Rabbit Hole #59: 12 Reads for 2017

2016 isn't over yet (seriously, it's the year that will never end), but I'm already thinking ahead to my reading for next year. The books below aren't new releases; rather, these are ones that have been sitting on my list "to read some day." That list is ridiculously long and growing all the time, but here is a quick look at some of the ones I hope to read in the coming twelve months:

1. Hamilton by Ron Chernow--I'm in love with the musical, and Hamilton: A Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter was one of my favorite reads of this year. It's probably time to pick up the source material. 

2. The Great Gatsby Anthology: Poetry and Prose Inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's Novel--This collection put out by Silver Birch Press collects short works by over 80 authors that are all inspired by Gatsby. If you know me, you know how much I love the novel, so it's no surprise that this collection is calling my name. 

3.  A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan--Logan's The Gracekeepers was a beautiful, haunting novel based on myth and fairytale. This interconnected short story collection is centered around Scottish myths that two women tell their unborn child. 

4. Hogarth Shakespeare Series: Ok, this is a bit of a cheat; it's actually five books, not one (with more to come). These are retellings of Shakespeare plays by contemporary authors. The top two on my list are Hagseed by Margaret Atwood (The Tempest) and Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (The Taming of the Shrew), but honestly, they all sound incredible. 

5. An Untamed State by Roxane Gay--Gay's best known work, the essay collection Bad Feminist, was one of my top reads of 2015. An Untamed State was her 2014 debut novel and centers around a Miami-based attorney who is visiting her family in Haiti when she is kidnapped by armed gunmen. 

6. Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang--This graphic novel set has been on my radar for years, since I first read American Born Chinese. This duology follows two children, Little Bao and Four-girl, juxtaposing their very different experiences during the Chinese Boxer Rebellion.

7. An Indigenous People's History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz--As the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline showed, most of America doesn't know (or doesn't care) about the indigenous people who were here long before most of our ancestors showed up. We learn U. S. history, but not our entire history. This is a book to help fill in the gaps.

8. Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul by Eddie D. Glaude, Jr.--Yes, racism is still a problem. We need to learn as much as we can in order to fight it. 

9. The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly--This is a middle grade novel about immigration and family, centered around two Filipino girls abandoned by their father and living with their stepmother in Louisiana. 

10. Josephine: The Hungry Heart by Jean-Claude Baker--Josephine Baker is one of the most fascinating figures of the 1920s, but she was so much more than that. This is written by one of her "adopted" children, so it's part memoir/part biography. 

11. The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney--Egypt and a strong, powerful woman. I'm here for this biography.

12. There Was and There Was Not: A Journey Through Hate in and Possibility in Turkey, Armenia, and Beyond by Meline Toumani--In today's society where the "other" is so often demonized, we often refuse to listen.

True Story

My Difficult Relationship with Virginia Woolf

I love Virginia Woolf. I've spent a lot of time with her: I've read almost everything she's written, and she was the topic of my master's thesis. I admire her style, her honesty, her rejection of tradition--both in writing and her personal life.

But should she be held up as the epitome of feminism? Of feminist authors? The Huffington Post's Maddie Crum recently wrote an article titled Why Virginia Woolf Should Be Your Feminist Role Model", giving several reasons why Woolf should hold that title. And while I do agree with a lot of what she says (although mentioning fluid gender roles without mentioning Orlando seems rather short-sighted), I also have some serious reservations.

For all of her wonderful, progressive points, Woolf was very much a product of her time. As adamant as she was that women needed space and money to pursue their creative lives, she really was only speaking of a certain economic class of women. White women. And Christian. Woolf, unfortunately, expressed very classist, racist, and anti-Semitic views while also advocating for women's autonomy and creative freedom.

These are difficult contradictions to reconcile, especially when women of color and women in lower economic situations have felt ostracized by mainstream feminism. It hasn't always been inclusive; it isn't always inclusive today. If we truly believe that feminism is equality, it has to mean equality in all realms. It has to also include income equality, education, reproductive justice, racial and LGBTQ rights. Feminism can, and should, be something everyone is proud of and works toward, not something that continues to make certain segments of society feel ostracized.

If we just look at Virginia Woolf as an advocate for advancing women's positions in life and giving them opportunities to express themselves creatively, then I think, yes, she is a good role model. Alice Walker (who is one of my favorite authors) references Woolf in her essay, In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. In that essay, Walker mentions that for far too long women, especially women of color, had to find subversive ways to express themselves--in quilts, flower gardens and the walls of their homes. They were as anonymous as Woolf's Shakespearean sister, doomed to a life of obscurity because of their gender and race. It is our duty to resurrect those lives as best we can, as Woolf did for the fictional sister of Shakespeare and Walker did for Zora Neale Hurston, to more fully embrace our heritage.

Perhaps we don't have to expect everything from our role models. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes, try to learn from them, and move on. Roxane Gay would call that being a "bad feminist." No one is a perfect feminist--most days we can't even completely agree on what that means. We attempt to live our lives as best we can, but we're going to fail. Because at the end of the day, we're all human.

I'd like to think that if Woolf lived today, she would be more open to helping her sisters of all stripes. Even so, for all of her faults, she does have important words for us all as we strive toward a more equal world for all women.

Rabbit Hole #5: My top five reads of 2014

I read a lot of great books last year, including a lot of nonfiction, which is new for me. But out of all of them, these are the five that have stayed with me the most. (Some of these I've written about before, but they definitely deserve another mention.)

Because all of these are so different, I didn't rank them. So, in no particular order, the best books I read last year are:


Americanah by Chiamanda Ngozi Adiche: I can't say enough good things about this book. Ifemelu and Obinze are young Nigerian sweethearts who dream of going to the United States for college. Ifemelu experiences America and comes to terms for the first time with what it means to be black. She also notices distinct differences between African-Americans and the African immigrants around her. Obinze ends up living on the fringes, undocumented, in London after post-9/11 America shuts its doors to him. The struggles both of these young people go through, including love, tragedy, racism, and class, eventually bring both of them back to Nigeria, where life is both the same, yet very different, from the country they left.

This description doesn't even come close to describing Adiche's lyrical prose and character development. I've read most of her work (Purple Hibiscus is on my list for this year), and she is just getting better and better as a writer. Definitely check her work out!!



The Ocean at the End of the Land by Neil Gaiman: This was my first Gaiman read, but it's not going to be my last. I have The Graveyard Book on my nightstand, and the rest of his work is on my to-be-read list.

The narrator returns to his home in Sussex to attend a funeral. Although his childhood home no longer stands, the Hempstock Farm at the end of the lane does. Inexplicably drawn to the Farm, the narrator finds himself reliving long forgotten memories from his childhood. When he is seven, a visiting South African opal miner commits suicide on the Hempstock Farm. An ancient entity hears his dying sounds and comes to investigate. People begin to act strangely, and the narrator crosses to the Farm to discover the cause. There he encounters eleven year old Lettie, her mother, and grandmother. The women talk of other worlds, times beyond, and the Big Bang. Lettie sets out to banish the ancient force, taking the narrator with her. Unfortunately, he makes a mistake, unleashing the force out of the Farm and into his world. She takes the form of Ursula, who manipulates his parents and sister, drawing out everyone's darkest desires. In order to save him, the women must call upon ancient female wisdom, and risk everything in the process.

Gaiman is a master storyteller. This work is dark, creepy, magical, and soul-wrenching, everything a good fantasy novel should be.



A Reason for Hope by Dr. Jane Goodall: Forget Woman Crush Wednesday, Dr. Goodall is one of my idols. I am so, so grateful I was able to hear her speak in person this year. This work came at just the right time, as I was starting to be pulled down into the darkness of the world between the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Ferguson, Gamergate, gun violence--you name it, it was dragging my soul down this summer.  In addition to detailing her early work with the chimpanzees of Gombe and her creation of Roots and Shoots, and children's environmental program, Goodall discusses her spirituality, and how her belief in a higher power has helped her through the most difficult times in her career.

Some may find her beliefs incompatible with a scientific background (she has no problems reconciling them with evolution and even reincarnation), but for many who read this, it will prove reassuring. In fact, I have a feeling this is one that I will be coming back to.



Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay: If you haven't read this, stop what you are doing and find a copy. Now. I'll wait. I don't care if you're male, female, black, white, gay, straight, Christian or Muslim. This is a must-read collection of essays on feminism, rape culture, music, pop culture, gender, and even football and Scrabble. (Gay even spent several years of her life in my home state of Nebraska.) She addresses the complexities of our society, trying to navigate modern life while trying to be a feminist (There IS no right way to be a feminist, by the way. Just a desire to see true equality and justice for everyone, men and women.)

This was one of the last books I read last year, and it's probably going to be a reread this year. It's that good and thought-provoking.



The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud: I first read Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children in 2008. I was blown away. It remains one of my favorite books, but this one may have overtaken it. The story is narrated by 37 year old elementary art teacher, Nora Elridge. Nora has all but given up on her dream of becoming a professional artist, until she meets the family of a new student in her class, Reza Shahid. She falls in love with the entire family, including Reza's mother, Sirena, who is a talented installation artist. Sirena is everything Nora has longed to be: charismatic, beautiful, and talented. Nora and Sirena rent a studio together, where Nora begins to return to her own work. But, as in any fairytale existence, things are not always what they seem. Betrayal, deception, and lies soon take over this perfect union.

This is a powerful novel, and although Nora may not be a completely reliable narrator, her voice is utterly compelling, showing the plight of many women who have given up their dreams to live the dreams expected of them.



Five books. Five amazing stories. I'm looking forward to what this year's reading brings; it's already looking good. Check out Emily St. John Mandel's terrific dystopian novel, Station Eleven!