Earlier this year, I started tracking what I am reading in a draft, ongoing blog post that I'll share in December. But since I love hearing what others are reading I thought it made sense to start sharing what I finished the previous month in a post. So here's the first!
Song in a Weary Throat: NF. Pauli Murray's memoir that she didn't *quite* finish before she died (today, in 1985). Murray was a meticulous notetaker and prolific writer who apparently never forgot a name or face because they are all in this book. I'm a big Murray fan but this book is a tome (550 pgs) and I read bits at a time. It feels like a time capsule at various points and like a really crucial read but it can also be tiring. Jill Lepore (who I LOVE) says this, "The intensity and urgency of Murray’s resolve light up every page of this gripping memoir." That's it exactly. If you love Murray you can also start with _The Firebrand and the First Lady_ by Patricia Bell Scott who wrote the new foreward to _Song in a Weary Throat_.
The Midnight Library: Fiction! Charming. A desperate, down on hre luck, friendless, jobless and loveless woman gets a second chance at her life by finding herself in a library with her childhood librarian. She gets to go back and "take chances" down the roads she didn't pursue. Maybe one will stick. An easy, 2 day read.
The Barbizon... : NF. SO fun! I have always loved stories of the glamorous hotel for single young women hoping to make it (translate: score a husband) in New York. Also Grace Kelly is mentioned. Along with Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Barbara Chase-Riboud and others. Some women still live at the Barbizon, paying next to nothing for phone service, cleaning and rooms with incredible views. A great read for any vintage fan!
Everything I Never Told You: Fiction that felt like reality. Family secrets, unspoken needs and wants, disconnection and dysfunction, race relations, loneliness and tragedy. I read it and was like, "okay, let me parent and partner exactly the opposite of what's happening here,". What happens when you foist your unfulfilled adult dreams on your kids? Read it and weep.
Drink...- NF. Referenced by Jessica Lahey in her newest, The Addiction Incolulation, I got curious. The good news is that my need was met. The bad news is that the book is almost 10 years old and reads that way at points. A decent read, an important one. I'd like to see a revised, new edition.
White Rage- NF. This is a book that should be the US History text book we never were taught...or will be taught if the white men in power continue to get their say. Dr Anderson is a clear, singeing writer who tackles Jim Crow, Brown v Board, the undoing of civil rights advances by...you guessed it...more white men (LBJ, Bush I, Reagan, Clinton etc) and the election of our first Black president. A painfully hard read.
PSSST- This was first shared on Instagram. Do you follow me there? I’m @EMJWriting.
What are you reading? Leave me a comment below.