(This is a month late, but we’re going to quickly ignore that so that we can still discuss all these wonderful books. Woo!)
I really wanted to start my reading year strong, but it seems like I went a tad overboard. Don’t feel any pressure to read as much as I did though, for my circumstances are likely different from yours. Overall, I didn’t read intentionally nor diversely, which I’m hoping to improve in the coming months. To (lacklusterly) make up for the lack of geographical and racial diversity though is a good selection of books from different genres.
Here are my short reviews on each of the 18 books I read last January. I hope you’ll find some intriguing books to add to your to-be-read pile. Or at the very least, give you some motivation to finally pick up that book you’ve been meaning to read!
FICTION
1. Conversations with Friends, by Sally Rooney (IRL)
Conversations is about two pairs of couples–Frances and Bobbi, and Melissa and Nick–and how the four of them come together, break apart, and compromise with each other. Rooney’s writing style is a hit for some but a miss for others; for me–it’s an absolute hit!
Conversations is an in-depth psychological and sociological profile of its complex characters. They struggle intensely with miscommunication and misunderstanding, which are rooted in their fear of being vulnerable with others. It’s a conundrum–we crave intimacy, yet are so afraid of it too. I find myself drawn to these themes because these fears shape many of our everyday social behaviors, yet we aren’t fully aware that they’re always there.
2. Sputnik Sweetheart, by Haruki Murakami (JPN)
Sputnik is a story about Sumire’s sudden disappearance, and K’s attempt to look for her. The novel has big philosophical ideas, and strips life down to its mundane essentials. But I just didn’t care about the characters here–especially the disturbingly voyeuristic male protagonist–so I wasn’t able to appreciate the book.
My main problem is that the characters felt like mere symbols, not actual flesh-and-blood humans. I suspect that Murakami wanted to preach a point, and merely used his characters as a way to illustrate that idea. This is my first Murakami, and even though I didn’t like this one, I’m going to continue reading his other works just because people say there are better ones.
3. The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides (UK)
The Silent Patient is about a psychotherapist’s attempts to get Alicia to talk. This is because several years prior, Alicia brutally killed her husband and hasn’t spoken a single word since.
This mystery novel was so intriguing that I finished it in less than a day. It started strong but pretty soon, you get many plot holes, absolutely unbelievable scenarios, and a pretty cheap ending. Still, I would recommend it if you’re looking for a quick and enjoyable mystery read.
4. Call Me By Your Name, by André Aciman (USA)
One word to describe the novel? Intense.
CMBYN is about Elio and Oliver’s one summer together in 1980’s rural Italy, where they fall in love. The prose here is so lyrical, so raw, so carnal. Aciman was able to communicate the experience of an all-consuming love so honestly; I get the sense that he held nothing back from his truth, which is why this novel was so powerful.
I can see, however, that this book is not for everyone. The story emphasizes Elio’s introspection and restlessness. I think a lot of the magic and wisdom of the book also depend on the reader’s own experiences of longing and to some extent, quiet suffering.
5. The Flatshare, Beth O’Leary (UK)
The Flatshare is a more sophisticated take on the romance genre, and I’m here for it! Both of the leads felt like real people with complex emotions and deep struggles, and they presented a good benchmark for what a healthy relationship can look like. The Flatshare also tackles abusive relationships and gaslighting with so much care.
The story is told from the first-person perspectives of both the male and female leads. The writing style of the male protagonist’s chapters were so annoying and disruptive to read, however, that it severely detracted my ability to understand the story.
This novel recounts the events leading up to the burning of the Richardsons’ home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a progressive suburb. Little Fires captures so well how societal forces deeply affect our personal lives. Ng set out to explore how even idealistic people with good intentions make selfish and immoral choices when they’re personally affected by the very issues they advocate for.
These really are thought-provoking ideas. However, I’m not a fan of the way in which Ng told this story. Her writing rubbed me off in the wrong way because she spells everything out for you. The story was bloated with main characters, and the drama here almost read like a soap opera. Perhaps it’s just a personal preference, but I like my stories to be quieter.
7. Beach Read, by Emily Henry (USA)
A romance writer and a literary fiction writer both face massive writer’s block, so they swap genres in a summer-long challenge to get their books done. It sounds silly, but this novel is really sophisticated, mature, and thoughtful! I expected this to be a fluffy light-hearted romance, so I truly did not anticipate the author tackling love, loss of faith, divorce, infidelity, cults, death, and book publishing with such nuance.
I especially like Beach Read’s take on love; it’s like the author found a halfway point between romantic and realistic, and answered us with that. There were, however, a lot of cheesy moments towards the beginning and end of this novel. But then again, what romance novel doesn’t have good cheese in it?
8. Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen (UK)
Having already read all of Austen’s novels, I believe that Mansfield Park is the most mature one as it presents so much social commentary. This is the most hardcore and explicit Austen became in depicting how people scheme within the highly economic system of marriage, as well as the different ways that marriage is divorced from emotional fulfillment and becomes instead a means to bring socio-economic profit to someone. One should really not read this (or really, any other Austen novel) with just romantic expectations.
I love Austen’s works because they present different kinds of agentic women in a society wherein they are systematically oppressed, and Mansfield Park is no exception.
9. Lady Susan, by Jane Austen (UK)
What a hilarious novel! I couldn’t stop smiling as I read page after page of Austen’s oft-overlooked seventh completed work, Lady Susan. It’s a story about the title character’s schemes as she attempts to look for a second husband.
Lady Susan is cruel but so steadfast in her intentions. If she had only channeled her intelligent mind and skillful persuasion to more moral endeavors, she could’ve done her loved ones a lot more good than bad. But alas, society at that time and place didn’t allow women many worthwhile opportunities.
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10. The Hating Game, by Sally Thorne (AUS)
Despite the cliched haters-to-lovers trope, I thought I was going to like this book because of its very high rating on Goodreads. But Oh my Lord, this book was so aggressively heteronormative and problematic and I’m so pissed. It’s riddled with cliches and harmful rom com tropes. The book didn’t criticize sexual harassment when it happened to the female protagonist; the female protagonist was so unrealistically “quirky” that she read like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl; the male protagonist had a whole machismo complex; the list goes on and on.
I can never get back the hours I spent reading this book, but at least can give this warning. I really don’t recommend this.
11. Daisy Jones & The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid (USA)
On the other end of the spectrum, we have this book, which was so feminist and so kind to its characters! It’s a historical fiction about an iconic 1970’s rock band called Daisy Jones & The Six, with their quick rise to fame and sudden disbandment.
To its core, Daisy Jones is about how hard it is to fight against your own instincts, but also how important it is that we do so. It’s also about having faith that people will make good decisions for themselves, and that we shouldn’t try to control what others do. I think I grew with the lessons I took from this book, which is why I highly recommend it.
12. The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang (USA)
Stella is autistic, which is why she has trouble finding a stable relationship to be in. She therefore hires a male escort to teach her how to be in one, and you guessed it–they fall in love. It’s totally a gender role reversal of Pretty Woman, but with more patience and respect.
This book taught me the importance of reading diversely and the importance of having diverse voices in literature. Because we read about Stella’s thought processes so clearly, readers will gain a better understanding of what it’s like to have autism, as well as empathize with the daily struggles autistic people have to go through as they attempt to function “normally” in this world that doesn’t adjust for their needs.
Also, the steaminess in this book beats the sauna.
13. The Bride Test, by Helen Hoang (USA)
This is the sequel to The Kiss Quotient, but centers on a completely different pair of protagonists. This novel still has autism representation, but tackles the immigration experience more.
NONFICTION
14. The Resonance of Unseen Things, by Susan Lepselter (USA)
Resonance documents and analyzes the culture underpinning UFO communities in different rural areas in the United States. On its most superficial level, this book is indeed about UFO communities. But really, it’s a book about how systemic violence, historical trauma, and abuse come to form their strong beliefs. It’s such an empathetic take on a group of people whose beliefs and ways of life are frequently dismissed and even made fun of by larger society.
And here’s one of the things I love about anthropology; it makes the familiar strange, and the strange familiar. Strangely, I saw my own communities reflected back at me through these UFO communities. UFOlogists yearn for a greater force behind it all, mistrust the government, and don’t take societal rules for granted. I’m certain that some of us also share the same sentiments to some extent.
15. Bullshit Jobs, by David Graeber (USA)
Another anthropology icon! Graeber is such a radical thinker and I love the ways in which he lasers through the fatal problems of our culture that everyone else seems to take for granted as normal. This book finally names “bullshit jobs” a problem, and highlights the harmful effects of these meaningless jobs. To be clear, it does not shame people who hold bullshit jobs at all; rather, it’s a manifesto to eliminate the systems in place that produce these kinds of jobs in the first place. It wants to change the jobs people do, not the people themselves.
Graeber combines history, economics, and politics to provide a holistic account of bullshit jobs. You don’t have to know any anthropology at all to appreciate this thought-provoking book, and I love Graeber’s work because he makes anthropological thought accessible through his conversational writing style and witty jokes. I highly recommend this, especially because it completely changed the way I view work.
16. Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker (USA)
I can’t believe I read a 300+ page book all about sleep and didn’t doze off. I was skeptical at first with what Walker could say about sleep for that long, but it turns out, sleep is such a complex phenomenon. And it’s almost absurd how sleep occupies 1/3 of our lives yet the general public knows very little about it. We as a society have taken the power of sleep for granted, largely because we were never taught to prioritize it. In fact, the way that modern culture is set up even encourages us to sleep less in the name of productivity.
Walker did an exceptional job explaining scientific findings with analogies, jokes, and narratives, which makes this book a very easy read. It’s obvious that he has spent his entire career researching sleep as he cites countless studies and picks apart the nuances surrounding sleep. He also tackles sleeping disorders, sleep patterns across our lifespans, dreams, and the relationship between sleep and society, among others.
Absolutely everyone should read this because everyone needs sleep! It successfully convinced me to sleep eight hours a day.
17. Know My Name, by Chanel Miller (USA)
This is the book I highlighted the most this month. In her memoir, Miller wrote about the trauma she experienced when she was raped at Stanford and fought in a years-long court case that followed.
I shed tears numerous times while reading this book. Miller’s words are so angry, so powerful, so devastating, and ultimately so comforting. So filled with hope. Her work goes beyond her experience, as she also illuminates a dehumanizing, impersonal, and money-sucking justice system wherein all parties lose and no one effectively heals. I truly am so astounded and in awe of Miller’s empathy, strength, and resilience.
If you were to take one book from this list, choose this. Though a difficult read, it’s a masterpiece.
18. Intimations, by Zadie Smith (UK)
This is a collection of essays that Smith wrote during the pandemic. It has good insights on writing, “doing time,” absolute suffering, and contempt. I appreciate this book because it taught me that pain has no hierarchy. Perhaps this is just my personal preference, but I would have liked this book to address COVID-19 more head-on. Most of the essays felt like they were just skirting around the topic.
That’s it for now. Happy reading!
