Martyr!

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar is a beautifully told story that encompassed enough to be an epic, but personal enough to be intimate. A masterclass in writing along with a moving story.

Cyrus Shams has always been lost. He’s grown up tangled in the mysteries of his past – an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter, and his mother, whose plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby. Now, newly sober and maybe in love, he’s headed for an encounter that will transform everything he thought he knew. Can a final revelation change the truth of Cyrus's life?

Electrifying, funny, and all-consuming, Kaveh Akbar's Martyr! is a masterpiece. Read this book.

Akbar, Kaveh. (2024). Martyr! New York: Random House.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu is an collection of amazingly well written, engaging stories that vary from historical fiction to science fiction. 

This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories, including: "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" (finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Theodore Sturgeon Awards); "Mono No Aware" (Hugo Award winner); "The Waves" (Nebula Award finalist); "The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species" (Nebula and Sturgeon Award finalist); "All the Flavors" (Nebula award finalist); "The Litigation Master and the Monkey King" (Nebula Award finalist); and the most awarded story in the genre's history, "The Paper Menagerie" (the only story to win the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards).

If you are a fan of good writing, read this book!

Liu, Ken. (2016). The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. New York: Saga Press.

You Dreamed of Empires

You Dreamed of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue, translated to English by Natasha Wimmer, is the story of Moctezuma and Cortes in 1915 Mayapan. 

In 1519, Conquistador Hernán Cortés and his troops ride into the floating city of Tenoxtitlan in this hallucinatory, revelatory, colonial revenge story.

Invited to a ceremonial meal with the steely princess Atotoxtli, sister and wife of the emperor Moctezuma, the Spanish nearly bungle their entrance into the city and its labyrinthine palace. Soon, one of Cortés’s captains, Jazmín Caldera, begins to question the ease with which they were welcomed, and wonders at the risks of getting out alive, much less conquering the empire.

Moctezuma himself is at a political, spiritual and physical crossroads, relying on hallucinogens in a quest for any kind of answer from the gods. When Cortés and Moctezuma meet, two worlds, empires, languages, and possible futures collide.

You Dreamed of Empires brings to life Tenoxtitlan at its height – and reimagines its destiny. It sets afire the moment of conquest and turns it into a moment of revolution, in a novel so electric and so unique that it feels like a dream. This book is amazing! Enrigue has written a fabulous book. You may want to follow up with the book Malinalli about one of Cortes's translators who is a fascinating woman.

Enrigue, Alvaro. (2024). You Dreamed of Empires. New York: Riverhead Books.

Patience is a Subtle Thief

Patience is a Subtle Thief by Abi Ishola-Ayodeji

Hope and circumstance define a young woman’s life in this heartbreaking tale of lost innocence, set in politically volatile 1990s Nigeria, from an exciting and fresh voice in global literature. 

For as long as she can remember, Patience Adewale, the eldest daughter of Chief Kolade Adewale, has been waiting for confirmation that she is loved, that there is a place where she truly belongs. Patience lives a sheltered life within the secure walls of the family’s mansion in Ibadan, but finds no comfort from her distant father and stepmother Modupe. Her only ally is her younger sister, yet even Margaret’s love and support cannot overcome Patience’s insecurity and uncertainty.

More than anything, Patience wants to know why her father and uncle banished her mother from their compound years ago—and whether her mother is even alive. Determined to discover the truth, Patience embarks on a desperate search to find her mother. Answers begin to surface when she moves to Lagos for university and unexpectedly reconnects with her cousin Kash.

Kash and his friend Emeka are petty thieves with an opportunity to make a big score. To pull it off they need help—and enlist Patience and Emeka’s straight-arrow brother, Chike, to become partners in their scheme. The thieves’ plan is to quit after this job. But unforeseen events lead to unexpected consequences—and demand a price from Patience that may be too steep to pay.

Suspenseful and evoking the subtleties of Nigerian life in an fresh and unexpected way, Patience Is a Subtle Thief is a heart-wrenching story of one young woman’s precarious journey to adulthood, and the risks and sacrifices it takes to follow her heart.

[from Harper Collins]

Ishola-Ayodeji, Abi. (2022). Patience is a Subtle Thief. New York: Harper Collins.

Behind You is the Sea

Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj is an collection of connected short stories about Palestinian Americans who live in Baltimore. Darraj is a beautiful writer.

From Harper Collins:

An exciting debut novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore—from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich—lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.

Funny and touching, Behind You Is the Sea brings us into the homes and lives of three main families—the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars—Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America.

Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode: The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for “dishonoring” their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.

Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.

Darraj, Susan Muaddi. (2024). Behind You is the Sea. New York: Harpervia.

The Thirty Names of Night

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar is a story set in the Syrian American community in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. This is a beautifully told story.

Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. He has been unable to paint since his mother’s ghost has begun to visit him each evening. As his grandmother’s sole caretaker, he spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighborhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend (who also happens to be his longtime crush). The only time he feels truly free is when he slips out at night to paint murals on buildings in the once-thriving Manhattan neighborhood known as Little Syria.

One night, he enters the abandoned community house and finds the tattered journal of a Syrian American artist named Laila Z, who dedicated her career to painting the birds of North America. She famously and mysteriously disappeared more than sixty years before, but her journal contains proof that both his mother and Laila Z encountered the same rare bird before their deaths. In fact, Laila Z’s past is intimately tied to his mother’s—and his grandmother’s—in ways he never could have expected. Even more surprising, Laila Z’s story reveals the histories of queer and transgender people within his own community that he never knew. Realizing that he isn’t and has never been alone, he has the courage to officially claim a new name: Nadir, an Arabic name meaning rare.

As unprecedented numbers of birds are mysteriously drawn to the New York City skies, Nadir enlists the help of his family and friends to unravel what happened to Laila Z and the rare bird his mother died trying to save. Following his mother’s ghost, he uncovers the silences kept in the name of survival by his own community, his own family, and within himself, and discovers the family that was there all along. [from Fantastic Fiction]

Joukhadar, Zeyn. (2020). The Thirty Names of Night. New York: Atria Books.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story by James McBride is one of the best books I read this year, or any year. Set in the 1920s and 30s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania's neighborhood of Chicken Hill, a mixed Black and Jewish part of town. 

Chona is the daughter of a store owner. She has a limp from Polio as a child. She married Moshe, a Romanian Jewish immigrant who owns a dance hall. As Chona was raised in Chicken Hill she convinces Moshe to bring Black musicians and bands along with the Yiddish he has already planned.

Though they don't need the money, and actually lose money on it, Chona keeps running the grocery. She allows anyone to shop there and extends credit to her Black neighbors. 

When a young boy is in need of hiding from the state agent who wants to take him to a home because he is deaf, Chona takes him in. 

McBride is one of the great writers of our time. Read all of his books, but start here!

McBride, James. (2023). The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. New York: Riverhead Books. 

The Vaster Wilds

 

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff is a look at life for women in the American colonies.

A servant girl has escaped from a starving colony. The colony is so destitute that there is no wood left to burn or food to eat. She thinks she has a better chance of surviving in the wilds that in a place that where people will do anything to make it through winter.

She has planned ahead and stolen a knife, an ax, books, a cup, a flint and two covers and wears all of the clothing she could fit on her body. 

She will try to make it in the wilderness - living off of the land and hiding from those sent to find her while avoiding the nations of the land and dangerous animals. 

Lauren Groff is one of the great writers of our time. She captures the feelings and harshness of the land while making readers root for a likely doomed young woman. This is a masterpiece of evocative writing. 

Groff, Lauren. (2023). The Vaster Wilds. New York: Riverhead Books. 

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler is a memoir of growing up queer and mixed race in the US.

Using fascinating sea creatures Imbler teaches us about life in the oceans, lakes and rivers while equating their behavior to times in their life. 

Beginning with the amazing ability of the goldfish to survive inhospitable waters from a dirty bowl to wild lakes and rivers; including the selflessness of an octopus guarding and awaiting the hatching of her eggs; to a swarm equated to the flood of queer New Yorkers during pride, Imbler has written a unique yet universal story of growing up.

This is beautiful memoir. Read it.

Imbler, Sabrina. (2022). How Far the Light Reaches. New York: Little, Brown, and Company.

When We Were Birds

When We Were Birds by Ayanna Lloyd Banwo is the tale of people from two very different backgrounds meeting in Trinidad's largest cemetery. 

Yejide St Bernard grew up listening stories about when the corbeaux (crows) became those who use magic to sooth the dead and keep them still. In her family, one woman in each generation inherits this honor/role.

Darwin grew up Rasta. One of the tenants of his belief is to stay away from death. It is a central belief. But after years of there being no jobs, he takes a job in the city - at the main cemetery. He cuts his hair and becomes a grave digger to help his family survive. 

When Yejide and Darwin meet at the gates of Fidelis Cemetery it will change both of their lives. Banwo has written a beautiful book of love in the time of change. 

Banwo, Ayanna Lloyd. (2022). When We Were Birds. New York: Doubleday. 

The Girl with the Louding Voice

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is a coming-of-age story set in Nigeria. 

Adunni is fourteen. She lives in the village of Ikati. Her mother made her father promise to keep Adunni in school when she died. Her mother said that the more education you had the better your louding voice, your ability to speak up for yourself. 

Now her father has taken her out of school. There is no money to pay the fees. He cannot pay the rent for them and her two brothers. His solution is to marry Adunni to a man who can afford a good bride price. Adunni has no desire to get married. Her true love is learning. 

Any further details would necessarily include spoilers. Daré has written a heartwarming story set in a country rich and alive, but with a huge wealth gap. Though she has an arduous journey, Adunni is a beautiful character who could be many girls in Nigeria. She is always hopeful and that is what allows her to get where she wants to be. Read this wonderful story. 

Daré, Abi. (2020). The Girl With The Louding Voice. New York: Dutton.

Hijab Butch Blues

Hijab Butch Blues, written under the alias of Lamya H, is the memoir of a queer Muslim finding their place in the world. 

When Lamya was 4 years old, her family moved from her birth country to a rich Arab country. They moved for a better job for her father. But in the new country, the family had to make changes – her mother could no longer drive, they could go nowhere without being accompanied by her father, and she had to start over at a school where she knew no one. 

At seventeen, Lamya starts over again in the United States, purposely moving away from family for college. 

A devout Muslim, they use the lens of a feminist reading of the Koran as signpost of their life. This is a beautiful memoir of faith, choices and chosen family.

H, Lamya. (2023). Hijab Butch Blues. New York: The Dial Press.

Brown Girls

Brown Girls by Daphne Palasi Andreades is the story of all the disparate young women of Queens – lumped together by our society. 

Her writing encompasses all of them, both what all first generation or immigrants from a whole list of countries share and how they are all individual people and cultures. 

Andreades’s story is both universal and specific in a way I have never read before. This is a beautiful book.

Andreades, Daphne Palasi. (2022). Brown Girls. New York: Random House.

This is How You Lose the Time War

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is an epic tale in epistolary novella form.

Two agents, one on each side trying to shape Earth to a future that benefits their side, leave letters for the other as they roam the very strands of time. The first letter left is in an envelope that says, "burn before reading."

One side is called Garden. They are shaping the world to heal itself, planting seeds down strand that will blossom in the future.

One side is tech driven, often placed to alter the outcome of a war or election that will favor the development of technology.

 In spite of two sides, many times and versions this beautifully written and crafted love story is a must read for all book or poetry fans. Buy a copy today so you can read it over and over again.

El-Mohtar, Amal and Max Gladstone. (2019). This is How You Lose the Time War. New York: Saga Press.

A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is a beautiful book that everyone should have the privilege to read. Though it was written recently it will surely join the classic must reads.

After the Russian revolution, the Bolsheviks have sentenced Count Alexander Rostov to house arrest. Luckily for him, he lives in the world-famous Metropol Hotel in the center of Moscow. Unfortunately, with his sentence, he is moved from his beautiful suite, filled with his family heirlooms, to a ten-by-ten room in the attic. 

Over the following years readers will delight in meeting the various visitors, residents and employees of the Metropol. And get to explore the hotel from every angle - especially after the Count makes friends with a young girl who cannot let any mystery or curiosity go unexplored.

Towles is a wonderful writer and storyteller. Read everything he publishes but buy this book today!

Towles, Amor. (2016). A Gentleman in Moscow. New York: Penguin.

True Biz

February Waters is the headmistress of the River Valley School for the Deaf in Ohio. As the child of deaf parents, or CODA, she has skills and experience both within Deaf culture and the hearing world. River Valley is the only Deaf school in three states. It is both a resident and a day school.

Charlie Serrano, age 15, had implants as a kid. Doctors told her parents not to teach her American Sign Language but make her rely on the technology. Now, after her parents' divorce, she will be going to a Deaf school for the first time. It will be the first time for her meeting someone else deaf.

Austin Workman is fifth generations Deaf. His family is legend. And every person between the extremes of Charlie and Austin is represented at the school.

Nović has written an important book, one that has been missing from YA literature. It is heartbreaking, funny, and full of information – including Waters’ lesson plans between chapter with history and how to sign, or other information on Deaf culture. Read this book today.

Nović, Sara. (2022). True Biz. New York: Random House.

Regeneration

Regeneration by Pat Barker is the story of the effects of war on soldiers. It is the first book in a trilogy following the same men from their time under the care of a psychiatrist through the end of World War I. 

In 1917 Siegfried Sassoon, a poet and war hero, refuses to continue serving in the war due to the senseless slaughter. He is classified as mentally unsounds and sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Scotland. 

Psychiatrist Dr. William Rivers is in charge of helping a cast of soldiers in various degrees of trauma from the war. He believes in the controversial idea that men should talk about the things that happened to them instead of pushing down their feelings. 

Based on actual people, Barker has created the story of what war does to the people who fight it. She challenges the relationship between doctor and patient, between classes, between men and women, and between men and men. 

This book should be required reading. 

Book two is The Eye in the Door, and book three The Ghost Road. 

Barker, Pat. (1991). Regeneration. New York: Plume.

Noor

Noor by Nnedi Okorafor is a science fiction book that feels like the near future.

Anwuli Okwudili - who prefers to be called AO - has enhanced limbs due to birth defects. She chose to have surgeries to replace her useless limbs with state-of-the-art technology. This tech makes some people in her world think of her as unnatural - a cross point between tradition and religion of the past and the possibilities of the future. 

When she is attacked in the market, these enhancements save her life, but now she is on the run. She has no one who will harbor her, so she heads into the northern Nigerian desert. Where she comes across a man with two cows. 

DNA (he also prefers to be called by his initials) is a Fulani herdsman. He was traveling with all of his cattle and a few other herds. When they tried to go through a town they were attacked. But the videos only start when he is defending himself. Now he and his two remaining cows, Carpe Diem and GPS, are heading north to find help.

The only place to hide is the natural disaster in the desert - the Red Eye - a continuous sandstorm that has been raging for years. There is rumor of a safe haven in the middle of it. 

Okorafor has written a timely, compelling novel of corporations, social media, and the human ability to adapt. This is a beautifully told tale of the crossroads of so many things facing us in this time - all coming to a crashing head in the African desert. Read this today.

Okorafor, Nnedi. (2021). Noor. New York: Daw Books.

The Taste of Sugar

The Taste of Sugar by Marisel Vera is the story of Puerto Rico and early American capitalism's effect on Puertorriqueños.

Following the saga of one Puerto Rican family through the Spanish - American war, colonialism by Spain and then the United States. After the hurricane of 1899, when Puerto Rico had already been hit hard by the high US tax, a group of sugarcane growers in Hawaii advertised what appeared to be a good job with housing for families.

The Vega family were coffee growers in the Utuado region of Puerto Rico. When the younger son, Vicente, went to the city for his cousin's wedding, he met Valentina Sanchez. Her family had a stationery and printing shop. 

Life on the coffee farm was very different for Valentina than life in the city. They were also in for more changes as the US and Spain fought and the hurricane loomed.

Vera has written an important story that is not taught in US History - one more of the many that is skipped - of Puerto Rico's introduction to US capitalism. More than 5,000 Puerto Ricans moved to Hawaii to face the horrible conditions on sugar plantations. 

Vera, Marisel. (2020). The Taste of Sugar. New York: Liveright Publishing.

The Sweetness of Water

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris, set at the end of the US Civil War is a tale of hope, heartbreak, friendship and endurance.

The war has ended, Union soldiers are in the South making sure that the formerly enslaved people know that they are free to leave if they wish. Tensions are still high as white land owners face the change, Black workers try to understand their options, and town folks adjust to a new reality.

George Walker and his wife Isabelle live on a property outside of the town of Old Ox, Georgia. Being from a family that moved South from Nantucket, George has never had enslaved workers on their land. They never needed workers as George inherited enough from his father to never have to work. He does enjoy wandering his property.

As George wanders, thinking of the news of his son who when to fight in the war, he comes across two brothers camping in his woods. Prentiss and Landry were born on the neighboring farm. When they were told of their freedom, they left. 

George and Prentiss develop a kind of friendship. Isabelle has taken to Landry - a calm, large man who does not talk much due to an injury (read: beating) when he was younger. 

When George hires Prentiss and Landry to help him start a small peanut farm - paying them the wage he would pay any man - some of the people in town do not agree with his ideas.

Harris has written a beautiful book. It is set in a hard time in US history, but he shows the positives and negatives of people at the time. My dread of reading of the time period were unfounded. Though there are hard parts of the book, he does not dwell on them, but gives his characters room to grow and have hope. Read this book.

Harris, Nathan. (2021). The Sweetness of Water. New York: Little, Brown and Company.