Two Stars

Best for: People interested in learning a bit more about Deaf culture in the U.S. and who also have a strong stomach for not great writing and questionable storytelling.

In a nutshell: Deaf mother with three hearing sons desperately wants a daughter; Deaf husband not totally on board; teenager gets pregnant and surrenders daughter for adoption. True story.

Line that sticks with me: “He felt that part of the magic and mystery of giving birth to a child is parenting that particular child. However, he believed that the one benefit of adopting a child was being able to decide whether that child was right for his family.”

Why I chose it: A colleague selected this for our equity and social justice book club, as she was interested in learning about Deaf culture and about adoption.

Review: First, I should explain that the line that sticks with me is because I found that opinion really challenging and ultimately a bit offensive.

Author Brandi Rarus went deaf when she was six, and was raised in a hearing family. This story is mostly her story, and it is educational but ultimately frustrated me. The biographical parts of Ms. Rarus’s story are interesting, as she can effectively describe the different factions in Deaf culture, the challenges Deaf children can face in education and in determining where they fit and who they are in the hearing world. She also was involved in many important moments in Deaf history in the U.S., including the Deaf President Now protests at Gallaudet and the passage of the ADA. Additionally, she was Miss Deaf America.

I appreciate the honesty Ms. Rarus shares throughout the book but MAN does she put a lot of pressure on the imaginary daughter who eventually materializes in Zoe. She is essentially desperate for a daughter to add to her family of three boys, and while I’ll never understand that desire (I don’t have kids), I get that people have it. The frustrating part for me is the assumptions and the language she uses to describe her future child – basically she sounds like she wants a doll and a best girlfriend. It looks like it turned out okay but what if Zoe turned out to hate shopping or pretty clothes, and got along better with her father than mother?

Additionally, even though I just lauded the honesty, there is something about how all of the players involved in Zoe’s adoption are described that feels false. Like everyone got final review, so nothing is true. And there are so many players – the birth mother, the birth father, the first adoptive family, the foster family, and everyone’s extended family. It can be hard to keep up. There’s also a very confusing situation with the birth father and birth mother and the courts that makes zero sense to me – basically the birth father wants to keep Zoe, but the birth mother wants to place her up for adoption, so she sues to terminate the birth father’s rights so she can have full rights and then surrender the daughter. I just found it odd that courts would terminate parental rights without any cause just so the child could then be adopted. I’m sure there’s a legal reason, but the book doesn’t explain it.

There is a fair bit of religion in here, which is not my thing but was fine and obviously fits as it is part of their story. However, there were some glowing comments about what appears to be a crisis pregnancy center (yikes) and some disparaging and questionable comments about Planned Parenthood and abortion, so that was unpleasant to read.

And finally, I found the discussion the first adoptive family have when they find out that Zoe might have hearing and other developmental challenges to be deeply distressing. First, the idea that there is only ‘one’ good thing about adoption seems very narrow-minded. And the man who made the comment I shared above sounded a bit more like this adoptive father thinks of adopting a child is like picking out a puppy. I get the idea that when adopting, the child should be placed in the home that will be best for her, but more I think this particular father just wanted a more “perfect” child.

Four Stars

Best for: Anyone who doesn’t know about John Lewis. Also, anyone who does. Also, the PEOTUS, because damn.

In a nutshell: This is the first of three graphic novels about the life of John Lewis. It covers his childhood through early college, including his participation in lunch counter sit-ins.

Line that sticks with me: “The police, conspicuously absent while we were beaten, arrived quickly after the mob wore themselves out.”

Why I chose it: My husband purchased the three books last year and just finished the last two this weekend. I haven’t enjoyed graphic novels I’d read previously, but given the shameful comments the soon-to-be President shared this weekend, I thought I’d give it a go.

Review: I have a feeling that this is going to happen a lot with the books I choose this year, but wow, my mostly white, all-suburban California public education failed me in many ways when it comes to U.S. history and current affairs. Also, my parents didn’t express any interest in making sure I was aware of the civil rights movement. I wish I’d recognized then how critical it would be to learn about that part of history, but I’m catching up as much as I can now.

I appreciate the storytelling device, which follows Congressman Lewis through the day when President Obama is inaugurated, and provides opportunities for him to tell his story to a constituent who happens to stop by. We learn about his childhood on a farm, his segregated schooling, his attempt to attend a white college that ignored his application, and finally his work organizing and participating in nonviolent protests of racist policies.

I know there is a naïveté in what I’m about to say, but even though I know it is real, I still have a challenging time accepting that there are people who will shout the n-word and beat up black people, and police who stand by (or actively participate). I just cannot understand. I know it happened – and still happens today – it’s just that it’s so. Fucking. Ridiculous.

The focus on nonviolent protest also intrigues me, because while I can see how effective it can be, I also do wonder about the effectiveness of violence as self-defense. One of my best friends is Quaker, and we’ve had many discussions about the Quaker commitment to pacifism, and the challenges of how we’d like the world to be (one where people do respond to nonviolent protest) versus the world we live in (where that isn’t always the case).

I’m looking forward to reading the next volume, both to learn more about Congressman Lewis and to see what I can learn from his actions that can help as I fight against the injustices going on right now.

At the end of each year I try to look back at the books I’ve read. This year I read 73 books, which is 15% more than my previous best of 63. I have Pajiba and the Cannonball Read to thank for this, because I know that if I hit 52 in a year that helps fund the fight against cancer. But because we also must review the books, it means I spend at least a few minutes reflecting on everything I read. It’s made me a better reader, it’s exposed me to books I wouldn’t have previously considered reading, and it’s introduced me to a lovely community of fellow readers.

So – what did my year look like?

Starting with the most obvious … I read a lot of white women authors. Nearly 60%, in fact. That’s not great. 20% of the books I read are the thoughts of white men, which means that just over 20% come from non-white authors. Most of those are women, but clearly I need to make a more concerted effort to read diverse voices. So next year’s goal: never read two white authors in a row.

Another yikes here – I read SO MANY books from authors who are from the USA. Eighty-six percent, to be precise.

Okay, this is much better. There are clearly some types I gravitate to, such as memoir and sociology. I like to learn about people and things, apparently. But look, there are 17 different genres or types of books on here, including a play, a collection of short stories, and even a cook book. And I know one of those memoirs was also a graphic novel, so that’s 18. That’s good!

Finally, how wisely did I choose my books?

Eh … not bad. Not great – a lot of middling books. But only a handful of bad choices and nothing so wretched that it earned the not-at-all coveted one star.

What can I do better for next year? I do not want to stop reading white women authors altogether, mostly because I just ordered Carrie Fisher’s entire catalogue. But I need to be more intentional in my choices of books, and step back more often to see if going on a ‘kick’ has really meant that I’m just reading a whole lot of the same type of author or book.

As far as my favorite book this year, my recommendations are:

• All Fun and No Joy by Jennifer Senior
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Real Artists Have Day Jobs by Sara Benincasa
• Shrill by Lindy West
• When Breath Becomes Air
• Where Am I Now? By Mara Wilson

Alright, on to Cannonball Read Nine!

Three Stars

Quick Take-Away:
On the cusp of four stars, but something didn’t click for me. The middle 350 pages or so really pulled me in, but I felt that the last 50 pages fell short.

Longer Review (with the mildest of spoilers):
The writing in this book is beautiful. I believe this is the first of Ms. Atkinson’s books I have read, but I gather she is someone known for her prose. The premise of the book, for those who are unfamiliar, is that Ursula is born in February of 1910 in England, and immediately dies. And then she is born again, but something slightly different keeps her alive. This replays over and over again, without any real sort of pattern that I could detect; we don’t always get to a certain age and start over, or always start at the same point, or even necessarily get clued into *exactly* what it is that she may have changed to prevent her death.

Ursula dies at least a couple dozen times if not more, and only a few of the storylines get in-depth treatment. One of the more fascinating stories is of her choosing to marry a German in the early 30s and what that leads to; a different route leads her into a bad marriage. There are also some moments that at the time seem important, but now that the book has ended I can’t figure out what purpose they served (was her mother having an affair in one of the storylines, and did it matter?).

I think the most frustrating component for me was that everything felt like it could be more developed – I wanted to see more connections, learn more about what Ursula was thinking and feeling that lead her to make a shift in her life that prevented her death. I just don’t think we got that, so even though I found myself sucked in, upon reflection I can’t quite recommend it to others.

Three Stars

(This is a review of the audio version)

I think I would have enjoyed this better in written form, because I had a hard time following along and staying interested to the audio version. Essays especially I think lend themselves well to paper (or electronic) versions because they can be read in chunks; the audio version for me meant stopping it a lot right in the middle, and not being able to listen again until I’d forgotten what I already heard.

That said, what I do recall I did enjoy. Ms. Rae is a writer and now actor (her show Insecure debuted on HBO this year) who tells a good story. This book is a memoir that covers her life in mostly chronological order. I chuckled a few times, and found her descriptions to be very vivid.

I can’t offer much more again because apparently I just didn’t absorb a lot from the audio version, but I do think I can recommend it, especially if you are enjoying her TV show or enjoyed the web series that preceded it.