Reading Wrap Up: July 2020

Welcome to my new monthly series, My Reading Wrap Up! 

As I shared in my 2019 reading wrap up, reading has become a huge part of my life and I’d love to share more of that on my blog. So each month I’ll be sharing what I read and mini-reviews of those books, as well as an update on my annual reading stats and my favourite book of the month. I’m also hoping to do more dedicated book posts in the future so keep an eye out for those!

Below is a list of all of the books I have read since my last book update, my 2020 reading list (so far) published in mid-June. So while I’m calling this my Books of the Month for July, there are a few June titles in here too that I read after my last post was published.

June was Pride month and I’m very happy to have read three books by LGBTQ+ authors in June: Untamed by Glennon Doyle, Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness and So You Want to Talk About Race? by Ijeoma Oluo.

In June, I also announced my intention to read at least one Black-authored and/or anti-racist text every month to help decentre whiteness in the media I consume. I’m glad to have surpassed that goal with White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (note: white author) and So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo in June and four Black-authored texts in July (all of my library book holds came through at the same time!). I don’t want my reading to be about meeting a diversity quota because anti-racism can’t be ticked off a checklist. I plan to continue integrating diverse voices into my reading not just because I should but because I want to – because these stories are important, beautiful, fun or serious, and worth reading.

Lastly, I want to note that the reviews below are my opinion. Not all books are for all people. And especially when I review books with characters/authors who have a very different lived experience than my own, my opinion is from my limited perspective. I encourage you to head to other book blogs, Bookstagram or Booktube to seek out other reviews, especially own voices reviews!

All right, without further ado, here are my books of the month for July 2020!

Over the Top by Jonathan Van Ness

Memoir, 269 pages, published 2019

“Life is so much a daily exercise in learning to love yourself and forgive yourself, over and over.”

In June I did a rewatch of the Queer Eye series because I just needed a little loveliness in my world. And it inspired me to pick up JVN’s memoir. I read Tan’s last year, so now think I might need to finish out the rest of the cast’s books. But back to this one! This book is so Jonathan; his voice comes right off the page. It was super interesting to learn about Jonathan’s childhood and everything he went through on his journey. He has been through a lot! It was very eye-opening to read about his life. It’s not beautifully written or anything but he’s a good storyteller. I do wish there was more behind the scenes info for Queer Eye, but I’ll happily wait for his next memoir to get those stories!

TW: sexual violence

Rating: 3.5/5

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So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Anti-racism, 248 pages, published 2018

“The question is: do you want to look like a better person, or do you want to be a better person?”

This book was incredible! Ijeoma does such a great job of weaving a personal narrative into really important lessons. She introduces each chapter on a different facet of systemic racism with a personal, often gut-wrenching and eye-opening, story and then moves into the concrete lesson and actionable steps you can take. This is a great starter manual for those committed to the work of anti-racism. I highly recommend this read! It’s also a great way to hear from a Black, queer woman, when those are the voices often silenced by society. This book is very accessible and a great starting point for conversations about race.

Here’s one more awesome quote about tone-policing: “To refuse to listen to someone’s cries for justice and equality until the request comes in a language you feel comfortable with is a way of asserting your dominance over them in the situation.”

Rating: 4.5/5

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Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Fiction (contemporary romance), 289 pages, published 2019

“I knew there would be something else, but it was always after. After, after. It was like I was waiting for something to start, and I was accidentally in the middle of it the whole time.”

After a couple heavy texts, I wanted something a little lighter to shake up my reading. I had heard of this title last year when it got a lot of love so decided to go for it. Overall, it’s a cute book! It was an easy read and a nice contemporary romance. I struggle with fiction that is too cheesy or cliched, but this wasn’t like that at all. It’s the story of a widow, Evvie, who starts her life over after her husband’s death, with the help of a retired baseball player, Dean. While there are some serious themes in the book, it’s generally quite light-hearted. I enjoyed it!

TW: abuse

Rating: 3.75/5

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Number One Chinese Restaurant by Lillian Li

Fiction (contemporary family), 290 pages, published 2018

“It pained Nan to admit this, but he shouldn’t have bent under her hollow reassurances. She should’ve taught her son how to ask for more. The fact that he didn’t was what made him hers; they were genetic mirrors, with identical weak spots in their bones.”

This novel revolves around the Duck House, a Chinese restaurant in Maryland, and the people behind it. We meet the owners, the waiters and the various people in their lives as tragedy strikes and the Duck House’s fate is uncertain. To be honest, I was disappointed by this book. I was very excited to read an Asian author’s take on a Chinese restaurant, looking forward to memories from my own childhood spent in Chinatown. Instead, I found this book really lacking. It was super melodramatic, with every sentence and every character operating at an 11/10 frequency the entire time. The plot seemed inconsistent and none of the characters were likeable. I have no problem with flawed characters but I at least need to root for one of them. Not the case for me here.

Rating: 3/5

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Breathe by Imani Perry

Memoir/anti-racism, 184 pages, published 2019

“In this life, I want to fill you up with so much fresh water that when you enter the deserts you have enough sustenance to endure and revel in your own possibility.”

I picked up this book as part of a book club and I’m glad I did. This is not a book I would usually go for. Breathe is a letter from Imani Perry to her sons. The writing is absolutely beautiful, like poetry. And the love Imani has for her boys really drips right off the page. Some of the sections were very impactful. I loved the stories she told and it was eye-opening to see the sorts of things a Black mother wanted and needed to pass down to her Black sons. Other parts were a bit over my head with challenging language or references I didn’t understand. It wasn’t the style of book I like to read but I am glad I read it.

One more beautiful quote from Imani: “To create, and to be brought to one’s knees by creation. That is at the height of being human.”

Rating: 3.5/5

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I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan

Fiction (contemporary romance), 368 pages, published 2016

“I’m bored with mine. And since my life is the only thing I do have any control over, I want to start changing some of it.”

This is the story of Dr. Georgia Young, a 50-something, twice-divorced optometrist who decides her life needs a change and she’s going to start by looking up all of her past loves. I was really into this concept and especially liked that the heroine of the story was a middle-aged Black woman, instead of a 20-something white girl. But this book really fell short for me. I enjoyed the writing in the prose but the dialogue always felt really forced, didn’t match the characters and carried on too long. The plot seemed to get lost; Georgia’s quest to find her past loves became an afterthought the author had to quickly wrap up. The whole thing also ends a little too nicely without the work put in by the characters. I almost DNF-ed this partway through but it did get slightly more interesting in the last 100 pages.

There was also a section at a Japanese restaurant that seemed very anti-Asian to me. And there’s a running theme of diet culture and body image issues that made me roll my eyes when Georgia is miraculously cured by dropping one dress size (as if we’d all be perfectly happy if we just lost 13 lbs).

Rating: 3/5

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Hunger by Roxane Gay

Memoir, 306 pages, published 2017

“But I couldn’t forget my body. I could not escape it. I didn’t know how and the world was always there to remind me.”

Hunger is a memoir by Roxane Gay about her body and it is an incredibly powerful book. This is not a light read (no pun intended). Throughout, I found myself saying “oof” out loud as moment after moment hit me. I wanted to reach out and hug young Roxane, but as she says, she’s not much of a hugger. As a person in a larger body (I’m still trying to find a descriptor I’m comfortable with), I related to some of the things Roxane described, such as trying to make yourself smaller and holding back on life because of your body. But I also couldn’t relate to navigating the world in her body, and because of that, I needed to put my judgment aside. I also needed to contend with the fact that this isn’t a self-help book; this isn’t a book that teaches you how to love your body from someone who has mastered it. Roxane is very much in the thick of it. Yes, she has learned a lot and healed a lot, but she is still learning. I appreciated so much that this book was truthful, even when the truth was ugly.

Two more quotes that really hit me: “He has so much hope for what I could be if only I could overcome my body. His hope breaks my heart.” and “What does it say about our culture that the desire for weight loss is considered a default feature of womanhood?”

TW: sexual violence, anti-fatness, diet culture & disordered eating

Rating: 4.5/5

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Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

Memoir, 288 pages, published 2019

“…I was making food that came from my culture, from black culture. I was saying that this culture is worth something, worth a lot, actually. That I was worth something.”

I really enjoyed this memoir by Kwame Onwuachi of his journey to becoming a chef. Kwame goes way back to his parents and grandparents’ histories, telling the story of how he became who he is. He grew up in the Bronx, with inspirations from his mother’s family in the south, and even moved to Nigeria as a young kid. His story was really interesting! He talks a lot about code switching and how he manoeuvred in different situations, many impacted by his race. I also enjoyed that he included recipes throughout the book, relating to the different stories he was telling. I definitely recommend this one!

One more inspiring line by Kwame, “I know that if I cook this food, food that is in me already, the world will come to eat it.” 

TW: child abuse

Rating: 4/5

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The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine

Fiction (contemporary family, coming of age), 336 pages, published 2020

“There were so many of us, children of these double families who dreamed of the other side.”

I picked this one up for a book club as it’s not the type of book I usually go for. The Margot Affair is a novel about a seventeen year old girl named Margot who is growing up in Paris with her mom, Anouk. Margot’s father is a well-known politician, but has a wife and family. Anouk and Margot are his secret family. Throughout the book, Margot wrestles with her relationships with her parents and finds herself needing to navigate some big adult decisions. For me, I found this book just okay. I was captivated enough to keep reading and found the characters pretty interesting. Some of the ideas and passages have stayed with me. But I found the whole book a bit lacking in plot. I kept thinking, “What’s the point?”

Rating: 3.25/5

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Best book of the month

Overall, my favourite book of July was So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. I thought this book was really brilliant and such an important read. I highly recommend it!

Annual reading stats update

Here is a quick update on my 2020 reading stats!

• Total number of books read: 30
• Total number of pages read: 8,933
• Fiction vs non-fiction: 10 fiction & 20 non-ficiton
• Male vs female authors: 7 male & 23 female
• Diversifying my reading: Of the 30 authors I’ve read this year, 10 are BIPOC (with six of those being Black) and six are LGBTQ+ (with two of those being BIPOC).

 

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