I also loved all the literary references throughout: Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, etc. Overall I found it compelling, brave, important, and affirming, and I would highly recommend it, especially given this country's often explicit transphobia and recent surge of discriminatory legislation (North Carolina being the focus at the moment, but these kinds of bills exist across the country).
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
And the Mountains Echoed is hard to sum up in one sentence. The story explores the complexity of relationships and how the choices we make affect one another. A brother and sister duo provide the overarching narrative to the book, but a number of other characters and story lines are woven together. I didn't like this book nearly as much as The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (but I did read those a long time ago and my memory of them is fuzzy). I mostly appreciated Hosseini's writing, which is beautiful and lyrical, and he has a masterful ability to render relationships complexly. It's much more of a character-driven novel than plot-driven, and at times while reading, it felt like a collection of vignettes more so than a cohesive story, though it does all come together in the end. However, with so many side characters, I sometimes felt overwhelmed with all the different stories and I was constantly trying to figure out how they fit into the main narrative arc. I felt myself rushing my reading trying to get to the point of some sections. Throughout the book, there were many interesting themes to ponder, such as the ripple effect of our choices (and how those choices sometimes have the power to hurt our loved ones), familial bonds, dealing with aging parents, and how geography affects our opportunities in life.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
I really appreciated this honest and personal account of anxiety and depression. Reasons to Stay Alive is a mix of genres—a little bit memoir, a little self-help, and somewhat of a microhistory on the topic of mental illness. It was an extremely quick read with short chapters and some listicles. I came away from it feeling surprisingly affirmed despite the heavy subject matter, and I attribute that to Matt Haig's honesty and empathy. I think this book would be beneficial to friends/family/loved ones of depressives who might need insight into what the experience is like, as well as people who have experienced depression and want to feel less alone. This book felt like an understanding friend.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Wellth: How I Learned to Build a Life, Not a Resume by Jason Wachob
Wellth is a fairly typical self-help book from the founder of the website MindBodyGreen encouraging people to pursue different areas of "wellth"—in regards to health, career, relationships, exploring the world, connecting with nature, etc.—instead of chasing monetary wealth and other standard markers for success that will likely not truly fulfill us. It was an okay book, but certainly not revolutionary nor particularly memorable. Wachob takes concepts that are common staples in the health and wellness world and just puts his "wellth" spin on them. I did read it at the same time as Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive, which was a better book by far, but I did appreciate the levity and positivity that Wellth gave me while reading the weightier subject matter of mental illness in Haig's book. But I wouldn't recommend anyone go out of their way to read this book. Just read MindBodyGreen (or any other wellness website).
Rating: ☆☆☆
The Yoga of Max's Discontent by Karan Bajaj
An ARC (advanced readers copy) of The Yoga of Max's Discontent was sent to me by the author. This was the first time I've ever accepted a book from an author! This book tracks the journey of Max, a man overwhelmed by the suffering around him, from his childhood growing up in the slums of the Bronx to the recent loss of his mother to cancer to his disillusionment with his Wall Street career. In an encounter with an Indian street vendor, Max learns about the cave-dwelling yogis deep in the Himalayas who are on the path to enlightenment and truth, and it inspires Max to pursue his own journey to India to seek inner peace and clarity for the questions life presents. Overall, this was a compelling book and I was sucked into Max's journey. I am someone who has been interested in the philosophy of yoga, so I appreciated the book for putting some of these concepts into a (sort of) true-life context. While it read very quickly, I found the writing style overly simplistic and straightforward. I did appreciate a few passages that took on a slightly satirical tone, especially in regards to the cliche of Westerners traveling to India to "find themselves."
In the end, I didn't end up connecting with the story. Max was a bit of a difficult character for me to sympathize with. I 100% get the general dissatisfaction with life and the deeper knowing that jobs, money, relationships, the "American Dream," etc. will never truly satisfy you or bring you happiness. Yet I still felt like I needed more context for the suffering that inspires his journey—the "why" behind it all. As he goes deeper and deeper into his meditative journey, I found myself disconnected from him and his ascetic lifestyle to the point where I found him so selfish for leaving his sister and friends behind. I cannot wrap my head around how living in a Himalayan cave in solitude can bring inner peace; that level of non-attachment has to have consequences on other people, especially since Max's own yogic principles acknowledge that everything is connected. (I'd be far more inspired by a story of someone finding truth and enlightenment in the context of modern day life!) But it did make me think about my own priorities, and I suppose that's a good thing. I think I'd only recommend this if you already have an interest in yoga, yogic philosophy and meditation. Otherwise, I suspect many people won't connect with Max and his journey.
Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Dare Me by Megan Abbott
Dare Me felt like Bring It On meets Fight Club—a dark thriller set in the cut-throat world of high school cheerleading. The writing is fresh, sharp, and biting, although the metaphors were a bit contrived at times and I felt like Abbott's focus on style and tone came at the expense of developing the setting, plot, and even character descriptions. I enjoyed the beginning and end of the book, but the plot in the middle dragged. While it was a unique read, it didn't really do it for me as a whole, though I really did enjoy the physicality and sensuality of the prose and thought it was refreshing to see girls being depicted as cunning and in-control. Despite it being categorized as YA, I will say that I'm glad I read it as an adult, because I'm not sure how teenage-me would have interpreted the bodily harm, eating disorders, casual drug use, and girl-on-girl viciousness that is depicted. (Also, if you're annoyed by the lack of parental presence in YA books, this one has ZERO parents.)
Rating: ☆☆☆
Mouthful of Forevers by Clementine von Radics
Clementine von Radics's poems definitely have that certain Tumblr-like quality to them (and that's not necessarily meant as a criticism; that's how I found her after all!). In Mouthful of Forevers, I was drawn to her emotional and tumultuous portrayals of love and relationships, and many lines and stanzas will stick with me, like: "I’m scared you will realize I’m just bones and questions and leave me for something solid" and "I mean you ask me / not to fall in love with you / and then you go write poems / with your tongue / and draw constellations / in my freckles." However, maturity and a 13-years-and-counting relationship have dulled a lot of the intensity in my own experiences of love, so I found myself enjoying this collection more once I was able to put myself in the shoes of my 20-year-old self with the passion and confusion of that time. So, while something about this collection felt *slightly* immature, I do think it was earnest, eloquent, and worth the quick read.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth by Warsan Shire
I picked up this short collection after learning about Warsan Shire through Beyoncé's Lemonade film, and I'm really glad I read it. The poems in Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth are raw, visceral, and piercing. She writes of relationships (romantic and familial), sex, the body, religion, and homelands, and the violence that is often accompanies them. I think I would have gotten even more out of the collection if I understood poetry more deeply, but even with my limited knowledge I admire how masterfully Shire uses imagery and language.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
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