I’ve been making a point to read more this year and so far, so good. I’ve been noticing some trends in the books I’m gravitating toward and the books that have been sticking with me. Thus, this week’s five things is reading themed, even though the husband I and went snorkeling on Sunday and it was amazing. We saw more fish than either of us has ever seen snorkeling down here, and that includes multiple reefs going back to the mid-1990s and even offshore trips in the Keys. It was like swimming in an aquarium. Tons of different parrotfish and wrasse species, angel fish, just a whole who’s who of reef species.
Anyway, back to books.
I haven’t really been paying conscious attention to trends in terms of race or background of the writers I’ve been reading. I’ve been tracking it, but I haven’t really been telling myself things like, “must read more of [this] or [that].” I’ve been reading whatever piqued my interest from Book of the Month, BookTubers, library suggestions, etc. And I’ve made some observations.
1) Speed Matters
First, by the numbers. Of the 36 books I’ve read so far (as of May 16th), 20 have been audiobooks, 9 have been physical books, and 8 have been ebooks. This makes sense as I’ve discovered that if I speed audiobooks up to 2x I can actually pay attention to what’s happening in them while walking, shopping, or cleaning. Prior to realizing I could speed audiobooks up, the pace was too slow and my mind wandered too much to enjoy them. My (also ADHD) therapist responded to this news with, “Really? Even library books?” Oh, yes, ma’am. Welcome to this exciting new world. My husband found out I’d been listening to audiobooks at 2x and said, “Isn’t that cheating? How do you even know what’s happening?” Oh, my dear, that’s the only way I know what’s happening. Before this discovery, I’d get about three minutes into an audiobook, realize I’d drifted off into a daydream and had no idea what was happening, or I’d slowed my body down to match the speed of the narrator and was basically just standing still in the middle of the road.
2) Need to do better
Of the 36 books I’ve read so far, 55% have had white authors (from various countries), 22% Black authors (from various countries), 17% Asian authors (again, various countries), and only 6% have had LatinX authors. My currently-reading books include two more Asian authors, another Black author, and another white author. (audiobook memoir, ebook novel, physical book novel, and physical book nonfiction). (I also cannot seem to read just one thing at a time. This might be another ADHD thing. It is what it is.) There are several books by non-white authors on my TBR pile. Clearly, I need to move them up to balance things out. I’ve really enjoyed almost every book I’ve read this year and those I’ve enjoyed less have tended to have white authors, but because they represent more than half the current reads, that could be a by-product of numbers. Of the books I’ve DNFed (did not finish) this year, they were distributed similarly to the overall spread, but I haven’t DNFed more than 10 so far this year.
3) Making up for the men
It’s a commonly-mentioned stat or anecdote that women will read men, but men won’t read women. While every data point has outliers, I think most teachers and book club members have observed this. (When I belonged to a local co-ed book club years ago, we had one lawyer who flat-out refused to read any of the picks written by women because “They don’t have anything to tell me.” Is anyone surprised to learn he was a single cishet man? Anyway, I realized about two-thirds of the books I’ve read this year were written by women and the remaining third by men. None of the books I’ve read so far have been by NB (nonbinary) authors (that I could verify), but there was one whose author transitioned after publication. I included that book under the author’s current identity rather than the identity at time of publication.
4) Nothing fits
I tried categorizing my reads by genre (using the five on posters in high school English classrooms) and then giving each a subgenre that was more like where it might be in a bookstore. The first was easy. The second? I have come to realize quite a few of the books I’ve been drawn to this year don’t fit neatly into a category. There’s crime fiction with ghosts and memoir laced with history and a lyrical second-person novel that reads like poetry.
5) “Sticky just like the song in my head”
Which brings me to some books that stuck with me so far:
I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins
It’s billed as “autobiographical fiction” and follows a character, Claire, as she digs into her past and deals with postpartum depression by becoming a “dirtbag” who just can’t go home. It includes a series of letters (edited or recreated) by the narrator Claire’s mother, segments from the father’s memoir, literary-journal-style short fiction about “teeth,” and almost hallucinatory sections in the desert.
White Evangelical Racism by Anthea Butler
There were definitely some aspects of confirmation bias with this one as Butler gives the historical context to go with a lot of my observations over the years. Still, it was great to see the roots of what so many of us have been witnessing (and in many cases predicting) laid out with research in a book from a university press.
Milk, Blood, Heat: Stories by Dantiel W. Moniz
This collection of stories felt like Miami and like the tropics and the language just hung with me in the heat of spring. Not everything is straightforward, but they’re also the sorts of stories that feel “complete” when you reach the end, too. Honestly, I might have to return to this one come the dog days of summer when I want to wallow in the words Moniz strings together.
Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur
A scientist haunted by her imaginary friend travels across time and continents to figure out the parts of her past necessary to move forward, if possible. To attempt to explain any more would involve spoilers. (Shortly after, I read a short story by Lauran van der Berg where a woman travels to Antarctica in the wake of a tragedy and the juxtaposition was interesting.)
The Clarity of Hunger by Cheryl Pappas
This collection of flash fiction is perfect for reading on a sunny afternoon, maybe at the beach or by the pool, because the heat makes the fever-dream imagery come alive.
The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James
This one isn’t exactly a recommendation. Like so many booktubers, I found this one disappointing or underwhelming. I loved The Sun Down Motel by the same author. It was a fantastic blend of supernatural and mystery. Part of my attraction was probably the idea of the creepy motel since I’m drawn to those in real life, but it was also a compelling read. The Book of Cold Cases wasn’t really that. At least, for me. But it still kind of stuck with me, in part because of the problems. The ghost element felt unnecessary, but at the same time, I walked away from it feeling for the ghost’s character more than any of the others. Without spoiling it, it’s difficult to explain why, but the backstory of the ghost make the actions far more understandable than the live characters seemed to find them.
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
I haven’t finished this one, yet, but the language makes me want to luxuriate in it. It’s written in second person and is quite lyrical in a way that doesn’t feel forced. The is the second book on the list from Grove Atlantic, an indie press that’s been around for a long time (and was the parent of Mysterious Press).
A short but solid list of the typically unmentioned: Richard Wagamese, Louise Erdrich, Stephen Graham Jones, N. Scott Momaday, Cherie Dimaline, Brandon Hobson, James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, Joy Harjo, Tommy Orange, Linda Hogan, Rebecca Roanhorse, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Diane Wilson, Eden Robinson, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Elissa Washuta....