I get most of my book recommendations through Tumblr or Instragram. Why? Because they usually don't come with reviews. I used to be a review junkie (a side effect of having a Goodreads account), but found that I'd pass on a book because of the reviews. Then a friend would recommend it so I'd read it and end up loving it. Or I'd read the reviews and go into a book with high expectations only to be disappointed. Now, I go into books knowing as little about them as possible--genre and maybe a vague notion of what they are about. I know, this is an unusual way to go about finding books to read, but it has vastly improved the quality of the books I choose. And if I don't like a book? I just don't finish it and return it to the library, no big deal.
These five books are my favorites of January. As always, they are in no particular order. If you want to see all the books I read this month, head over to my Instagram account. Don't worry, I did include descriptions of the books.
1. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
At the end of last year I had the itch to read some nonfiction, so I simply googled: nonfiction to read. A bunch of lists came up. This book was on one of those list. All I knew about Trevor Noah was this: he was a comedian from South Africa and my husband, Eric, is a huge fan of The Daily Show. I figured if Eric liked him, I probably would too. And I did. I knew about the apartheid of South Africa, but reading a true life account of what it was like to be born under it, to live under it, was a real eye opener. I have a whole new understanding of apartheid and appreciation for Trevor Noah.
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
2. Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson
The library recommended this book to me, I believe. I love being able to access my local library online, but their book recommendations are generally not to be trusted. However, I'm so glad I gave this one a chance. It's middle grade (9-12), but I would recommend it to any adult. It's so well written and poignant. It reminded me a lot of The Hate U Give (see below), just lighter.
Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she's ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And Jade has: every day she rides the bus away from her friends and to the private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities she doesn't really welcome, like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for "at-risk" girls. Just because her mentor is black and graduated from the same high school doesn't mean she understands where Jade is coming from. She's tired of being singled out as someone who needs help, someone people want to fix. Jade wants to speak, to create, to express her joys and sorrows, her pain and her hope. Maybe there are some things she could show other women about understanding the world and finding ways to be real, to make a difference.
3. Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw
I've seen many beautiful pictures of this book cover on both Instagram and Tumblr, and decided to read it based on the cover alone. Shea Ernshaw's writing is just so pretty (I'm a fan of her book, The Wicked Deep, too). I didn't want the book to end because I just loved her prose so much.
Be careful of the dark, dark wood…
Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, even.
Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it’s this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman—the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago—and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive, and left in the woods with no memory of the time he’d been missing.
But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver’s presence. And it’s not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn’t know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own—secrets he’ll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn’t the only one to have gone missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago.
4. Blood of Elves: The Witcher Saga by Andrzej Sapkowski
When Netflix's The Witcher came out, I thought it was based on the video games--my husbands loves the Witcher video games. Then Eric told me that the video games were actually based on a Polish book series. Well, I loved the show so I immediately started reading the books--well, actually I had to get on a waitlist and impatiently wait for a few weeks. This was the first book published in the series, but not the first book in the reading order. I had no problem following it though.
Great characters. Great banter. But what really got me was the feminism. I wasn't expecting it. And the author even took on periods!
For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf. Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as the Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world -- for good, or for evil. As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all. And the Witcher never accepts defeat.
5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
This book was actually a reread. It's on my to-own list. It's young adult, but I think everyone should read this book. It gives you a window into what it's like to be black in modern day America. It will make you angry. It will make you sad. And it will inspire you. At least it did me.
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
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