Best of the Bunch: September 2020

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in September.

Of the six books I read this month, I had two 5-star reads:

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

New reads always beat out rereads, so my Best of the Bunch is...

It was SO refreshing to read a YA book that wasn't predictable and full of tropes. The first Darius the Great book was also different than most YA because it took place in Iran and dealt realistically with depression and male friendship, but in Darius the Great Deserves Better Darius is back in Portland and dealing with what seems like typical high school drama. I don't know the last time I read a book in which every one of the characters felt like a real person, not a stand-in for some idea or plot point. I'm glad that I read the first book earlier this year so that I could read this sequel when it came out! I definitely recommend it.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages, God Land, and Whistling Vivaldi
Five years ago I was reading: Number the Stars, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, and The Pushcart War
Ten years ago I was reading: Fourth Comings

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Top Ten Quotations From the Past Year's Reading

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

This week's topic is on favorite book quotations. It's been a while since I shared some quotations; here is, yet again, some favorite passages from things I've read in the past year. They all happen to be from nonfiction!

1. "It is a contradiction that white females have structured a women's liberation movement that is racist and excludes many non-white women. However, the existence of that contradiction should not lead any woman to ignore feminist issues. Oftentimes I am asked by black women to explain why I would call myself a feminist and by using that term ally myself with a movement that is racist. I say, 'The question we must ask again and again is how can racist women call themselves feminists.' It is obvious that many women have appropriated feminism to serve their own ends, especially those white women who have been at the forefront of the movement; but rather than resigning myself to this appropriation I choose to re-appropriate the term 'feminism,' to focus on the fact that to be 'feminist' in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression." - Ain't I a Woman by bell hooks
I read this whole passage aloud on my podcast after finishing this book because I think it's an important contribution to the conversation about what it means to be a feminist or who "counts" as a feminist.

2. "This is still one of the black man's big troubles today. So many of those so-called 'upper class' Negroes are so busy trying to impress on the white man that they are 'different from those others' that they can't see they are only helping the white man to keep his low opinion of all Negroes." - The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
I can't speak to the Black experience, but I see parallels here for other marginalized groups as well; for example, women trying to say that they're "not like other women," which ultimately perpetuates rather than battles misogyny in the culture.

3. "Even if the law is enforced equitably and without bias or malice, it still results in the incarceration of large numbers of people who are homeless, mentally ill, and poor, rather than hardened predators. Ultimately, the criminalization of homeless people should be understood as a way of managing growing inequality through increasingly punitive mechanisms of state control." - The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
This whole book is great, but I think this is a key point — it is the American system of policing itself that is broken, not just that it's carried out by individuals with bias, and that's why changes to the structures are necessary, not just increased training for police officers.

4. "Challenging behavior occurs when the demands being placed upon a child outstrip the skills he has to respond adaptively to those demands." - The Explosive Child by Ross W. Greene
This is Greene's central thesis, and something I keep trying to remind myself of as we work to figure out the best way to help our son develop coping skills that don't involve violence.

5. "It's a very colonizing impulse to look at something—a land, a city, a culture—and instead of seeing what is there, see a barren landscape that needs your new ideas. It's an American impulse to see a problem and think you can solve it with a little hard work and some bootstraps. It's a deeply human impulse to look all around you and see a problem but never consider that you might be the actual problem." - God Land by Lyz Lenz
I wasn't a huge fan of this book as a whole, but there were a lot of excellent passages throughout, like this one.

6. "Kids do idiotic, obnoxious stuff. That's unlikely to change any time soon, so if your plan for keeping your cool depends on your child's ability to do the same, that's going to end poorly for everyone." - How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids by Dr. Carla Naumburg
This is such an important reminder! The notion that "I wouldn't get so angry if they would just behave" is tied to abusive patterns. It's our job as parents to figure out how to be a steady and calming presence in our kids' lives.

7. "Much of what passes for racial reconciliation feels like an interracial playdate. Whites leave the playground feeling good about their new friend of color, but the material realities of people of color are unchanged." - I Bring the Voices of My People by Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes
This book has so much important content, but this is at the heart of her reason for writing it: the racial reconciliation movement in the church has been dominated by men and based on ideas of interpersonal relationships that don't dig into systemic inequities, and that needs to change if true justice is to be served.

8. "While we sit in pews singing songs about personal sins and salvation, we are ill equipped to go into the world to face systems of injustice, many of which we helped create." - Native by Kaitlin Curtice
One of the things I appreciate about the Catholic Church, and particularly the churches I've been part of, is that we focus more on community than individual salvation. I think faith has to be tied to social justice to truly exemplify the call to be Jesus' hands and feet.

9. "If anything, the people who moved to Jonestown should be remembered as noble idealists. They wanted to create a better, more equitable, society. They wanted their kids to be free of violence and racism. They rejected sexist gender roles. They believed in a dream. How terribly they were betrayed." - A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
This book did an excellent job of showing how so many people ended up taking their own lives against their will. Being dismissive or judgmental doesn't allow you the ability to see how you too could someday become enmeshed in a dangerous situation following an unstable leader.

10. "Being human is not hard because you're doing it wrong, it's hard because you're doing it right. You will never change the fact that being human is hard, so you must change your idea that it was ever supposed to be easy." - Untamed by Glennon Doyle
This book is chock full of great quotations; here's a particularly good one.

What are some of your favorite book quotations?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages, God Land, and Whistling Vivaldi
Five years ago I was reading: Number the Stars and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey
Ten years ago I was reading: Fourth Comings

Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

First, looking back: I successfully read all the books on my summer TBR list. Now here's what I plan to read this fall!

1. Ace by Angela Chen
This just came out last week and I'm excited to read it! I read a lot of LGBTQIA+ books, but I hadn't ever seen a comprehensive nonfiction work specifically on asexuality. The reviews I've seen so far are great.

2. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
This is one of the books on my original to-read list that I'm hoping to finally get to this fall.

3. A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
Even though I was meh about the first Inspector Gamache book, I've heard the rest of the series gets better, so I plan to keep going with this second book.

4. Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
Every year I set a goal to read something my sister recommends, and this is what she suggested this year!

5. Sabriel by Garth Nix
This is a classic book I see recommended again and again but have never read. When I saw the audiobook was narrated by Tim Curry, though, I realized this would be a good one to count toward my goal of listening to classic books read by celebrities!

6. Strangers from a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki
This is another one from my original to-read list. After I watched the PBS series on Asian Americans this summer, I wanted to make this one a priority. I recommended that my library buy the audiobook, and just this past week they did!

7. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
It's been years since I read this book, which I think I read for the first and only time in middle school, and since I keep writing on here about how I don't understand why it's held up as The Classic American Book, I figured I should revisit it. I got an audio version that's ready by Sissy Spacek as part of my goal to listen to classics narrated by celebrities!

8. Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett
This is my local book club's selection for November/December, for the theme of "friendship."

9. The Tuesday Club Murders by Agatha Christie
Another 2020 goal was to start the Miss Marple books, which I did — I read the first one — but it took me a long time to get around to the second one because the list I had of all the books in publication order had this book under a different title and I couldn't find it. Now I should be getting my copy from the library soon!

10. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
This is my online book club's next pick. The holds list for every format at the library is months long, so I will probably end up using an audiobooks.com free trial for this one.

What do you plan to read this fall?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Possession, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, and Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Five years ago I was reading: The Maze Runner, Number the Stars, and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Ten years ago I was reading: You're Wearing That?

Ten (More) Favorite Book Covers

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It's a cover freebie this week! It's been a few years since I shared some of my favorite book covers, so I thought I'd pick ten more great covers from the books I've read since then.

1. Ask a Manager by Alison Green

2. Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

3. Greenglass House by Kate Milford

4. I'll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios

5. Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

6. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

7. Sadie by Courtney Summers

8. The Unlikely Discipline by Kevin Roose

9. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

10. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco

What are some of your favorite covers?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Possession, Everyday Bias, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, and Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Five years ago I was reading: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Betsy-Tacy, Blankets, and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Ten years ago I was reading: Reading Lolita in Tehran

What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

Still Life by Louise Penny: This was fine, and given what I've heard about the rest of the series, I will probably eventually come back to it. It was more character-driven than a typical mystery but I didn't find the characters particularly interesting or likeable.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng: This was my best August read. I found this a compelling read with many layers that would be phenomenal to discuss with a book group. The themes of motherhood, privilege, and the trouble with colorblindness were also well woven into this novel, even if I had quibbles with the way the adoption process was portrayed.

Untamed by Glennon Doyle: Doyle's writing style was hit or miss for me, but in general, the key messages of the book were clear, and I understand why it's resonating with so many people, particularly women. I also just enjoyed Doyle's stories! Her story of meeting her wife is amazing, and I loved the inside look at their marriage and family, both the good and the bad.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein: This is a thorough and comprehensive summary of the ways in which federal, state, and local governments either created or sanctioned explicitly racial housing segregation since the end of Reconstruction. At times, this narrow focus — proving that everything comes back to the government — hindered Rothstein from telling a more straightforward history, but in the end he succeeds in providing overwhelming evidence in support of this central thesis.

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.: I've read quite a few parenting books in the last couple years, and this one is pretty average. I'm not sure I picked up much that was new here, but it wasn't bad and may be just what some parents need.

The Invisible Girls by Sarah Thebarge: I have mixed feelings about this book. Thebarge is clearly a talented writer, and I think her heart is in the right place. I just wish this book didn't reinforce existing norms in Christian culture about "helping those less fortunate" in a way that infantilizes the people involved and ignores the need for larger systemic critiques.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone: This is a complex exploration of being a young Black man in the United States. It drags a bit at the beginning and has kind of a forced love triangle, but overall it's a quick read that packs in a lot of challenging and important topics, so it's one that I would recommend widely.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender: Even though the book followed some predictable YA tropes, it also subverted several of them as well. Felix's thoughts about his gender were messy and authentic, and I loved seeing that portrayed in a book. His transformation from insecure to confident also felt authentic and beautiful. Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and I'm glad this book exists!

Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America by Erin Geiger Smith: This reads like a research project, in that Smith recaps a lot of other people's research and also tells personal stories of some of the research she did herself, but she doesn't go the extra step of synthesizing her research into her own narrative with a central thesis. On the whole, it was mildly interesting, but I wanted more from it.

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram: This was a fantastic sequel to Darius the Great Is Not Okay. It was SO refreshing to read a YA book that wasn't predictable and full of tropes. I'm glad that I read the first book earlier this year so that I could read this sequel when it came out! I definitely recommend it.

10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon: This was cute if predictable. The chemistry between Pinky and Samir was well written, even if Pinky annoyed me for the vast majority of the book because she assumed the worst of everyone. I wouldn't rush to recommend it like I would with When Dimple Met Rishi, but it was a cute romance I don't regret having read.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Possession, Everyday Bias, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, and Let's Pretend This Never Happened
Five years ago I was reading: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Betsy-Tacy, Blankets, and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Ten years ago I was reading: Reading Lolita in Tehran

Ten Books for My Younger Self

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

Hey all, it's been a while since I posted. Last week's topic I had done a few years ago and didn't have anything new to add, and the previous couple of topics weren't striking me with inspiration. Even this week has a lot of overlap with one from earlier in the year, but I decided to go ahead with it. These are ten books I'd give my younger self!

1. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I was pretty meh about this when I finally read it as an adult, and I'm sure I would have been less critical as a kid. Also, my favorite parts were hearing exactly how things were accomplished in that time and place, which I know would have fascinated me when I was younger as well.

2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Similar to the first one, I've never had an abiding love for this book the way a lot of people seem to, and that might have been different if I'd read it when I was closer to the girls' ages.

3. Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards
I ate up books like this as a kid, where Mandy discovers the joy and pride of working on a project that's all her own, without adult help. It's similar to why I loved From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

4. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
As a former gifted kid, this book spoke to me so much, and it shares a lot of the wordplay elements of The Phantom Tollbooth, which I loved when I was growing up.

5. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
I will never not be mad that To Kill a Mockingbird is held up as the exemplar for introducing kids to this time and place.

6. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Like some of the above books, I definitely would have enjoyed reading about how Marty set about solving a logistical problem (hiding and caring for a dog) all on his own.

7. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
I probably could have used an introduction to the realities of poverty (and my own privilege) sooner, and this book is a gentle introduction to the topic (it's not tragedy porn even though it contains real hardships) told from the perspective of a girl I could have related to.

8. The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
This is another one where I was overly critical reading it as an adult but would have just appreciated it for the story as a kid. It probably also would have given me a needed introduction to the realities of racism in 1960s America a little sooner.

9. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
I would have enjoyed this book a lot more when I was the target audience and did not have a bunch of experience with time travel plots that made the story somewhat predictable. I was a huge fan of mysteries as a kid — which I guess I still am, but it's so disappointing when I figure everything out early on!

10. Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan
This is one that I enjoyed as an adult and likely would have enjoyed just as much or more when I was younger. Although it follows a predictable "chosen one" story, there's more diversity and depth than in a lot of similar stories.

What would you like to give your younger self?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Possession, Everyday Bias, and How to Be a Perfect Stranger
Five years ago I was reading: The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Split, and Uncle Tom's Cabin
Ten years ago I was reading: Reading Lolita in Tehran