Mid-Year Lit Check-In
Five favorite books so far this year
Erasure by Percival Everett
This novel has had a resurgence since its Oscar-winning film adaptation American Fiction was released in the fall. It follows a brilliant but struggling Black author as he navigates issues in family, love, and his career. The book is just a witty, vulnerable, and deep as the movie, but it has a more honest edge. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys brutally honest depictions and is not afraid to contemplate their own place in racial and societal issues.
Hunger by Roxanne Gay
I read this memoir in a class during the spring semester. Gay describes it as a memoir of her body, and this is painfully accurate. We follow her throughout her life as her relationships with food, others, and herself ebb and flow. This book stayed in my head for days after reading it because I had never read anything so unapologetic about the fat experience. Gay acknowledges everything, the good and bad, and treats herself with a realistic affection. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in trauma or the fat experience.
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi
This auto-fiction is one of the most unique books I have ever read. The main character Ada grows up and goes through early adulthood, but the reader learns about this through the voices in her head. This format fuses the traditional coming of age story with the native Nigerian concept of multiplicity called ogbanje. Through that format, Emezi explores their own place in the transnational world and causes the reader to contemplate their own. This book challenges Western conceptions or reality and the physical world. I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for something different and is interested in identity.
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
This book has been suggested by Carley Throne, one of my favorite literary YouTubers, and after a semester of challenging content, I decided it might be the perfect breezy brain break. It was that and more! This book is written as diary entries of the main character Lorelei. She and her friend Dorothy drift through New York, London, Paris, and Vienna manipulating the men around them into financing their antics. It is remarkably clever and refreshing. Lorelei is a truly modern woman who uses her brains and beauty to get what she wants. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a woman-centric story and subtle, witty humor.
Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora and Delia Ephron
I have long been a fan of Nora Ephron, and when I finally found a copy of this play, I could not resist. The play includes monologues by different women in important points of their life. They reflect on what is happening, what they are wearing, and how those two things intersect. What drew me to this play the most is how seriously it takes something like clothing that is often considered frivolous. The Ephron sisters acknowledge how important clothing can be and what it might represent. While doing so, they also explore womanhood in general and how it changes over time. I recommend this play for any Nora Ephron fans or really any woman.