September 2020 Reads

I want to chronicle, regularly, what I have been reading, and my thoughts. This is the first of those chronicles.

Hopefully these will also provide space for some self-reflection, inspired by but outside of the context of the books. We will see, as time goes on. I don’t expect these reflections to remain consistent from time to time.

In September of 2020 I read five books; two of these were nonfiction and three were fiction.

Transcendent Kingdom, by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi had her work cut out for her, trying to follow up Homegoing, which is amongst my favorite books. She went a very different route, not trying to match the sweeping epic of time and character, but rather focusing intently on one story. This was a good book, with its touching moments, but isn’t a must-read by my count. 72/100

The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
This book is somehow both topical and evergreen. Maybe we can hope for a day when it is no longer relevant, but 2020 hasn’t achieved that. He writes with an economy of language which is so crisp. He is vulnerable yet biting. It was wisely recommended that I pair the optimism of this book with the lens of No Name in the Street, which I read in October. Having seen the destruction of White America up close in the intervening years, Baldwin has much more despair in No Name in the Street. It is fascinating to watch as he is clearly processing his views on the world, and try to process some of that alongside him. 89/100 and 75/100

The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, by N.K. Jemisin
I enjoyed the world-building in this trilogy much more than the wrapping up of the narrative. The whole trilogy was excellent, but I strongly preferred the first book to these two. I was captivated by the use of perspective in this book, which Jemisin is clearly using to some end, but I will need to reread these before I can try to figure that out. 83/100 and 81/100 (I had given The Fifth Season 85/100)

Between The World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
In The Fire Next Time, I was stunned to read the phrase “between the world and me”. While it turns out Coates’ title actually comes from a different poem, the rest of this work takes clear self-confessed inspiration from Baldwin. Part of what I love about Baldwin is the directness and clarity with which he writes, and that wasn’t recreated here for me. Still powerful, but somehow lacks the urgency Baldwin has in my reading. I had read this several years ago, and enjoyed it much more this time around, as I have grown as a reader and person. 74/100