If You Only Read One: January 2021
We know that we read — and review — a lot of books. It definitely helps that there are three of us, in that regard. So with this feature, we want to tell you our favorite read of the month - if we only recommend one book to pick up, what would it be?
Moira
While there’s a full review coming this week of “Memorial” by Bryan Washington (Bookshop | Kindle), I needed to let you all know that it is very much worth the hype. This story of an interracial Black couple in Houston’s Third Ward muddling through their own traumatic childhoods and struggling to define what they mean to each other is one you won’t soon forget. When Mike’s mother Mitsuko is scheduled to visit, he takes off to Japan to be with his dying father, leaving Ben stuck in the one bedroom apartment with her for the duration. This manages to be sweetly unexpected and a really beautiful picture of how we can be present for those in our lives.
Shannon
I loved Molly Prentiss’ portrayal of the New York art scene in “Tuesday Nights in 1980” (Bookshop | Kindle). My full review is here, but Prentiss’ prose is just lovely, and the three main characters’ stories come together in unexpected ways. 1980 in New York is such a specific point in time—before the AIDS crisis devastated entire communities—and I thought Prentiss captured it so well. If you have any interest whatsoever in art or New York City, I highly recommend picking this one up.
Elizabeth
I had an unexpectedly great month of reading — I’m as surprised as anyone given everything that happened in my backyard (okay, my city, but it counts) — and I had a really hard time narrowing this down. If I had to choose just one, I would say “Clap When You Land” by Elizabeth Acevedo (Bookshop | Kindle | My Review). I have had this book on my shelf for an embarrassingly long time, and I kept putting it off because I’m intimidated by verse. Well, past Elizabeth was silly for passing this up, but it was an absolute delight once I actually picked it up - a lovely exploration of friendship, family, and grief. A very close runner up was “Concrete Rose” by Angie Thomas, and if the first little bit is any indication, the new Ijeoma Oluo is setting a really high bar for February’s other reads to surpass.
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