Chinua Achebe — Things Fall Apart (Book Review)
The late writer Chinua Achebe originally published his remarkable book, Things Fall Apart, in 1959. That it still lands on “best books ever” lists is a testament to its lasting effect on readers. Late to the party, I just read it for the first time this year. The book...Kali Fajardo-Anstine — Woman of Light (Book Review)
Kali Fajardo-Anstine delivers a portrait of womanhood in Colorado in her debut novel, Woman of Light. She tells the story of multiple women across three generations of an indigenous and mixed-race family. Moving back and forth across time, Fajardo-Anstine connects the...Wild Seed by Octavia Butler (Patternist #1) — Book Review
Octavia Butler creates a fantastical story in Wild Seed, the first book of her Patternist series. The main characters are two immortals, living in Africa and America during the years leading up to the Civil War. Doro is a body-snatching, shape shifter who believes he...The Fervor by Alma Katsu (Book Review)
In The Fervor Alma Katsu blends lesser-known World War II history with Japanese folklore and the horror of racism. This relatively short book introduces Meiko and her young daughter Aiko. Meiko came to Seattle as part of an arranged marriage to another Japanese...Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead (Book Review)
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead is a multi-layered book. The publisher promotes it as, “… a gloriously entertaining novel of heists, shakedowns, and rip-offs set in Harlem in the 1960s.” And yes, all of that is in there. But Whitehead also waxes philosophical about...Bakari Sellers — My Vanishing Country (Book Review)
Bakari Sellers addresses a few themes in his memoir, My Vanishing Country. Primarily, he talks about being a young black man in rural South Carolina. But his family is also intricately tied to the Civil Rights movement, so this connection influences him daily. He also...The Warmth of Other Suns — Isabel Wilkerson (Book Review)
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration is Isabel Wilkerson’s first tour de force, published in 2010. Her second is Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, which I reviewed earlier this year. Reading them in reverse order didn’t change the...Vanguard — Martha S. Jones (Book Review)
Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha S. Jones made me rethink Black women’s activism. Most importantly, that activism started a full century sooner than I realized. And it happened through four primary...Sanjena Sathian — Gold Diggers (Book Review)
Gold Diggers by Sanjina Sathian is two parts a story about children of Indian immigrants balancing tradition with assimilation. It’s one part a history, with a nod to alternative histories. And it’s another part of magical realism that draws on cultural traditions,...Andrea Lee — Red Island House (Book Review)
In Red Island House, Andrea Lee introduces us to Shay and Senna, as well as the island nation of Madagascar. Shay is a California-born African American, working as a university professor in Milan. Her husband Senna is a successful Italian businessman. As Europeans do,...Jarrett Adams — Redeeming Justice (Book Review)
Jarrett Adams tells his alternately inspiring and maddening story in Redeeming Justice: From Defendant to Defender, My Fight for Equity on Both Sides of a Broken System. At 17, he attended a college party with two of his buddies. Before the night was out, they had...Mohsin Hamid — Exit West (Book Review)
Mohsin Hamid creates a unique refugee story in Exit West. It’s partly delicate but cannot entirely be classified that way since it’s rooted in aggressive, war-torn circumstances. Still, the main characters, Nadia and Saeed navigate life despite the obstacles. And...S. A. Cosby — Blacktop Wasteland (Book Review)
S.A. Cosby is a master of suspense and thrills in his 2020 novel, Blacktop Wasteland. He combines intensity, rapid pacing, and a command of the sentence that boggles my mind. This is a heist thriller, and its action sequences sizzle like hot metal on pavement at 120...Carol Anderson — One Person, No Vote (Book Review)
In 2018 I saw Carol Anderson speak about One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy. I’d just spent my first campaign season knocking doors to canvass for candidates I cared about. Anderson’s talk convinced me that voter suppression is the...Caroline Criado Perez: Invisible Women — Exposing Patriarchy (Book Review)
Caroline Criado Perez covers extensive ground in Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men. Because the world offers her illustrations galore of how we exclude women from data. Then she turns around and explains what this means in everyday women’s lives....Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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