Sydney Reads and Reads: April

My reading was a little all over the place in April. Lots of audio, non-fiction about Black motherhood, a poetry collection, and a locked room mystery. Let's get into it! 

Surprise! I kept listening to the Virgin River series in April, and I got through what feels like a record number of titles: Second Chance Pass, Temptation Ridge, Paradise Valley, Forbidden Falls, and Angel's Peak. As I write this post in June, I'm only one book from the end of the series, and I'm starting to panic about how to fill the void. Help?

Reading The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation by Anna Malaika Tubbs was extraordinary. We all know the names Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. But Alberta King, Louise Little, and Berdis Baldwin have all but been lost to the ashes of history. Would we know their son's names without the gumption, grit, and love with which these women lived their lives? Certainly not.

Thanks to another outstanding Black woman Anna Malaika Tubbs, a mother herself, we learn about Alberta's upbringing in the south, Louise Little's activism, and Berdis' experiences during the Harlem Renaissance. I am not Black, nor am I a mother, but it was my privilege to take in and be profoundly moved by both the facts of these women's lives and Tubbs' insights.

I think we often view parents through the lens of what they do wrong or how they break or damage their children, especially Black parents. Having read Tubbs' work, I'll take a more generous perspective moving forward. And remark upon the beautiful hard work parents are doing to guide their children toward a life of passion, generosity, and courage.

The Tradition, by Jericho Brown, was The Stacks Book Club pick for April. I didn't love it. I'm not sure many people in the group did. I did, however, really enjoy his duplex form. Invented by Jericho Brown, a duplex is a poem of couplets that builds upon itself. The second line of each couplet introduces a new image or concept leading up to the final line, which mirrors the first. It's wild and dreamy and wonderful, and I feel like I could read them forever.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't enjoy my Shelter and Chill Book Club pick much more for April. The Guest List, by Lucy Foley, was not for me. I was initially very excited. Destination wedding, Ireland, locked room murder mystery, what's not to like?! It turns out all of the characters.

I'm here for an unreliable narrator, but you've gotta give me at least one character I can genuinely root for. Instead, we got a bunch of dude-bros romanticizing their days abusing younger kids at boarding school, a lonely wife who's thirsty for attention, a little sister with a grudge, and a wedding planner with something to prove. Good for you, hopefully, but not for me.

My final read for April was Anna K., by Jenny Lee, but this time on audio. Audio was perfect for this reread. It served as a means of extending my time in Virgin River and allowed me to prep for the sequel Anna K. Away in a much shorter window.

Since my first read of Anna K. fell during my early COVID blogging slump, I'll leave my thoughts on it here. In short, I loved Anna K. Jenny Lee's re-interpretation of Anna Karenina with teenagers in modern-day New York is spot on. She perfectly simplified the story making the critical themes of love, loyalty, fidelity, and friendship all the more accessible. If you're looking for a light summer read, run to pick up Anna K. in either hard copy or audio form. You won't regret it.

I'm still processing the titles I read in May for AAPI History Month, but I'm excited to share them with you! - xo Sydney