By: IO

I usually don’t do a yearly book list. I don’t usually read that many and truthfully, this year isn’t that different. But as of this semester, I am done with my graduate program and looking forward to indulging in reading whatever I want, whenever I want. (Outside of work hours, of course). This book list is a starting point. Despite classes, job changes, and general life events, I was able to read more books for fun this year than I thought. I looked back at previous reading challenges and saw that I once set a goal for 50 books in a year and beat it. I want to be a reader again. As motivation for myself, here’s some of the books I read this year and a brief review.

Sula by Toni Morrison

Honestly, I need to read this again. I listened to the audiobook during work and lost the thread enough that parts of the story were confusing to me. I’ve found it challenging to focus on narrative fiction in audio format. What I do recall of the story was a tale of a “difficult” woman and the challenge of being different in society. 

There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra by Chinua Achebe

I’ve tried to learn more about Nigeria and its history on my own. My interest in the story of Biafra first came from the novel Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and the realization that this horrendous civil war had greatly affected the region my family is from and during my father’s lifetime. This is indeed a personal history, a memoir that encompasses the civil war. It does not start or end there. I liked that Achebe gave some perspective to Nigerian society and politics before the war started. I would not count this as a definitive history of the era though it has inspired me to seek more sources about this event. 

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

How dare they write something so beautiful and sad. How. dare. they. Another great novel by Emezi portraying complex characters at the intersection of queerness, expatriation, parenthood, and mourning in contemporary Nigeria. 

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

Yup, I read the most banned book in the USA. It’s not nearly as graphic as conservative censors would have you believe. If you’ve ever watch a cable primetime drama, you’ve seen more nudity and sex than is in this book. 

I actually felt the ending was kind of abrupt. Maybe that was the point. I expected more panels but it was just over, right when the protagonist was figuring out their identity. Like a part 1 of a memoir. 

This is by no means a universal story of gender non-binary people. It’s still important an important story. I hope to read more by them and other non-binary and trans writers.

Long Division by Kiese Laymon

This book is best read in print. Usually, I don’t like to be a prescriptionist about formats. In this case, the format does contribute to the experience. It consists of two “books”. After getting to the end of book 1, which is about halfway through the physical bound copy, you have to turn the book over and flip it upside down to read book 2. And the stories seem only tangentially related. The first book ending doesn’t quite make sense and then you’re thrown into a different tale but with names you recognize from the first. And then you get to the end of book 2 and there’s a kind of “oh!” moment of realization. I would read this book again just so I could see all the details that link the two, that I didn’t know to look for on the first reading. 

I’m ending my review here, even though that’s about a third of what I’ve read this year. I wrote more than I thought and it’s late. And I’m in the mood to read.