Since graduating high school in 2018, it has been a constant goal of mine to read more books. In 2020, I am aiming to read 52 books, or one book per week (so far, I am nearly done with my 11th book!). I’ve read some truly remarkable works in the past few years that I highly, highly recommend.
Memoir & Biography
1. Educated- Tara Westover
This book has gotten a lot of buzz, for good reason. Tara Westover shares her incredible story, beginning with her upbringing in the remote mountains of Idaho under a apocalypse-fearing father. As a kid, the author was home-schooled and kept away from doctors, police, and social services. Westover took her education into her own hands, culminating in a Doctorate at Cambridge University in England. Academic accolades aside, Westover’s biggest feat is tackling tough questions like: what if who I was brought up to be isn’t who I’m meant to be? What if the people who love me most are also the ones that hurt me and hold me back?
2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- Maya Angelou
You cannot go your whole life without reading this timeless American masterpiece. The debut memoir is the first of the author’s seven autobiographies. Growing up poor in the racist South, a young Maya Angelou fights against the abuse and strife she faces through love and literature. Coming-of-age for Maya Angelou was an uphill fight of heartbreak, discrimination, and loneliness, with an enduring and resounding lesson: I am surviving.
3. I Am Malala- Malala Yousafzai
Most everyone knows the story of Malala, but have you read it in her words, from her eyes? Far beyond just the victim of a shooting, Malala is a lifelong activist for women’s empowerment and education. Just 22 years old today, Malala’s powerful and moving voice illuminates her journey from Pakistan, to England, to the world stage and the University of Oxford. It is truly humbling and inspiring to see how education can change not just the lives of individuals, but entire nations- maybe even the entire world.
4. The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America – D. Watkins
D. Watkins is a Baltimore-born author and professor whose brutal, unflinching honesty on the subject of racism is much-needed. Blending personal experiences with research and education, Watkins sheds light on topics such as black unemployment, police brutality, gentrification, public education, gun violence, and more. He writes to speak out against injustice, demanding of white mainstream society: Stop killing black people. Stop shooting us. Hire us. Fund our schools. See us. Care about us.
5. Reading Lolita in Tehran- Azar Nafisi
Reading Lolita in Tehran is a book for people who love books. Author Azar Nafisi taught a secret two-year women’s English class in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a time of censorship and condemnation of Western society and culture, Nafisi defiantly hosted devoted students in her own home, to read, share, learn, and liberate.
6. How Dare the Sun Rise- Sandra Uwiringiyimana
If you are a fellow UNH social work major, you have probably also been stunned and heartbroken by this story. Sandra Uwiringiyimana was just 10 years old when a rebel attack on her home turned her, her family, and her friends and neighbors into refugees. Sandra and her family had to rebuild themselves and their lives, in a new home, step by confusing step. While sharing her own story, she made every effort to educate and empower those around her, seeking a better world through truth, justice, and humanity.
7. The Autobiography of Malcolm X- Malcolm X
Malcolm X’s name is one of the most evocative in our nation’s history, but how much do you really know about him? Discover his childhood and young adult years on an intimate, personal level. Learn how this larger-than-life human and civil rights activist evolved into an impassioned supporter of black separatism, and then into a equally fierce supporter of racial integration and equality. Just like any of us, Malcolm X was a man profoundly affected by economics, family, faith, love, and the quest for justice.
***Find a free audiobook on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mllxZPw0BOs
Fiction & Literature
8. The Power- Naomi Alderman
Naomi Alderman flips gender roles on their heads in order to deliver this thought-provoking winner of the 2017 Bailey Women’s Prize for Fiction. Ask yourself: what would happen if women gained unmatchable physical, sexual, and spiritual power in society- and what would happen if men lost it? If entire nations and religions passed to the hands of women? If men were left in fear of their bodily safety day-to-day, if their voices were silenced and ignored? Explore questions of oppression and domination: how is power used to lift people up? How is it used to keep others down?
9. Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoevsky
I must admit that if it were not for 12th grade A.P. English Literature, I cannot confidently say I ever would have taken on this daunting Russian fiction. However, I would have been sadly missing out. Think you cannot relate to a man (a poor, down-trodden former student) who commits a seemingly senseless murder? You’re wrong. Deep-dive into the mind of a man who is unfulfilled, lost, and mad at the world. He does not know who he is, what he wants, or what’s right or wrong. St. Petersburg is the backdrop for this epic story, enveloping class tensions in a time of intense urbanization and cultural change.
10. Daisy Jones and the Six- Taylor Jenkins Reid
The reason I picked up this book? Fleetwood Mac. Daisy Jones and the Six is a series of interviews with (fictional) former legendary ‘70s rock stars. The band split up after a long battle with tumultuous relationships, jealousy, and substance abuse. Daisy Jones is the band’s lead singer, who is every bit as complicated as she is gorgeous. Yes, like I said: Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks. I suggest opting for the wonderful full-cast audiobook for this one. Best of all, Amazon will be releasing a 13 episode mini-series based on this book, which will feature original music of the band for the first time!
11. Difficult Women- Roxane Gay
Difficult Women is a collection of short stories, all starring women protagonists. These sisters, daughters, lovers, and friends are wonderfully complex and unique, but, for one reason or another, are cast aside. Think about it: when was the last time that a woman deemed “difficult” was truly seen and listened to, rather than scorned? What about the women who don’t want to please men, who aren’t well-off financially, who feel like they don’t fit in? Who are they, really- how well do we really know their stories?
12. The Bluest Eye- Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison was one of the greatest American writers of all time. The Bluest Eye was her debut novel. Pecola, the work’s protagonist, is a young girl growing up in Ohio following the Great Depression. Pecola’s family life is strained: she lives temporarily with financially insecure foster parents, before encountering even more strife moving back in with her biological family (whose backgrounds are gradually revealed). Pecola has no model of stability. The larger world is also unwelcoming to her. She is frequently tormented because of her race, and she wishes to be white because the messages she receives from culture and society tell her that this is the only way to be seen as good and beautiful- and, more importantly, to be seen.
13. The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood
A modern classic that has found itself back in the spotlight in recent years in The Handmaid’s Tale. The book has even been made into a Hulu series. Atwood’s dystopia takes place in the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States. The Sons of Jacob, fundamentalists Christian who take every word of the Old Testament literally, have taken over. Women in this world have no freedom; they are property of the state. Handmaids exist to serve men and upper-class couples through sex and childbearing. This work is one of our time’s most stunning depictions of the danger in control, subjugation, and complacency.
14. The Unbearable Lightness of Being- Milan Kundera
Set in 1968 Prague, Unbearable Lightness is equal parts romantic and philosophical. The book follows two men and two women in a tangled web of relationships, and a dog. The essential questions that drive the story are the ever-so-intimidating, what is life? How do we live a meaningful life? Do we have only one path ahead of us, or are we free to make any choice we wish? Should we commit to one person, or remain untethered?
Nonfiction & Social Issues
15. Gang Leader for A Day- Sudhir Venkatesh
As a University of Chicago sociology student, Sudhir Venkatesh strayed far beyond the walls of a classroom to learn about crack-dealing gangs in the most authentic way possible: gaining access by befriending one of their leaders. For years, Venkatesh saw first-hand how the gang sold drugs, recruited new members, and turned on their disloyal members. The careful research steering this book still reads like a narrative, focusing on individual people’s stories rather than abstract facts and figures. Gang Leader for a Day brings to the public eye information on a grim reality in impoverished city communities, which most of us spend our lives trying to ignore.
16. The Nazi and the Psychiatrist- Jack El Hai
Hermann Goring, one of Hitler’s most savage and high-ranking Nazis (a Reichsmarshall), bares his soul to American army psychiatrist Dr Douglas M Kelley in this unbelievable read. Working in an American-run Nazi detention center in Luxembourg, Kelley is grappling with one central question: What makes a person a Nazi? Do they have different psychological traits from the average person? Kelley picks Goring’s terrifying and cruel brain in an attempt to find out.Goring is not the doctor’s only subject, though. Various captured Nazi elite- Grand Admirals, commanders, and deputies, are also in the detention center and have sessions with Kelley. If you’ve ever been haunted by what could drive a human being to participate in such mass atrocities, then this is the book for you.
17. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge
British author Reni Eddo-Lodge made headlines in 2017 when she published Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Lodge provides a detailed and just history of slavery and colonialism in her home country of England. She discusses crucial topics such as structural inequality, feminism (the true and the white), and how race and gender shape our world into the deadly hierarchy that we know today. Her writing is accessible, well-informed, and impactful. One of her most sublime notions is the dissection of “equality.” She asks, how far can mere equality take us so long as we are living under inherently unjust systems? Rather than superficially helping minority individuals to achieve more, why don’t we undertake the far more transformative endeavor of removing the obstacles that keep so many of them locked out of power and privilege?
18. The New Jim Crow- Michelle Alexander
Author and advocate Michelle Alexander’s book on the mass incarceration of black and brown young men has been called “the Bible of a social movement.” She masterfully argues that the ever-expanding prison system in the United States serves much the same purpose that slavery and Jim Crow did: creating and sustaining a racial underclass that is shut out of mainstream society. If that sounds outlandish to you now, I promise that you will be more than convinced after just a few chapters of this life-changing work. Of any book I’ve read on social justice, none are as hard-hitting as The New Jim Crow.
19. The War on Normal People- Andrew Yang
Entrepreneur, former 2020 presidential candidate, and UNH visitor Andrew Yang gives an in-depth look at the “Great Displacement.” He exposes issues such as job displacement and shrinking local economies, but never without offering a host of solutions. He advocates for human-centered capitalism and calls for a re-thinking of our current work model. He wants the labor force to be happier, healthier, and more productive, yet sees that our previous and current strategies of incessantly working more have only hurt us. Of course, he also deep-dives into his central campaign platform: universal basic income. Yang’s experience, expertise, and compassion all strongly shine through this book.
***Find a free audiobook on YouTube, read by Yang himself! https://youtu.be/FZ0f4GlbSUw
20. First Women- Kate Anderson Brower
“First Lady” isn’t an official position within a president’s administration, meaning there are few if any prescribed roles. Only 45 women have ever held this uncertain yet esteemed title. Only 5 are living today. Their small numbers, though, in no way indicates that they have not impacted our nation. From Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama, Brower gives insight into our modern First Ladies. Some were fierce political forces, others led national social movements. Some took great care and pleasure in the decor of the White House, while others found such things a chore. It’s always good to remind ourselves that these women were so much more than the president’s wife. The East Wing inhabitants are every bit as much of our history as their West Wing counterparts.