I only managed to get 4 of the 24 challenge items done (so far) this year, but I still really love working on this every year. It really gets me out of my reading comfort zone, and I love that Book Riot provides ideas for each of the categories. Can't wait for more next year!
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1. Read a book you've been intimidated to read & 2. Read a nonfiction book about antiracism
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
4/27/21
I want to believe I was intimidated by this book due its length (515 pages + notes) but really, I think I was intimidated because I was concerned I'd learn about how ignorant I am to large swaths of U.S. history and the intricacies of racist ideas. Well, I was right. This book included 515 pages of things I should have learned in history class and instead was presented with a white-washed curriculum of American progress and exceptionalism, which just isn't accurate. Ironically, this book also showed that the uncomplicated, inaccurate version of history that I was presented with may also be why I hated history class. It was so boring. Kendi, on the other hand, tells stories and weaves ideas and narratives in a very compelling historical text. It made me want to read more, learn more, do better.
I have one critique I feel compelled to share due to Kendi's own argument about how Barack Obama was a legal and policy scholar, not a history, race, and racism scholar, yet his supporters treated his ideas on race as expertise based on his identity. In the epilogue of this book and in his subsequent book How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi also speaks on topics on which he is clearly not an expert, namely gender identity, sexual orientation, and other aspects of identity. He rightly ties the freedom of and justice for all people of all identities to the freedom of all, as is required in antiracism work, but he sometimes speaks as if he is an expert in these others when he is not. Kendi is certainly an expert and a scholar on racism and racist ideas, currently and throughout history, and I learned so much from him in this book. I wish he would speak to the connection between racism and other forms of oppression, and then either do extensive research in these areas before writing on them or refer readers to the writing of other experts. This critique is focused on some pieces of the epilogue, which is such a small segment of the book, so the space I'm giving the criticism in this blog post may not be appropriate. It was just hard to leave on that note, especially after having first read How to Be an Antiracist, which dedicates entire chapters to identities on which Kendi is not an expert and often presents misleading, inaccurate, or sometimes harmful/hurtful narratives, much like the narratives Kendi worked so hard to counter and correct in his own work.
That said, this is all a reminder to myself that I can do deep research, be an expert, and still have areas of ignorance, some of which I am aware of and some I am not. While intent does not equal impact, with the genuine intention of continual learning and growth, as it is clear Kendi has and I strive to share, the pursuit of justice can move forward.
3. Read a non-European novel in translation
The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun
9/17/21
This was a strange read. The idea for the story was fascinating, very compelling, but the writing was choppy, and the author took some really "easy" turns in the plot, removing some of the interest for both the story and the characters. I'd be really curious to hear what someone who read the story in the original translation and with knowledge of the culture thought about it.
22. Read a book set in the Midwest
Say Nice Things About Detroit by Scott Lasser
7/30/21
I picked up this book thinking it was nonfiction. Turns out it's fiction. It makes a good attempt at being loving toward a city I love, but it's also a bit... written by a straight, cis white man who isn't great at writing women or black people. So I see the love letter to the city, and also, it has a really limited, kinda dishonest view.
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Here's the rest of the list! I highly recommend the challenge!
- Read an LGBTQ+ history book
- Read a genre novel by an Indigenous, First Nations, or Native American author
- Read a fanfic
- Read a fat-positive romance
- Read a romance by a trans or nonbinary author
- Read a middle grade mystery
- Read an SFF anthology edited by a person of color
- Read a food memoir by an author of color
- Read a work of investigative nonfiction by an author of color
- Read a book with a cover you don’t like
- Read a realistic YA book not set in the U.S., UK, or Canada
- Read a memoir by a Latinx author
- Read an own voices book about disability
- Read an own voices YA book with a Black main character that isn’t about Black pain
- Read a book by/about a non-Western world leader
- Read a historical fiction with a POC or LGBTQ+ protagonist
- Read a book of nature poems
- Read a children’s book that centers a disabled character but not their disability
- Read a book that demystifies a common mental illness
- Read a book featuring a beloved pet where the pet doesn’t die
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