Sydney Reads and Reads: July

You guys. I finally did it. I clocked out of work before it was fully dark, opened up my personal browser, and started writing about the books I read FOUR months ago! Lucky, none of what I read this summer falls particularly in the summer beach read category, so you won't have to wait until next year to pick them up.

The Undying, by Anne Boyer, was a challenging read. "A week after her forty-first birthday, the acclaimed poet Anne Boyer was diagnosed with highly aggressive triple-negative breast cancer. For a single mother living paycheck to paycheck who had always been the caregiver rather than the one needing care, the catastrophic illness was both a crisis and an initiation into new ideas about mortality and the gendered politics of illness."

Looking at the Cancer Industrial Complex through the lens of one woman's illness was eye-opening, to say the least. I mean, one of the treatments they used as part of her chemo literally has the same ingredients as Agent Orange! How are we doing this to people and bankrupting them in the process? Aaaanyway. The Undying was undoubtedly thought-provoking, I won't be forgetting it any time soon, but trigger warnings abound for anyone who thinks about picking it up.

"Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it's that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it. Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn't be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend's things. But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?" You'll have to read What if It's Us by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera to find out.

I recognized a lot of my summer spent at NYU in this story, especially in Arthur. The uncontrollable excitement about finally being in the city of your dreams. The ability to let your guard down and ultimately be yourself. An almost unhinged enthusiasm for Broadway.

Those elements aside, I enjoyed following Ben and Arthur's bumbling teenage love story. I thought the issues of sex and sexual identity were handled authentically, with care, and with a minimal cringe factor. If you're looking for a fun summer read set in the city, What If It's Us is for you.

When the days are long and hot in July, there's almost nothing better than pouring yourself a glass of bourbon or dark rum and cracking open the pages of a Hemingway novel. What will you find? Declarative sentences? Certainly. Overwrought displays of masculinity? Most definitely. Perhaps most importantly, you will find a mood as sticky and lurid as a Havana night.

This year, both Josiah and I independently started reading The Sun Also Rises. I've yet to read all of Hemingway's work, but I" m not sure any quite capture the essence of The Lost Generation so well as Sun. Between the aimless traveling, unrequited love, the booze, and the bullfighting, how could you ask for more?

It's no secret that Brandi Carlile is my favorite artist. She's topped my Spotify charts for multiple years running, but I've never known much about her personal life. Cue, Broken Horses. This book felt so in Brandi's voice, and learning about her journey as a woman, queer person, and artist has only made me appreciate her more. I especially loved hearing about her relationships with The Twins and her wife, Catherine and appreciated her willingness to put the messiness of her life front and center. Let's not forget all the tea about Joni Mitchel.

I walked away from Broken Horses contemplating forgiveness in ways I never had before, which was both wholly unexpected and sorely needed. I'm already looking forward to ten years from now when we hopefully get Vol 2.

"The illustrated memoir," What If It's You by Thi But, "is about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family's daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves."

The thing that most pulled me into The Best We Could Do was the momentum. From the first page, Thi captures your attention, and you're off at what sometimes feels like a breakneck pace, piling on new depth and story elements until, before you know it, you're closing the back cover. Coupled with the deft way Bui unpacks her parental relationships alongside the march of Vietnam's history, The Best We Could Do makes for a grounded, informative, and emotional read.

I'm relatively new to graphic novels and memoirs, so I'm still acquiring the language to discuss them; the minimalist black, white, and orange color palate was effective for me here. It didn't seem to mean much to me initially, but as I progressed through the story, I couldn't help correlating it with Agent Orange and its effects on the Vietnamese people. 

With They Called Us Enemy and The Best We Could Do recently under my belt, I'm hoping to re-visit Persepolis as my next Graphic read.

All I can say about Return to Virgin River, by Robyn Carr, is that it's the last in the series, and I feel very disgruntled about that. As I write this post in November (!!!) I still haven't found anything to fill this void, and yes, there is a void in my life without a long-form narrative to ground my workdays and workouts. Fellow Virgin River readers, any suggestions? 

I have to say; I'm very proud of myself for firing up Safari, digging back into my memory, and putting these thoughts down on paper. Have you been putting something off that's ratcheting up your anxiety by the day? Let this be your sign to just start. One word at a time, one piece at a time, and it will come together. - xo Sydney