Sujata Said...2022 Book Recommendations
If Movies, TV and Podcasts aren't enough, books are always my go to!
2022 Book Recommendations
I read a lot. Actual books. E Books. Audio Books. Nothing is off limits, except some books are #NotMyGenre. Some of books below are published in 2022, others are not, but I read them this year.
Non Fiction Recommendations
All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks: Hooks died a year ago, and I re-read this book of essays to kick off my 2022 reading. It was really interesting reading it in middle age vs my late 20s, and I recommend a re-read or a first read.
“There can be no love without justice…abuse and neglect negate love. Care and affirmation, the opposite of abuse and humiliation, are the foundation of love. It is a testimony to the failure of loving practice that abuse is happening in the first place.” - Bell Hooks, All About Love
Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell: I have been on a journey thanks to Mariame Kaba and Purnell on what it means to be an abolitionist (police and prison abolition), and this book of essays is a great primer for how even one the leading abolitionists, Purnell, got there and what the challenges were in her mind!
“Abolition, I have learned, is a bigger idea than firing cops and closing prisons; it includes eliminating the reasons people think they need cops and prisons in the first place.”
― Derecka Purnell, Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom
Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole by Susan Cain: Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking was like looking in the mirror, so I knew I would read this book. I go through phases of listening to melancholy music, this book made me stop worrying about that pattern! And in a year that had more personal grief than I could imagine, this book was/is a reminder to allow sorrow and longing in rather than avoid it entirely.
Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir by Erika Sánchez: This memoir is not an easy read and Sánchez draws you in with compassion and honesty. Her novel I am not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter was also amazing and my introduction to her.
How to Read Now: Essays by Elaine Castillo: These essays both introduced me to MORE that I wanted to read and really captured the current conversations about publishing and writing and the assumptions of the “reader” is. Castillo has an energetic mind and it comes through in these essays. And her thoughts apply to not just reading, but consuming all other culture as well.
“When artists bemoan the rise of political correctness in our cultural discourse, what they’re really bemoaning is the rise of this unexpected reader. They’re bemoaning the arrival of someone who does not read them the way they expect—often demand—to be read; often someone who has been framed in their work and in their lives as an object, not as a subject.”
― Elaine Castillo, How to Read Now
Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family by Madhushree Ghosh: Lots to love in this book - food, history, memories with the realities of the political, economic, and food history of a Bengali family.
Partition Voices: Untold British Stories by Kavita Puri: This book is a great series of essays based on interviews with British South Asians who survived partition in 1947. The essays revealed so much that I didn’t know about partition, more than my own family discusses, and also gave me more insight into the specific stories of Sindhis, my ethnic group, in partition. As part of the 75th anniversary Partition observations, Donmar Warehouse in London put on a play based on these essays called Silence and I was very lucky to be able to see it during its short run.
The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven W. Thrasher: Easy to read while full of science, history, politics, economics and yes race. The author is excellent and while twitter still exists, great on there as well. He just shared a sad example of how access to health care is still a challenge as he tried to get Paxlovid recently for COVID.
Fiction Recommendations
In alpha order!
Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall: This a fantastic historical M/M romance by the prolific Hall, who had 4 books come out in 2022 and all were great. I love historical romances and this didn’t disappoint - funny and sweet and sex positive. I couldn’t put down Hall’s A Lady for a Duke as well which is all the normal historical tropes, a grumpy Duke who comes out of his shell, and the love interest is a trans woman and the Duke’s former best friend who he thinks died at war.
Spanish Love Deception series by Elena Armas: Contemporary romance series with two books so far and I loved them, great banter, multiple tropes (enemies to lovers and fake relationship), and steamy!
Shmutz by Felicia Berliner: Probably one of the best book covers ever as it reflects so much about the story, this is a novel about an Orthodox woman heading into marriage while also discovering online porn.
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich: This book begins on All Souls' Day 2019 and ends on All Souls' Day 2020 and takes place in Minneapolis. The Pandemic and murder of George Floyd all happen, and our lead character is a bookseller dealing with re-entry after incarceration, and a haunted bookstore. It’s a great book.
Memphis by Tara Stringfellow: This novel about three generations of women in Memphis was really great for a debut novel. The author is also from Memphis, and yes that’s why I decided to read it, and I’m so glad I loved it. I can’t wait to see what Stringfellow does next.
Poetry Recommendations
Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones: I’ve already recommended Jones and his podcast Vibe Check, but I first knew him as a poet and writer (his memoir How We Fight For Our Lives is an all-time favorite) and his new poetry collection was worth the wait. He wrote the title poem after the Pulse Night Club shooting in 2016 and it was sadly relevant again after the Club Q shooting a few weeks ago.
Home is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo: Reading poetry that also tells a story is something new for me this year and I’m finding it challenging and exciting. This is a novel in verse. It was very good, but it did take me some time to read in order to connect the stories and characters.
Walking Gentry Home: A Memoir of My Foremothers in Verse by Alora Young: This was a memoir in verse! I learned about the author and their family through this collection!
The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes on by Franny Choi: I came to this poet because during pandemic she started sewing her own clothes and showing them on Instagram and all the other writers I follow were sharing her creations - both fabric and poetry! And I liked her poems, so I couldn’t wait for her new collection and was not disappointed.