Every book I read in 2021 summarised in one sentence and reviewed in another: Part 3
Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass - Lana del Rey. A poetry collection from one of the most enigmatic singer-songwriters in recent memory. The poems I could actually understand were absolutely breathtaking (favourites were LA Who Am I to Love You, Sport Cruiser, and Never to Heaven).
More Tales of the City - Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City #2). The queer, horny 20-somethings in San Francisco keep on living their crazy lives. The plotlines of this book are genuinely absurd, much more so than the last one, but again the characters are so unironically wonderful I still remained really, really invested.
The Power of One (Peekay #1) - Bryce Courtenay. After being bullied in 1930′s boarding school, a white South African boy dreams of becoming a boxer, and in the process of pursuing said dreams accidentally becomes an icon of racial justice. Really, really heartwarming story of what it actually takes to change people’s minds and lives, enhanced by Courtenay’s wonderfully nuanced understanding of 1930′s and 40′s South Africa.
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick. In an alternate 1960′s where the Axis won WW2, various characters struggle to survive and thrive in Japanese-occupied San Francisco and Nazi-occupied New York. The world is interesting if unrealistic, but there are way too many characters and plotlines for a 200-page-novel to ever satisfyingly resolve them all (spoiler: it resolves none of them).
Odds Against Tomorrow - Nathaniel Rich. A paranoid NYC accountant starts making a living out of insuring business for apocalypse scenarios, but when an actual apocalypse scenario strikes New York, he is forced to reconsider his life. I loved loved LOVED this book right up until the ending, which just left me shocked and asking “Wait, that’s it?”
Tandia (Peekay #2) - Bryce Courtenay. Peekay, the boxer from Power of One, is now deliberately fighting for racial justice during the onslaught of apartheid, a process which leads him to meet Tandia, a half-Indian, half-African woman who is traumatised from her teenage rape. Power of One is more well-known, but this is much, much better and maybe the best book I read this year - the unpacking of systemic racism is brilliant, the characters are so compelling, and I needed several business days to process THAT ENDING.
Truth of the Divine (Noumena #2) - Lindsay Ellis. Another alien arrives to Earth while the US is debating what rights should be awarded to aliens, forcing the college dropout interpreter to befriend and work with a nosy journalist. It’s very appropriate that I read this and Tandia back to back, as they’re both sequels which were miles better than the original, they’re both very philosophically and thematically compelling, and both their endings ripped my soul out of my body.
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom. A memoir from a burnt-out journalist who visited his old professor while the latter was dying of ALS, and during said visits received invaluable life advice. There’s definitely a reason this is the most successful memoir of all time; Morrie is that rare person who actually had a concrete, correct idea of how to live a fulfilling life and made it his mission to share that knowledge.
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen. A naive grandmother sets her heart on gathering her splintering family together for one last Christmas at home, not realising that in doing so she is forcing every member of her family to confront exactly what is wrong in their lives. The characters are so realistic it hurts and the story is so gripping you forget it’s 500+ pages long (B5 pages for the record).
48 Shades of Brown - Nick Earls. A sheltered, awkward teenage boy is sent to live with his cool bass-playing aunt (who’s around his age - one of those aunts), forcing she and her roommate to teach him what they can about the ‘real world’. As the awkward only child of a somewhat sheltering family, I related to and enjoyed this book a lot for no particular reason.
