I'm pretty sure I abandoned more books this month than I actually finished. When I was younger, I prided myself on finishing every book I started. I don't know why that was so important to me. These days, if it doesn't hold my interest, I put it down. Life is short; don't waste it reading books that you don't like. Don't get me wrong, every once in a great while I hate-read something, but more often than not, I just move on to the next book. That's why I love the library so much. I don't have to pay for books I'm not going to finish and there is always another book waiting for me.
1. Pointe by Brandy Colbert
I started this book before bed and didn't want to put it down (alas, I had to because the light was bothering my husband). I got up early the next morning just to finish it. This young adult book tackles a lot--ballet, anorexia, sexual assault, and a missing child--and it does it perfectly. I immediately put all of Colbert's books on hold at the library. I can't wait to read more of her writing.
Theo is better now.
She’s eating again, dating guys who are almost appropriate, and well on her way to becoming an elite ballet dancer. But when her oldest friend, Donovan, returns home after spending four long years with his kidnapper, Theo starts reliving memories about his abduction—and his abductor.
Donovan isn’t talking about what happened, and even though Theo knows she didn’t do anything wrong, telling the truth would put everything she’s been living for at risk. But keeping quiet might be worse.
2. The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan
I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to get through this book. It's heavy. The main character Imp is an unreliable narrator and suffers from schizophrenia. You have to pay close attention as you're reading because Imp makes associations and travels down trains of thoughts that you don't see coming. But that's also what makes this book so incredible.
India Morgan Phelps—Imp to her friends—is schizophrenic. She can no longer trust her own mind, convinced that her memories have somehow betrayed her, forcing her to question her very identity.
Struggling with her perceptions of reality, Imp must uncover the truth about an encounter with a vicious siren, or a helpless wolf who came to her as a feral girl, or something that was neither of these things, but something far, far stranger…
3. Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Diaz
Though a memoir and not fiction, this book belongs next to Thomas's The Hate U Give and and Acevedo's Poet X. I don't think I could give this book any higher praise than that.
In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age.
While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.
4. Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin
I have a confession: I've never read any of Shirley Jackson's writing. I've seen a lot of movies and mini-series based on her work, but she was never even on my radar. But after watching We Have Always Lived in a Castle (2018, has a ton of great actors in it), I googled Shirley Jackson and started reading up on her. What I found was fascinating so I checked out Franklin's biography, which only has me more interested in Jackson and her work.
Instantly heralded for its “masterful” and “thrilling” portrayal (Boston Globe), Shirley Jackson reveals the tumultuous life and inner darkness of the literary genius behind such classics as “The Lottery” and The Haunting of Hill House. In this “remarkable act of reclamation” (Neil Gaiman), Ruth Franklin envisions Jackson as “belonging to the great tradition of Hawthorne, Poe and James” (New York Times Book Review) and demonstrates how her unique contribution to the canon “so uncannily channeled women’s nightmares and contradictions that it is ‘nothing less than the secret history of American women of her era’ ” (Washington Post). Franklin investigates the “interplay between the life, the work, and the times with real skill and insight, making this fine book a real contribution not only to biography, but to mid-20th-century women’s history” (Chicago Tribune). “Wisely rescu[ing] Shirley Jackson from any semblance of obscurity” (Lena Dunham), Franklin’s invigorating portrait stands as the definitive biography of a generational avatar and an American literary genius.
5. Rage Becomes Her: The Power of a Woman's Anger by Soraya Chemaly
I have my own dysfunctional relationship with anger that I've long been working on so when I came across Rage Becomes Her, I was intrigued. I saw myself in this book and I think a lot of other women will too. I especially liked the end of the book where Chemaly focuses on what we should do with our anger. I found her suggestion refreshing and helpful and not at all cliched.
As women, we’ve been urged for so long to bottle up our anger, letting it corrode our bodies and minds in ways we don’t even realize. Yet there are so, so many legitimate reasons for us to feel angry, ranging from blatant, horrifying acts of misogyny to the subtle drip, drip drip of daily sexism that reinforces the absurdly damaging gender norms of our society.
In Rage Becomes Her, Soraya Chemaly argues that our anger is not only justified, it is also an active part of the solution. We are so often encouraged to resist our rage or punished for justifiably expressing it, yet how many remarkable achievements would never have gotten off the ground without the kernel of anger that fueled them? Approached with conscious intention, anger is a vital instrument, a radar for injustice and a catalyst for change. On the flip side, the societal and cultural belittlement of our anger is a cunning way of limiting and controlling our power—one we can no longer abide.
“A work of great spirit and verve” (Time), Rage Becomes Her is a validating, energizing read that will change the way you interact with the world around you.
Bonus books:
Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Oh, how I love this duology! Just everything about them is perfect. I've lost count of how many times I've reread them. If you haven't read them yet, do yourself a favor and go pick them up. You won't be disappointed.
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone. . . .
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don't kill each other first.
Comments