It’s time for another book list. I’m excited to share more books that I enjoyed this summer or books I’m excited about.

Summer reading

During the summer I read a wide variety of books. Many of them were audiobooks to take advantage of reading while walking the dog or driving solo. Some books I enjoy more on audio than eyeball reading. Fiction and narratives are especially enjoyable to me in audio format; something to do with my working memory.

I also took advantage of reading in different places. I attended my first silent reading party and loved it. There is something about collective reading and being in a space where the collective quiet forced/encouraged/pressured me to read. I got through a wonderful book of poetry at the event. I hope you find a group reading session of your own. It was also fun to catch up with friends and trade titles.

I hope you find some ways to grow your reading community, preferably with a lot of nods towards diversity and inclusion.

Poetry

I don’t read a lot of poetry, but chugged through several books of poetry this summer. I’m glad I did, they were SOOOO good. Åmot is the Chamoru word for “medicine.” This book of poetry explores what medicine means to the Guam community and how that relationship is changing as climate change and 21^st century influences come to the Pacific Island.

I read How to Love a Country once before, but it wasn’t until this reading that I really absorbed it. I downloaded the book to fulfill a spot on my Seattle Arts & Lecture and Seattle Public Library book bingo and I’m glad I was ‘forced’ to read out of my comfort zone. I read this alongside On Tyranny, and the two books were opposites, but made me think about democracy and how we can participate in democracy differently. (On Tyranny is written by a white male. My including it is not a wholehearted recommendation since I use this space to promote authors or illustrators of color.)

After reading How to Love a Country, which is about how Richard Blanco wrote his inaugural poem, I went down a rabbit hole of exploring other presidential poets. Of course I re-read Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb, and on the to read list is Elizabeth Alexander’s Trayvon Generation.

Memoirs

Summer belongs to the WNBA. If you’re not watching WNBA you should be. Brittney Griner’s memoir, Coming Home, about her life and time spent in a Russian prison camp was heartbreaking. It also shed light on the pay inequality between women and men athletes and hostages around the world.

I absolutely LOVED Susan Lieu’s audio version of her memoir The Manicurist Daughter. I’ve shared her book in previous blog posts, but sharing it again because I finally listened to the audiobook and it didn’t disappoint. Susan’s journey to understand her mother’s death, her body positive messages, and her narration brought out all the feels. I highly recommend her book.

Amy Tan’s The Backyard Bird Chronicles was the perfect lighthearted read while on vacation. I carried the paper copy of her book traipsing through airports because the Kindle version wouldn’t do. Tan’s illustrations of birds coupled with her diary like entries of the birds in her backyard makes this a fun and entertaining read.

Young Adult and Children’s

When Clouds Touch Us was a perfect summer book. At times sad, other times humorous the prose and poetry shares how a young Hà, a Vietnamese refugee, navigates Alabama. While this book is a sequel, it can stand on its own. I plan on reading Inside Out and Back Again soon, the first book in this two-part series.

I picked up this children’s picture book, Daughter of the Light-Footed People: The Story of Indigenous Marathon Champion Lorena Ramírez, from the library and was sucked into learning more. After reading the book I spent a good 30 min reading more about Lorena Ramírez online. I hope you do the same.

Too Much: My Great Big Native Family is real sweet talk about family life – the good, the complicated, and belonging to a big family.

What are you reading? Send me your recommendations.

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