Last Week in Reading: April 17-23, 2023

This week was particularly nutty at work, which means I'd come home and despite my deepest desire to read, collapsing on the couch and taking a nap would win out more often than not. However, I still managed to complete two books - woot!

First finished was The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee. This historical fiction piece came out in 2019 from Putnum and takes place in Atlanta, Georgia not long after the American Civil War. What's particularly unique about this book compared to others taking place in the same era and geographical setting is the perspective of the narrator: Jo is a Chinese American young woman at a time and in a place where racial tensions are as high as ever. She and the man who is raising her, Old Gin, struggle to survive in an in-between - they are not black, but they are also not white, and so what rules apply to them, and is there a way up and out of these circumstances? I like when historical fiction shines a light on a slice of the past that I wasn't knowledgable of previously, and this novel is a shining example of why it is necessary for history education to be comprehensive and to include all manner of perspectives and the whole truth, even when it is shameful.

The second book I read this week was actually one I both started and finished yesterday. The novella The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett first came out in 2007 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and essentially it's Queen Elizabeth fan fiction. In a scant 120 pages, Bennett imagines what the secret life of Her Majesty would have been like behind closed doors if she'd become a voracious reader later in life - how would it affect her job performance? Her relationships with her staff and family? Her role as a figurehead to the country and to the world? This was a book that had been on my to-read list for years, and I recently rediscovered it when I was browsing my "local" indie bookstore last weekend. I was interested, so I checked if my public library had it and since they did, I checked it out there. Books about books and book-people are always an interesting bunch, and this was an amusing way to spend an afternoon.

I'm currently reading Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume because I've never read it before! Ah! I know, but better late than never. Until next time, happy reading!