Three Books I Just Really Enjoyed Reading In 2016
At the beginning of every year, I make a couple goals for myself. Call it a new year’s resolution; call it whatever you want. This is something I started seriously about four years ago, and I’ve been able to accomplish goals such as saving money by bringing my lunch to work every day, paying off student loans, running two half marathons and reading hundreds of books.
Every year, I participate in Goodreads.com‘s reading challenge, which allows you to set a goal of how many books you want to complete that year. Last year, I read many books that I loved and a couple that fell flat, but there were three that really stood out to me:
(1) From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
This book is just a gift. It was published in 1967 and won both the Newbery Medal and a Newbery Honor in 1968. It tells the delightful story of young Claudia Kincaid who enlists her younger brother, Jamie, to run away with her from suburban Connecticut to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. In the midst of adventure, the two stumble upon an art history mystery, which leads them to Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler. This is one of those rare books that I’ve had to actively slow down to read to lengthen my time with the characters and to revel in Claudia’s grit, Jamie’s silliness and Mrs. Frankweiler’s wisdom.
***** Five out of Five Stars, Easily
(2) Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
I agree with Toni Morrison: this book should absolutely be required reading. Between the World and Me, a winner of the National Book Award for Non-Fiction, is Coates’s letter to his adolescent black son who is coming of age in a time marked by headlines of unarmed black men being killed by police officers. “But all our phrasing—race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy—serves to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. You must never look away from this. You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.” This is a book that inspires social change through strong rhetoric, imparting wisdom and a tender love from a father to his son. Coates is a brilliant writer and educator, a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a MacArthur Fellow.
***** Five out of Five Stars
(3) H is For Hawk By Helen Macdonald
H is for Hawk is a gorgeously written autobiographical account of Helen Macdonald’s bereavement period after her father’s death. Through training a goshawk, Macdonald offers a sometimes dark and sometimes humorous glimpse into a period of her life marked by obsession, grit and unrelenting dedication to just move forward: “When you are learning how to do something, you do not have to worry about whether or not you are good at it. But when you have done something, have learned how to do it, you are not safe any more. Being an expert opens you up to judgement.”
***** Five out of Five Stars
BONUS MATERIAL:
The Girl with the Lower Back Tatoo by Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer is brilliant. This book expectedly hilarious and unexpectedly tender and sweet.
