Books That Rocked my Socks in 2014

I've been MIA in these blogging streets for a few months.  I didn't stop reading, but I lost my desire to write about what I was reading.  The year started off bumpy, then I read some really great stuff during the summer, but the fall and winter?  Nothing but 40 degree days, not literally, but fans of The Wire know what I mean.  I thought about posting on weekends, but I couldn't even bring myself to do that.  I'm going to try to get back into the flow of things, though I can't promise three posts a week, but I'll shoot for at least one lengthy one, probably on Sundays, and one mini review, likely on Wednesdays.

Of the 105 books I read in 2014, I was completely blown away by nine of them.  In no particular order, here they are.

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay - I still haven't written a review for this.  I read it while sitting on the beach in Jamaica last August.  It was definitely not a beach read, but I couldn't put it down. Parts of it were so brutal that I really did need to down a few pina coladas to make it through without crying.  It's amazing and brilliant and if you haven't read it yet, you must.

Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill - Look for a review on this soon.  It was a late season listen.  At 15 1/2 hours, I thought I'd be listening to it for weeks since I tend to only listen while I'm driving (and I have a short commute) or when things are slow at work.  This saga of a black Canadian family had me mesmerized.  Told with a healthy dose of humor by a present-day screwed up family member, it traces the family's roots back to slavery in the U.S.  As I said, totally and completely mesmerizing.

Bedrock Faith by Eric Charles May - "After fourteen years in prison, Gerald “Stew Pot” Reeves, age thirty-one, returns home to live with his mom in Parkland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side." I didn't expect to get drawn in to Bedrock Faith as much as I did, but once I got started, I could not put it down.

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton - There's no review I could write that would do this book justice.  The author/photographer takes pictures of people around New York.  What initially started as just posting pictures on social media blossomed into this book that's sure to put a smile on your face.  I look forward to his posts with daily reminders that everyone has a story to tell and you never know what's hiding behind the face of a perfect stranger.

Long Division by Kiese Laymon - It's rare these days that I read a book twice, but when I tell you this is one book that deserves it, it truly does.  I first listened to it in February, but could tell that I had missed out on a lot.  Listening to it while I worked didn't give me time to fully appreciate just how magnificent it was.  So I went back in June and actually read it and wow! Kiese Laymon put his whole foot in it.  It's time travel meets race relations meets identity crisis and it is everything.

Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile - I love books with kick ass heroines and Charley Bordelon is just that.  If someone told me that I'd inherited an 800 acre sugarcane farm in Louisiana, I'd ask how much I could sell it for, because I surely wouldn't carry my Midwestern butt down to the heat, humidity and sexism of Louisiana farm land.  Charley does and Baszile gives her a great family dynamic that adds even more to the story.  Fans of Attica Locke's The Cutting Season will love this.

The Language of Silence by Peggy Webb - If there's one book that I think didn't get enough or any love in 2014, it was this book.  It's kind of your typical "woman leaves abusive husband" story, but then it becomes so much more.  There's the suspension of disbelief that you're used to if you've read Erin Morganstern's The Night Circus or Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.  It's such an amazing and heartwarming story.  If I could put a copy in the hands of everyone that comes across this blog, I would.

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi - I'm always on the hunt for books that teach me, it's part of the reason why I started the "Books: Passports to the World" challenge a few years ago.  Prior to reading The Pearl, I was completely unaware of bacha posh and then it seemed like it was being discussed everywhere.  Hashimi breaks it down for readers in very real and relatable ways.  The back and forth story lines of women separated by generations is fascinating.  If you're like me, you'll tear through this one in one sitting.

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter by Pearl Cleage - The only author I've read that has had more occupations than I initially knew about was Maya Angelou until I read the latest from Mother Pearl.  She's got some words of wisdom that she so generously shares with readers. I appreciate that, but what I loved even more was finding out that she's like the aunt that you think is all prim and proper and then you see her cutting up on a Saturday night and realize she's wilder than you ever imagined.

Books that rocked my socks just a little less, though I still loved them:

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
China Dolls by Lisa See
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles M. Blow (review coming)
Into the Go-Slow by Bridgett M. Davis
Invisible Ellen by Shari Shattuck
Mambo in Chinatown by Jean Kwok
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henrique
The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob (review coming)
The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

See you in these lit streets soon!

#BookReview: Long Division by Kiese Laymon

I’m so in love with this book that I’m not even sure where to start. I first listened to it back in February and couldn’t find the words to review. I gave it another listen last week and, this time, I took notes. Understand that I rarely take notes on books, but I ended up with 10 pages of them. It’s not that the concepts of the book are difficult to understand, it’s that there are so many gems to be found within that I didn’t want to miss any.

The first thing you need to know about Long Division is that it’s a book within a book and the names of the characters within and outside of the book are the same. Time shifts between 2013, 1985 and 1964. The main character is 2013 Citoyen (City) Coldson. He’s not a bad kid, but he has a smart mouth on him. It’s helped him win “Can You Use That Word in a Sentence” contests, but it’s also landed him in hot water with his mama, his principal, his grandmother and most people that come in contact with him. The book opens with City doing verbal battle with his biggest competitor, LaVander Peeler, which lands him in the principal’s office. Frustrated with his ignorance, Principal Reeves makes City take a test, which becomes a pre-cursor to his time traveling. The first time I listened, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the questions, but this time, they hit me hard. Those that stood out most really summed up what Long Division is all about:

“Only a fool would not travel through time and change their past if they could.”

“Past, present, and future exist within you and you change them by changing the way you live your life.”

2013 City notices a book called Long Division in Principal Reeves office, borrows it and discovers 1985 City Coldson. 1985 City is in love with Shalaya Crump, the girl that lives next door to his grandmother in Melahatchie, Mississippi. Shalaya is a bit of a mystery to City. The way she talks, the things she says throw him off, especially, “I could love you if you helped me change the future in a special way…” Loving Shalaya the way he does, 1985 City takes off on a journey with her that takes him back to 1964 where he meets his grandmother and forward to 2013 where he meets Baize Shephard, a girl that’s missing in 2013 City’s world. If the future is to be changed, as Shalaya wants it to, will it be up to 1985 City or 2013 City?

It can be difficult to follow the story at times if you don’t keep track of what year the characters are in. Even if you’re keeping track, it can be hard. Laymon drops quiet hints from start to finish, but you really have to be on the lookout for them. Though both 2013 City and 1985 City can be obnoxious, know it alls, there is a slight distinction in how they talk and their mannerisms. 2013 City is never without his wave brush and has taken over YouTube. 1985 is much more respectful of his grandmother and doesn’t question or talk back the way 2013 City would. Shalaya Crump and Baize Shephard are tied together by an ellipses, or “dot dot dot” as both would say.

Laymon is masterful with capturing the words, dress, etc. of people in each era. It’s rare that I re-read or re-listen to a book. When I was younger, I re-read books because my mother had me on a book budget and if I was already at my limit for the month, I’d go back and re-read a book just because I had to have something to read. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been on her book budget, but I re-listened to Kiese Laymon’s Long Division recently just because I felt like I missed so much on the first listen. To be honest, there are some books that are meant to be read and some that are meant to be listened to. The written book differentiates by using a different font. Long Division is definitely meant to be read, simply because if you stop listening for just a second, you’re sure to miss something important.

276pp
Listening time: 7 hours, 41 minutes
Published: June 2013