April 2023, where has all the reading gone
in fifth grade we sang "where have all the flowers gone" and some parents complained because it was an anti-war song
I believe I’ve yammered on about how I entered the year 2023 knowing it would be a lot but you know what? It’s been…a lot. Planning a big event, not to mention my first one, for my new job while learning my new job while moving across the city into a new home with new space and joint stuff while emotionally feeling like I was slipping on a banana peel every three days….was too much! Every moment of the last few weeks has felt like a stark reminder of the realities of getting older. Things just keep happening. Family gets sick at inconvenient times, priorities and boundaries aren’t always agreed upon, time to oneself just doesn’t always exist.
I believe this is the fewest number of books I’ve read in a month since I started this bookletter in January 2020. I genuinely did not have the time, which is upsetting because I value my time. I miss what we all pretended and promised to value during quarantine and the earliest parts of the pandemic. I yearn for a slow down but not one caused by horrible illness or broken bones or the loss of a job or the loss of anything.
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I need to read a really good book. I feel stuck. I enjoyed the three books I read—one with my eyes and I listened to two—but I need a book to grab me in and hold me tight. I’ll be looking for that in May.
[Books I read]
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley (2021) | Quick summary: A teen must root out the corruption (read: drugs) in her community.
I don’t fully remember why I read this one but it probably has something to do with the 2023 Book Riot challenge. I’m so glad there are books like this—compelling young adult novels with non-white protagonists. This was a bit slow to pick up but I liked it a lot by the end. Also, her brother’s name is Levi and so is mine! Though spoiler alert: my brother would never!
[young adult fiction, novel, coming-of-age, written by a storyteller, writer, and enrolled member of the Sault Ste. of Chippewa Indians, medium-to-long read]
[Books I heard]
Looking for Betty MacDonald: The Egg, the Plague, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, and I by Paula J. Becker (2016) | Quick summary: The biography of the author of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Betty MacDonald.
When I don’t have a plan for my next audiobook, I go to the very first page of my “to read” shelf through my KCLS library account and start to see what I might knock off. This one—and The Wine Lover’s Daughter—were both chosen for that reason. I loved this book. In many ways, listening to this was a hug to my childhood self. Namely, because Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was a dear character in my life when I was a kid but because Betty MacDonald’s life was rooted in Seattle and the PNW of it all resonated with me. And from a very young age, biographies were my favorite genre of book, and this one is a great, well-researched biography from someone who clearly loved Betty MacDonald. Me too.
[nonfiction, biography, written by a white American historian and writer, longish listen, read by the author]
The Wine Lover's Daughter: A Memoir by Anne Fadiman (2017) | Quick summary: A memoir-ish tale of a daughter’s relationship with her wine-loving father. In a good way!
Like I said in the lil’ stanza above, The Wine Lover’s Daughter has also been on my list for a long time, probably since the year it came out. I almost just ditched this book from my TBR in general because 5ish years ago I thought I’d be A Wine Person and I wanted to read stuff and stories about wine. I’m still A Wine Lover but I don’t really care to be A Wine Person so I was uncertain how this would land. I loved it! It was less focused on wine and more focused on the father-daughter relationship, particularly when the daughter doesn’t necessarily care for the subject that holds her dear father’s attention the most.
[nonfiction, biography and memoir, written by a white American essayist and reporter, medium-length listen, read by the author]
[What I recommend]
- If you also grew up reading Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle: Looking for Betty MacDonald
- If you’re a youth, enjoy YA, or are trying to read fewer stories about white people: Firekeeper's Daughter
Life is hard. Read a book.
xo
“‘And to some people, you’ll never be Native enough,’ I add. ‘Yeah. It’s your identity, but it gets defined or controlled by other people.’” Firekeeper’s Daughter
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