March 2021 Reads

In March of 2021 I read five books: three nonfiction and two fiction.

The Autobiography of Medgar Evers, by Medgar Evers:
This book was written and edited by Manning Marable and Myrlie Evers-Williams. It was written long after his assassination, and is a collection of his writings. He clearly lived an incredible life, worth reading about, but this collection of writings didn’t make for the most compelling way to learn about him. Lots of the inclusions are administrative correspondence, and lots of the writings are repeated in the book largely intact in other documents, which makes it odd to read. He seems like an amazing person. 50/100

The Autobiography of Red, by Anne Carson:
This book about a color that is written in verse or in a mix of verse and prose follows Bluets and The White Book, and I enjoyed this just as much. In a weird way, color is much less central in this and narrative takes a greater role, but color still clearly weaves in and out. There should be some scholarship about these three books and their connections, but if there is, I haven’t seen it. 73/100

Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler:
I read this for a book club with friends, and it did not disappoint. Some of it seems a little on the nose, but that is my only complaint in an otherwise moving book that covers a lot of ground. Climate change comes along and reveals a lot of the cracks in society. This book feels immediate, because it feels like it could be describing society in my lifetime. Let’s hope not. I am excited to read the second book. 81/100

Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali:
The memoir of a Somali expatriate. She faced huge amounts of adversity growing up, but ended up as a member of Dutch parliament before her citizenship was called into question. She (I think) is viewed as a member of the nationalist Dutch far right, for her anti-Islam views. She is now a US citizen working at a think tank in the US.

She thinks we need to be at war with Islam, but seems to undermine herself several times. She conflates culture and religion in a way that leads to confusion. She seems to view fundamentalism as the prevailing strain of Islam, although in some readings has softened that slightly. I found her story compelling, but not her policy arguments nor her rhetoric. 49/100

Kleptopia, by Tom Burgis:
There are expansive non-fiction books, and they are hard to write well. They have tons of characters, tons of detail, and it all needs to be tied together well. If not done with care, it leads to a confusing book, where each chapter introduces more without making clear what is important to take away. That happened here. The underlying story about dirty money’s influence on the world is worth telling, but this book didn’t package that well. 45/100