QUARTERLY WRAP-UP | JANUARY-MARCH 2021

I started off this year with no idea how my reading would go. I was coming off two straight months of not reading at all and had no idea if that was going to change. Fortunately, I managed to get back into the groove, and after a slow start, this year has turned into a truly amazing reading year for me. I shared my April-June wrap-up last week, and because I had forgotten to do the first three months of the year, figured why not share it now?

JANUARY

This book was the perfect one to pick up at the beginning of 2021. After a year of fear, 24/7 parenting, arguing over what was a “reasonable” amount of caution given the various medical issues in our household, worrying about the future, panicking about rising Covid numbers, feeling alone and completely burnt out, I needed to laugh. Dawn O’Porter gave me the “I get it, I’m there too” view of motherhood during the pandemic I needed, with exactly my kind of humour. There were bits in there about being a celebrity wife, fashion and glamorous events (albeit only in memory) that didn’t do much for me, but there were also a lot of really relatable moments that echoed some of what I’d experienced. The blind panic that accompanies days alone with young children and nothing planned, but also the empowerment of realizing that you can actually handle it and not break. I’m over that panic, and though there are days when I really just want to crawl back into bed with several “grown-up” beverages, headphones and Netflix, most days I feel like we’ll get through.

FEBRUARY

               

I’d been meaning to read How to Be an Antiracist for ages, and was so glad to finally get to it. It was as good as I expected – possibly better – and the perfect book to turn to for information and the beginnings of an understanding of what the last year (and, let’s face it, the hundreds of years before that) has meant for Black people in the US and the world over. Interior Chinatown was one I hadn’t looked into. It was on the BookTube Prize longlist, and available to reserve from my library, so I read it. But man, was I glad I did. It was unlike anything I’ve read before, both in format and content, and managed to give me a lot to think about, characters I cared about, and a lot of laughs along the way. It’s a sleeper hit of the year for me. Transcendent Kingdom was my first Yaa Gyasi book. It was really good, but I didn’t love it as much as many readers seem to have. I’m glad I read it, but in the intervening months it hasn’t stuck with me as much as some others I’ve read this year. Wintering was a calm retreat of a book in the midst of lots of drama. I listened to the audiobook while going for solo walks during nap time, and it was perfect for that.

          

Monogamy is perfect for readers who love deep dives into characters, enjoy intertwined stories of overlapping relationships, and don’t need much plot. I enjoyed it well enough while reading it, but I don’t think I’m the perfect audience for it, so it ended up being an okay but not outstanding read. Twelve Years a Slave, on the other hand, had a huge impact. If you’re not familiar, it’s the book upon which the film was based, and is the memoir of a free Black man who was tricked, kidnapped, and forced into slavery for twelve years. Being a free man form the north, Northup was educated and a talented musician. So he was able to record his experiences, which is something most slaves were not able to do, not knowing how to read or write. As such this book is a vital piece of a history often ignored or suppressed. She Came to Slay is a graphic biography of Harriet Tubman’s life. And man, does the title ever fit the subject. It’s not the best written book I’ve read, but I overlooked that because the story is both amazing and so vitally important to be shared. I am such a fan of Harriet Tubman. Which seems like a frivolous way to put it given her import and strength. She did amazing things against overwhelming odds. Hundreds of people and their descendants lived because of her. If you don’t know about Harriet Tubman, you really should at the very least do some Googling, or better yet read this book and/or watch the film Harriet.

     

The Night Watchman was my first Louise Erdrich book, though I’ve been hearing wonderful things about her work for years. I didn’t have any expectations going in, but ended up being thoroughly impressed. I liked the themes and how she worked with them in the story rather than letting them overshadow the characters. It’s timely, beautiful and the kind of book that, with a bit of work at the outset, will fully reward you for it. This book went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year, too. I don’t always get along with Joan Didion’s writing and perspective, but this book of some early unpublished writings really hit the mark. It’s a quick and varied read, and I liked the randomness of the subjects covered and the tongue-in-cheek tone applied to some of them.

MARCH

               

I first came across Emmanuel Acho on his YouTube channel of the same name and was intrigued enough to want to try his book. I’m really glad I did, because it’s an open, honest, unflinching discussion of various issues related to race in America, and also includes a lot of history and outside resources. It is a great place to start if you’re new to the subject, but if you aren’t there will still be information that is new to you. I have a lot of respect for what Acho accomplished with this book, and will definitely be here for more if he decides to write a follow-up. I read the next three because all appeared on the longlist for the BookTube Prize and were available form my library as audiobooks. I had heard so much about Hamnet, and my mum read and raved about it, so I went into it not excited about the topic, but expecting good writing. I ended up really enjoying it, and was so glad I was given a couple of reasons to give it a try. Weather and Redhead By the Side of the Road were both by authors I’d read one book by in the past and had an okay but not stellar reaction to. I enjoyed both of these slightly more than the previous books by the authors, but neither were favourites of the year for me.

     

I have had There There on my shelf for ages – I ordered it before it was even published. I’ve started it several times, but never made it very far. I finally got the audiobook from the library and within half an hour of starting it, I was fully immersed. I ended up absolutely loving this book. The characters are drawn with sensitivity and empathy, the plot is beautifully intertwined and the issues are worked into it without creating any conflict between the story and the messages it delivers. I thought it was a vitally important representation of both the history of Native American peoples, and of the beauty and resilience that exists within Native American culture and traditions (and the individuals who carry them forward). It doesn’t romanticize anything – these are people who are flawed and damaged, but who still strive to understand where they come from, who they are and to find a way forward. The Pull of the Stars was a surprise hit. I didn’t know anything about it, and when I started listening to it and discovered it was about another pandemic (the Spanish Influenza pandemic of 1918) I immediately had a distinct, “oh HELL no” response. But I decided to give it a little bit of time, just to be sure, and next thing I knew I’d finished the whole thing. I loved it, and loved the characters in it.

So that was my excellent start to the year. I finally got to four books I’ve been meaning to read for ages, I discovered a few new books that I’d never heard of, and made a good start on my BookTube Prize reading.

Have you guys read any of these? Which was the best book you read in the first few months of 2021?