Juneteenth Reading

Part of my Juneteenth observance this year was some reading. First, Mina and I read Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness. This is "a picture book about racism and racial justice, inviting white children and parents to become curious about racism, accept that it's real, and cultivate justice." We read through it twice and had a good conversation, which of course will be ongoing. 

Ian also recommended Just Mercy. It's hard for me to consume media like this, because it makes me so angry and helpless feeling. But I realize that's just another aspect of white fragility, and Not My Idea really did a good job of helping me confront that in myself. Just Mercy was great, too. Not hopeless but still so heartbreaking. Bryan Stevenson is truly an American hero for the work that he does. This is his organization.

Story of Your Life (by Ted Chiang)

This novella by Ted Chiang was turned into the movie Arrival.(which I never saw). A fast read that packs a huge emotional punch. I've never read any Chiang before that I can remember and I really enjoyed the harder sci-fi aspects (the linguistics details) coupled with the personal story here, of a linguist who has to decipher an alien language and also recounting the story of her daughter's life.

Would love to read more Ted Chiang based on this!

P.S. The new Blogger now inserts insane spaces between paragraphs. Why. Help. What?

If I Die Tonight (by Alison Gaylin)

Decided I needed a quick read after The Mirror and the Light and went for this domestic murder mystery. A fun page-turner, some unexpected twists, and a satisfying solution.

The book has multiple narrators and I felt this worked quite well. Pearl Maze, the police officer, was a particularly good one, but I liked them all.

I'm not necessarily running out to read all her other books, but I definitely enjoyed this one.

The Mirror and the Light (by Hilary Mantel)

The third book in the Wolf Hall trilogy! I think Bring Up the Bodies is still my favorite, but this is an amazing story, elegantly told. It begins with Anne Boleyn's beheading and ends with Cromwell's, and you really feel for him by the end despite everything. Oh that capricious Henry VIII!

This qualifies for three categories in the Read Harder Challenge, but for now I think I'm going to use it as "A doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman."