2022 Reading Update

I have not kept up with my regular reading updates! I am sorry. This is a recap of sorts, since my January post, where I will just highlight some thoughts, but not review each book I read.

I have read some graphic novels, namely Maus and two-thirds of the March series about/by John Lewis. Maus knocked my socks off, and March didn’t. I will still finish and read the third at some point, but it didn’t capture me in much the same way.

War is a Racket was a fun time capsule of the military industrial complex. I encourage you to read it, especially because it is so short.

I read a few more books from the Harlem Renaissance and its carry-on effects. These were Cane, by Jean Toomer, which felt disjointed and I think was; it wasn’t intended to be a book in its original iteration. But certainly still carried power. Passing by Nella Larsen is clearly the root of lots of modern-day media, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I loved the bestsellers of the war-years: Native Son by Richard Wright and The Street by Ann Petry. Both were so powerful. Native Son built and held tension as well as any book I have read.

I’ve also read a few books that have been fairly nonconventional in either plot or character development. A Particular Kind of Black Man by Tope Folarin did some of this, but was still fairly predictable. I wish it had delved deeper. The book I am still thinking about is Trust Exercise by Susan Choi. I had seen this book around, but expected it to be a fairly straightforward coming-of-age novel about two high-schoolers. It is not. Whew.

Two other pairs of books come to mind. The first pair is Elite Capture and The Right to Sex, which are philosophical-based thoughts on modern-day issues. Much of Elite Capture didn’t land with me, but it was still thought-provoking. The Right to Sex was right up my alley; thought-provoking, nuanced, and well-written. The second pair is These Truths and Sapiens. Both are monumental undertakings, trying to tell the history of the United States and of humankind, respectively, in one book. These Truths was fascinating and I learned a lot. Sapiens fell flat for me. I am looking forward to reading a similar book, The Dawn of Everything, which is a history of humanity, this fall.

Overall, since January I have read 22 books, twelve of which were nonfiction and ten of which were fiction.