As always, I'm really excited to read them soon, but in reality I probably won't get to them anytime soon. I'm still trying to read through some of my 2017 challenges, and I'm afraid those will take priority in the waning months of the year. There's always next year, right? Anywho, here are the newbs:
Poetry
The Sobbing School, by Joshua Bennett - A collection focusing on the experience of being a black man in America, especially an academically-minded man in a society that doesn't encourage men like him to pursue such goals.
Cannibal, by Safiya Sinclair - The poet's Jamaican upbringing is explored within the context of living in America, and all the prejudices and preconceptions that American culture assigns to women of color.
Miami Century Fox, by Legna Rodriguez Iglesias (translated by Eduardo Aparicio) - A collection of Latina poetry, unique in that the original Spanish poem is on one side of the page, and the translator's English translation is on the other. It explores the complexities of modern day life in South Florida.
Short Stories
Barbara the Slut and Other People, by Lauren Holmes - I read this book a year or so ago, checked out from the library. I enjoyed it, and when BookOutlet had it on sale for less than $4, I couldn't turn it down. The stories feature diverse female (and golden retriever) characters and situations, but that speak to the universality of our experience.
Public Library and Other Stories, by Ali Smith - A collection of stories focusing on books, experiences of reading, and what books mean to us.
Fiction
Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis - A takedown of the American ideal of the open-minded, small town. In the American political landscape, the "small town" is a microcosm that campaigning politicians love to talk about, but rarely understand. Published originally in 1920, I expect this book to be just as relevant now as it was then.
Baba Dunja's Last Love, by Alina Bronsky - The title character, and many of her neighbors, decide to return to their home near Chernobyl, despite government warnings about radiation. They return to a semblance of normal life, until a stranger and a young girl arrive and turn everything on its head.
Essays
Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living, edited by Manjula Martin - A number of well-known authors honestly discuss the realities of working as a writer and what it takes to be able to do your work and be able to live comfortably.
Common Sense, by Thomas Paine - An anti-monarchy essay that isn't so far away from the political landscape in which we find ourselves today.
Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay - This reissue of Gay's classic essay collection was too good to pass up
How to Cook a Wolf, by M.F.K. Fisher - Written for an audience facing food shortages and rationing during WW2, the ethos of this book is cooking simply using ingredients you already have and a lot of imagination and adventure. There are recipes to accompany the essays within.
Play
Fences, by August Wilson - Troy Maxson has lived his life in an America that crushes the soul of black men who express their pride. As the repressive society of the 1950s moves into the more liberating 1960s, Troy finds himself at odds with his culture, his neighbors, his family, and himself. This was recently released as a movie starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, which I hope to see once I've read the play.
Memoir
How to Be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran - The author's recollection of growing up in lower-class British small town, and discovering herself.
Non-Fiction
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi - I've already read (and LOVED!) this challenging and necessary work. Check out my review here.
Lectures
The Origin of Others, by Toni Morrison - Toni Morrison delivered lectures as part of the Charles Eliot Norton series at Harvard University, and drew up on them to write this small-but-mighty book.
And that's it for this book haul! I have no idea when I'll get to read any of these books, but I hope it to be sometime soon. Winter is coming, and there'll hopefully be a some cold weekends where I can bundle up and have my own mini-readathons.
Librorum annis,
