Ah, March. The month of fickle spring weather, basketball brackets, and (for me at least) lots of great books! Give me books over a bracket any day.
Here’s my March reading round-up.
Fiction
The Color Purple by Alice Walker. In this modern classic, Celie and Nettie are sisters separated at a young age, but whose survival is rooted in their letters to each other. Celie is first abused by her father, then forced to marry a man who is also abusive. She writes letters to God, then to her sister Nettie, as a way to cope with her loneliness and to survive the terrible circumstances of a life she has little control over. Nettie joins a couple headed to Africa as missionaries, and also finds solace in writing to her sister, despite not knowing if the letters ever reach her. This was beautifully written, moving, and profound, and it’s one I can’t stop thinking about. I highly recommend it. My rating: 4.75/5 stars.
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka. This is the story of Ansel Packer, a man on death row for the murder of four women. We hear Ansel’s story from his own perspective, counting down the hours to his execution, and we also hear from 3 women whose lives have been impacted by Ansel in some way: his mother, a detective, and the twin sister of his ex-wife. While this novel doesn’t shy away from the crimes Ansel committed, this isn’t a thriller or a police procedural. Instead, it’s much more focused on the three women and how the decisions they made affected Ansel’s life, and how his life in turn affected theirs. I was fully immersed in this story as I was reading it, and I couldn’t put it down. I loved the structure and the unique way the author told the story. My rating: 4.5/5 stars.
Flight of the Puffin by Ann Braden. Jack is trying to save his small rural school while coping with the grief of losing his brother. Libby tries to bring joy to the world through art, but nothing she does seems to please her parents. T left home and lives on the street, sure that their family won’t accept them. Finally Vincent is obsessed with puffins and Katherine Johnson, the math genius, and is tired of getting teased and shoved into lockers at school. The stories of these four children eventually connect, and the result is this beautiful and heartwarming, yet relevant and honest, novel. I loved it. My rating: 4.25/5 stars.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. In this post-apocalyptic novel, a father and son walk across a land that’s barren, cold, and covered in ash. They’re headed to the coast, but they don’t know what awaits them there. Their only belongings are the clothes they’re wearing and a cart that carries food and supplies they’ve scavenged on their journey. This was a haunting, sparsely-written story, and it explores the relationship between the nameless father and his son, and how it is affected by trauma and extreme circumstances. Not a lot happens in this book, but McCarthy manages to paint a vivid picture. It is atmospheric, dark, and moving. My rating: 3.75/5 stars.
How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang. Lucy and Sam are newly orphaned, fleeing the coal-mining town where they grew up. They are running away from hunger, from people who don’t understand them, and hoping to bury their father and find freedom in a new land. While they have no one but each other, their relationship is shaky and neither sibling trusts the other completely. Although the time period isn’t explicitly defined, mentions of Western expansion and mining for gold made it feel like the mid-nineteenth century. I loved the exploration of loyalty, race, how both history and setting can complicate family relationships, and what defines a home. I also loved the dynamic bond between Lucy and Sam. I’ve seen this described as an adventure story, and while that’s true, it’s more quiet and reflective than action-packed. My rating: 3.75/5 stars.
Night at the Fiestas by Kirstin Valdez Quade. These short stories paint portraits of vastly different families, yet the landscape of New Mexico ties them all together. All highlight complicated family relationships, and Quade isn’t afraid to push boundaries and take her characters a few steps beyond what is comfortable. These stories had a way of speaking the truth of the situation, like when someone says what you’ve been thinking but are too afraid to say. Her writing is gorgeous, and each story left me feeling like I didn’t quite get enough of each character, even the ones I didn’t like. My rating: 3.75/5 stars.
We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza. Jen and Riley have been best friends since childhood. Although Jen is white and Riley is black, race has never been something they’ve discussed throughout their long friendship. However, when Jen’s husband—a police officer—is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black man, race becomes the topic that drives a wedge between them. Jen doesn’t understand Riley’s perspective, and Riley is afraid to be honest with her friend. This was a compelling, easy to read novel that touched on relevant, timely themes. However, I felt it was a little heavy-handed at times and I was often frustrated by Jen’s ignorance (which may have been the point). I think this would be a great book to discuss in a book club! My rating: 3.5/5 stars.
The Frankie Factor by Bruce P. Brown. When I heard that The Frankie Factor is about a boy who is afraid of pretty much everything, and that swimming tops his list of fears, I immediately wanted to read it. While my son Jona’s fears aren’t as extreme as Frankie’s, in some ways they felt like kindred spirits to me. I really loved Frankie and his character development throughout the story. However, I’m not typically into fantasy or magical realism, so the story went in a direction that I wasn’t expecting and that I could have done without. I was more interested in Frankie’s story than the lives of the guardian angels sent to help him. Overall, I’m glad I read this middle grade novel, but it wasn’t my favorite. My rating: 3/5 stars.
Nonfiction
Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence. I love books for book-lovers, and this one certainly fits into that category. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, Annie Spence, a librarian, pens letters to many of the books in her life, from her beloved favorites, to the ones she has to “weed” from the library collection. Her musings are irreverent, smart, and laugh-out-loud funny and I found myself sharing passages with whoever would listen. Her letters to books make up the majority of the book, although she does dedicate part of the book to recommendations and booklists. Honestly I didn’t enjoy those parts as much, but the bookish letters were worth more than the price of admission, in my opinion. (One thing to note, if you’re easily offended by swearing, you might want to skip this one.) My rating: 4/5 stars.
Chatter by Ethan Kross. Kross, a psychologist, explores the conversations we have with ourselves and why they matter. Through research and anecdotes, he shares the difference between having an inner critic and an inner coach, and the impact each can make on our lives. One thing I took away is the importance of what he calls “distanced self-talk” as a way to bring more clarity to a situation as well as acting as the antidote to getting bogged down by “chatter,” which is his term for negative and debilitating self-talk. I listened to this on audio and it was a quick, informative, and interesting listen. As always for me with audio though, I should have read this as a physical book in order to actually retain what I learned. My rating: 4/5 stars.
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