Tanya's Booklist in 2020
Total books: 82
Audiobooks: 45 (55%)
Nonfiction: 29 (35%)
Mysteries: 35 (43%)
* = Top picks
(B) = Black authors
(listed by category and then by author's first name, usually)
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (B) - Brilliant collection of intertwining stories and characters. Black, white, immigrant, non-binary, lesbian, straight, old, young, mothers, career-women and all combinations of the above. I loved the way it was in part like collection of short stories, but also had intriguing interconnections.
*The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (B) - Absolutely one of the best novels I’ve read this year. Following twins and their daughters over the course of lifetimes, and exploring topics of Black life, racism, passing, trans love, family, and so much more.
The Mothers by Brit Bennett (B) – Not the book for me. Much of the plot line and emotional pull of the characters revolves around getting pregnant, wanting to get pregnant, or not wanting to be pregnant.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue – Historical fiction about the 1918 flu in Dublin. Loved the story and how easy it was to connect with the characters! Also loved that the whole book is just over the course of two days. Sometimes I felt like I saw the seams of the historical research. Was so good pleasantly surprised by the lesbian kiss, but of course the lesbian has to die....
All Adults Here by Emma Straub - Very sweet story and fun, easy read. Great cast of well-rounded characters, (including a happy/proud trans character!). Upholds and promotes the narrative that parenthood is central to living a full and valued/valuable life.
Emma by Jane Austen – I listened to this classic again before watching the new movie version out early in 2020.
Weather by Jenny Offill - Delightful glimpse into everyday life/worries/love/family/existential dread.
Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) by Leigh Bardugo – Great thriller/fantasy novel with a badass female character. Elements of Harry Potter/The Magicians, set in the secret societies of Yale.
Bunny by Mona Awad - Funny, weird, unique, deliciously wicked, and also a poignant explorations friendship. I devoured this book in a weekend this summer and it is such a happy reading memory.
*My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh - What it takes to reset and become ready to be awake to life. Haunting and relatable and absurd. Perfect for reading in the midst of pandemic/shelter-in-place weirdness.
Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho - Lots of proverbs and affirmations. Nothing stuck in my head after the moment of listening to it. Perfect for falling asleep to when I wake up at 3am.
Surviving the City (Surviving the City, #1) by Tasha Spillett – Graphic novel about Indigenous teens in Canada.
*Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Loved the creativity of this book’s oral history format and the story was such a good portrayal of the messiness of love, friendship, togetherness and how they all work together.
*Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date, #4) by Jasmine Guillory (B) – Sweet romance with older Black characters that ties in with the rest of the series’ characters and world. If you want to try tame, contemporary romance, I highly recommend this series.
The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1) by Julia Quinn – Ugh. You’ve probably seen the Netflix series already. Too much pregnancy/baby plot line. I got so frustrated with all the characters. Please do not force/try to convince your partner to have a baby if they have clearly said they do not want children.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki – Queer, young adult, graphic novel romance.
Murder Is Easy (Superintendent Battle, #4) by Agatha Christie – Confirming that there’s a reason Superintendent Battle never became one of Christie’s memorable characters.
*Closed Casket (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries, #2) by Sophie Hannah – New Poirot story!! She writes just like Christie.
Audiobooks: 45 (55%)
Nonfiction: 29 (35%)
Mysteries: 35 (43%)
* = Top picks
(B) = Black authors
(listed by category and then by author's first name, usually)
Fiction
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (B) - Fantastic book with compelling characters, a strong message of the pain of police violence against black people and the strength of community.Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (B) - Brilliant collection of intertwining stories and characters. Black, white, immigrant, non-binary, lesbian, straight, old, young, mothers, career-women and all combinations of the above. I loved the way it was in part like collection of short stories, but also had intriguing interconnections.
*The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (B) - Absolutely one of the best novels I’ve read this year. Following twins and their daughters over the course of lifetimes, and exploring topics of Black life, racism, passing, trans love, family, and so much more.
The Mothers by Brit Bennett (B) – Not the book for me. Much of the plot line and emotional pull of the characters revolves around getting pregnant, wanting to get pregnant, or not wanting to be pregnant.
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue – Historical fiction about the 1918 flu in Dublin. Loved the story and how easy it was to connect with the characters! Also loved that the whole book is just over the course of two days. Sometimes I felt like I saw the seams of the historical research. Was so good pleasantly surprised by the lesbian kiss, but of course the lesbian has to die....
All Adults Here by Emma Straub - Very sweet story and fun, easy read. Great cast of well-rounded characters, (including a happy/proud trans character!). Upholds and promotes the narrative that parenthood is central to living a full and valued/valuable life.
Emma by Jane Austen – I listened to this classic again before watching the new movie version out early in 2020.
Weather by Jenny Offill - Delightful glimpse into everyday life/worries/love/family/existential dread.
Ninth House (Alex Stern, #1) by Leigh Bardugo – Great thriller/fantasy novel with a badass female character. Elements of Harry Potter/The Magicians, set in the secret societies of Yale.
Bunny by Mona Awad - Funny, weird, unique, deliciously wicked, and also a poignant explorations friendship. I devoured this book in a weekend this summer and it is such a happy reading memory.
*My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh - What it takes to reset and become ready to be awake to life. Haunting and relatable and absurd. Perfect for reading in the midst of pandemic/shelter-in-place weirdness.
Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho - Lots of proverbs and affirmations. Nothing stuck in my head after the moment of listening to it. Perfect for falling asleep to when I wake up at 3am.
Surviving the City (Surviving the City, #1) by Tasha Spillett – Graphic novel about Indigenous teens in Canada.
*Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid - Loved the creativity of this book’s oral history format and the story was such a good portrayal of the messiness of love, friendship, togetherness and how they all work together.
Romance
I Think I Might Love You (Love Sisters, #1) by Christina C. Jones (B) - Sweet and funny Black romance. Perfect way to spend the evening.*Royal Holiday (The Wedding Date, #4) by Jasmine Guillory (B) – Sweet romance with older Black characters that ties in with the rest of the series’ characters and world. If you want to try tame, contemporary romance, I highly recommend this series.
The Duke and I (Bridgertons, #1) by Julia Quinn – Ugh. You’ve probably seen the Netflix series already. Too much pregnancy/baby plot line. I got so frustrated with all the characters. Please do not force/try to convince your partner to have a baby if they have clearly said they do not want children.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki – Queer, young adult, graphic novel romance.
Mystery
Crooked House by Agatha Christie - About a crime where the murderer must be one of the people stuck in the house.Murder Is Easy (Superintendent Battle, #4) by Agatha Christie – Confirming that there’s a reason Superintendent Battle never became one of Christie’s memorable characters.
*Closed Casket (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries, #2) by Sophie Hannah – New Poirot story!! She writes just like Christie.
The Mystery of Three Quarters (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries, #3) by Sophie Hannah – More excellent Poirot
The Killings at Kingfisher Hill (New Hercule Poirot Mysteries, #4) by Sophie Hannah
Too Good To Be True (Shetland Island, #6.2) by Ann Cleeves - Didn't realize this one was a novella. So it's really like listening to a Shetland tv episode.
White Nights (Shetland Island, #2) by Ann Cleeves – I love everything by Ann Cleeves.
The Long Call (Two Rivers, #1) by Ann Cleeves - Similar to her other mystery series, but this time with a gay detective.
The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope, #1) by Ann Cleeves – Set in northern England. Female detective. (I love Vera!) Excellent stories with some dated language.
Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope, #2) by Ann Cleeves -
Hidden Depths (Vera Stanhope, #3) by Ann Cleeves -
The Sentence is Death (Hawthorne, #2) by Anthony Horowitz – This is a follow-up to “The Word is Murder.” Anthony Horowitz wrote all the Foyle’s War episodes and in this series he writes himself into the story as a character. Very good!
A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #1) by Charles Finch – Mysteries set in Victorian England.
The September Society (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #2) by Charles Finch -
The Woman in the Water (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #0.1) by Charles Finch -
The Vanishing Man (Charles Lenox Mysteries #0.2) by Charles Finch -
Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2) by Dorothy L. Sayers - Some great British accents and dry humor. Country manor mystery setting.
The Devil's Novice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #8) by Ellis Peters – Medieval monetary cozy mysteries. Perfect for falling asleep to.
An Excellent Mystery (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #11) by Ellis Peters -
The Raven in the Foregate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #12) by Ellis Peters -
The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #18) by Ellis Peters - Not really a mystery at all. More political war history story.
Agent Running in the Field by John le Carre – His last novel and another excellent spy story.
The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11) by Louise Penny – Sooooo dramatic, but if you like Louise Penny, you’ll read it.
The Witch Elm by Tana French - Such brilliantly crafted stories but so emotionally exhausting to listen to.
The First Eagle (Leaphorn & Chee, #13) by Tony Hillerman – Southwest setting with Navajo Tribal Police detective.
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain (Cat Who... #13) by Lilian Jackson Braun – Listened to so many of these cozy mysteries set in small-town northern Michigan, where the siamese cats help solve the mysteries.
The Cat Who Wasn't There (Cat Who..., #14) by Lilian Jackson Braun - Annoying harassment by one character.
The Cat Who Went into the Closet (Cat Who... #15) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (Cat Who... #16) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Said Cheese (Cat Who... #18) by Lilian Jackson Braun - (I read #17 last year)
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (Cat Who... #19) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (Cat Who... #20) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Saw Stars (Cat Who... #21) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (Cat Who... #22) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (Cat Who... #23) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
- I'm so happy to have this contribution to the conversation about the importance of friendships, and the work that it takes to build and maintain them. I hope this book will give space for people to start talking to their friends about the places of "stretch" and "strain" in their friendships, and acknowledging how friendships change when people move, or have babies, or experience life shifts. Let's not just assume that friendships are automatic, or not wroth the effort to have hard conversations and clear communication! Since it's written by two people I understand the desire to switch between third person and first person plural, but it was a bit distracting.
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande - Great book for thinking about how to have the best life right up until the end.
*Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson (B) – I’m so inspired by the amazing dedication and passion of Stevenson and his team of lawyers that are fighting the totally messed up criminal justice system in the US.
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole (B) - So important/enraging/devastating to read this account of racism - violence by police, discrimination in schools, micro-aggressions, immigration problems - in Toronto, Ontario, and Canada.
For Now by Eileen Myles – From a presentation they gave on writing, being an artist, and regretting that lost box. “Writing is an alibi for doing nothing.”
She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman by Ian Kerner - Good primer for anyone wanting to pleasure a woman (including self-pleasure!) and bring her to orgasm.
Burn the Place: A Memoir by Iliana Regan - Sober queer chef in Chicago talks about her attractions, her addictions, and her love of foraging.
*How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell - I loved this book so much. From the title I thought it was going to be an anti-technology manifesto, but it ends up presenting a strong positive case for what to do instead, after we've considered how we want to resist the urge to scroll and refresh. Her answer is to turn attention instead to observe the plants, birds, nature, history, sounds going on around us. It feels like the perfect prescription for pandemic times.
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry – Epic book (19 hours on audiobook) running through the history of medicine, medical schools, vaccine development, and the 1918 flu in the US.
*With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial by Kathryn Mannix - Written by a palliative care doctor, this book is a beautiful exploration of the natural end of life, and the pattern of death. She shares many stories from her years as a doctor and it was comforting to read an honest, open discussion of death.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo - Great, depressing, compelling, real book about women’s desire. It’s complicated. It’s bound up in culture, peer-judgement, and self-judgement.
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck - This book has some fantastic, timeless insights and it has my favorite definition of love our there (which I first learned through bell hooks who uses it in her book, All About Love). His discussion of spiritual growth was also rally eye-opening. Many of the examples (book written in 1978) are sexist, racist, and ableist.
How to Not Always Be Working: A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Marlee Grace - Loved this book for helping me to think about the “gray areas” between work and personal time. It also was helpful for setting up routines for peace/productivity. Sometimes very narrowly focused on freelancers/artists.
WomanWord: A Feminist Lectionary and Psalter: Women of the New Testament by Miriam Therese Winter - Encouraging to be reminded of all the women who were recorded as being important parts of Jesus's movement.
After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond Optimism by Nancy McDonald Ladd - Identifies the history of liberal religion to speak of optimism, even in the presence of suffering and injustice. Repeating and putting our faith in the "the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice" is too easy. Ladd describes our estrangement from ourselves, the holy, and people around us. The call beyond optimism is to bridge that gap of estrangement. It is a call to authentic relationship that decenters whiteness and looks to those affected for leadership and solution.
*Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe - Such a great history of the Irish Troubles. Good storytelling, historical context, and covers a long range of time.
Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke – Beautiful poems to begin the day.
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit - Really solid and well-written essays on feminism! Because it’s a collection, some of the points were repeated in different essays.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit - Some beautiful thoughts on solitude, the role of a writer, loss, death, love, and the beauty of California.
*My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts by Resmaa Menakem - An absolute must-read, especially for people wanting to understand more about how we can create a new non-white supremacist culture. This book moves the conversation from the intellectual to the body lived experience. There are so many good exercises throughout, and practices for noticing when the body is activated and how to settle it in the moment, so that our knee-jerk fears from historic trauma don't take over.
*White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo - Such a fantastic, helpful, challenging, encouraging book. I highly recommend all white people read this book to better understand the racist culture we were born into, and the ways we are taught to be defensive and to try to avoid all discussions of race and racism.
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor - Such a great book for describing the soup of body shame that we are all submerged in. Lots of great pop-out boxes and inquiries to help you come to radical self-love and compassion for the process.
Tongue Tied: Untangling Communication in Sex, Kink, and Relationships by Stella Harris - Excellent book about communication with helpful prompts, exercises, and real-life scenarios.
*Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt by Steven Johnson – Oooo this one was fun! A thrilling tale of piracy, sailing, and the adventure and horrors of it all. Starts in the year 1695.
Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag – Fascinating philosophizing on how we look at and turn toward/away from seeing others in pain.
A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly – So old school and male-centered.
Unitarian Universalists of Color: Stories of Struggle, Courage, Love, and Faith by Yuri Yamamoto - Great collection of essays and a panel presentation collecting experiences of UUs of color all across the US. I'm grateful for the chance to learn more about the patterns of actions that turn BIPOCs away from UU congregations, and also the opportunities there are for doing things better, so that we actually reflect a beloved community.
*Intimations by Zadie Smith (B) - Brilliant writing and such a perfect time capsule of February-May 2020.
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (B) - Great one for audiobook, to be able to hear the cadence and dialect. So interesting to hear the story of a slave/African-American with a strong, specific African identity.
Happy reading!
Too Good To Be True (Shetland Island, #6.2) by Ann Cleeves - Didn't realize this one was a novella. So it's really like listening to a Shetland tv episode.
White Nights (Shetland Island, #2) by Ann Cleeves – I love everything by Ann Cleeves.
The Long Call (Two Rivers, #1) by Ann Cleeves - Similar to her other mystery series, but this time with a gay detective.
The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope, #1) by Ann Cleeves – Set in northern England. Female detective. (I love Vera!) Excellent stories with some dated language.
Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope, #2) by Ann Cleeves -
Hidden Depths (Vera Stanhope, #3) by Ann Cleeves -
The Sentence is Death (Hawthorne, #2) by Anthony Horowitz – This is a follow-up to “The Word is Murder.” Anthony Horowitz wrote all the Foyle’s War episodes and in this series he writes himself into the story as a character. Very good!
A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #1) by Charles Finch – Mysteries set in Victorian England.
The September Society (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #2) by Charles Finch -
The Woman in the Water (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #0.1) by Charles Finch -
The Vanishing Man (Charles Lenox Mysteries #0.2) by Charles Finch -
Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2) by Dorothy L. Sayers - Some great British accents and dry humor. Country manor mystery setting.
The Devil's Novice (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #8) by Ellis Peters – Medieval monetary cozy mysteries. Perfect for falling asleep to.
An Excellent Mystery (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #11) by Ellis Peters -
The Raven in the Foregate (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #12) by Ellis Peters -
The Summer of the Danes (Chronicles of Brother Cadfael, #18) by Ellis Peters - Not really a mystery at all. More political war history story.
Agent Running in the Field by John le Carre – His last novel and another excellent spy story.
The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11) by Louise Penny – Sooooo dramatic, but if you like Louise Penny, you’ll read it.
The Witch Elm by Tana French - Such brilliantly crafted stories but so emotionally exhausting to listen to.
The First Eagle (Leaphorn & Chee, #13) by Tony Hillerman – Southwest setting with Navajo Tribal Police detective.
The Cat Who Moved a Mountain (Cat Who... #13) by Lilian Jackson Braun – Listened to so many of these cozy mysteries set in small-town northern Michigan, where the siamese cats help solve the mysteries.
The Cat Who Wasn't There (Cat Who..., #14) by Lilian Jackson Braun - Annoying harassment by one character.
The Cat Who Went into the Closet (Cat Who... #15) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Came to Breakfast (Cat Who... #16) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Said Cheese (Cat Who... #18) by Lilian Jackson Braun - (I read #17 last year)
The Cat Who Tailed a Thief (Cat Who... #19) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Sang for the Birds (Cat Who... #20) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Saw Stars (Cat Who... #21) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (Cat Who... #22) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
The Cat Who Smelled a Rat (Cat Who... #23) by Lilian Jackson Braun -
Nonfiction
Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow (B) and Ann Friedman- I'm so happy to have this contribution to the conversation about the importance of friendships, and the work that it takes to build and maintain them. I hope this book will give space for people to start talking to their friends about the places of "stretch" and "strain" in their friendships, and acknowledging how friendships change when people move, or have babies, or experience life shifts. Let's not just assume that friendships are automatic, or not wroth the effort to have hard conversations and clear communication! Since it's written by two people I understand the desire to switch between third person and first person plural, but it was a bit distracting.
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande - Great book for thinking about how to have the best life right up until the end.
*Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson (B) – I’m so inspired by the amazing dedication and passion of Stevenson and his team of lawyers that are fighting the totally messed up criminal justice system in the US.
The Skin We're In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power by Desmond Cole (B) - So important/enraging/devastating to read this account of racism - violence by police, discrimination in schools, micro-aggressions, immigration problems - in Toronto, Ontario, and Canada.
For Now by Eileen Myles – From a presentation they gave on writing, being an artist, and regretting that lost box. “Writing is an alibi for doing nothing.”
She Comes First: The Thinking Man's Guide to Pleasuring a Woman by Ian Kerner - Good primer for anyone wanting to pleasure a woman (including self-pleasure!) and bring her to orgasm.
Burn the Place: A Memoir by Iliana Regan - Sober queer chef in Chicago talks about her attractions, her addictions, and her love of foraging.
*How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell - I loved this book so much. From the title I thought it was going to be an anti-technology manifesto, but it ends up presenting a strong positive case for what to do instead, after we've considered how we want to resist the urge to scroll and refresh. Her answer is to turn attention instead to observe the plants, birds, nature, history, sounds going on around us. It feels like the perfect prescription for pandemic times.
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry – Epic book (19 hours on audiobook) running through the history of medicine, medical schools, vaccine development, and the 1918 flu in the US.
*With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial by Kathryn Mannix - Written by a palliative care doctor, this book is a beautiful exploration of the natural end of life, and the pattern of death. She shares many stories from her years as a doctor and it was comforting to read an honest, open discussion of death.
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo - Great, depressing, compelling, real book about women’s desire. It’s complicated. It’s bound up in culture, peer-judgement, and self-judgement.
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by M. Scott Peck - This book has some fantastic, timeless insights and it has my favorite definition of love our there (which I first learned through bell hooks who uses it in her book, All About Love). His discussion of spiritual growth was also rally eye-opening. Many of the examples (book written in 1978) are sexist, racist, and ableist.
How to Not Always Be Working: A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Marlee Grace - Loved this book for helping me to think about the “gray areas” between work and personal time. It also was helpful for setting up routines for peace/productivity. Sometimes very narrowly focused on freelancers/artists.
WomanWord: A Feminist Lectionary and Psalter: Women of the New Testament by Miriam Therese Winter - Encouraging to be reminded of all the women who were recorded as being important parts of Jesus's movement.
After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond Optimism by Nancy McDonald Ladd - Identifies the history of liberal religion to speak of optimism, even in the presence of suffering and injustice. Repeating and putting our faith in the "the moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends towards justice" is too easy. Ladd describes our estrangement from ourselves, the holy, and people around us. The call beyond optimism is to bridge that gap of estrangement. It is a call to authentic relationship that decenters whiteness and looks to those affected for leadership and solution.
*Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe - Such a great history of the Irish Troubles. Good storytelling, historical context, and covers a long range of time.
Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God by Rainer Maria Rilke – Beautiful poems to begin the day.
Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit - Really solid and well-written essays on feminism! Because it’s a collection, some of the points were repeated in different essays.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit - Some beautiful thoughts on solitude, the role of a writer, loss, death, love, and the beauty of California.
*My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Mending of Our Bodies and Hearts by Resmaa Menakem - An absolute must-read, especially for people wanting to understand more about how we can create a new non-white supremacist culture. This book moves the conversation from the intellectual to the body lived experience. There are so many good exercises throughout, and practices for noticing when the body is activated and how to settle it in the moment, so that our knee-jerk fears from historic trauma don't take over.
*White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo - Such a fantastic, helpful, challenging, encouraging book. I highly recommend all white people read this book to better understand the racist culture we were born into, and the ways we are taught to be defensive and to try to avoid all discussions of race and racism.
The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor - Such a great book for describing the soup of body shame that we are all submerged in. Lots of great pop-out boxes and inquiries to help you come to radical self-love and compassion for the process.
Tongue Tied: Untangling Communication in Sex, Kink, and Relationships by Stella Harris - Excellent book about communication with helpful prompts, exercises, and real-life scenarios.
*Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt by Steven Johnson – Oooo this one was fun! A thrilling tale of piracy, sailing, and the adventure and horrors of it all. Starts in the year 1695.
Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag – Fascinating philosophizing on how we look at and turn toward/away from seeing others in pain.
A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly – So old school and male-centered.
Unitarian Universalists of Color: Stories of Struggle, Courage, Love, and Faith by Yuri Yamamoto - Great collection of essays and a panel presentation collecting experiences of UUs of color all across the US. I'm grateful for the chance to learn more about the patterns of actions that turn BIPOCs away from UU congregations, and also the opportunities there are for doing things better, so that we actually reflect a beloved community.
*Intimations by Zadie Smith (B) - Brilliant writing and such a perfect time capsule of February-May 2020.
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston (B) - Great one for audiobook, to be able to hear the cadence and dialect. So interesting to hear the story of a slave/African-American with a strong, specific African identity.
Happy reading!
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