February 2022, layers and layers of discontent
...from adichie's americanah
I’m not going to talk about war because I don’t really understand it, the small details. I have a hard time comprehending governmental warfare and the words people use to explain it. I don’t get Putin and I don’t know that much about him or his leadership. I never even really understood (or found any humor in) the endless Putin and Trump jokes and memes and that was my actual country. Actually, I think that’s when I started to get “dumber.” By the time we were gearing up for a new presidential election cycle, I got off twitter and stopped paying as much attention and then the pandemic hit and that’s all I’ve had energy to understand and learn more about, and at this point, hardly even that.
But I won’t pretend it’s not happening. The last two weeks have been incredibly heavy and beyond stressful, both in my personal life and in the world. At this point, it just feels commonplace to feel this way — to open the page to bad news, to wake up with a bit of dread, to search desperately for an escape mechanism that won’t kill you.
One of my many escape mechanisms is reading, but I have plenty of others too. Maybe one day I’ll write about them, but for now, this is a depressing newsletter about books and the state of the world.
Here’s what I read in February.
[Books I Read]
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013) | Quick summary: a long love-and-life story of Ifemelu and Obinze.
When I first dove back into being A Reader in 2017, Americanah was one of the first books I remember putting on my ~TBR list.~ And yet, it’s taken me all of these years to get to it. There’s a lot to say about Adichie — you might think you don’t know her but she has a pretty big credit on Beyonce’s “***Flawless” — but generally speaking, I really like her writing. I liked the writing in Americanah and I was invested in the main characters, Ifemelu and Obinze, but it just didn’t ultimately pay off for me. Americanah is very long, which I usually tend to like, but it was long for reasons that didn’t feel strong enough in the end. By the last handful of pages, it felt rushed and the ending didn’t land for me. That all being said, I’m delighted I can finally have an opinion on this one!
[literary and political fiction, novel, written by a Nigerian novelist and writer, quite a long read!]
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli (2020) | Quick summary: A woman is raped, killed, and buried in the sand during the summer of 1949. Many years later, a woman becomes fascinated to the point of obsession with this untold story (minor detail!) in history.
This book came directly from the hands of my dear friend, which is the best way to begin a book. Matt and I often have overlapping taste in books though this isn’t one I would have picked up without a strong recommendation — but y’all know I like to read out of my comfort zone as often as possible. I don’t do well with scenes of sexual assault but I can better handle it in books over movies and shows. The demise of this woman was brutal and devastating but we receive that information through powerful sentences rather than gratuity. Minor Detail isn’t very long so it all moves quickly while leaving an impression of life under the occupation of Palestine.
I enjoyed reading about Shibli and her other works after finishing this. Something I really liked from this interview, “I only write fiction in Arabic because this language is a witch—an amazing, funny, crazy, generous, and forgiving witch.”
[cultural heritage and political fiction, novel, written by a Palestinian author and essayist, translated by a white American translator from Arabic and Executive Director of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA).]
Monster in the Middle: a novel by Tiphanie Yanique (2021) | Quick summary: A story of how one couple’s love is influenced by their parents and families before them.
Ain’t that the truth. It feels like half of what I spend my time talking about in therapy and thinking about in my daily life is family, love, and how it’s all connected. Much like Yanique’s debut novel Land of Love and Drowning (also excellent!), Monster in the Middle asks you to track multiple characters and their interweaving relationships, which is what I enjoy most in stories. Yanique doesn’t shy away from the awkward, unspeakable thoughts and actions all of us are likely guilty of; something else I really appreciate about her writing and character-building.
Notably, this is one of the first books I’ve read in recent memory that references events like Trump’s presidential win, the pandemic, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign(s - both of them) in a way that doesn’t hit you over the head with it. I both appreciated that and realized there will be much more of this going forward — events that are hard to not mention but don’t necessarily need to be the center of the story.
[literary fiction, novel, written by a Caribbean-American writer, poet, essayist, medium-length read]
[Books I Heard]
Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone by Sarah Jaffe (2021) | Quick summary: an examination about why "doing what you love" is some bullshit.
I would have ditched this if it had come out anytime before the COVID-19 pandemic hit but this one incorporates it all. I spend every day of my life shouting about the things we deserve versus the things we get. I’ve worked since I was 15-years-old, my first job an under-the-table dog walking job at the kennel my mom worked at. I have ample opinions about how work should actually be. Jaffe’s book is a good deep-dive into industries like retail (been there), academia, nonprofit (been there/am there), freelance work (hi), sports, and more industries that we uplift but don’t really support. Ultimately, the question here is, what would you do if you didn’t have to bust your ass working and why can’t we do that?
[nonfiction, policy, written by a white American labor journalist, pretty long listen, read by the author]
Dirty Daddy: The Chronicles of a Family Man Turned Filthy Comedian by Bob Saget (2014) | Quick summary: Bob Saget’s memoir of family, comedy, and loss.
I talked about Saget a lot last month but allow me this. I was relieved to find there was an audio version of Dirty Daddy because I’ve been craving his voice and listening to his relatively recent podcast is too hard. 2014 feels like 100 years ago and listening to a pre-pandemic Saget was the soothing joy and love I needed. I know a lot about him and his Full House brethren, but listening to this book helped me better get to know who Saget actually was as a person. I knew he was a genuinely good man because of the company he’s always kept. I know the shit about his relationship with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen was gross rumor. I knew he loved John Stamos. I knew his daughters were the most important thing to him. But what I didn’t know was just how true and big a part of his life those things were. Everyone has always said Saget is nothing like Danny Tanner but it’s just not true. He was a loving, genuine person who will be missed.
[nonfiction, humor, memoir, written by a white American comedian, shorter listen, read by the author]
[What I Recommend]
If you like short, punchy books: Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
If you hate that work is such a huge chunk of your life!!!!: Work Won't Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe
If you love interweaving stories: Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique
If you can’t get over losing Bob fucking Saget: Dirty Daddy by Bob Saget
I hurt my hand and am taking a break from my phone games so I’ll probably read like three times this much in March. We’ll see what happens.
A quick plug for the paid version of Completely Booked. These folks will receive some goods in March and also 1-2 additional newsletters about TV and stuff.
