Author: Tirzah Price

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

This week’s pick is You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins.

This is an excellent multigenerational novel spanning decades and continents, and it made the National Book Award longlist. I read it a few years back and it has really stuck with me. It begins in the 1970s, when a Bengali family moves from London to New York City because of the father’s job. Ranee is used to moving her family around, but she’s not thrilled about this latest move and leaving behind a place she’d just gotten used to. For her teenage daughters Tara and Sonia, New York is both exciting and terrifying. It’s in New York that they come into their own identities and passions, and make choices their traditional mother disapproves of. And years later, their own daughters Chantel and Anna reckon with the choices their mothers and grandmother made as a new millennium dawns.

“Where am I from? Can the answer be stories and words, some of theirs, some of mine?”

This is a beautiful and moving story composed of chapters that move back and forth between Tara and Sonia, and then Chantel and Anna. The chapters feel like beautiful vignettes at first, and then slowly build to a story arc that tells of the excitement and pain of being an immigrant, and all of the tragedies and triumphs that come with assimilating. When Sonia marries a Black man, she passes on to her daughter the particular challenge of being multiracial, and honoring her two families and their traditions.

What I loved best about this book is that although the women of this family face difficulties and find themselves estranged from one another at times, it’s not a tragic story and their lives aren’t marred by darkness. There is struggle, but there is also love and sisterhood and hope, as well as pride and acceptance in where they come from and all that they’ve been through. I found it difficult to decide which sister and which time period I liked the most, but there is something very satisfying about seeing a character through years of struggle to a triumphant moment. Technically, this is a YA novel, but I think because of its unconventional structure that adult readers will really enjoy it, too.

That’s it from me–but be sure to check out our coverage of how COVID-19 is affecting the book world. We’re updating it as news unfolds.

Happy reading!

Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

Since this week has been a bit wild with so many closures, disruptions, and uncertainty due to the spread of COVID-19, I think what we need is a happy recommendation. This week’s pick is The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman.

“Nina had looked around and realized she would never run out of things to read, and that certainty filled her with peace and satisfaction. It didn’t matter what hit the fan; as long as there were unread books in the world, she would be fine.”

Nina Hill has a very routine, orderly life. She schedules everything–her job at her local independent bookstore, meals, working out, trivia team nights, and even her reading time. She likes books better than most people, and is completely content…until she learns the father she never knew has died, and she has scads of siblings, nieces, and nephews, some clamoring to meet her, some suspicious of her very existence. And if that wasn’t shock enough, her trivia rival is super cute and seems to actually like her?

This is a really gentle book about comforting and happy things, with enough drama and conflict to keep the book moving, but not enough to upset the reader. While not many of us may be able to relate to discovering your deceased father is actually pretty stinking rich and might have left you a lot of money, or meeting family you never knew you had, the challenges that Nina deals with are pretty common. She struggles with the desire to eat healthier and exercise more, but she also doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions or what to do when her anxiety gets out of control. But Nina’s desire for peace and fictional worlds is definitely relatable to book nerds, and her snappy humor and trivia prestige will make book nerds feel as though they’ve discovered a kindred spirit. The romance is very sweet and not too sexy (no on-the-page sex), and the plot is full of cute twists and charming coincidences that will make you smile.

Definitely pick up this book if you want something funny and reassuring, with a touch of family drama and escapism all rolled in one! Bonus: I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Emily Rankin, and it was lovely!

And if you want to keep up with how COVID-19 is impacting the book world, including resources to support authors and indie bookstores during this difficult time, check out Book Riot’s story stream of COVID-19 updates.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

This week’s pick is The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir by Thi Bui.

Content warning: Mention of rape, war violence

Thi Bui has grown up with the effects of the Vietnam War looming over her life like a shadow. Born in Vietnam, she and her family fled to the U.S. in the late 1970s as South Vietnam fell. Her mother was eight months pregnant when they left, and she gave birth to Thi’s younger brother in a refugee camp. The family landed in the U.S. shortly after, staying with relatives in the Midwest before making their way to a more temperate climate and an independent life in California. But their struggles don’t end there.

“How much of me is my own, and how much is stamped into my blood and bone, predestined?”

This is the question that haunts Bui, and her memoir. She starts her account in New York City in 2005, as she is in labor with her son. It’s a moment that should connect her to her own mother, and Bui is full of hope that it will mark a new phase in their relationship. But her mother is not present in the way Bui hopes, and she is once again reminded of the vast disconnect between herself and her parents. With beautiful artwork in black, cream, and a shade that intensifies from peach to burnt orange, Bui moves back and forth through time, showing readers glimpses of her parents’ pasts: her father’s harrowing childhood in a village marred by violence, and her mother’s more privileged upbringing that is nonetheless affected by colonialism and unrest.

She reconstructs her family’s history, their small and large tragedies, and analyzes how her family influenced the person she has become. Bui wrestles with some pretty big themes and issues–trauma, the immigrant experience, the complicated legacies our families pass down, and the difficulties of excavating a history that you didn’t live or were too young to remember in order to understand your present. Most pressing of all? The fear that she will somehow permanently affect her own son. This journey is not easy, but the result is a beautiful, moving memoir about strength, resilience, and the courage to start anew. Even if you don’t think graphic novels are your jam, I highly recommend giving this book a shot because the story and the artwork are both very powerful.

Happy reading,

Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

This week’s pick is Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson!

“They didn’t want to set the world on fire. They just wanted to be less alone in it.”

Lillian is a twenty-something in 1995, living in her mom’s attic, working two jobs, and completely adrift. The one bright spot in her life is her regular but casual correspondence with her high school friend Madison, who has gone on to marry a senator and have a child. When Madison writes Lillian one day and asks her to please come visit her and help take care of Madison’s new step-kids, it’s a weird request–but Lillian agrees. The only catch? The kids catch on fire when they become upset. Strangely, this does little to deter Lillian and she goes on to forge a tentative bond with the kids, Bessie and Roland.

Reading this book was such a wonderfully odd and surreal experience. It’s full of pitch-perfect humor and deep thoughts about responsibility and caretaking, but it’s not a heavy book at all. Lillian is our narrator, and she often tries to come across more hardened than she really is, but her honesty and wit made me love her from the very beginning. She’s appropriately awed by her new privileged surroundings, but her status as an outsider is what allows her to really connect with Bessie and Roland. Although only secondary characters, they’re fully rounded and extremely lovable, if not jaded by the death of their mom and rejection by their father. They don’t believe in good things very easily, and Lillian has her work cut out for her. But when she does finally win them over, it’s a beautiful connection to behold–and when that connection is threatened, the stakes ramp up brilliantly.

Wilson has crafted a witty novel about finding connection, finding purpose, and finding the bravery to take responsibility, even when you’re not sure if you’re cut out for it. I highly recommend this novel if you love found family stories and humor. Bonus: I listened to the audiobook, brilliantly narrated by Marin Ireland, who just won the 2020 Audie Award for the best female performance of an audiobook for her work on Nothing to See Here. I am not kidding when I say I listened to it in one sitting, and when I finished I was shocked that so much time had gone by!

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

Welcome to Read This Book, a weekly newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

This week’s book is The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys.

Content warning: child death, some violence

I’ve been a big fan of Ruta Sepetys since I read her debut, Between Shades of Gray, which is about Stalin’s deportation and imprisonment of thousands of people from the Baltics during WWII. Sepetys writes wonderfully detailed historical fiction that is marketed as YA, but has lots of crossover appeal for adult readers. Her latest book, set in 1957 Madrid, did not disappoint!

Daniel Matheson is the son of a Dallas oil baron and a Spanish mother. When he graduates from high school, his parents take him to Spain, where’s he’s eager to spend his summer photographing the “real” Spain. That is not a simple task, as he learns when he tangles with the Guardia Civil on his first day. But it’s not until Daniel befriends Ana, a maid working at his hotel, that he begins to understand all that the country suffered the Civil War, and the deep wounds that have not been healed under Francisco Franco’s rule.

“When you discover the truth, you must speak it aloud and help others to do the same…Truth breaks the chains of silence. It sets us all free.”

This is a marvelous book with so many fascinating political and personal layers. Although most of the book is from Daniel’s outsider perspective, Sepetys uses multiple points of view to show the wide-ranging effect of war, violence, censorship, loss of freedom, and poverty on the people of Spain. This is a complicated history, and Sepetys doesn’t shy away from demonstrating how American influence enabled Franco’s hold on Spain, including snippets of primary resources in between chapters. Among the many injustices of the period, she anchors this story around the scandal of Catholic charities stealing infants from families with Republican ties and adopting them out to more suitable (and wealthier) families at home and abroad. This is a book with fascinating, varied characters who are struggling to survive the best they can under a tremendous burden of silence–and the possibilities that open up to them when they finally are allowed to speak the truth. I particularly enjoyed how Sepetys takes this book from 1957 to 1975, giving readers a unique perspective on the lasting impact of Franco on Spain. It’s a must-read for historical fiction fans!

Happy reading!

–Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, the Insiders Read Harder podcast, All the Books, and Twitter.

If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.