My Top 13 Books of 2018

I didn't read all that much this year, but here are my top if you are looking for titles to add to your to-read list:

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Ng creates worlds and characters so beautifully, and the plot of this one left me in awe. This book had me reading to find out why Izzy, really, the least developed of the characters, burns the family house down. Ng handles issues like abortion and transracial adoption so deftly and makes photography and the art of creation a beautiful commitment. The themes of carefully curated lives and communities held up against nomadic, untethered living caused me to reflect on the life I’ve created for myself and my family.

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

This beautiful illustrated memoir begins in the raw space of the birth of the author’s daughter. In these early moments of parenthood, the author poses new questions and seeks understandings of her parents who came of age during the Vietnam conflict. It spans decades and renders beautifully historical times and places and portrays characters complete with flaws and tenderness.

When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrice Khan Cullors and Asha Bandele

This memoir about the politicization of a young Black woman growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the middle of the war on drugs left me breathless. The accounts of police brutality and targeting of her family showed the absolute privilege my family has had as we have grappled with mental illness. Her refuge in a public school, however, did give me hope and reinforced the role that educators can play in providing spaces where young people can learn about their oppression and how they might begin to fight back. In order to survive and fight for her family, Patrice had no other choice than to fight back.

Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

This novel in verse captures a high school sophomore finding her voice in a city and family that feel they own her. Through close relationships with friends, her brother, and a first love, Xiomara learns about the power of speaking her truth. That is what helps her discover her place and access her agency. This book won the National Book Award for YA lit. 

Simon and the Homosapien Agenda by Becky Albertolli

Loved this YA high school love-story/mystery which explores coming out and falling in love from the pov of Simon, a young, mostly closeted drama kid. The use of tech and how social media storms rage in these social settings makes me so glad I’m not growing up today. A wonderful read for kids of any sexual orientation to make some sense of the unique scenarios LGTBQ kids experience and must navigate.

Mean by Myriam Gurba

I first encountered Myriam as a poet, and this memoir captures her same sensibility: beauty and tragedy accompanied by unapologetic humor. She will look you right in the eye and say something because it is exactly what she thinks. Her accounts of abuse and rape haunt and explore survival and guilt and make sense of the messed up ways people treat one another. Her multiracial perspective and queer identity illuminate a perspective uniquely her own. 

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

This little book tells the familiar tale of Japanese American removal and internment with haunting and intimate detail. The unnamed family and main characters navigate a strange world without their father. There are so many lovely moves and small moments that bring this historic period to life.

Hunger by Roxane Gay

The vignettes and fragments that make up Gay’s memoir of her body reveal just how profoundly sexual violence can impact a survivor. Gay’s use of repetition effectively captures how little time we really spend reflecting on our bodies and the prejudice and abuse the morbidly obese face. I thought a great deal about my mom and her battles with her body and all she hungered for while reading these essays.

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Nic Stone's story shows a young Black high school boy navigating a world where even his best intentions can be misread by police. It explores police brutality, class, and race through Justyce’s school year with a little speech and debate thrown in. Complex relationships with his best friend, his mother, his speech and debate partner/love interest, and the white boys at school weave a compelling story and his letters to Dr. King give voice to Justyce’s view of the world in all of its injustice.

A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

This novel in verse explores violence and grief through a single elevator ride. The voices and choices that this young man faces after the murder of his brother confront him at every stop from the top to the bottom floor. The ending is masterful.

The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

This nonfiction work reads like a novel and tells the story of Sasha and Richard, two Oakland teenagers who are brought together by a high-profile hate crime. The story reveals how both Richard, the perpetrator, and Sasha, the victim, are recover from a devastating incident on the bus. Explorations of gender fluidity and the criminal justice system show how changes in the way we handle crime and punishment can serve our communities.

To All the Boys I Ever Loved Before by Jenny Han

This fun YA book explores the teenage love and innocence of a young half-Korean girl. Being raised by her white father after her mother passes, Lara Jean and her two sisters navigate growing up and falling in love.