November 2019: What I Read

Believe it or not. I can read. I use this skill often. It’s the first thing on my resume and Tinder bio. Please don’t be intimidated. Here are all the books I read this November.

1. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)

I’ve read one of her books before, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, and enjoyed it. I remember finding it thoughtful and beautiful and at times a little boring (there's only so much of 60s California a girl can take). I am too young for this book. I was lead to believe there would be magic. Alas. It centers around the death of Didion’s husband as well as her adult daughters intense health issues, bringing her in and out of hospitals across the country. I am 21. I am not married, I have no kids. This is so far removed from my reality. Wonderful and haunting. Maybe now that I’ve read this book nothing bad will ever happen to me. No one I know will ever be sick or die. Thanks, Joan.

2. The Mysterious Benedict Society, Trenton Lee Stewart (2008)

In times of stress and woe (more commonly referred to as human existence) I love going full cocoon and letting the books of my youth whisk me away to a simpler time.I remembered these book existed and said godDAMN all the time I’ve spent reading or doing anything else. I could not tell you how much of my love towards this book is from quality and how much from nostalgia. I’d like to think it’s a literary masterpiece unparalleled in the English speaking canon… but who’s to say really.

There are super-smart children, mind control plots, a sinister island, and general nonsense and merriment. I hardly remembered the plot which was fun. There were Da Vinci Code levels of chaos, confusion, and code only less pretentious and uh better. Dan Brown, if you’re reading this just know that I've read many of your books and enjoyed them but you have to agree they are not well-written. I would like to publicly fist fight you. I read the whole book in three days. It’s fairly hefty, over four hundred pages. Seemingly an impressive feat until you remember the font is child-sized.

3. How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living, Rob Bell (2016)

I have heard comedian Pete Holmes recommending his books and espousing his wisdom for years (via Holmes’s podcast You Made It Weird). I read the whole thing in a day. I got this one from the library but I feel like it’s own you need to own and have around you for it to really work its magic. It’s a wonderful book, I loved reading it, want to read more of his stuff. I am fascinated with the idea of "here". It makes so much sense to me but is so hard to attain. To paraphrase, all that exists is the present moment. Overly concerning yourself with your idea of the past or worries for the future take you away from the present, which again is all that really exists. I’m not sure how I thought it would fix all my problems in a single night but it didn’t. TWO STARS

4. Well-Read Black Girl, Glory Edim- Editor (2018)

I stumbled upon this one in the library and am glad for it. Shouts outs to my local branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, amazing work. They always get me the books I need, except for one time when my hold came in and it was in Spanish. That one was on me though, I was not paying enough attention when I put the hold in. I, in all my American ignorance, had forgotten that not everything is written in English, in particular the works of Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño.

This book is a great collection of essays written by black women of various backgrounds and careers about the importance of seeing oneself represented in literature and how powerful that can be. I, as a white woman, don’t typically have an issue finding representations of myself. That's not to say it's always good representation, but at least the bare minimum has been made. I highly suggest checking out the Well-Read Black Girl Book Club. Read what they suggest, especially if you're white. I cannot overstate the importance of seeing yourself in literature or media of any kind. And it is the duty of those that are overwhelmingly represented to support this kind of art and creation.

5. Not That Kind of Girl, Lena Dunham (2014)

I am not familiar with Lena Dunham’s work. I know of her and that she had an HBO show. Most of what I know of her comes from people being mad at her on Twitter (often justified).

I loved this book and found it relatable, granted I am also a white 20-something lady living in New York. Like I said before, it’s not that hard to see myself represented. A series of essays that range from funny to heartbreaking.

The only thing I knew about this book going in was that there was controversy after it came out over something that happened with her sister when they were both kids. I got to that chapter in the book and it wasn’t what I expected. I’m really not qualified to get into this. People have done it before me with more thought and research. All I can really say is from what is in the book nothing seems criminal like I had been lead to believe. Granted, Dunham herself admits throughout the book that many see her as an unreliable narrator and have questioned, on many occasions, her recollection of events.

6. why won’t you apologize?, Harriet Lerner (2017)

I have some aversion to the self-help section (ew, who would want help, what a MORON). But I loved the aggressiveness of this title. Who wouldn't to pick up a book that's ready to fight. It was such an easy read and now I'm perfect at apologizing. That's not a brag. Just the cold hard facts. Lerner examines the various types of apologies and types of apologizers. I enjoyed her ability to break down what was and wasn't an apology and why. I've received and given some trash apologies and I'm excited to head forward with this knowledge. The book is aided by Lerner’s numerous anecdotes to stories from both her personal life and her clients (she is a practicing psychologist). I appreciated her acknowledgement of her own short-comings in this department. She's not great at putting all this stuff into action either.

Whenever I hung out with friends and they’d bring up some problem or disagreement between family/friends and without fail I would reach into my backpack and pull out this book, cover facing them and say “sounds like you guys need to read this book”. On one occasion I did this four times in one sitting to which my friends responded “wow Anna, this joke is always funny. Please keep telling it! Prop comedy is a high art. Let me kiss you on the mouth!”. Of course I obliged them.

7. The Story of a Lost Child, Elena Ferrante (2015)

The fourth and final book in an amazing series. The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante are truly a feat (translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein). I urge everyone to read these books. They're an amazing display of Italian life and female friendship across decades. It is in a class all it's own.

This book encouraged me to start learning Italian (along with Eat, Pray, Love: nearly a third of this book is a love letter to the Italian language. My favorite part of which is her reiterating how entranced she is with one Italian word in particular: attraversiamo, meaning “let’s cross over”. Thus far my favorite words are abbastanza (quite) and anatra (duck, the animal). This is mainly due to the mental images these conjure up. Abbastanza: someone who stans Abba so so hard. Anatra: Frank Sinatra but he’s a duck. I am a simple woman). I read signora and stradone enough times that I thought to myself, I have a grasp on this language. Put me in coach.

Io sono una donna.

Gli uomini scrivono nello zucchero.

La scimmia mangia una mela.

IMPRESSED? Duolingo is a hell of a drug

These books were recommended to me by my dear friend Maggie and like all things recommended by friends I promptly ignored it, waited a few months and got deep into it. Maggie was so right. Why did I not drop everything I was doing to obey. My sincerest apologies.

Much like my grudge with “author” Dan Brown my love for these novels transcends all notions of space and time.