Reading with Color, Year 1
Last year, I challenged myself to read one book a month not by a white man, inspired by my friend Sarah. Good news: I did it! Bad news: there were definitely months I didn’t read anything by a person of color. 😬
Also, thanks to the power of Google Sheets, I can easily calculate my stats. Of the 34 books I read (and their 30 unique authors), 13 or 43.3% were white. So, I read a majority of POC authors, but still, not great. Of the non-white 17, 10 or 58.8% were Asians or Asian-Americans, which, huzzah! is probably the most Asian-authored books I’ve ever read. But it also meant I read a very sad amount of books by non-white people who looked nothing like me, and I want to do better this year.
My 2017 Favorites
But enough sad stats! 34 books in a year is probably the most I’ve conquered in my adult life, but as expected, not all were spectacular. However, these are my 10 favorites (with 5 honorable mentions). These are not in rank order (too difficult, sorry) but in chronological order of when I read them.
The Likeness, Tana French
The first book I read this year, long after I should have. (My sister may have lent me this er… years ago.) That being said, this is a mystery thriller with incisive psychological insight (and of course an explosive climax), i.e., my favorite kind. It was very difficult to not go out and read the rest of the Dublin Murder Squad (this one is #2, although you don’t need to read this series in order) but hopefully I’ll do so in 2018!
Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang
I’ll admit most of my affection for this collection is for the titular “Story of Your Life,” aka the basis for Arrival, aka one of my favorite movies of 2016 and honestly AMY ADAMS WAS ROBBED, OSCARS. In any case, all of Chiang’s stories were very thought-provoking and elegant in prose and concept; you feel smarter reading them without feeling like you’re learning heady concepts that were heretofore over your head.
The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
This book shook me. It may have been shorthanded to “the Underground Railroad, but if the train was real and not just a metaphor” but that’s honestly the least interesting part of this emotional, thrilling, cathartic journey. Cora is a badass heroine for her time and ours. All the awards Whitehead won for this were very, very deserved. I cannot wait for the Barry Jenkins adaptation.
The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
Many years too late, although apparently I wasn’t the only one. I read this in anticipation of the Hulu series (which I still haven’t watched… #TooMuchTV) but whatever the motivation, everyone needs to read this book. As others have said, it’s especially chilling now in Trump/Pence’s America, even if it’s really a general critique of authoritarianism, religious zealotry, and how misogyny spirals from the patriarchy.
Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan
After all the fun and games of slavery and totalitarian societies, I was in need of a fluffy read. CRA was in the queue because of the insanely stacked movie coming soon starring Our Queen and Savior Constance Wu. Is this the best written book I read in 2017? No, but it’s definitely the most entertaining, wildly, ecstatically so. I devoured the rest of the series as soon as I could.
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chinamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of those authors that’d been on my radar but I’d never gotten around to, and oh am I so glad I did. Americanah is at times hilarious and tragic, always beautiful — Adichie has warmth for her characters, but she doesn’t cut them any slack, either, even as she deftly criticizes the African and Western systems that shaped and misshaped them. My heart ached for Ifemelu and Obinze just as often as I wanted to hug or slap them. For all the hours I spent with them, I miss them already.
The Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
I’m 90% sure this McSweeney’s gem is calling out Lahiri and stories of that ilk, but I cannot deny that nearly 20 years after publication, many of these stories still resonated with me. That she deftly captured a breath of Asian-American immigrant narratives is itself a marvel. I won’t pretend they’re all perfect (always a downside of short story collections), but they’re all lovely.
What If, Randall Munroe
For all the concepts relatively grounded for me in Stories of Your Life, a lot of this definitely escaped my rusty basic science knowledge. But damn if this wasn’t a fun journey anyway! xkcd is a reliably informative and fun webcomic, so it does not surprise me a whit how much I enjoyed this book even when I didn’t understand it. Come for a scientific breakdown of Yoda’s badassery, stay for the terrifying analysis of what happens if we lost all our DNA.
Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado
The It Book of 2017 (as far as I could tell) and rightfully so. Best summed up by my friend Patrick as “upsetting queer feminist horror,” Machado uses her sharp, twisty prose and the trappings of fairytale and horror narratives to illustrate how the patriarchy curdles well-intentioned men into, if not villains, non-allies, and the endless devastating ways we tear down women (gay women, women of color, and especially gay women of color).
Obama: An Intimate Portrait, Pete Souza
An unexpected delight of a Christmas present in that I had it on exactly 0 wishlists, yet was so excited upon unwrapping it. Souza’s Instagram already gives me much joy, but the true beauty of this book is learning the stories behind some of the Obama presidency’s iconic photos. It’s also a comprehensive (if obviously biased) document of the Obama era that only makes me miss our 44th President more. Plus, Souza, an exceptional photographer, is also a gracious, humble historian. Highly recommend.
Honorable Mentions
- Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari with Eric Klinenberg: Very fascinating sociological deep dive that explains why online dating is ~♫the worst♫~. But in all seriousness, a compelling look at romance in the internet age.
- Reset, Ellen Pao: Depressing, heart-wrenching, frustrating — but ultimately, I think, Ellen has won. The current wave of sexual harassment allegations rocking Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and beyond? I’m pretty sure we can at least partially thank the Pao effect for that.
- Out, Natsuo Kirino: This and The Vegetarian were so fascinating to me in their use of language and contemplation of their respective countries’ gender dynamics. They definitely sparked the whole Around the World section of my 2018 Challenge. Read stuff from other countries, y’all! I’m aware things inevitably get lost in translation, but there’s no denying that it’s a wholly different and worthwhile reading experience.
- The Vegetarian, Han Kang: see above.
- Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia Butler: Short story collections may be my favorite things (see: 3 in my favorite 10). Ultimately this one just missed the cut because I wanted a wider spread of genres, but if you’re into speculative fiction (stories with a sci-fi/fantasy bent but not necessarily explicitly fantastical) that also happen to be beautifully written, definitely read Octavia Butler.
Bonus!! Favorite Book Covers of 2017
Caveat: I haven’t read most of these, and I know there are other great 2017 covers I probably missed. I sourced these from NPR’s 2017 Book Concierge, which I figured would be both fairly comprehensive and discerning.
- Spoonbenders, Daryl Gregory
- The Power, Naomi Alderman
- Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado
- Electric Arches, Eve. L. Ewing
- Out in the Open, Jesús Carrasco
- The King is Always Above the People: Stories, Daniel Alarcón
- Home Fire, Kamila Shamsie
- Priestdaddy: A Memoir, Patricia Lockwood
- The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
- The Answers: A Novel, Catherine Lacey
- Swimmer Among the Stars, Kanishk Tharoor
- Startup: A Novel, Doree Shafrir
- The Burning Girl: A Novel, Claire Messud
- An Unkindness of Magicians, Kat Howard
- The Color Of Law: A Forgotten History Of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein
- The Heirs: A Novel, Susan Rieger
Thanks for bearing with my rambling! If you have top reads or covers from 2017 (or any other year really), please comment with your recommendations!
